The Shadows of the Past Trilogy
Episode 9: Nemesis of the Force Part 7
Then, to everyone’s amazement, the fiery light at the center of the adjoining chamber flares and begins shifting and changing all the more. The battle stops immediately as everyone freezes, staring at the glow in bewilderment. As they look, they see the flaming light take form and shape until it becomes a human female about Rey’s height and build. In fact, the woman looks very much like Rey, as if they could be siblings. She extends her hand out to her left. With this, a primitive shaman’s robe unhooks from a wall hanger and floats over to her. It wraps around her as she steps down from the dais, walking towards all of them. She doesn't stop glowing like a being of pure energy until she is fully clothed.
Rey looks at her with total calm and peace mingled with curiosity etched on her features. She can feel it. By stretching out with the Light Side of the Force, she has opened some sort of ethereal gateway within the chamber, and by doing so, she has summoned someone - someone she is familiar with.
However, Finn cannot help himself. His words simply burst forth from him. “Am I seeing this? Did a woman just form out of fire?” Chewie responds, stunned as well.
The woman smiles at Rey, her focus completely on the young Force-user. She comes to stand before her just outside the fountain's rim, and she lays her hand upon Rey’s head. Rey takes in a deep breath, as if the touch has suddenly filled her lungs with air.
Recognition appears on the woman's face. “Rey?” she says with a warm and sweet smile that turns to excitement and joy. “My darling Rey?”
Before Rey can do anything, the woman throws her arms around her. Rey, unprepared for this new development, only kneels there, arms outstretched and looking very uncomfortable. Then, all at once, it is as if reality dawns on her. She finally knows why the woman is familiar to her. She pushes herself away and into a standing position, looking at her in an all new light. Unable to believe what she is seeing, Rey’s eyes go wide with shock and disbelief. “M…M…Mother?”
"Mother?" says Finn. "Did she say, 'Mother'?"
“I am SO relieved to see you again,” the woman says to Rey, and she attempts to throw her arms around her once more.
Rey immediately recoils, throwing her mother’s arms to the side. “What is happening? This is a lie. You aren’t my mother. You can't be - can you? It’s an illusion or something. It has to be.” At her violent gestures, the Coway seem offended and move to encircle Rey as if to pounce on her again. In response, Jacen, Finn and Chewie are about to strike, but the woman gestures for them to stop. She then sighs sadly.
“We never came back for you,” says Rey's mother, and a deep sadness washes over her. “Of course. Forgive me. I'm letting my emotions get the better of me.” She looks away, trying to find the strength and the right words to continue. As she does, Jacen, Finn, Chewie, and all of the Coway, begin to cautiously gather to watch and listen.
“We promised, and we failed to keep it,” says Rey's mother. “It was only supposed to be temporary. In our pride, we never even considered that we might fail.”
Rey shakes her head, still not fully believing the woman’s words. “Don’t give me that. You aren’t my mother. You look like her - or at least how I remember her - or just how I picture her in my mind - but you aren’t her. Who are you? WHAT are you?”
The woman’s warm expression never falters, and neither does her look of regret. “Please. Go back to stretching out with your feelings. Let the Force reveal to you the truth. In the meantime, why don't you come out of the fountain and sit with me. Let's talk." Rey reluctantly obeys, sitting on the rim of the fountain. She still seems wary, but after everything she's been through, she welcomes the chance to sit.
Rey's mother then gently glides into place, sitting on the rim as well a modest distance away. "My name is Aritra. I am a Whill.”
“A what?” asks Rey.
“A Whill,” replies Aritra.
“Wait! If you’re my mother, and you’re a…a whatever… Does that mean I’m not… Am I supposedly not even human?” Rey seems completely appalled by this thought.
Aritra, now completely worried about Rey’s reactions, pats the air in her direction in a gesture to try to calm her. “Please, I can explain.”
“Yes. I think you had better explain. This…this is...” Rey shakes her head again, but it almost seems as if somehow Aritra’s words are sinking in, as if Rey somehow knows that they are true.
