faderift | [semi-open] I will be your shining light

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[semi-open] I will be your shining light

WHO: Rey, Obi-Wan, open
WHAT: a reunion, and open
WHEN: after the rifters get to Kirkwall, and throughout Cloudreach.
WHERE: the docks, the Gallows
NOTES: will add if they become relevant

The Docks - Obi-Wan

Rey is tired after the trip to Orlais and looking forward to taking a bath and sleeping in her own bed for a change. But she can't help opening her senses as she disembarks, feeling out the Force, looking for Ben. What she doesn't expect is to sense someone else, someone she had grimly accepted she would never feel again.

She stops where she stands, Padawan looking at her quizzically as she freezes, trying to zero in on where he is. Obi-Wan.

When she determines the direction she takes off running down the docks, the Force guiding her. She catches sight of him and pushes herself faster, even as her vision blurs from tears welling in her eyes. She doesn't slow down until she crashes into him, throwing her arms around him with a sob. She's been so unsure of so much lately, but she can't help the profound relief washing over her as she feels the presence of her master once again.

Open - Training yard

She's back to one lightsaber, not that she minds. It's easier to control one than two, and she's more comfortable this way. The lightsaber that she had come to think of as hers in her hand, her first line of defense against demons and whatever else stands in her way.

For the moment she's running through her forms, things she learned under Obi-Wan, and a few she'd improvised, modified from Kylo Ren's fighting style. She holds the ignited saber in front of her, sweeping it in a slow arc, pacing her breathing, before speeding up, taking herself through motions she's practiced what feels like a thousand times, now.

Her chosen training spot is a little out of the way, but the low hum of the saber usually attracts some attention.

Open - Rey's Workshop

Often in the evenings, unless Rey is working on something or wanting private time, she'll leave the door to her room open so that Padawan can come and go, and so that others who might need her services can pop in. Or just so friends can pop in. The usual organized chaos of her room stands regardless of the day, and she is usually sitting at her desk, bent over something or another.

Her current project is another series of mini trebuchets that can be used in the obstacle course, and they sit around her desk in a varied state of disarray, some fully constructed, others waiting to be finished. She will look up when someone walks in, and if it's someone she doesn't recognize her tools will go down and she'll stand, asking who they are. If it's a friend they'll just get a smile and a wave as Rey finishes whatever she's in the middle of doing. She can talk and tinker, she's good at multitasking.

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Obi-Wan is just coming down the gangplank when the edges of her presence brush up against his. It's a striking moment, an impression that brings his head up, as if at some crucial sound.

"Rey," he whispers, recognition finally dawning. And then he's moving, begging pardon of the person in front of him, edging around an overburdened porter, and--

And then he sees her and opens his arms just fast enough that he's able to catch her up in them. He pivots, propelled by her momentum and his own, whirling her around joyfully.

"You're alive!" He had feared the worst, accepted with a private despair that whatever rumors had, that the world as it was could only take and take, but here she was, "Rey. It's so good-- so good to see you."

Rey holds onto him tightly, like she's afraid that he'll slip away if she lets go of him, though the smile on her face is broad as she pulls back to look at him. He looks older than the last time she'd seen him, and like he'd been through some hard times. But then, she imagines she looks the same.

"It's-- It's good to see you again. I was afraid I wouldn't ever get to, that you were gone for good." She knows it's selfish, that he has a role to fulfill home, that he still has not guided Luke Skywalker to his destiny. He's not old enough for that to have come to pass. But it's hard to care, when she'd come to care so much for Obi-Wan and her feelings for Luke were still those of frustration.

Poe wanted to at least scope out the area once he was freed to do so. Not like he would be going too far to begin with. He could follow a few simple rules for now. As much as he would want to wander out he couldn't without at least knowing how to wield a weapon. He would take the time to stop by each weapon rack looking at them while watching others train. The more he walked out though, he started to hear a faint hum. Something familiar that he had heard once before. It made him freeze since the last time he heard that it came from a man in a mask striking an innocent man down. Poe couldn't help but be curious to follow the sound though.

As he would come across the humming and who had been using it, the lightsaber wasn't what he had seen before but only had heard in stories. Poe feels the pull of his lips into a smile as he realizes that it's Rey. For him, they had been on the Millennium Falcon not long ago introducing themselves. They both knew who each other were before then, hearing stories of one another. Poe would probably hear from BB-8 and Finn. She could have heard about him from many. Probably good and bad things, he's sure. He slowly makes his way over while watching. She seemed to really know what form she wanted to use. The fluid motion of the lightsaber seemed natural.

