Hunted

XXXIV. The Tree

Serela tossed and turned on her bedroll, the lasciviousness of her dreams causing her to thrash and moan softly. Her hands gripped the blankets covering her as her knuckles whitened with the effort of holding on. Back arching, she sucked in a breath and was on the verge of something familiar when her eyes opened and she exhaled sharply in disappointment.

Her dreams had been salacious lately and she felt too uncomfortable to ask her mother if this was a common trait for pregnancy, instead waking up frustrated and alone, wishing for a way to make them cease. She had wondered to herself in a moment of desperation if Luke would know how to stop them before telling herself she would die with the shame of it and resigning to an indefinite period of enduring them.

There was still about a week left before the First Order was due to arrive. Training efforts had been stepped up and Finn and Poe were busy almost from dawn until dinnertime, leaving Serela and Rey most of the day to train with Luke. He had been true to his word; Serela took part in none of the physical aspects of training, instead watching from an old tree stump as he took Rey through the motions and form of lightsaber training. Serela had only been coming onto the base for a week now but she had been making great strides in her own training with Luke. It had taken a few days but she had become better at shutting off her mind from openly broadcasting what she was thinking to any perceptive Force-user near enough to hear it.

Now he was concentrating on teaching her to reach out through the Force as well, using Force-speak over increasingly further distances. They had started small, he left her in one room and went to another, and after she had communicated with him with ease, he began to walk down the hallway, testing her until she could no longer hear him in her thoughts.

From there it become a challenge to her, she would attempt to communicate with him at all times and odd hours, testing herself and her abilities. Sometimes across the table at meals, sometimes on her walks home, once she had even done it in the evening before she settled in for the night, surprising Luke greatly. He had been impressed with her progress, all in the span of a week, but told her that was not an uncommon trait for Lightkeepers; they were unnaturally fast learners.

Chuffed at the compliment nonetheless, Serela continued to practice, spending most of her free time with her mother or Rey. The two became fast friends, in spite of Rey's pessimistic views on the chances of Kylo's redemption. Both girls had known solitude, although Rey had seen a much grimmer version of it on Jakku. She told Serela of her earliest memories of her family, as well as the day she was torn away from them, watching a ship speed off into the unknown and leaving her behind.

Serela teased Rey about the obvious infatuation between her and Finn. Rey blushed under the observation, trying to brush it off as nothing, but fooling no one. Many times Rey would walk back with her to the encampment where she would followed Serela down the path to the tent, and each time Rey's eyes would stare every which way trying to take it all in. Sometimes, when Finn was off duty for an hour or so, he would walk with them, and Serela would make sure to lag behind them both to give them alone time. It was easy, in those last few days of freedom, to forget about the imminent danger, even if just in small moments seated around the kettle in their tent, or meditating with Rey and Luke in that small grass enclosure, shaded by the great hulking trees.

One morning they held another council meeting, and this time Serela stood next to Rey and the other two, enthralled with the feeling of inclusion into this group which, up until last week, she had thought she had no business or chance in being a part of.

Most of the meeting passed by in a blur. It was meant more as a synopsis of how preparations had come, and what measures still needed to be taken to ensure the safety and survival of as many civilians as possible.