Dawn of a new Force

Epilogue

- Perfect, Jona! We will stop there for today. Thank you all, and rest well.

The small group of children applauds as each day the end of the lessons. Rey smiled at them and then had a note for each of them as they came out of the huge stone room. A little advice, an encouragement ...

When the last one left the room, she wiped her brow and came to sit on the edge of the mosaic where she had been with Luke more than three years before. She looked at her reflection in the water. She had not changed much, her look maybe, was sadder. How far has it come since this fiery young girl, ready to change the world and search for her origins?

Since then, Rey had contributed to changing the destiny of the galaxy, and she had found her origins. More than that, she had found her family of heart, her great love. When she concentrated as she did, she managed to immerse herself in her past, to live another reality for a few moments. She enjoyed imagining Finn and Rose after the battle, trying to guess what they would have done together. She tried less often to relive her moments with Ben, because it was still too painful.

But he was with her every day, he did not lie.

She saw him in the eyes of these children who trusted her to guide them to the balanced mastery of the Force. She felt it in her teaching choices which no longer belonged to one doctrine or another. Rey had created a new Force, she had followed her own choices. She was rebuilding a new order of Force followers.

She felt it at night when she was cold and alone. She often got up. And many times she had felt his presence by her side, watching over her.

He had appeared to her only once during these two years and some who had followed the battle of Kabal 1. It was the day of the birth of their son.

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- Come on, one last effort! You're doing really well!

Poe dabbed a towel on her forehead as she tried to catch her breath.

- I'm so bad ... she whispered.

- You'll get there, I already see his head! he exclaimed excitedly.

Rey smiled and then resumed her efforts, feeling a contraction arrive. The end of the contraction came and left her powerless. The work lasted too long, and despite Poe's enthusiasm, she saw the doctor take him apart. The medicine droid stayed close to her and encouraged her, but the next contraction was slow.

- NO! she heard Poe answer away to the doctor.

She thought she was going to die there, on the table, and her child with her. Fatigue and pain began to overwhelm her will, and then she saw him. He was there, in the corner of the room, in front of her. He did not speak to her, but his look encouraged her. He seemed anxious and happy at the same time, and she guessed almost a tear in his eyes. Fixing him, she began to push harder when a new contraction arrived, and a few minutes later, her baby was there, to everyone's surprise.

Poe rushed into the room when the droid announced the birth and could hear his first cry. He cried with joy and Rey did the same by taking the little being that was being handed to her. Poe kissed her and grabbed her face, framing her with kisses, caresses and congratulations.

The doctor, too, congratulated her, and confessed to her that he had thought it well to operate to help her. Against all odds, Rey had the strength to go all the way.

But Rey did not listen to him. She held her child firmly against her, and watched Ben's ghost approach the bed. Nobody saw him, but she did. He kissed his baby and the one he loved so much. And then, he disappeared.

Rey redoubled her tears, and Poe asked everyone to come out. He stayed close to her.

- Rey, you're exhausted. Do you want me to take ... he said, reaching out to the baby who had calmed down, do you want me to take Ben?

The baby nearly gave a smile to the arms of his adoptive father, and Poe answered immediately with a sweet, admiring smile. Rey watched the scene, calming down. It was still painful to imagine who could have been there by her side. And also to hear Poe pronounce this name.
Yet the idea had come from Poe himself, a few weeks earlier. And Rey immediately approved. It seemed natural, and proved, if it were necessary, that Poe accepted without hesitation the origins of the unborn child.

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It was then that Rey was entering her fifth month of pregnancy. They had moved closer and closer, he starting with the promise made to Ben; she has no other close friend to confide in and talk about Ben.

He had been there for her, and she had been there for him; they had completed. Two bruised souls who had found each other.

And that summer day on Naboo, when they had completed a peace conference of more than sixty systems, they found themselves at the lake. The weather was fine, the air was soft and warm at the same time. Poe had managed to make her laugh, and without thinking, they had moved closer to each other. Their first real kiss (except for the one in the Falcon) was gentle and furtive.

Their story had then naturally changed from a loving friendship to a real love, and if Rey continued to love Ben, she managed, thanks to Poe, to turn the page without denying what she had lived.

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She entered the house she had built for her family. Poe was often on the move, but he returned regularly to find her. She closed the door and found him playing with Ben Kenobi-Dameron on the living room carpet.

Poe was flying an X-Wing acrobatically over the couch and the little boy was laughing loudly. On seeing him, Rey thought that every day he looked more like his father. Yes, Rey was with Ben every day: she found him in the nose of his son, in his hair, in his black eyes. He had inherited from Rey his freckles, his thin face and facial expressions.

She put down her light saber and Poe got up to meet her. They kissed and hugged each other. She sighed, and that day she thought of Ben Solo for the first time without sadness. She was good with Poe, she was finally at peace, and she will never forget the man who was reflected in his son.