Rey ate alone. She never liked eating alone, but had for years. Jakku was a desolate place- no family, no friends. She got used to her solitude, but she never liked it. Jakku seemed like a long time ago- another lifetime. Her food this morning consisted of fruit, fresh milk, and jammed leaf compact. It was a feast compared to her rations of Jakku. She listened to the rhythmic sound of her mastication. Chewbacca wasn't much of a meal conversationalist either, although she saw him only for dinner. Chewie spent his days fixing the Millennium Falcon. That and hunting for their next day's supper occupied most of his time. The boar and rabbit he brought home satiated her after her grueling days.
Rey ate alone, but she was far from it. She could feel Luke's eyes on her. They were filled with fear, for reasons she didn't totally understand and she dare not ask. Her father spoke only on the task at hand- her training. She worried about him. She wanted to be close to him, but his fear provided an impenetrable wall. She knew better than to push too hard too early. Better to let the Force guide this, as with all matters.
She could tell that Lukes mind was fixated recently on his Lightsaber. It was the saber that ultimately brought her here to him. For many years, the lost saber had called to Luke. They shared a connection through their mutual Force. When Ben became Kylo Ren, the saber felt torn between two masters. Luke and his family had always had it. But Luke had molded the young Padawan, and the saber felt a calling to the growing strength of Ben's Force. It could sense the strength of Luke's Force now residing in Ren. More and more, the saber felt foreign to Luke. It grew clumsy to him, like a hand or arm slept too long on. And when Kylo Ren was fully born, the saber felt torn away completely. And for a handsome price, Kylo Ren purchased the Skywalker saber from a smuggler. It was a sign of triumph, of dominance. Indeed, just like Luke's Force, Ren had ripped the Lightsaber away from Luke, claiming his Master's prize. The humiliation was too much for Luke, and he ultimately abandoned the saber, forever. If it wished to serve Kylo Ren, he was not strong enough to stop it.
But the Lightsaber did not want to serve Kylo Ren. It didn't want to serve anyone. Kylo Ren could sense this, as he also felt the numb clumsiness of the blade. Was something wrong with it? How it could possibly have loyalty to a defeated and shamed Master and not it's new victorious one? He never took into account that it might not want to serve either Master. It's next Master had not come yet. Ren eventually grew careless with the saber. He would brag, let others feel the fallen Jedis blade in their hands. Many hands were undeserving of such a relic. Some hands were greedy. And the last pair of hands Kylo Ren saw with the blade were those of a thief.
The thief's name was Scutter, a leech of a man who was envious of this new Sith he had heard about. He would praise Ren to some people, and slander him to others, whatever his audience at the time might want more, or what would benefit him most. Scutter got close to Ren, closer than an unscrupulous dog like him should have been let. Kylo Ren knew he drank, knew he was duplicitous, but his preoccupation with power and revenge blinded him to the danger. And Scutter was able to get close. Close enough to grasp the famed Lightsaber. Was there ever a Luke Skywalker, and if there was could this be his blade? He asked many questions of Ren, but the only question on his mind was simple- how much was it worth?
Kylo Ren's fury over losing Luke's Lightsaber dissolved into apathy far too quickly. It felt self-imposed. Insincere. For Ren knew that the he desperately wanted the saber to be his own. He just couldn't bend it's will to him. Scutter was not the Master it seeked either. One evening, Maz noticed that Scutter, a semi-regular patron of her tavern, had libations and food in abundance. He sat with a horde of transients and parasites. Maz approached the table many times that night, " Would you like anything else this evening?"
Scutter responded, " Another round for my associates and myself."
Maz would comply, although she questioned Scutter's sobriety. After many hours and much food and drink, Maz approached the table, "Time to settle up your tab."
"Already? Is it past 1 already?"
"It's 2:30," Maz frowned.
Scutter patted his pockets, and fumbled out with a few Ionian marks.
Maz rolled them in her hand, "You can't be serious."
Scutter scowled, "What?"
"This wouldn't cover half of your tab."
Scutter looked incredulous, "Really? Are you sure? Go add it up again."
Maz stood motionless. "Scutter, don't waste my time. I'm tired and I'm closing up."
"That's all the money I've got. I'll have to owe you the rest."
"Nobody owes me anything. You pay before you leave. That's it. Don't try my patience."
Scutter laughed amusingly, "Well, I don't have anymore. That's everything. You can't get blood from a stone."
Maz smiled at him. "Would you like to see me try?"
Scutter paused a moment, unsure if what he was hearing was a threat or a joke from the diminutive alien Maz, who stood half his height. "I've got nothing else! My pockets are empty."
Maz calmly replied, "If you don't settle with me now, you'll be dead before you walk out from my front door."
Scutter then slowly surveyed the room. The dozen circular ceiling decorations which he admired earlier now came clearly into view. The camera and blaster hidden within were unmistakable. They were all over. Apparently Maz had dealt with people like Scutter before. He changed his tone and lowered his voice, "Please, you've got to believe me. I didn't know what I was doing. I'm drunk. "
Maz sighed, "I don't have to do anything."
"What do you want? I'll make this right. What else can I give you?"
Maz pointed at his waist, "Give me that."
Scutter looked at the saber tucked in his waist, "This? I can't give you that. It's too valuable."
"Well now you've really got my interest. I'll make you a deal- give me the Lightsaber, and I'll clear this bill and give you a hundred fifty credit."
Scutter looked at Maz, and realized he had no choice. If he refused, he had nothing else to offer. He quietly agreed and handed over the saber.
Scutter returned many times but never mentioned the Lightsaber again. Maz locked it away in a chest in her basement. She normally would have sold it, but something told her not to. Something in the Force. Maz was no Jedi, but she felt the Force like one, just without the ability to control it. There it sat in the chest for many years. Until Rey was beckoned to it. The saber had found a new Master.
As Luke gazed upon his daughter, he reflected on what today's lesson would be. There was so much more to explore in the ways of the Force. But he was not ready to train with the Lightsaber yet. And he was sure that it was not ready for him either.
