Temptation Of Grey

Chapter 17 - Secrets Revealed

"Ben!" she shouted worriedly.

"I am here," she whirled around, but saw nothing but the cave, which lay in the weak light because the fire was extinguished, probably because of previous events.

She frowned, then her eyes widened when she realized, "Where are you?" She asked, but this time she didn't say the words, she just thought them.

"You understand quickly..... You don't need to talk. I'm in your head." She opened her eyes in astonishment. "This means that we can communicate through our minds at all times."

Suddenly the air flickered and a moment later Ben appeared right in front of her: "Not only that, we can now seem to control it....both the telepathic communication, as well as the visual" He grinned enthusiastically.

Rey slowly approached him and reached out her hand. When it came to rest on his chest, she shook her head overwhelmed. "This is unbelievable!" He put one hand on hers and held it by his chest: "Yes, it's incredible."

He looked down on her and something new, unprecedented, lay in his gaze. Rey thought about it as she replied to his look with a smile and then she knew what it was, this new quality in his look. It was tenderness. He looked at her with a tender look. As if she were something really valuable, rare and admirable. Rey felt his eyes like warm sunlight on herself and knew that she would never get enough of it.

Then he blinked and cleared his throat briefly as if he was waking from a daydream. His gaze normalized and then became businesslike: "I will pack up more supplies, blankets, attire and other utensils that we can use and make my way back to the cave. I think the cave is better suited for further accommodation than the hut. The spaceship is already secured and has to stay here for storage."

"All right," she took a step back, and then said half jokingly, half seriously: "and "contact" with me in between to see if everything's okay." He smiled and nodded, then the connection was broken.

When the connection was over, Rey stopped motionlessly at the same spot for a while and thought about the last events. They were so close that they could make contact at any time over the longest distances and even teleport physically to the other person's location. She hadn't tried it herself, Ben had always done it before, but she knew instinctively that she could if necessary.

How close were they? What would happen if they reached the next stage of development together? She wanted to know more, she wanted to be prepared. Determined, she went to her bag and pulled out the Jedi Book. The old cover had survived the move into the cave well. She sat down on a flattened rock on which a little daylight fell from the cave ceiling and began to read the prophecy again:

'light and dark

must stand together

then the builded bond

will stay forever...'

Yes, the first stage was reached through the first forcebond connection and the joint fight against Snoke and the Praetorians. She briefly thought about what had happened afterwards: Rey had tried to save the fleet and Ben... he went the wrong way. She had not been able to follow this path. It had been one of the most terrible days of her life, so many losses and above all she had not been able to bring him back to his mother. And she had to leave Ben behind. The walk out of this room had been the hardest decision Rey had ever made in her young life.

But it had been right, he had not yet been prepared to trade his acquired striving for power for something more important. To exchange for the desire for belonging, closeness and... Love. He had failed at that time despite love and she had remained steadfast despite love. She was hoping that at the end of their current common path his decision would be a different one....