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

The Sun's Scorching Rays

A billow of wind feathered the wisps of hair alongside Rey's face.

She sucked in a breath and released the earthy air as another warm wave of breeze stroked her skin.

The constant pound of the waterfall below evaporated from her mind, and Rey closed her eyes, content in the absence of her star.

The sunset burned below her lids as she glimpsed the golden streams of light even with eyes threaded shut.

A tranquil thrum of life echoed around her.

Tiny creatures loomed in the pockets of jungle overhanging the First Order base, and their incoherent cries emptied the silence of the wilderness.

Rey relished the freedom bestowed by the untamable forests of the planet. Perhaps, this was why she had crept from her room in a trance to escape once more from the suffocating halls of the Base. The maker only knew the punishment in store for her upon her return, yet she did not heed the yearns of protest inside her mind.

The Jedi remained.

A tickle along her cheek sprung open her eyes, and Rey turned to spy a swirl of leaves wandering past her, adrift on the air's current. The sky was an ocean, but Rey found in this sea she could swim. She leaned over the balcony's railing and studied the plunging rapids below, small trickles of water spraying against her skin as she dared to reach a hand-

"Rey!"

A pair of burly arms latched onto her torso and pried her from the ground, and the Jedi flailed in her captor's grip as she moved to discover Kylo Ren dragging her away from the balcony's edge.

Her hands clasped onto his arms, "Let go of me-!"

"Rey..." he obeyed and released her as she stumbled away from him, but his worried eyes lingered on her face, "I thought you told me..."

The Jedi noticed his gaze travel to the balcony's edge before she sputtered, embarrassed by the accusation, "I wasn't thinking about- kriff, Ren, I wasn't going to jump!"

Kylo Ren watched her closely as she brushed the skin of her shoulders her tunic did not cover.

"Where have you been?" This anger was twisted, a torsion of pitiful anguish; he spoke with dejection rather than force. "My soldiers have been searching for you all evening, Rey. We were supposed to train-"

"I don't want to practice in there," she spun from him toward the sunset in the distance. The gleam of the horizon blinded all which she saw, magnifying the jungle beyond the falls in sweltering beauty. The trees were emerald embers, dotting the scorched sky, and the night cowered from the light's exquisite rage.

Kylo Ren stepped toward her, but a thoughtful silence overpowered his tongue.

From behind, it seemed the sun beamed from Rey's figure, distant sparks erupting in the cataclysmic birth of twilight. The sky's reflection painted the tips of the Jedi's hair a soft gold, and Kylo moved beside her so that he might study the way her face, too, washed away in an amber glow.

"Could we train out here?" Rey looked to him with a hopeful grin.

He was always fond of her smile.

The Jedi peered back to the burning sky in his quiet, and Kylo Ren followed her back to the horizon.

As long as the sun flourished in its radiant luster, the star could not smolder against her intoxicating light.

~~~

"Up."

The staff in Rey's hand swung upward unconsciously as Kylo Ren beside her mirrored the same with his own training stick.