"This is heavy, see?" Aria tried to pick up a boulder, but she most she could do was get it to push off to one side. "I can't lift it up. You try." Aria looked back at her little brother, Ben. He barely came up to her chest, and his hair was so unruly it afroed around his big head.
He stepped up to the boulder and crouched down by its side. He dug his fingers into the dirt to get under the rock, but even with all his strength it wouldn't budge.
"Careful," Aria warned him as his face turned red. "Don't hurt yourself." She bent over to grab his wrists, then she carefully pulled him away from the large stone. "Uncle Luke showed me something, he said we both have a power in us that let's us do things other people can't do." Aria kept one hand in her brother's as she lifted her other hand towards the rock. "He says it connects us to everything around us. If we think really hard and concentrate, we can manipulate that connection." Aria closed her eyes and thought of her connection to the boulder. She thought of an invisible line drawing her to the boulder in front of her, then she thought of the invisible line digging under the boulder and wrapping around it like a bow. When it was tied, she imagined it lifting up into the air until it hovered level to her chest.
"Woah!" Ben's excitement made Aria open her eyes, and just as she imagined in her head, the boulder wavered in the air. It was just beyond the tips of her fingers. If she stepped forward she could touch it, but she didn't want to. She would much rather use her connection to it to move it.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Admiration filled Aria's voice and leaked through her every pore. "Think of how lucky we are to have such a beautiful gift..." Aria squeezed her brother's hand as she looked down at him. His dark eyes widened and jaw came unhinged as he crouched down to look under the boulder to make sure it wasn't just a trick of the light.
"I want to do that!" Ben looked up at his sister.
Aria giggled as she let the boulder fall. It landed with a heavy thud and shook the ground around them. "You will, and so much more." Aria turned to her brother and pushed some of his hair off his forehead. "You will be so powerful one day, Ben. We both will, and together we can do anything."
The wind blew through Aria's hair, carrying it carefully over her face so she had the soft scent of mint with each inhale. The ground was soft under her, and the dew seeped up through her pants, wetting her butt, thighs and ankles. Aria's shoulders slumped and her hands laid open on her knees, her palms facing up to soak in the rays of sun shining through the tree tops.
The sun slowly moved over head, but Aria stayed still. Her body didn't tire as her mind reeled over and over again. She stayed in her spot, but she traveled farther than she ever thought possible.
Aria breathed in as a warmth spread over her chest, hovering just over her heart. It pulled her peacefully from her past and made her remember where she was in the present.
"Poe," She breathed out as she opened her eyes. The deep woods opened up before her, she could see for miles before it became too dark to see anymore. She loved the earthy tones around her, that's why she chose the forest to meditate. For the past two months she had traveled deep into the woods to practice just as Leia instructed. Once she found her home, the rest came easy to her. She had learned things she never thought possible.
"How'd you know?" Poe's voice sounded so harsh compared to the soft sounds of the woods around her. The birds chirping along to their own song, the wind rustling the leaves, branches rubbing together to give a symphony for the floor critters to dance to. Compared to that, even the softest voice had an edge.
Aria stood from her spot and turned to see Poe leaning against a tree. His dark leather jacket pulled across his shoulders as he folded his arms over his chest. His hair was damp from a recent shower and his curls were just starting to bounce up to their full form.
She walked over to him and placed her palm over his heart. "I can feel you... here." Her eyes stayed on her hand. She felt the heavy thud of his heart under her palm, and hers sped up to match its rhythm. "It reminds me of us at night, when you wrap your arm around me and pull back into your chest. It's a soft, comforting warmth. That's how I know it's you." Her eyes fluttered up to Poe's to catch the pure adoration swimming in them. "I always know it's you, over everyone I know I can always find you." She tapped her index finger against his peck. "It's like coming home."
Poe lifted his hand and tucked some hair behind her ear, then he let his knuckles trail down her cheek. "How was your meditation today?" He asked as his eyes roamed her bare face. He found every spec of her intoxicating, and the more he drank her in the worse his addiction became.
"I remembered teaching Ben about the force." Aria confided in him, knowing he wouldn't think differently of her. "I told him it was a beautiful thing... and that one day we would both be powerful and we would have each other." She let out a melancholy sigh. "I was right about one of them."
Poe took in a long breath as he palmed her cheek. As she leaned into his touch he rubbed the pad of his thumb along her temple. She closed her eyes as she let him caress her. "Leia says its important for you to let the past teach you new things..." His eyes raised to her hairline. "Maybe this is trying to teach you that underneath everything that Kylo Ren has done... he wants the same things you want."