Perhaps when he always said they needed a Jedi on their side, it was meant for Rey and not Luke Skywalker. Poe stayed his distance until she seemed to pause for a long while after doing a few rounds of her forms. "I should be asking you for weapon lessons."

"I'm not that easy to kill," He tells her, hands on her shoulders, and can't quite hide the regret. That's selfishness, right there, the desire not to face-- Not to face what he had done, ultimately. Or failed to do. It wasn't the Jedi way, and unworthy besides. He took a deep breath.

"You changed your hair," He says, as if that hesitation had never happened, "Come, tell me what I've missed. Start with this; why here, what's wrong with Skyhold?"

Obi-Wan had liked Skyhold.

Rey knows that there's someone watching her, but she doesn't sense danger so she continues with her forms until they speak. She turns in surprise, recognizing the voice immediately, even though they'd only spoken a little.

"Poe?" She raises her eyebrows, before smiling, deactivating her lightsaber and walking towards him. "You came in with the new Rifters? Is anyone else from home here? Is Finn--?" It's almost too much to hope that maybe her dear friend were here too, but if Poe is here...

She doesn't comment on how easy he is to kill, because she knows, as she'd unwittingly mentioned the first time they'd met, that he would eventually be killed. Maybe not for a long time yet for him, but it's something she just doesn't want to dwell on. Instead she focuses on the more positive, nodding at his observation of her hair. She's been wearing it down more often since remembering all the things that had happened on Ahch-To and beyond, but sometimes she does still gather it up in her old three buns.

"Nothing's wrong with Skyhold, it's still there. The Inquisition just wanted more of a naval presence. Corypheus is building warships or something. So, all the Rifters and several others... We've moved here."

They wanted us out of the Advisor's way, more like, Obi-Wan thinks, abruptly remembering the times Cassandra had pulled him into her office and given him a pressing-down. Particularly after that disaster with the rift...

"Or something, hm?" He replies, raising an eyebrow. C'mon, Rey, you can do better than that, "Speaking of naval presence, I met a friend of yours on the way in. He made terrible impression."

This is, technically, not a lie. Obi-Wan takes a moment to unsling the little duty-bag that had been pressed upon him by a thoughtful Inquisition soldier and produces from it... a lightsaber. A very particular lightsaber. Kylo Ren's lightsaber.

"But, he happened to be carrying this. You recognize it?"

Edited 2018-04-13 23:31 (UTC)

Rey wrinkles her nose, about to clarify on the or something when the sight of the cross guard lightsaber wipes her response from her mind. Her expression, cheery and relaxed a moment before tenses, and her eyes go wide. If she said nothing, he might even think that she was afraid because she hadn't known Kylo Ren was here. Of course, Rey often speaks before letting her mind catch up.

"Ben." She looks between Obi-Wan and the lightsaber, her brows knitting together. "He didn't. He's--" Breathe, Rey. She takes a moment, letting what he'd said run through her mind again. She feels certain that if Ben were dead she'd feel it, and even just stretching her senses out she can feel him on the edge of them. He's not far. She doesn't look for him, though, keeping her eyes on Obi-Wan.

"What did he do?"

"He saw a Jedi in Republic robes and reacted as if I'd been put in his way as a personal challenge," Obi-Wan says, carefully. This is new; an angry Rey, and reacting in the Force through that anger, "Don't worry. The day I can't handle a half-trained Sith weilding this, I deserve what happens."

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't concerned, so he doesn't say anything of the sort. Instead, Obi-Wan offers her the lightsaber.

"The only thing I hurt was his pride."

She's not angry so much as worried, and when he offers her the lightsaber she relaxes, tentatively taking it from him and holding it gently.

"He's not a Sith," she replies automatically, her eyes on the lightsaber before she looks back at Obi-Wan. "A lot has happened, since you've seen me last. I'm... not sure where to begin."

"No," Obi-Wan agreed, eyebrow back in full force, "He isn't."

What was her relation to this boy? Was he trying to pull her to the Dark side, make her... make her... that. Obi-Wan frowned, as if thinking, but what came most to mind wasn't Kylo Ren, but Anakin Skywalker. And the smell of sulfur.

But she was defending him.

"Why don't you start with Kylo Ren. Or was it... Ben? From what you've told me, the two of you were unlikely to get along."

Rey lets out a short laugh, shaking her head.

