When Light Meets Dark - Kylo's Sister

Dreams

"I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul."
~Bram Stoker, Dracula

Kylo

It was loud, so loud that I could barely hear myself think. My eardrums buzzed uncontrollably with each deafening wave, but I still felt every punch that Milo landed on me.

I ducked, my head spinning for a fraction of a second before I landed a punch of my own that sent him reeling to the ground. As I caught my breath, he raised his hands to his mouth and winced as he sat up on the mat.

"I think you broke my jaw." he murmured, sounding like he was in pain. But when he looked up there was a smile in his eyes.

"Wouldn't be the first time," I said, wiping my brow. I looked around and from where I was standing the arena looked like a sea of bodies. It was Saturday afternoon, and there had to be at least fifty different sessions taking place under the dome-shaped roof. Then in the midst of the chaos, I saw Zanna. She was pretty easy to spot, after all, she had bright blue skin. There was a client with her, a tall Zelosian who looked like he had been beaten to the ground several times already and had had enough. Yet the expression on her face was unforgiving, and it was hard to imagine that she was the same person who would crack jokes about her clients during breaks or sometimes bring in fried sticks of Jongu in the mornings.

"Aren't you going to help me up?" I heard Milo say from the ground. The noise in the arena had dipped and he was sitting with his legs scrunched up on the mat like I had crippled him. Even though I knew he was perfectly capable of standing on his own, I reached out to help him up. His grip was firm. Seconds later he was standing to his full height, looking straight at me.

"Your technique has improved," I said to him, noticing a new tattoo which had appeared on his shoulder. It was some kind of code or symbol, done in black ink, which I did not recognise.

"I'm a fast learner," he said with a grin. I couldn't argue with that. Over the previous week alone I had found that his skills far surpassed any of my other clients, and at times he even came close to getting the better of me. I wiped at my forehead again as a beam of sunlight flashed through the narrow panes on the wall. Squinting, I turned away from the window.

"So," he said. "Am I your last client for today?"

"Oh, I wish," I replied. Sometimes when I had only one or two clients for the day I left early. I would go back to the apartment, and sometimes Rey would be home early as well. I thought back to the previous night, to Rey's small voice questioning me anxiously in the dark. I knew that she still wouldn't let it go, that the questions would keep biting at her until she couldn't stand it anymore. Why did Luke have to show up when he did? Suddenly Milo waved his hand in front of my face.

"Did you hear anything I said?" he asked when I finally looked at him.

"Sorry." I muttered, shaking my head vigorously. I realised that my fists were clenched and I unclenched them. "I got lost in thought for a moment."

"Don't worry about it," he said as he walked over to where he'd dropped his bag. When he came back he added, "I did want to ask you about something though."

"Go right ahead." I cracked my neck.

He nodded in Zanna's direction and then looked back at me with a smirk. "What's going on with her?"

"What?" I responded, genuinely confused. But Milo's smirk only widened.

"It's just that I always see you two talking when I come in, and you were staring at her just now."