The Balance

The Wise Must Teach the Weak

The hours passed, and Rey remained alone, in the gun well. She would like to have slept, but under the circumstances, that was little more than a hopeful thought. Looking into the space outside the window, she saw it, Tatooine.

And behind it, there were two beautiful suns, one the color of copper, and the other a pastel yellow. She allowed herself to be mesmerized, for the thoughts consuming her were far too conflicting to understand.

But these thoughts wouldn't leave. She needed someone, someone to talk to about everything that had happened. Rey had no-one. Finn, Poe, Rose, and even Leia couldn't know about this. They might think her a traitor, or even worse, they might see how she felt. About him.

"I can help you," she heard a voice say behind her.

Looking up, Rey saw the last person she could have expected. Her eyes widened, first with anger from their last encounter and then with gratitude, for what he had done for her and the resistance.

"Master Luke?"

He sat down next to her, his small frame glowing with the crystal-like blue energy of the force.

"I know what you did to him, Ben Solo, last night, and I also know what he did to you back."

Rey gave him a simultaneously confused and awkward look.

"You weren't fair to each other," he scolded her.

Flabbergasted, Rey replied, "Of course I wasn't fair to him. He didn't turn! He tried to kill me! He wouldn't stop killing my friends. Then he expects me to what? Want him?"

He smirked at her with a knowing smile.

"I know I cannot do anything to change your mind now, so I'll tell you a story, something different than that. It might clear your head."

In this sentence, his tone changed. Be went from an instigator to a mentor, a friend to a teacher.

"There was once a boy, who fell in love too young. He loved a young woman, a Senator, far older than himself," Luke began, pausing for a moment.

"What was wrong with that, if they were so in love?" Rey asked.

"He wasn't allowed to fall in love. He was a Jedi, the most talented in the galaxy," he continued, "And one day, there was a miracle, children conceived in his Senator's very womb."

He smiled at Rey, his eyes looked as if they were watering. Perhaps it was just the blue energy surrounding him. She listened intently.

"Instead of being the Jedi he was meant to be, he became human. The boy was thrilled, and he married her in secret. He was breaking every Jedi code he could, he had compassion for her, and even worse, love," Luke sighed.

"One night, sleeping beside the woman he loved, he had a vision of her, dying in childbirth, as vivid as you or I."

Rey's breath caught, mourning for the fictional characters he had brought to life.

"He loved her so much he became obsessed with avoiding her death. Desperate, he turned to the dark side. His love for her faded with his thirst for power exceeding it. Shortly after giving birth to his children, a boy and a girl, she died. Of heartbreak." he whispered.

Rey forgot about her fickle matters and became absorbed with these people. That was her true weakness, her selfless compassion.

"His Jedi master found out before she died of course, so he separated the children, hoping for their safety. But they were the children of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. They would never be safe."

"And when his son confronted him for the last time, he turned back. Do you know why, Rey?"

Rey, now curled into the same ball as the night before answered, "Why, Luke?"

"He had the smile of his mother, and he wanted to see that smile. The one he loved. One more time before he died."

"How many times did he visit his father, before he turned him?" Rey asked.

"Many." Luke concluded.

Rey snapped her head up, staring at Luke's broken face once more, "And you're the son?"

"Yes."

And then, he too, was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rey climbed the ladder up to the second floor once more, now that everyone was awake. She met with Leia, telling her of their plan to go to Tatooine, and though a bit nervously, she agreed that it was for the best.

"We must go to a secluded place, where no one can detect us landing," she announced.

The entire resistance agreed heartily and went to work, plotting possible points of refuge in the vast deserts of the planet.

"We've found it!" Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix exclaimed.

Leaning over the system, Leia and Connix began to converse deeply on the subject.

Weaving through the room's inhabitants, Rey arrived once more near where she slept, this time willingly drawn toward the books, looking for something herself.

She spied around her, watching the members of the resistance all engaged, either talking to one another or working dedicatedly. No-one was watching her.

She flipped the same worn book, now seeing it's worn sandy color, to the same section as last night. Moving the book back a page, she saw her own name, underneath a title reading Known Force Lineages: Rey. The name was alone, neither a middle nor a last name following it. But this wasn't what sent chills down her spine.

Her name was in the same, rich, so blue it was almost black, color as Ben's name on the following page.

These were the only two names in this color in the entire book.

He wasn't lying about her lineage.

Was this hope or unease she was feeling?