Ouroboros

Sixteen

Sixteen:

Rey was angry. She knew she probably shouldn't be-anger was supposed to be a quality of the living, especially of those who struggled-but she couldn't help it. Here in the Force, all was meant to be calm but it seemed to be anything but. Her death seemed to be just the first in a series of indignities that all seemed designed to annoy her, out her in danger and force her to watch and feel as the man she shared a Dyad with was put through the wringer.

She was under no illusions that she was hardly the stuff of legendary Jedi. After her death, she had spoken at length with Luke and more briefly with Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu...and she found herself disagreeing with their philosophy. Their devotion to the elimination of emotions made no sense and their fear of darkness to her mind made them unbalanced and vulnerable. Luke's decision to allow the Jedi to die had seemed inexplicable during her time on Ahch-To but as she had considered longer and longer, the more their beliefs seemed of another age. The conflict between Light and Dark had fuelled the wars that had torn the Galaxy over and over, had caused the deaths of millions and violence and intolerance. Yet all they were was the distillation of the struggles that mere mortals faced every day. Almost no one was purely light or irrevocably dark-the majority were a mixture of both, faced with anger and hatred, hardship, love, compassion, kindness, generosity, greed, selfishness and self-sacrifice. What mattered was what you chose to be, that you resisted using the dark for cruelty and hatred and remained true to yourself. She knew that Luke didn't agree with her-but Luke had given in to fear and had hidden for years, too scared to face the consequences of his actions and do better. The Jedi were afraid of emotions and had tried to expunge an essential part of being human to avoid the conflict...when the conflict was life. Choosing to be the best person you could be was part of being a sentient being-and in Rey's eyes, hiding near Dathomir waiting for something to happen wasn't the best option. Not when she could feel her friends in danger.

So she concentrated and followed her instincts, diving through the swirling eddies of the Force in search of one particular Jedi who maybe could help her in her quest.

oOo

"You know, it's at times like this that I wished we actually had one of those First Order Hyperspace Tracking devices," Poe grumbled. "We had the entry vector but beyond that...may we as well just spin a bottle to work out where they went!"

Chewie gave a long ululating growl and BB8 replied with a small warble.

"What?" Finn asked, exasperated. Poe rolled his eyes.

"The Wookiee said that space is three dimensional and that simply spinning a bottle misses at least one essential vector in plotting a destination," Tamini replied, grumbling. She had reluctantly agreed to sit with the crew in the cockpit as they wrestled with the conundrum of deciding what their next move. She was insistent that they returned to Kineva Station and her place with Kaalan Kon Kolb but no one else was keen to risk further encounters with the bounty hunters to return her at this time. The best they were willing to offer was to drop her off at a safe port to be collected, which was unacceptable to the healer, who knew her value and the deal that had been bartered for her services. The ensuing argument had left her sulking and Poe frustrated, wishing he was still a Commander not a General.

"It's official-everyone speaks Wookiee except me," Finn grumbled, watching his friend. Poe was the first friend he had made, a man who he had helped escape and who had easily and openly accepted the frantic stormtrooper FN2187 who had wanted nothing but to get away from the Finalizer and the First Order. Poe who had given him his name, Finn, because he refused to call a sentient being just by a number. And Poe who had welcomed him with a hug when they had been reunited in the rebel base of D'Qar. Poe who was his friend, his brother, his co-leader and who was ambivalent about this mission.