"Things changed." She bites her lip, her hands absently turning the black lightsaber in her hands before she shifts, opening up her satchel and placing it gently inside. She then adjusts it so it's resting against her hip again. This movement is to give her a moment to try and think about how to phrase, this, how much to tell Obi-Wan. She hadn't told Luke about the bond, should she hold that information back from Obi-Wan too?

No, she shouldn't. She didn't tell Luke because she hadn't been sure she could trust him. She knows she can trust Obi-Wan.

"How familiar are you with Force bonds? Ben and I are connected. I remembered things from my time home while you were gone, like I had gone home though physically I know I never left Thedas. We couldn't hurt each other through the bond, so talking was all we had. He's deeply conflicted. It's like he wants to embrace the light, but he's been so abused by the dark he doesn't think he deserves anything good."

Obi-Wan starts to answer, but then she continues, and his frown only grows deeper. A Force Bond that clear, that open? Dangerous. But also unprecedented-- could it ever be enough to bring someone clinging to the Dark back from that brink?

"Well, whoever his teachers were," He says, slowly, still ruminating, "They haven't done him any favors."

The lightsaber itself was proof enough of that. The cracked crystal, the improper power-bleed, all of it. And his technique could only suffer, with such a weapon, even with a flexible teacher... not that he seemed to follow any reasonable school at all, simply lashing out.

In a world with no Jedi to counter him, wouldn't that be enough? A Lightsaber was elegant and deadly, even that pained, crippled blade could overwhelm. But in a world that also had Rey...

"You're trying to turn him."

"You don't know the half of it," Rey replied a little bitterly to his comment about Ben's teachers. They had failed him in profoundly different ways. Luke had failed to believe in his nephew, Snoke had failed to teach Ben in any other way, he'd only hurt him.

She exhales and meets Obi-Wan's eyes as he says she's trying to turn him, and after a moment, shakes her head. She had thought she could turn him. In some ways, she does still hope for it. But she's decided to stop pushing him towards the light, because that only makes him resist her more. Considering the other night, this method seems to be working the best.

"I tried. But he needs to do it himself. I can't do it for him."

Obi-Wan is quiet for a long few moments, simply looking at her. It's difficult, once you've come to care for someone, to look at them objectively. That was the Jedi way, to pull back, resist connection, to be cold, and compassionate, and alone.

He tried, damn it. He tried.

"Walk with me," He says, because he can't stand quiet among the wavesound and the gulls and the chatter on the docks and remember any longer. He is, as Master Yoda would have said, mired in the past. He offers her his elbow, "All my life, whenever I have met a Sith, or any other practitioner of the Dark Side, I sought to understand them. To befriend them, if I could-- which wasn't often. What you're attempting here, and your understanding of how to do it..."

Anger and pride demanded they be enemies. Compassion and peace demanded one other other: that one side of the conflict should die, or that they should join forces. There was always a losing side, always sorrow to match joy. Balance.

"I'm proud of you, Rey. But I'm afraid... I don't know if there's much left I can teach you. It's a dangerous path you're walking, and I've never really seen the end of it."

Or rather, he had, and it was the wrong end.

She's worried he's disappointed in her. That he'll reject her the same way Luke did. In those moments of silence, that much may show on her face. She can't give up on Ben, not really. She's too deep in with him. But she doesn't want to lose Obi-Wan because of that.

When he asks her to walk with him, offers her his elbow she relaxes somewhat, looping her arm through his as they walk. She listens to what she has to say, and can sense the wisdom in what he says.

"I think he can turn. He's never fully embraced the dark, has always been conflicted. When his master ordered him to kill me... he turned on him." Even after everything that had happened after that, even if the act of striking Snoke down in itself was a violent act, he had risked everything in that moment to save her life. If Snoke had sensed his true intentions, they both would have died.

"He's Anakin Skywalker's grandson. If he was able to turn back to the light after everything he did as Darth Vader, surely Ben can too."

If this goes badly wrong, that Bond could kill her.

That's what he wants to say. That if Kylo can't be saved, he'll leave a wound in her like the one Obi-Wan still carries from Qui-Gon. He wants to say so many things, wise and cautious and careful. Instead, he stops walking and stares straight ahead, blind to his surroundings in every way that matters.

Anakin Skywalker's grandson.

Anakin's grandson?

Luke. Or Leia? The babies. Which? Did it matter? He'd been so angry, and Obi-Wan had... but how? No. No, this couldn't be happening, not a second time. Not again.

"What?" is all he says, finally.

She stops when he does, because they're tethered together, but she isn't sure why. She doesn't know what she said, though she knows they'd talked of Luke Skywalker before and his relationship to Anakin.