Aria gave a nod. She desperately hoped that to be true, but she wasn't sure. "We want the same things... in different ways." She opened her eyes to meet his. "I want a family again, he wants us to be a powerful unstoppable force." She turned her head into his palm to kiss it. "Maybe tomorrow's meditation will teach me where everything went wrong." She pulled his hand from her face and linked her fingers between his. "Maybe there's still time to change our destinies... or maybe I just really want a family again."
"I know." Poe's forehead wrinkled as he took on her sorrows as his own. "What are you doing the rest of the day? If you're free-"
"Rey asked me to spar with her. We both need to practice fighting with lightsabers." Aria cut Poe off before he planned something overly romantic that would make her not want to spar. "Don't worry," she added when she saw the divot deepen between his brows. "We're not actually using lightsabers, just wooden staffs... for now."
"Are you trying to kill me?" He grunted at the thought of her fighting someone with a very real, lethal lightsaber. Even if that person was Rey it still caused his heart to collapse in on itself.
Aria smiled as she tugged his hand to pull him along behind her. It was almost time for her to spar with Rey, and she wanted Poe to watch her. "Maybe I am, or maybe I like watching you worry over me." She looked over her shoulder at him as she navigated them through the woods. Instead of heading back to base, they walked parallel to the tree line to head towards the secluded training area. Rey used it to run a course that was supposed to hone her skills, but for today it would be their arena.
"When are you going to start running this thing?" Poe asked as they walked alongside the deep drop into a river below. There was only a thin rope scaling across the drop that Rey used to get to the other side.
"I'm still a few steps away from this." Aria squeezed his hand to reassure him no to worry about that just yet. "Leia says I need to focus on meditation first. Once I feel my mind centered we can begin to work on everything else."
Aria dropped Poe's hand as they entered the small oval dirt arena. Rey was already waiting with Finn, Leia and BB-8. Rey looked sweaty, as if she had just completed the course herself. "I thought you forgot." Rey set her lightsaber down on the bench before Leia.
"Course not. I sort of got lost in my head for a bit is all." Aria's explanation caused Leia to raise an eyebrow. Aria caught it and gave the smallest shake of her head, telling her she'd explain at another time. When Poe moved to stand by Finn, Aria accepted the wooden staff Rey offered out to her. She looked down at it in her hand. The smooth surface was worn down enough to prevent splinters, and there were several nicks along the length of it to prove it's been used relentlessly.
Aria tested its swing out, bringing her arm around quick so the staff sliced through the air. It blurred in front of her and gave a soft 'woosh' sound. She smirked and looked back at Rey who began to twirl her staff between her fingers. "Sure you can keep up? I've been training my whole life." Aria held her wooden staff the same way she'd hold a lightsaber. If they were training to be Jedi, she needed to ensure she kept the right hand placement.
"I've been by myself on Jakku since I was a youngling. I had to learn to defend myself against anything." Rey countered her as they began to walk circles around one another.
Aria rolled her shoulders back and cracked her neck to ease the building tension at the base of her skull.
"Please... don't kill one another." Leia warned as she watched from the side with Poe, Finn, and BB-8.
"Sure." Aria waved off the General's plea. "I want to see what you actually got. Don't hold back." Aria told Rey.
"Same goes to you."
A crazed smirk slowly crept over Aria's lips. "I never hold back." Then she struck. She crossed the space between them in one stride, as she did she lifted the staff up and across, aiming to swipe the length of Rey's torso.
Rey raised her staff to block the shot, but Aria reacted quickly and turned on her right foot to bring the staff around. She tucked it under her arm and drove it backwards but Rey stepped away from the lethal blow.
Aria spun around to face Rey again right as Rey brought the staff up over her head. She used both hands to bring it down towards Aria's head.
Aria grabbed onto her staff with both hands and brought it up from her left side and swiped up to made a semi-circle. She caught Rey's staff and forced it down to the right with hers. As both staffs were lowered, Aria lifted her foot and kicked Rey in the chest. Both girls stumbled back from the blow.
With her staff free, Rey spun on her toes and twirled her staff overhead. When she closed in on Aria she brought it down quickly, but somehow Aria arched her back, narrowly escaping the blow. The tip of the wooden staff grazed Aria's nose as the wind from its speed pushed her bangs back.
Aria backed away from Rey to avoid another close call, and she kept her staff out in front of her defensively. "Your style is aggressive" Aria complimented Rey. "It reeks of a child fighting for her life."