“I'm sorry,” Aritra says again with all sincerity, her voice soothing and calm. “I know this might be difficult to accept. Nevertheless, I am a Whill; an ancient, immortal being. Whills are called the Watchers to some and the Record Keepers to others. We dwell in the Force, and we are subject to the Will of the Force.”
Rey shakes her head, confused. “You’ve lost me. I know some of the Jedi tomes mention a Will of the Force, but I never understood it. What is it?”
Aritra continues. “There is an all-powerful Will of the Force. It is the ultimate authority and power in the universe. It is eternal, even as the Force is eternal. The Will commands, and the Force obeys.”
“It is the Will of the Force that first set up the entire order of the universe. The Will created all of the rules and laws that govern all things. The Force obeyed the Will and gave all things structure and purpose and life. Then, as it did so, the Will of the Force made it so that all things that are good, they would become one with the Force so that the Force and all that the Force can co-exist with might live together in perfect harmony and peace.”
“It is like a great machine. All things that are good work together in unity to make the machine work and function as it was designed to. All pieces are a part of the great design, just as all people who are good are a part of the Force. They are not the Force, but they are connected to it, working with it in harmony. The Force dwells within them, and they dwell within the Force.”
“Then where does the Dark Side fit in?” asks Rey. “This isn’t exactly the teachings from the Jedi. They teach that there are two aspects of the Force; the Light Side and the Dark Side. What you are saying sounds like the Light Side of the Force is the Force, so what is the Dark Side then?”
“By creating Light, one also creates Dark,” explains Aritra. “By creating truth, one creates a multitude of lies. By creating the concept of peace, one then inadvertently must create the concept of war. By creating good, one must inadvertently create evil.”
“The Force IS the Light Side, Rey. It is good and pure. However, by being good and pure, the Light Side also creates the concept of being evil and corrupt. The “Dark Side”, as it has been so called throughout the generations, is nothing more than a perversion of the Living Force. It is the act of doing what is opposite of good. It is the void created by the Light Side.”
Rey seems to catch on. “So if the Light Side is truth then the Dark Side is anything but the truth because there can only ever be one truth.”
“Don't listen to her, Rey. THIS is all lies,” comments Jacen. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but this…this thing is feeding you a load of garbage.”
Aritra looks over at him and regards him with a raised eyebrow. “Oh? Are you so certain?”
Jacen steps forward and says, “Yes,” with confidence. Many of the Coway move to intercept. Aritra again raises a hand to gesture to them to withdraw. Seeing that they do, Jacen continues. “I feel the Dark Side. It is an entity that consumes me. It tugs at me and draws me into it like a black hole. It breathes and whispers and tempts. And I also feel the Light Side. It is no different from the Dark except that the two are extremes, two ends of the same spectrum.”
Aritra patiently explains. “You have spoken true. The Dark Side is like a black hole. Evil exists by drawing power from the Living Force and perverting it to meet its own desires. A lie, for example, cannot exist unless it takes the truth and twists it. Thus, a lie FEELS like the truth or another version of the truth, but if it deviates from the actual truth, it isn't the truth at all. It is a lie because it causes you to believe something that simply isn't true."
"Think of it like this: The Force is like a hydrospanner. It can either be used in the way that it was designed, to help build and maintain something, or it can be used contrary to its purpose; doing anything except to help build and maintain. If a hydrospanner is used as a weapon, it is not fulfilling its purpose. It is being abused, and it will likely break at some point due to being continually misused. The more it is abused, or the harder it is abused, the greater the risk that it will break sooner.”
“The same is true for the Force. It provides eternal life to all things. However, if a being perverts the Living Force that has been poured into it, that being's essence will eventually break down and dissipate. It will have no more life left in it. The person will grow older faster, and their very essence will become twisted and sick."
