Star Wars: The True Emperor (REYLO)

[2] A Distraction

It has been seven hundred and thirty days since Rey Skywalker landed on Tatooine. Up ahead, the suns are beginning to rise. Rey sits inside a rocky cave, channeling the force.

Rey

When Luke trained me, he often encouraged me to clear my head to permit the force to intervene. With no distractions here, it is easy to block the sounds of people out, but even after all this time, it is impossible to quiet the distractions in my heart.

"Be with me," I whisper. I inhale deeply, exhale slowly. I open my eyes.

...Nothing.

This has become too frustrating. Perhaps this is just another sign. Perhaps the Jedi of the past only appear when you need them the most. Is searching for them an act of selfishness? Is that why they don't come to me when I call to them?

I still remember it clear as day; it was a little over a month ago when I had that dream about Leia. She said I was still holding on. Does she know how I feel? Is it evident through the force? And am I wrong for feeling such things? I shake the thought away and stand, dusting off my grey get-up. I decide it's time to head back to the house. As I exit the cave, I feel cold, and I look around. Tatooine feels just as empty as Jakku, sometimes; just as harsh, just as cold, just as lonely. Despite the nothingness of Jakku, I do believe it had its purpose. After all, it was the beginning of my new life –twice; once as a scavenger girl, then as a Jedi.

The suns rise and glow like liquid gold over the faded sandy colour of Tatooine. It's one of the only sights I enjoy around here. When I think about it, I dearly miss the forest; the overwhelming mass of greenery and the sounds of life too busy to bother with me. Here, I can only sense and reminisce of it all through the force. Perhaps my time here is coming to an end. I'm beginning to feel restless again –or maybe I haven't stopped. Ever since I got here I believed there was something I should be doing. Initially, I thought it was mastering the force... now that I've done all I can on my own, I know for sure I'm meant to be doing something else.

The last time Leia appeared to me –before that dream- I was fetching water from a dying stream. I remember feeling frustrated then; my heart heavy with thoughts of... restlessness.

"You have a tendency to be too harsh on yourself, sometimes, Rey. You have learnt to master the force as best you can on your own. You've learnt to trust it. Just like the flow of the force, learn to trust time. Time reveals all; the things we must endure, and the answers we need. Trust time. It never fails."

"Sometimes it feels like time has failed more times than I can imagine." I said to her. "If I didn't know better I would blame time for everything. For, more than once, making me wait for the people I was hopeful towards but felt empty without and then... and then for taking them away."

Thinking back to that now, I had probably given my thoughts away to Leia. Now she might just know what I meant; now she might just know I wasn't just talking about my parents. And if she does know, what does she think of it?

Before I'm aware of it, I'm back at the house. The walk has become a way for my brain to run wild, it seems. I'm alone with my thoughts, and there's nothing stopping me from thinking anything and everything.

"BB8?" I say. He's nowhere to be found. "Where are you?" I search the house but find nothing. "Where've you gone?"

The alarming sound of metal crashing into the sand alerts me. I race outside. There it is, landing in the distance. Luke's ship. I wonder who has come –and why. I run towards it, and BB8 zooms towards me from the other side. It opens, and C3PO walks out behind an eager R2.

"Ah, Rey. Is it really you? How delightful it is to see you again."

"You too," I say. I've missed the sound of his voice. Of anyone else's voice, really. "Hi R2." He circles me. "Who else is here?"

"Rey," says a deep, familiar voice. I look up.

"Poe?" I smile. I run towards him and hug him. "How have you been?"

"Busy," he says, "I really don't know how Leia did this for so long."

"You're not Leia," I remind him.

"That's for damn sure," he says, rolling his eyes and laughing.

"Where's Finn?" I ask, hopeful.

"Back at the base. He's in control while I'm here looking for you. We need you back there. Something's come up."

"What? Is something wrong?"

Poe shakes his head and looks around. "Have you really been here for two years? This place is an obvious bore."

I sigh. "Come with me."

***

Back at the house, Poe and I sit with some drinks. "So what's the big deal? Why do you need me?"

"There are force sensitive rebels at the base," he says. "Hundreds of them."

"What?" I ask. "Do I know them?"

"Some of them are ex-storm troopers like Finn-"

"-And what about Finn?"

"I think it's better if you hear his side of it from him."

"And what about you?"

"Me?" He looks at me confused. "Oh you mean- oh no. No I haven't really... I don't know... it's probably not for everyone, you know?" he laughs.

"You're probably just being difficult again," I joke.

He scoffs. "Anyway, Lando set up a new Jedi sanctuary at the base."

"A new sanctuary? Why? Is he going to train them all?"

"I don't know if he'll be able to handle all of that responsibility. I mean they're all new to it, you know? I mean I don't really know what it takes or the process or whatever but I could just imagine the stress –and anyway isn't it supposed to be that one Jedi sticks to training one Jedi at a time? Or... or something like that?"

"I don't really know. All I can say is I've done a good job mastering as much of the force as I can here in isolation. Somehow it still feels as though there's an infinite amount I don't know yet."

"Well," Poe says, "it helps if you teach others. Believe me. I started working with some kids and I gotta say, it really does help you to understand your work better."

I think about it. "I think you might be right."

"Rey, these force sensitive guys are able to use the force without being trained –like you."

"What do you mean? All of them?"

"I mean I'm not sure if it's all of them but... a sizeable amount. We're not entirely sure what to do about it but we think having you around would do them some good."

"It might," I say, nodding. "It might do them some good." I turn to BB8. "It might do me some good, too." Yea. Getting certain thoughts out of my head. Being around other people. Distracting myself. It might do a lot of good.

" Okay, then." I say, finishing off my drink. "I'll go back with you. See what's up. Sounds like fun."

Poe nods once and stares at me, soaking in my content expression. He smiles. "It's great to see you again, Rey. Did you... do something with your hair?"