Rey lunged as she pushed her staff straight out towards Aria. Aria sidestepped and brought her staff down on Rey's forearm harshly, then spun on her left foot so her back was to Rey's side and brought her staff around to hit the back of Rey's ankles.
"And you fight like a pompous brat." Rey insulted her back.
Aria let out a loud, charmed laugh as she began to circle the arena with Rey. They kept their distance from one another as they caught their breath.
"Keep it clean, ladies." Leia warned them.
The girls chose to strike at exactly the same time. While Aria spun to her right, Rey spun to her left and they met in the middle with a loud clash of their staffs. The wood threatened to splinter under the pressure of them trying to force the other's weapon down.
Aria gritted her teeth as she dug her heels into the ground and put all of her weight into pushing Rey and her staff back.
Rey used all of her own weight as she pushed herself to her toes to lean into the attack.
Both girls tried so hard, they weren't sure who it was that eventually cracked and used the force. All they knew was one second they were pushing in one another, the next they both flew back to opposite ends of the arena.
Aria fell to her knees as she skidded back. Her toes dug into the ground to slow her down. She clawed at the ground to stop her projection backwards. When she came to a full stop she took in a breath to fill her depraved lungs with air.
Rey's legs gave out under her, throwing her back until she dug her staff into the dirt to ground her. She fell back to her feet and stumbled a bit as she looked quickly to Aria.
Leia, Finn and Poe all stood from their post at the sudden disturbance.
"What was that?" Finn asked at the same time Leia asked,
"Who did that?"
Aria slowly got to her feet and looked at Rey quizzically. Rey held the same expression as they walked towards one another.
"Well?" Leia asked expectantly.
Aria looked at Leia and gave a shrug. Leia narrowed her eyes and looked at Rey to see the same confusion on her face.
"Can't you feel a shift in the force?" Poe asked Leia as he kept his eyes on Rey. He was sure it was her, Aria was too afraid of her power to use the force, especially against someone she cared about. "Can't you tell who used it?"
"It doesn't work like that." Leia shook her head as she looked between the two young girls. "Are you both okay?"
"Yeah." Aria shrugged. "It didn't hurt. Whatever happened it was like-"
"A little shove." Rey finished for Aria. She nodded at Rey's explanation of it.
While Leia seemed unsure, she ultimately let the girls continue on with their sparring as she moved back to her previous spot. Finn and Poe were slower to follow, looking over their respective partners before backing away to let them continue on.
"It wasn't you?" Rey whispered when it was just her and Aria. Aria shook her head. "Odd, isn't it? It didn't hurt. It felt like it was trying to-"
"Get us to stop fighting?" Aria guessed.
Rey looked between her bi-colored eyes as she nodded. "Yeah."
A sudden understanding flowed through them. Whatever happened, it wasn't intentional on either part, but the message was very clear- don't fight one another.
Still, they went back to their starting points on opposite ends of the arena. Balance of the force be damned, they were going to spar.
Both held up their staffs defensively. As Aria took a step forward, Rey jumped, using the force to push herself higher as she spun over Aria.
Aria craned her neck to watch Rey fly above her, and turned on the balls of her feet to keep Rey in front of her. Right before Rey was about to land, Aria stepped forward and sliced her staff through the air. Rey raised her staff just in time to block Aria's attack, but she didn't have to as the staffs froze mere centimeters from one another.
"Stop that," Aria hissed as she tried to push through the force hold.
"It's not me!" Rey told her as she tried to connect her staff with Aria's.
Just like before, the harder they pushed the more resistance they met. When all of their weight was behind their attacks, they were thrown backwards- this time with more force.
Aria landed heavily on her back while Rey knocked into the trunk of a tree.
"Aria!"
"Rey!"
Poe sprinted to Aria's side and fell beside her. He lifted her shoulders and pulled her towards him.
Finn kneeled beside Rey's sat form as she leaned against the tree that stopped her fall. "Are you okay?" He whispered to her.
Rey nodded as she looked over at Aria the second Aria looked towards her. Then they both turned towards Leia who hadn't moved an inch from her seat. She tapped her fingers along the top of her cane as she contemplated something.
"Finn, Poe, go grab as many training droids as you can. I want to test something." Leia slowly pushed herself to her feet as her eyes began to sparkle.
Poe's eyes laced with concern as he looked back down at Aria. She nodded at him as she pushed herself to sit up by herself.
When the boys left, Aria and Rey rose to their feet and met in front of Leia. "Luke had many theories surrounding the ways of the force." Leia looked between Rey and Aria, two girls who meant so much to her. "He believed that two souls so closely bonded could not raise a weapon towards one another, the balance of the force would not allow it."