"This is why no being of the Dark Side can continue living beyond death. When they die, they are at last disconnected from the one true source of all life, which is the Force. Without the Force, nothing can live, for the “Dark Side” does not provide life. It only subverts the life energy that the Force gives to that being, and when the physical body of that being cannot survive any longer on subverted life energy, because it has been too long without pure life, it dies, and its existence withers away to nothing.”
“And the Whills were created by the Force to be the servants of the Force; its guardians and its assistants. We are limited beings of the Unlimited Force, but we are created with unlimited lifespans so that we can assist the Unlimited Force with all that is limited; a bridge between unlimited and limited.”
“So we are invisible, and we flit about, guiding and directing, almost as if we are little wills of the Force. We provide visions and dreams, attempting to guide you to fates that we believe will transpire based upon our observations and our calculations.”
“So… you… ARE the Force?” asks Rey, a bit unsure.
Aritra shakes her head. “Not exactly. Again, we assist the Force. The Force is the source of all life and all power. We merely help it based upon whatever it wills.”
“Still,” Aritra adds. “Sometimes we do things for ourselves as well. We are independent beings, after all, with wills of our own. And so, some of the Whills have become corrupt in their beliefs. They help beings subvert the Force. They believe, and deceive many into believing, that the true Balance of the Force is to have life and death, peace and war, existing at all times in perfectly equal amounts. In other words, for every right there is a wrong. For every good, there is an evil. Neither Light nor Dark are stronger in their eyes.”
“These Whills grew tired of peaceful living, and they manipulated beings to go to war with one another. This was the beginning of sentient death in the universe. These Whills, even now, spur death and war on and desire to see “the Dark Side” thrive. In their minds, new life cannot exist without destroying the old. This is the belief of your true enemy. It is the belief of the one whom you call Snoke.”
“Snoke? What?” Rey says, again shocked.
At this, Jacen clenches his lightsaber more tightly, and he sets his jaw in anger. “I’ve heard enough,” he says, and he suddenly rushes at Aritra, faster than the blink of an eye.
Aritra doesn’t even flinch, but Jacen is frozen, his lightsaber within inches of the back of her neck. She looks at him with a very serious expression on her face and a raised eyebrow. She then rises, moving away from the blade. She stands before Jacen to look at him eye-to-eye. While she is the picture of calm, he is struggling and fighting to lash out at her.
“There are always stronger beings in the galaxy, Jacen Solo," Aritra says. "Only the Force is supreme and nothing can defeat it.” She then places her hand upon his forehead as he continues to struggle. “Stop fighting. Rest.”
As Rey had when she touched her head, Jacen suddenly sucks in a deep breath, and all of the anger dissipates. His lightsaber switches off. His body goes almost limp.
Rey is on her feet then, standing next to her. “Stop it,” she says to Aritra. “I don’t know what you’re doing but…”
“I am merely relieving him of his internal conflict,” Aritra replies. “I have cut off Snoke's influence. Light chases away darkness, if you'll let it. See? Does it not look as though I am healing him rather than hurting him?” She then releases Jacen, and he drops to his knees, tears streaming down his face. There is a look of utter relief on his face.
Rey moves to aid him, but Aritra stops her. “Let him rest. He’s fine. Can’t you feel it?”
At that moment, Rose enters the temple chamber. The Coway look at her with suspicion, but she hurries up next to Finn. “Found a landing site for the Falcon. It's a bit precarious, but... Left R2 and 3P0 to stand watch. What’s going on?”
Finn shakes his head. “I have no idea. It’s a Force thing. All I got so far is that Rey might not be totally human.”
Rose looks over at him. “What? Seriously? What is she then?”
Finn looks at Rose and just shakes his head. “Half-immortal or some crazy thing like that.”
“Well,” says Rose, brightening a little. “I guess that explains why she was able to learn the Force so quickly. Don’t most Jedi take years upon years to learn the Force? And she picked it up pretty much immediately.”
