When Light Meets Dark - Kylo's Sister

Two of Us

"It is a long way off, sir"

"From what Jane?"

"From England and from Thornfield: and ___"

"Well?"

"From you, sir"

~Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Rey

There was a soft beeping sound, and for a moment I thought I was back at the school. I opened my eyes. The room was still completely dark and my stiff muscles resisted the air outside of the comfort of my blanket. With my vision still blurry, I turned on my side and faced the door. The blue light was flashing on the panel.

I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair. The sound came again. As I walked barefoot towards the door it felt like I was walking on ice. Mornings on Coruscant were chilly. I was still completely drowned in sleep as I pressed a button on the panel. The door shot back, light poured in. I squinted and there was Ertra.

"Can I come in?" 

"Of course," my voice was raspy. I stood back to let her enter.

"Is something wrong?" I asked as she stood by my bed like a shadow. Once I switched on the lights I took in her face and what she was wearing. She seemed to have been awake for some time.

"No," she said.

There was a silence. Her brown long brown hair stood behind her, pin-straight. Her features were relaxed although there was a sadness in her large, green eyes that made me feel like reaching out and embracing her.

"Please," I said, gesturing to the bed. She gave a small grateful smile and then sat down, facing the door. I sat beside her, one leg folded on the bed, facing her. All the muscles in my body felt stiff and wiry.

"Morning drills don't start for another--"

"I know. It's just today looks like it'll be busy and I haven't really gotten a chance to speak to you," Ertra said, with a shake of her head.

I sat up straighter. I'd seen Ertra when I'd arrived and then again at the briefing before we landed on Kashyyyk. After we'd returned from Kashyyyk, she'd been scarce. 

"How have you found your past few days here?" she asked me.

"It's been very...different," I said. "It's nothing like Umbara at all."

She nodded in agreement. "We've come a long way since then."

The building was huge and heavily guarded. It had two white towers which stretched up into the sky like tusks. They were mostly filled with officials, engineers and other important people. There was a floor for the meeting rooms and the training halls. Down below there was a long wide building where the soldiers ate and slept, a courtyard, and further underground were vast storerooms lined with crates and crates of weapons. The airfield was a few miles off, and you had to take a hovercraft to get there. The whole place felt very...military.

"How many bases do you have now?" I asked.

"Well, there's the one on Umbara," she said. "And then in the colonies, and of course this one here."

I nodded. So far we had both very tactfully managed to avoid the subject of Finn's death. But there were other things weighing down the silence.

"The Battle on Kashyyyk--" I began.

"Was a disaster. I know."

My leg started to hurt from being folded on the bed for so long. I brought it down and adjusted myself beside her so that I was facing the door as well. She had her head in her hands. "It wasn't your fault," I said to her softly. I felt a pang of something deep in my chest, guilt perhaps.