Hope Remains - A Reylo Story

⭐Three⭐

The lush landscapes surrounding the small dwelling were green. The blades freshly chopped to make room for the land crops around to grow. The skies were tinted a peach shade of orange in the mid-afternoon glow, the sun only just beginning to set. There was about three hours as yet until Dantooine's two moons rose above the sky. The Millennium Falcon stood motionless behind the cream dwelling, unused and taking on the popular opinion of being 'junk'. In front sat an old speeder that had been patched up here and there with newer parts used daily on journeys into the nearby towns.

Rey sat perched on a small bench that had been carved into the wall of her home. It wasn't a big dwelling but it provided every comfort needed: two bedrooms, a kitchen, refresher and a communal room. It was isolated at a hundred kilometres from the main town but Rey needed it that way. She had to remain hidden. Whilst Rey sat on the bench, she tinkered away at scrubbing rust off of a pretty decent wire trap. It was cylindrical in shape and efficient enough to hold a set of wires together once they had been bound in bonding tape. There wasn't many people passing through Dantooine these days which made work harder to find. On the other hand, a mechanic was always needed somewhere and the further Rey had to travel from home the more credits she was paid by her clients. It was an honest living for sure and she had to work around her Jedi training but that was easy enough once she had completed it. It meant Rey had gained enough credits to pay for food, clothing and spare parts to aid her in her job.

The sacred texts sat on a shelf in her room. They had proved difficult to read at first but using the pictures and meditation in the Force, Rey had been able to decipher the encryptions on the pages. The texts definitely weren't page turners - the number of times her eyes had strained to stay open reading them was unbelievable. More often than not Rey gave into her circadian rhythms and fell asleep with the books open on her torso. She had complained as much to Master Luke when he had visited her a couple of times before she had come to Dantooine. He had laughed and told her he had never read them himself, only flicked through. This had angered Rey slightly as she had spent ages trying to gain the knowledge she needed to appease her curious and growing mind. To find out her master had never read them, well, that almost seemed blasphemous considering the lengths he had gone to find the first Jedi Temple on Achc-To. 

Rey looked up from her labouring to bask in the warmth of the setting sun. The breeze ruffled the loose strands of hair that framed her sun-kissed face. She liked it here, it was very green and full of wildlife. Dantooine was more diverse than Jakku and for that reason Rey had decided green was her favourite colour. Even though she had fleeting moments of missing Jakku, Rey was happy to be away from the dust-bowl of nothing. There were multitudinous planets in the vast Galaxy and Rey had only visited a handful of them.

She lost herself in the memory of Naboo, standing atop a balcony overlooking the glistening blue lake below her arms resting on the concrete railing. Rey thought she had never seen anything more beautiful even on this sorrowful day of mourning: the scent of jasmine and magnolias caught her attention. Rey had looked above her and the source of the beautiful scent was found, the jasmines had grown around a trellis and branched out to grow farther. Rose had forced Rey into a sky blue dress made of fine silks that resembled a Roman toga fit for Venus herself. It was cinched by a silver belt just above her waist and had shoulder clasps that allowed for a cerulean cape to flow behind her. Her arms adorned silver silk wrappings from her wrist to elbows, Rose had argued with Rey to remove them but Rey had stood steadfast in wanting the wrappings on. She had argued that the silver contrasted the blue of her dress nicely. Rey's hair was braided from her scalp round to the back where a soft low bun had been placed whilst a delicate silver band was fitted into her hair. Rey had removed her shoes and stood barefoot admiring the serenity and most peaceful corner of the Galaxy. She had felt a presence approach her then and she had said, "I should like to return here one day, when the Galaxy reflects the tranquillity of this place." The presence came closer and she hadn't needed to turn her head to know who it was. They stood there for a while in a calm comfortable silence. "Have you ever seen a sight more beautiful than this?" Rey had asked, breaking the silence. After a few minutes of silence, Rey had turned her head to look at Ben to find him staring at her. She had felt her cheeks flush and Ben turned his head away before clearing his throat to answer, "Yes."