Aritra sits Rey back down. She regards Finn and Rose for a moment. “The Jedi,” she explains to them, “ALL Force-Sensitive individuals, they had their beginning with the Whills. There are special gateways that once existed all over the universe." She gestures to the adjoining chamber and the flickering flames. "The Whills could clothe their spiritual essences with physical bodies by passing through these gateways. When they first existed, the Whills were able to come and go from the physical galaxy whenever they wanted. Since Whills may take whatever form they wish, Whills of just about every race came into the galaxy and dwelled with members of the races that they selected to become.”
“And so, interacting physically with other physical beings, having fully physical bodies as any other physical beings, many Whills grew to love other physical beings and were attracted to them. Their children became the first Jedi in the galaxy. The parents of those original Jedi, a Whill and a mortal being, raised the original Jedi, teaching them to love and honor and respect all other beings, staying true to the Force, what the Jedi later called “The Light Side”. All of the most powerful Force-users in the galaxy were born from the marriage of a mortal and a Whill with few exceptions.”
“But, as children often do, many rebelled against their parents. They began to do things that were unnatural and immoral. They focused on themselves and their own desires, emotions and ambitions. They corrupted the Living Force within themselves and sought to conquer and rule and war and take. These Rogue Jedi were spurred on by those Whills that wanted war, of which the being known as Snoke was one of the chiefest among them. They destroyed most of the gateways in the galaxy so that a majority of Whills could not return once their physical bodies were slain.”
“Yes,” says Aritra. “Snoke is a Whill. His true name is Sala-tzar. Years ago, when Plageuis was Dark Lord of the Sith and Sidious, Emperor Palpatine, was his apprentice, Plageuis alone found a gateway, like this one.” She gestures again to the room from which she had appeared. “Plageuis, tempted by Sala-tzar’s silent influences, desired immortality. He activated the portal because he believed that it would provide him what he desired most."
"Once the portal was opened, Sala-tzar emerged, and he took the form of Snoke, a Pau’an who swore to Plageuis that he had the secrets of eternal life. He taught Plageuis that he could manipulate midi-chlorians within himself and others and extend life for a time, all by perverting the Force - using the Dark Side. Plageuis wrote everything down. Sidious then acquired all of this knowledge after he betrayed and murdered Plageuis.”
“And from the shadows, Snoke manipulated the galaxy to war as he has done over and over again throughout history.”
“The Clone Wars,” says Rey, considering Aritra’s words carefully.
“Yes, but also the Galactic Civil War, for he had manipulated many of the Senate to form the Rebellion. And after that, he took over the First Order to help them build an army capable of wreaking havoc upon the New Republic, thus creating the chaos that has become the state of the galaxy.”
“Snoke went unchecked for a time, though Luke Skywalker helped to undermine a good deal of what he had hoped would occur during Palpatine's reign. Therefore, because Snoke was not defeated, I came through this gateway; My Gateway.”
“Your Gateway?” Rey asks, puzzled. She still seems skeptical, but she continues listening, seemingly trying to just absorb it all.
Aritra nods. “When the Gateways of the Whills were first created, the Will of the Force determined that special rules would apply to them. Every gateway would be linked to a particular Whill. If a Whill’s gateway was ever closed, the Whill could no longer respawn a physical body. If destroyed, the Whill would be permanently unable to return.”
“I came to stop Snoke, for I was one of the only ones left with a gateway that had simply been closed. Interestingly, it had been opened during an encounter between Luke Skywalker and his father, Darth Vader; a simple accident that neither was aware of - all concerning a Kaiburr Crystal. Luke had channeled the Light Side, much as you did now, and he summoned me unawares.”
“But Snoke sensed me, and he knew I had come to stop him. I sought him out for years, and during my journeys I met your father, Merik Ventaris. He was a human fringer with a good heart and a clever mind; an excellent pilot, but a jack of all trades as well.” She says this last part with a lovesick expression. “He was much like you, I believe. He knew how to survive on practically nothing. We traveled together for a time, and he promised he would help me track Snoke down.” She grows sad then. “I do love him so. I hope to see him again.”
