Permanent Mark

Chapter 21

"Really, Leia? Poe?"

"He's a nice young man…." Leia stated, sipping her caf, watching Rey intently. "He's cute too…." she added with a wink and a grin. 

"Leia!" Rey admonished her, a blush still sneaking up her cheeks. "He is but he's also an ass. So arrogant."

"Much like a scoundrel I met years ago…"

"He's no Han Solo….I can promise you that, Leia."

"That's only because you've put said scoundrel up on a pedestal, Rey Organa. I remember when he was much younger and very much like Poe Dameron."

"Can we stop please?? I've got enough on my plate right now. I don't have time to date."

"I'm just saying, don't let a good chance slip you by. No time like the present…"

"What makes you think he's even interested? He does nothing but joke and act stupid around me."

"Have I taught you nothing, my child? Men act stupid around women. Especially ones they like. I've watched him watch you. He's definitely interested. He's actually very smart and talented. I'd be happy with him as a son in law."

Rey took that as her cue to go. She stood, shaking her head. 

"I'm nineteen. Can I live a bit before marrying, please? I gotta go, Rose needs help on an engine."

Leia laughs and waves her hand. 

"Go, go, have fun with Rose. Force knows I've tried to raise a proper young lady but still that scoundrel managed to slip in that love of building and rebuilding ships. Then again, I was blasting away stormtroopers when I was nineteen…."

Rey just walked away, laughing. 

Yes, Poe Dameron was strikingly handsome. And funny. And kind. But he was not her type. Too short. Too talkative. 

She rather liked a quiet, tall man. A larger man. One who stood just tall enough that when he embraced her, she was swallowed up by him. 

She'd rather like to marry another force sensitive. A man who understood her inner battle. Someone she could spar with. 

Those were in extremely short supply but Rey Organa would never settle for less than what she really wanted.

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Rose is her best friend. Rose is in love with Finn. Finn is in love with Rose. 

Rose is funny, wholehearted, blunt, pure and talented. She rules the mechanics with a firm hand. She also rules Finn. 

Finn escaped from the First Order as a stormtrooper. He rescued Poe from capture by one of Snoke's henchmen. They encountered one another onboard the starship Supremacy. Finn had been traumatized by the death of his best friend. The attack on a village left Finn disturbed, sickened. Finn tells the story that a Snoke henchman watched him deliberately disobey orders to fire. He lived to tell the tale. Somehow it gave him courage to flee. 

"So, he just watched you? He said nothing? Just walked away?" Rey asked Finn while he helped them rebuild the latest X wing brought to the Resistance base. 

"Yup. Just stared at me. Of course, he wears this horrid mask, so it's hard to tell if he is staring. But I felt it. His eyes boring through me. It was scary."

Rose gave Rey a wink. They'd heard this story 57 times already. 

"That was so brave of you, sweetheart. You are so tough," she says, rubbing his arm.