When the Day Loved the Night (On Temporary Hiatus!)

A Summoning

It was a strange sensation, showering with her Force-muting bands still attached.

Rey couldn't find the will to care as she lifted her face to the steaming spout, drenching herself and cleaning away what made her theirs. The water pooling at her feet clouded with tufts of milky white, and the Jedi could feel the layer of pressed makeup stuck to her face slip down her fingers. Satisfied, she reached over the shower cubicle's door and snatched her towel, swiftly opening the door to a blast of frigid air, and she lifted her chin as if to soak in the wild contrast-

"The Supreme Leader has summoned you," a mechanical voice caused Rey to nearly scream and stumble backward as she opened her eyes and discovered a droid standing across from her at the bathroom's entrance.

Scrambling to shield her unclothed figure, she shrieked, "Get out! Get out! I'm kriffing naked-"

"I am a droid," the animatronic answered, "Congratulations, I do not care."

Rey straightened as she finally knotted her towel around herself; she wasn't aware the First Order had a sense of humor.

Visibly impatient, the droid repeated its message in her silence, "The Supreme Leader has summoned yo-"

"I heard you already," she ran her hands through her tangled hair as small, falling water droplets beaded onto her shoulder from her soaked hair, "Kylo Ren wasn't brave enough to fetch me himself, was he?"

"Master Ren is already in conference with the Supreme Leader," the droid corrected, "And, I am to escort you to your check-up."

Rey pushed past the robot into the bedroom, reaching for the stack of clothes Ren had given her, "A check-up? What am I, a youngling?"

"The Supreme Leader has requested that your health be monitored and evaluated," the droid pivoted toward the bedroom while Rey quickly slipped on her new, but still ebony, clothing.

The Jedi's face contorted into a grimace.

She wasn't naive, but she had hoped to forget her purpose among the First Order. Her every surviving moment, however, was a reminder enough.

After she'd tucked in the shirt too loose on her torso, the droid led her out into the corridor, winding through halls of all kinds. Rey found it hard not to tense every time they passed a different group of stormtroopers as she was not used to being an ally of the First Order.

An ally.

The words were toxic on her tongue.

After the droid coerced Rey into submission as she was guided to a chair in the infirmary, doctors and nurses bombarded the Jedi, seeking samples and retrieving bits and pieces of Rey to dispel into the First Order's vast medical archives. Rey almost preferred the company of the droid rather than this swarming of people. Once their data had been collected, however, her wish appeared to be granted as the medical staff vanished, and Rey encountered a familiar, cynical sensation of loneliness. It seemed to be engraved into her personality.

"The Supreme Leader will see you presently," a sudden contradiction arose in the quiet room, and Rey lifted her eyes to spy her droid gesturing to the door again. She tried to deny the pang of disappointment in finding only the robot's presence.

She begrudgingly heaved herself up to follow, shadowing the droid as they embarked once again down the First Order's bleak corridors. Rey didn't need to guess which door led to the chambers of the fabled Supreme Leader; no other passageway illustrated such grandeur.

Rey stood in front of the entryway, studying the intricate iron carvings above her- she recognized the etching.

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion."