Solo's Jedi ~Poe Dameron/Star Wars ~

Chapter Eleven: An Old Friend

It was nice to see plants after two years of nothing but sand. 

As I took the final step off the Falcon's ramp, I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill my lungs as I savoured the feeling of the cool breeze waving over my face. Everything felt fresh, even the ground beneath my feet, and as the sun glimmered in reflections from the lake in front of us, I found myself grateful to no longer be on Jakku. There, everything felt sun scorched, worn out and broken down. Here, everything felt alive, even in the force. No longer did I feel muted in my connection to the force, held down by the lifelessness of Jakku. Here, I felt right again, like myself, feeling the sensation of life flowing around me. 

The sun still felt warm, but after years of being on a desert planet, it was a nice warmth, a warmth that didn't feel crushing or overbearing. On Takodanna the sun felt as though it had a purpose, an energy source instead of just a burden. Maybe that was helped by the lush greenery surrounding me, because as I opened my eyes I felt tiny compared to the great trees, stretching up far into the sky. I used to be scared of them, but once I brought Izzy and Erika when we wre travelling and they insisted we climbed them, they felt less limitless. Now, they just reminded me of a better time, a time I felt alive. 

Maybe staying on Jakku for so long hadn't helped my recovery from the academy, leaving me to just dwell on my feelings and suffer. On Takodanna, I felt free once again, possibilities infinite as if the galaxy was open for me to explore. I knew better than to believe that, but still, the nature mixed with nostalgia had made me feel better than I had done in a long time. 

I glanced to the side of me, seeing Rey stood by the water's edge. She was looking around in wonder, and I knew if it was amazing for me to be there it was more so for her. I knew so very little about her, but that feeling of familiarity had appeared once more. We had both escaped Jakku, but whilst I knew just what that meant for me, I was curious to know what it was for her. 

"How long were you on Jakku?" I asked her.

"Longer than I can remember," she admitted, that same kind smile in place once more. 

It was with that smile that triggered a new realisation within me. I felt a flutter in the force surrounding her, and it was a sensation that I hadn't felt since my one that I hadn't felt since my last day at the academy, when I had been surrounded by other force sensitive individuals. Standing next to Rey by the lake just then felt as though I was back in the training room, meditating with everyone else. Back then, there was a constant aura around me, and it was one I hadn't felt at all after fleeing. Now though, it was like I was being greeted by an old friend.

No wonder Rey felt so familiar to me. I'd been feeling the force with her the whole time since meeting her but never realised. Maybe that was because I wasn't used to being around force sensitive people, not anymore anyway, but now I was away from Takodanna where my senses felt so much more refined I couldn't avoid the feeling of it. I wondered if she knew about her connection to the force, but of course she didn't, otherwise she'd have told me when she first saw my lightsaber. 

If she didn't know, they she wasn't trained either, and that would explain just why it all felt so overwhelming around her. It was like I was standing with Ben back as children, before we had been trained, when we first started to engage with our powers. Surrounding Rey was such an intense feeling of pent up potential, trapped within her, without her knowledge. 

I wanted to tell her, but yet I couldn't quite figure out just how to broach the subject to her. How could you tell someone that they belonged to something they hardly knew anything about? Rey thought my Uncle Luke was a myth, so telling her she had that power too seemed like such an ironic twist of her fate. It would be a shocking revelation for her, and one I couldn't drop onto her lightly.