Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Fifty Three: Battlefield of the Fallen (Part 3)

Reham stood her hand silent as it wrapped itself around the weathered battle beaten saber hilt. She had never felt the desire to hold a JEDI's weapon. She'd always looked to the Force to provide her with a sense of peace. An understanding of the world as it was, and as it should have been. Holding a saber did not mean you were safe or beyond the reach of death, there were a great many that had died their with their swords in hand. But as she had felt the Force calling to her as Rey fought the snare she'd fallen into, Reham was aware that stepping out of the shadows would mean she'd be stepping onto a battlefield. And her own flesh and blood would be her enemy. Reham looked across her shoulder towards where the two of them sat, holding onto each other, and then she peered down the long wide metal pier.

Reham: You need to go...

Reham looked back at Rey and Ben Solo, she looked down at her beautiful daughter, and the person she had been walking towards since her first steps. Reham saw the light in her as she knelt with her hands reddened and raw from the fight, holding onto the thing she loved most. Reham had once held onto something that way.
Someone.
Loving for a JEDI was a delicate balancing act, one very few had managed, without severe consequences. Reham had never thought she would feel that way about someone. Standing there as she looked at Rey she felt the warmth of the memory, the warmth and fulfillment of the one she so closely resembled in the smallest ways. But with all the small pieces as Reham began adding them to each other the whole picture came to the surface. The echoing dimness of her expressions, always questioning, but never fearful of the answers. Reham could feel herself traveling back to the moment her life had changed. Just as Rey's was now changed. There are so many gifts she'd inherited from her, but among those you could see on the surface it was the ones that lay beneath that proved invaluable. The balance of self and certainty which allowed her to see everything clearly. Reham had always struggled to find that balance, it hadn't been until she found her other half, that she truly understood the true Will of the Force, the secret we all carry inside ourselves but couldn't see. She knew Rey would get there in time. She knew she'd finally been able to stop running from false hopes which left her broken and full of disappointment. She knew Rey would find it the way she'd found her way to Ben Solo.

Umbra:  KENOOOBBIIIII!

She could hear the high scratchy tone from Umbra's angry cries. Reham knew there was only one way this could end, and it wasn't the way she wanted...for either of them. The clarity which had come with her transcendence into the Force hadn't brought her peace although it had given her pain purpose. But she had not counted on the shadow of the Darkside falling so heavily between the two of them that all ties had been severed. But she could see it now, all the shadows billowing behind Umbra's amber eyes as she glared down the space between them, her sole focus on her. Umbra began stalking towards Reham, the poisonous plum of Darkside energy blocking the torrential of waves thrusting themselves up and over the jagged edge of the era's worn wreckage.

Reham: You should go, Rey.

Rey: You can't take her alone. I can help you....

Reham: No. This isn't the time...you need to go...take care of him.

Rey: I don't understant...I can..

Reham moved towards Rey, her brown hair clinging to her face, her eyes full of worry & doubts. Reham deactivated the sabers bright blue beam as she walked over to Rey, she tried to keep her voice measured & her expression calm. There were so many things she wanted to say to her. So many things she wanted to explain. Reham wanted to offer Rey all the knowledge she'd gained, but Reham knew...this wasn't the time. This wasn't the moment, while she was over joyed at the reunion, there was someone who needed her more.

Reham: I'm not going to fight her, Rey. Umbra is as much a victim in this as you or Ben. She's not to wholely blame, if anyone or anything could be held accountable for the pain & the anger that pulled her into the darkness, it's me. Strength is learned, Rey, & I'm afraid I did a very poor job of preparing you both for what come next for you both.