“Is he still alive?” asks Rey. She is obviously trying to hide the hope gleaming in her eyes, but she is failing miserably.
Aritra nods. “Somewhere out there, in the Unknown Regions. He is lost and alone; trapped within First Order space. THAT is why he never came back for you.”
And just like that, Rey's hope seems to die. A darkness comes over her. After a brief pause, she asks, “Why? Why did you leave me on Jakku? Why did you abandon me with…with Unkar Plutt of all people? It was…he was…horrible.”
“I had to make a choice,” Aritra says. “I had to choose to either continue to raise you and forget my mission, leaving Snoke unchecked, or leave you in the care of another and go after Snoke. I…regrettably chose to go after Snoke.”
At this, Rey lowers her gaze to her hands as she plays with her fingers. She is trying to fight the emotions back as Aritra continues, deep regret in her voice.
“Your father said that Unkar was an old friend of his. He didn’t want to let me go after Snoke alone, so he suggested we leave you with Unkar on Jakku. Besides, your father had made a good point. Knowing we were coming for him, Snoke would most likely send his best hunters to find you; to use you against us. On Jakku, we thought it was so remote and few go there. We thought you’d be safe. And in that regard, you were. Snoke's hunters never found you.”
Then she follows Rey’s example, lowering her gaze to her hands and playing with her fingers nervously. “But we promised you,” she says, tears again welling up. “We promised you that we wouldn’t leave you, and we did…and we left you…all those years…in that horrible place. And Unkar changed. It was the worst mistake I’ve ever made.”
Rey shakes her head, anger and bitterness boiling up within her. “What happened to you then?” she asks. “What happened to my father?”
“We were separated. We hunted Snoke to his lair in the Unknown Regions - to Uratsixo. He had already been manipulating the First Order for years. We tried to stop him, but he was far more clever and powerful than we imagined. He has minions no one has ever seen before; dark, terrible things - unimaginable horrors.” She tries to shake herself free of the memory.
“I continued to pursue Snoke while your father lured the First Order’s troops away. I managed to mortally wound Snoke, giving him a terrible head injury. Then I made the mistake of thinking he was dead. I went to close the gate before he could return. I never saw his attack coming.”
“But those in the Light live forever,” she says, trying to brighten up the dark mood. “I returned to the Force and now, I come again to help you stop Snoke. Your attunement to the Light here has given me the power to respawn at the gate. THAT is why I guided you here. Subtle manipulations within the Force drew certain individuals together to provide you with the lead you acquired on Corellia so that you would come here and summon me. Only I know where his gateway is, and until it is shut, Snoke can return again and again, taking whatever form he desires.”
“But how can we hope to stop him?” says Rey, face still full of pain and uncertainty. “We’re all alone. I’ve been searching for years for other Force-users. They don’t exist unless they’re evil. Can we defeat Snoke by ourselves? If you couldn’t before, what makes you think you and I can now?”
Aritra smiles. “We are not alone, Rey. The Force has been guiding others to you all along. She then gestures to the Coway Giant. As she does, Jacen starts to stir, coming back to reality and gathering himself together.
“This is Golrit.” Aritra turns to the giant. “Golrit, can you please retrieve Rey’s lightsaber?” The giant obeys, stretches his hand out, and the lightsaber flies into his grip. He then hands it to Rey. Seeing this, Jacen gets to his feet, staggers a bit, and then seems to focus his attention more on the Coway Giant, wary of him.
Aritra gestures to Finn and Jacen. “And then there are your friends Finn and Jacen.”
Rey’s eyes fall on them. She seems oddly unsurprised. “Are you saying Finn has the Force?”
Aritra nods. “Haven't you felt it? Why do you think he was able to break the First Order’s psychological conditioning? The Force helped him to unshackle his mind. That is also how he faced Kylo Ren, and he wasn’t defeated without at least a decent fight. That is why he is always, somehow, surviving disaster after disaster. The Force guides his actions and helps him.”
