What She's Worth (Reylo)

Chapter 16

He was wearing that damned cloak again.

They had been travelling across the galaxy now for a little more than two weeks yet Ben always chose to wear the black cloak Rey gave him. Oh, he had apologized to her, saying he'd hate for her gifts to get sullied since it was so expensive. It was a logical excuse, and it made her think maybe she should have gotten him cheaper material, but in the few times she saw him wear the cloaks she had given him, she could see it was ill-fitting.

He had been lying to her. He just really preferred that cheap thing to the ones she had given him, even to the point of washing it once every few days just so he could wear it again. And the way he held on to it at times, the way he ran his fingers over the material and pressed it against his face, it was almost obscene to her.

Night times were the worst because that was when Ben would cling on to the cloak like a toddler would a blanket. Wherever they all slept, be it in outdoors in a clearing, a grassy field, or inside a cave or in individual makeshift tents, he would always end up tossing, turning, and thrashing about before suddenly waking up with gasps and clutching the cloak tightly around him. He would always follow these rude awakenings with a holo call to Rey, and since more often than not he had to make his voice loud to get past the static, he usually ended up waking his fellow acolytes from a sound sleep. It got so bad that the others began to complain, and Luke had to intervene.

"You don't understand," Ben had shot back when Luke rebuked him one too many times. "Rey's the only one who can calm me down after the nightmares."

"You're not a child, Ben," Master Luke had intoned in a grave voice. "If you absolutely have to talk to Rey, be considerate of others and either lower your voice or go far off camp so you won't wake anyone."

"Aren't you going to ask me why I've been having nightmares?" Ben had continued, his brown eyes ablaze.

"Like I said, you're not a child," had been Master Luke's equally fiery response, though it was clear to Lennett the Jedi master was tired of Ben's situation which didn't seem to have an end. The relationship between uncle and nephew had been strained as of late, though no one was sure why, how, or when it happened. "You shouldn't need anyone, not even Rey to hold your hand every time you have night terrors. Remember that fear is the path to the Dark Side. There are far more important tasks at hand and if you can't even muster the courage to get over something as trivial as a nightmare, you will end up failing the trials."

That had silenced Ben, and he never spoke to his uncle or to anyone about the nightmares again, though he still kept on having them. Lennett had tried once or twice to ask him what was wrong, but he would chuck it out to the stress of the travels and being suddenly far away from the academy. But deep down, Lennett knew it had to be something else. No one had nightmares every night like that. No one except Ben Solo.

Aside from Ben's nightly disturbances, his increasingly foul mood, and his ever widening rift with his uncle, the trials went on quite smoothly. Lennett knew enough of history to know that the Jedi Order were guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. With Master Luke's fledgling Jedi Order however, and with barely any connection to the New Republic apart from gracious acceptance of donations for the school, keeping the peace was more of a duty they had taken upon themselves rather than something officially tasked. The few Jedi Knights who had successfully completed their training with Luke over the years now had their own posts, and it was to these posts that Master Luke and his initiates travelled to in order to assist with any planetary issues before moving on to the next post.

Jobs differed from one post to the other, ranging from helping build shelters for the poor, to outright bringing down murderers, thieves, extortionists and spice cartels. Teamwork was necessary in more dangerous tasks and she knew had it not been for her, Ben would have a hard time working with the others especially Herron Casthre, whom she had actually remained friends with despite their break up. She even prided herself for being the one to mend bridges into an uneasy alliance between the two men, especially after she had told Ben of how Herron had witnessed firsthand the cruelty of Darth Vader himself.