"Does it have that power?" Aria asked. Rey looked towards the girl as the same question flooded her mind.
"The force acts in mysterious ways. It brings people together, tears them apart, shows them images of the past, the future, and their destinies... who are we to assume there are limits within its capabilities?" Leia raised her shoulders mystically.
"But... why?" Rey asked as she looked back towards Leia. "What have we done to-" Rey didn't know what she was trying to ask. She blinked as she looked back to Aria who was already looking at her.
"Kylo Ren means something to both of us." Aria hypothesized. "He wants both of us by his side... maybe... I don't know." Aria admitted, and she hated to admit the things she didn't know. So many ideas swam through her head, but none of them held enough ground to warrant.
Rey and Aria looked at one another as they tried to picture their connection. In much the same way Luke told Aria to picture a physical string between her and the world around her she tried to picture the string tying her and Rey together. While she normally thought of a thin piece of thread, the one tying her and Rey was thick and a bright blue velvet.
"Why haven't we noticed this before?" Aria's cheeks flushed as she missed such an important component. The connection she shared with Rey could win wars, it could stop the First Order's advance, and they wasted so much valuable time training apart.
"This is the first time you have sparred. The force had no reason to step in until you raised weapons with intent to hurt." Leia's vast knowledge of the universe and the force provided her with an answer, but at most it was an assumption. "Luke had just barely began to explore this realm of the force. Everything you are experiencing is new to all of us. As with your training, we will slowly unravel this newfound connection you have."
A memory suddenly popped to the front of Aria's head. Before she worked through it, she opened her mouth. "When we first met, after I threatened you-" Aria skipped over that part. "When we landed on Takadona and I saw the way your looked out, I had the thought that I would do whatever I could to show you more of the universe." Aria never shared that with anything, and as she looked into Rey's eyes she knew it meant a lot to her. "I never warmed up to someone as fast as I did with you."
"I felt the same." Rey admitted. "When we were flying the Falcon, I looked over at you and pictured this future where we flew around together. I pictured leaving Jakku behind to travel with you."
Aria's heart fluttered at the thought of being the reason Rey decided to leave her home.
"We found as many as we could-"
Aria and Rey turned to see both boys' arms filled with the small sphere training droids. They were normally saved for Rey's training, but Leia had another idea for them.
Rey and Aria helped take the load off as they switched on the small droids and let them float into the air around them. Their were twenty droids total, and with them fluttering through the air they clouded the small training space.
"Rey, take your saber." Leia nodded towards the lightsaber sitting delicately on the seat. Rey looked at it softly before she reached down to grab it.
"But what about-" Rey started, then stopped as she saw Leia pull back her cloak. Clipped on her belt, tucked safely into her side, but Leia's own lightsaber.
She lifted it from her belt and held it out towards Aria. "Take it." Leia's voice left no room for argument. Aria took in a breath as she gingerly reached out for the masterpiece in Leia's palm. She had only seen the weapon a handful of times, and had never held it before in her life.
As she took it from Leia's palm, she felt the warmth of soap and flowers settle over her shoulders like a warm blanket. She felt Leia's presence within the lightsaber the same way she felt Luke's in his. "I-"
"Some things are best passed down. Who else to gift my saber to than my daughter?"
Aria raised her misty eyes towards Leia, the only mother she ever knew in her life. Leia lifted her fingers to raise Aria's chin. "You are deserving of it."
Aria gulped as she nodded. She gripped the lightsaber in her fists and took in a deep breath. "What do you want us to do?" She asked.
"Work together." Leia tapped Aria's chin before she dropped her hand to take a step back. "If you cannot rise a weapon towards one another, raise them towards a common enemy."
Finn and Poe took their spots next to Leia as Aria and Rey moved towards the middle of the dry patch of dirt.
The training droids floated all around them as they waited for the ignition of a lightsaber to begin.
"Ready?" Aria whispered under her breath as she stood with her back to Rey's.
"Ready." Rey's voice was just as quiet and uncertain.
Their lightsabers lit up simultaneously.
Poe froze at the image of Aria with a lightsaber. The blue of her blade perfectly matched her eye and it gave an eerie glow on her tan skin, draining all color until she was a pasty white.
He didn't know what force kept wedging between them, or what Leia expected to find during this training excerise, but he didn't have to wait long to understand.
The second they engaged their lightsabers, the droids began their attack. All twenty droids fired off tiny red lasers. They wouldn't cause lasting damage, but they were annoying when they hit. Not that one hit the girls.