“And there are others that, even now, are unwittingly about to cross your path. Together, you shall be the Paragons of the Force. You shall be champions of the Light, and with my help, you will defeat Sala-tzar - Snoke - and you will restore the true Balance to the Force.”
Jacen's eyes narrow on her. “I don’t know what you did to me,” he says, trying to be defiant again but failing utterly. He appears to be just too exhausted to put up a fight. “But Snoke is dead. I felt it. His life essence was snuffed out. I can’t believe any of this no matter what kind of weird powers you use on me.”
“The gateway is not closed,” Aritra says in reply. “It gives him the power to respawn into whatever avatar he desires. And he can hide from you, Jacen Solo. It is one of the things he is best at - hiding.”
She becomes a bit agitated with him. “Think for yourself, for once. Why do you think that you have always been torn between the Dark Side and the Light? It is because Snoke has exceptional mind powers. He can touch your mind from across the galaxy. HE was the one who used the Force to make you think that Vader was speaking to you."
Her voice becomes Vader's, echoing in Jacen's mind. "HE was the voice of the Dark Side." Her voice becomes Snoke's. "HE has even been the voice of the Light Side." Her voice returns to her own and is no longer in his head. "He has purposely tried to tear you apart with internal conflict so you would do his bidding.” Jacen shakes his head, but he simply looks away from her and off towards the Gateway Chamber as if lost in thought.
Aritra smiles as if she is about to tell a joke. “Search your feelings. You know it to be true. All your life, all you’ve ever wanted was to become your own person - to escape from the influence of your mother, father, uncle and even Snoke. And yet you still cannot do this because you refuse to think for yourself. You refuse to stand up for who you really are."
"As Rey has told you, time and again, "Let go, Jacen. Stop fighting, and just BE Jacen Solo. He is not this persona you call Kylo Ren nor is he the Jacen Solo that your mother and father thought you were or wanted you to be - nor is he the student of Luke Skywalker or the master of the Knights of Ren. He is all of these things combined. YOU pick and choose what you want to be. You choose which pieces of all of these things you want to keep as who YOU really are.”
Jacen still remains silent, but he closes his eyes and bows his head as if he no longer has the strength to argue. Rey then looks from Aritra to Jacen to Finn to Chewie and then to Rose; uncertain. There is a range of emotions etched on her face. “I…I…” she says, clearly conflicted. Then, unable to contain her emotions any longer, Rey turns away from Aritra and towards the exit, putting her hand to her head and shaking it as if to clear away her thoughts. “I need time to think.” And she hurries off towards the exit at a brisk pace.
Outside, Rey stops just short of the driving rain as she places her hands upon a low stone wall. From her position, on some sort of balcony, she stares through the storm out at the countryside. It is as if she is desperately searching for answers on the horizon.
From behind, Finn slowly makes his way towards her. “Hey,” he says gingerly. “Do you…do you need someone to talk to - to vent at? I can be a good listener or a punching bag, whichever you need.” He grins at her, trying to cheer her up. She makes eye-contact with him, and her face softens a bit. She smiles and then hugs him.
“You’ve always been there for me, Finn,” she says, holding him close. “Ever since Jakku, you’ve never stopped caring about me. I just…I…” She squeezes her eyes closed and leans into him. “It’s all coming at me at once. I don’t know what to believe. Everything is happening so quickly.”
“For so…for so long I waited and hoped for my parents to return for me.” She seems to choke a bit while saying this. “Then I finally started giving up on it, after everything we went through against the First Order. Kylo convinced me that my greatest fears were true, and I knew it; that my parents were nobody’s and I’m a nobody. And I believed it. I believed it because I was so tired of holding on to any kind of hope that they were anything but horrible parents who just abandoned me on Jakku.”
She finally pulls away. “And to make matters worse, I was confused…Hah! I still am confused. The Force just awakened within me and became so power so quickly. I didn’t even know what to do with it, and the one person…THE ONE PERSON who could have helped me figure it all out died."