Ben's parentage had never come up, of course. Rey wonders if that's it. And then she realizes she's never mentioned Anakin or how he became Darth Vader. Is that it?

"Oh Obi-Wan, I'm sorry. I never talked about what I knew of Anakin Skywalker because I knew you hadn't... I don't know all of it, there was a scandal several years back involving General Organa, a senator exposed Darth Vader as her father to ruin her reputation. I know the story of Luke, he believed in the good in his father, and was able to turn him back to the light. Ben might know more, it's his family. He's Leia's son."

"What?" Obi-Wan repeats, though as she speaks he breathes, and is slowly able to master himself.

The Republic fell. And Anakin-- Anakin. Anakin... Vader. He'd killed the children. Fought Obi-Wan. Hated, hated, so much, and so strongly, that in the end, even in that extremity, Obi-Wan had turned away. And the babies had grown, Luke and Leia, and from there had come... there's someting else there, and he blinks, staring at her in pure consternation as she says it, and he hears, but doesn't believe it.

"...Back to the light?" his voice is hoarse with grief, stricken, and he knows he must look a sight. This is a terrible thing to happen on a public thoroughfare, "They were just babies, when last I saw them. Vader isn't-- I gave her to Bail. Bail Organa, of Alderaan."

Rey can tell she's piling a lot of information onto him, but she doesn't know how to help. But then he mentions that Luke and Leia had been babies, and that gives her... some idea of how much time has passed for him, since last he was here. Not exact, timelines of the end of the Clone Wars don't exist anymore, but she knows enough of the stories.

She tightens her hold on his arm, turning so her body is shielding his from the casual passerby. He's a little taller than her, but not so tall that he towers over her like Ben. She can be a passable shield.

"She grew up on Alderaan. Luke grew up on Tatooine. They found each other as adults, and Luke studied to become a Jedi so he could fight Vader. He became a legend for what he did."

Obi-Wan sags against her, needing the support, needing to be held up.

"Then it wasn't for nothing. She didn't die, for nothing," He says, speaking to himself more than Rey. He closes his eyes a moment, and it's so clear in his mind's eye. What Leia would have grown to be, fiery as her father had ever been, shrewd as her mother, with Bail's steadiness, and a Jedi twin. Luke.

He would have trained Luke. That was the plan, and his student-- the son, brought the father back to the Light. And here, another generation, another struggle for balance.

And the Force, living on, through them.

"Thank you, Rey," He's calm again, or close to it. He can breathe, at least, and stand up under his own power, "I'm sorry, I-- I'm not all I once was."

"It's happened for you, hasn't it." It isn't a question. She knows. Had known, from almost the second she'd seen him. "The fall of the Old Republic."

It's so far in her past, she doesn't know a time in her life without the New Republic, up until recently. It had always been in the distance, something that didn't really impact her one way or another, because criminal activity still reigned on Jakku. But before Obi-Wan had been confused when she'd spoken of the New Republic and the Galactic Empire. Part of her wished he'd never have to go back to that. That he could grow old here, away from it all.

"Yes. Vader..." He took a breath, opened his mouth to speak of dead children, of lost brothers and the agony of it all vibrating through the Force like a terrible discord, harp-strings plucked until broken, screaming. In the end he says nothing, merely repeats, "Yes."

There's nothing really to say. He is suddenly very, very tired.

"Rey. I think I would like to sit down, and have a drink. Do you know somewhere nearby?"

She hesitates a moment before nodding.

"The Hanged Man. It isn't far." She gestures in the general direction, and will start leading him, if he could manage to move again. She's worried about him, and if he wants a drink, he gets a drink.

After Rey parted ways with Obi-Wan she went directly to her room. She took her time putting her things away that she'd brought with her to Orlais and putting aside gifts she'd picked up in Val Royeaux. Then she got water and drew a bath, scrubbing off all the grime accumulated from the ship and the road, and mulling things over in her head. She's careful to keep her thoughts to herself, just wanting things to be her own for the moment.

Eventually the water has cooled and she climbs from the tub and dries herself off, taking her time with that too, and dressing in loose pants and a tunic she often slept in. Her hair she left down, and after a little debating she picked up her satchel, now only containing Ben's lightsaber and the gift she'd picked up for him, and left her room, locking the door behind her.

She goes next door to his room, and exhaling raises a hand to rap her knuckles against the door.

"Ben? Are you awake?"

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[semi-open] I will be your shining light

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training yard

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For Ben, Late evening after thread with Obi-Wan