Poe, Finn, and Leia watched in utter amazement as the girls moved in perfect synchronization. When Rey took a step forward, Aria matched it with a step back on the same side. They stood only a foot apart, and they made sure no more space came between them. With their backs to one another it was impossible for them to see each other, yet she kept the space perfectly.
Rey bent over forward as a droid went low, at that exact moment Aria arched herself backwards, leaning lightly on Rey's back as she lifted her blade to block a shot from up above.
Aria and Rey raised themselves at the same time, putting no pressure on one another as they did so. When they were supporting themselves again, they took a step to their right to begin engaging with more of the droids. They met every laser blast that came their way, sending the little red shots off in all different directions.
One droid shot at the back of Rey's head where she possibly couldn't see it. Aria instinctively lifted her saber to block the attack then quickly lowered her saber to continue to protect herself.
"Did you see that?" Leia whispered to both Finn and Poe. "Their need to protect one another is just as strong as their need to protect themselves... Luke would be fascinated with this." Leia's sorrow spread as she had the opportunity to watch history being made. This was what Luke spent his life chasing, and she found it on happenstance.
"What... is going on?" Finn asked as Aria bent forward for Rey to lean on as she lifted her feet to kick as some droids that were getting too close. Aria lifted herself up just hard enough for Rey to jump back to her feet. "It's like they have one mind. That's not possible." Finn couldn't tear his eyes away, so he missed the smirk on Leia's lips.
"Nothing is impossible, Finn. The sooner you learn that the better off you will be."
Rey felt a laser shoot past her and head towards Aria's face. With little time to spare, Rey lifted her lightsaber to block the shot coming within an inch of Aria's cheek.
Aria's entire face heated up by the close proximity, but instead of jerking away she grabbed Rey's wrist and bent it to use her own saber to block another attack.
"Beautiful..." Leia gushed as she watched them work together. There was no hesitance in their movements, no second-guessing. The amount of trust they had in one another only came from decades of working today, yet they mastered it in their first session. "Stop, stop!" She raised her hand to turn off the droids. They fell to the ground lifelessly, surrounding the girls like a mound of dead bodies.
Rey and Aria stood shoulder to shoulder as they faced Leia. They both killed their lightsabers, sucking the blue tint from the air around them.
Their racking breaths showed their exhaustion, but there was a liveliness to their eyes that sparked joy. "How did that feel?"
"Amazing-"
"Incredible-"
"It was like I knew what she was going to do next-"
"I could feel her step before she took it-"
"The move where you pushed me back to my feet, that was so great, have you ever done that before?" Rey turned to Aria as she asked.
Aria faced her a she shook her head. "Never! But it felt right, you know. I knew that you would land it."
"I did too!"
The two girls gave breathy laughs as they continued to stare at one another.
Finn and Poe gave each other spare glances before looking back at the girls. They didn't have to say anything to know they were feeling the same thing: jealousy.
"Well, that is all super interesting, but can I take my girlfriend and go have lunch... please?" Poe added when he noticed Aria made no move away from Rey.
"Yeah, of course-" Aria broke from her enchantment and looked at Poe. "Someone needs some affection." She teased him as she walked over to them to give Leia her lightsaber back. "Thank you for entrusting it with me, but I am not ready to bare its responsibility yet." Leia held out her hand for Aria to put the lightsaber on.
Leia bowed her head. Reservation meant Aria was self-reflecting and growing. She looked passed herself to the world around her and understood she was not ready to go into the world with such power.
"When you are, it will be waiting." Leia told her.
Aria nodded, then wrapped her arm through Poe's to pull him back towards the base. "I can feel your unease." She whispered as they walked away from the others. "You're jealous that Rey and I have a bonding thing, aren't you?" Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she looked up at Poe.
"I miss the days when you were jealous of me and Rey." Poe grumbled. Aria laughed and rested her head on his shoulder. "How can I possibly compete with... with whatever the hell you and Rey have going on?" He looked down at her as they broke through the treeline and headed back into civilization.
"Well, if all else fails you still have one things she will never have." Aria told him as she raised her head from his shoulder.
"Yeah?" Poe stopped to look down at her. "What?" His wounded ego needed a boost.
Aria smirked as her eyes lowered just below his belt, then as quickly they lifted to meet his again.
Poe's eyes widened as he understood her meaning. And just like that his ego was restored. "Yeah, she can never compete with that." Poe slung his arm over Aria's shoulders and pulled her against him. A prideful smile filled half his face, causing his eyes to crinkle as he led Aria through the crowd with a newfound confidence.
Aria let her head fall back as she gave out a full-bellied, joyous laugh.