"Stupid Master Luke. Why'd he have to die? He said he was old and at the end of his days, but he wasn't old. He was fifty. He still had plenty of life left in him. But he said his time was coming, and I guess he was right."
"But I’ve spent the last several years trying to find others like him and trying to find out more about…about everything…anything to help me. And now…am I really supposed to believe this?” she says, gesturing towards the temple. “Am I supposed to believe that I’m the child of some immortal Force-being? Is Snoke really alive? In my heart, I feel it. I believe it. I just…I don’t even know.” She turns away from him to place her hands on the wall again, looking out over the horizon.
Finn puts his hand on her shoulder. For a moment, he seems uncertain what to say. Then, he smiles at her again. “Hey, Rey. Look at me. Come on. Look at me.” She complies. “I don’t know if all that back there is true or real or whatever, but this much I do know. This much she got right. You don’t have to do any of this alone anymore.”
“For the last few years, Chewie, Rose, R2, 3P0 and I have all been right there with you, travelling all over the place fighting the First Order, making cargo runs, narrowly escaping crime lords and their thugs, hunting for Force stuff…”
She smiles and even chuckles a bit as a memory comes to her. “…getting shot at by those pirates near Eridu and chased into that Mynock’s den in that asteroid…Do you remember that? You were scared to death when the mynocks first started flocking down to latch on to the Falcon.”
Finn chuckles as well as he nods at her. “Yeah, well, you weren’t the one outside in a space suit barely holding on while trying to shoot those droids off the hull that the pirates had managed to launch at us - WHILE you were weaving the Falcon through a maze of passages inside that asteroid, I might add. All of a sudden, wings everywhere. E-verywhere!”
Both laugh a moment longer at this and then grow more serious. Finn continues. “Anyway, my point is: You’re not alone anymore, Rey, but you’ve been acting like you’re still alone on Jakku, even though we’ve been here for you all this time. You don’t have to continue alone either. You don’t have to figure it all out by yourself. You’ve got me, and Chewie, and Rose and the droids.”
Then, he seems to return to his joking nature. “And hey! Didn’t you hear? I’m a Jedi now too, so…I’m just sayin’. Looks like you might have to teach me a few things too, cause I can’t do any of what you do. Any of it.” And he waves his hand at her as if to encompass her entire being.
She laughs with him again, a smile spreading across her face as their eyes lock. She reaches up to touch him on the cheek with her right hand. “Thank you, Finn,” she says, her expression one of total gratitude.
But the touch has done something unexpected. Her expression changes, suddenly. It becomes something more serious and more intense all at once. Finn’s expression also takes on the same. He reaches up to cup the back of her head; to pull her closer to him. For several moments, though, neither makes a move. Both begin breathing more shallow. And then, they start to draw towards one another. Rey’s eyes close as she leans in for a kiss. Finn also closes his eyes. Their lips meet, and for a moment, they seem to have forgotten everything else.
“E-hem,” the voice of Rose cuts right through the moment, and the two pull away guiltily. Looking very annoyed, Rose stands at the entranceway to the balcony. She raises an eyebrow at them as she speaks, as if reprimanding them with her look. “Whenever you’re finished, whether you like it or not, the others have already gone off to board the Falcon. Seems your mother-person just decided she's coming with us and bringing that big guy, and we're leaving immediately. So...”
She then turns as if to leave. She pauses at the last second, glancing back over her shoulder to make eye contact with Rey. Then she lets out a single sigh at her, shakes her head, and walks into the darkness of the temple.
Rey and Finn shift uncomfortably; both embarrassed. You can see a hint of guilt on their faces. “Well,” says Rey, breaking the uncomfortable silence that immediately falls between them. “Sounds like we should hurry back to the ship.” She brushes her hair behind her ears and heads off after Rose.
“Yeah. Right. Sounds good,” says Finn, trying to recover from the moment. He only hesitates a few seconds before he hurries along to catch up to her.
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