Temptation Of Grey

Chapter 9 - Lessons

"Will you join me?"

The question hovered meaningfully and heavily between them in the room. Ben looked into Rey's beautiful face, which was now frozen with tension.

The memory of when this question had first appeared between them overwhelmed him for a moment. He would never forget the longing he had attached to this question to Rey, many months ago. He would also never forget the pain of rejection that had made him mad that day.

It would be easy and indeed logical to refuse her as well now. To let Rey also feel the feeling of rejection. But he could not do that, probably he had never had that choice. The overall situation simply requires cooperation. With his deepest, innermost wishes this decision had nothing to do .... at least he tried to persuade himself.

He took a step closer to her: "Yes, I will join forces with you." he whispered without releasing her from his gaze. "Join forces in any way necessary to achieve the goal."

The ambiguity of his words did not escape both. He raised his hand to gently stroke her cheek. Rey was aware that he was offering her the opportunity to work together, nothing more. He had said it clearly, he did not want her.

Why did he stroke her face then? And that longing she felt, was that really just her own? She was not sure but she didn't question it further, she just let it go for the moment and actually relaxed under his touch.

As the burning candle from the table began to float, he grasped it with his free hand and then released her cheek. "First, we should get a grip on the uncontrolled force hover before the hut catches fire." he sighed and a tiny crooked smile appeared on his normally concentrated and stone-carved face.

Rey looked up to him fascinated. He was a handsome man in his own way when he was in his usual mood and had serious facial expressions. But when he smiled ... she had never seen anything more attractive.

"You are beautiful when you smile." she promptly exclaimed. As soon as this remark had fallen, his eyebrows contracted and the smile vanished. He stepped back from her and grunted, "Let's not get off the subject. I agreed to our connection. Do we now have to do anything else to complete the second stage?" He leaned over the scriptures again and quoted loudly:

"light and dark
must descide to cooperate
then the builded pairing
want to be their finally fade "

He raised his head and looked questioningly at her. "How do we recognize that the stage is completed?"

Rey put aside the disappointment of his sudden change of mood. She was also aware that the implementation of the individual stages of development had first and foremost priority over personal interests. Besides, he had made his point clear as to the mutual attraction, she told herself. For him, the incident in front of the house had been a slip-up, an unwanted physical reaction of him, nothing more. So she better not get involved with him anymore.

She looked at him and explained, "There is a chapter with lessons, instructions at each stage, we should look at the chapter and fulfill all the tasks described there, and I hope that we will hopefully notice when the phase has been successfully completed."  she paused for a while, frowning, and continued: "At our forcebond, it just happened suddenly, we do not even know how we can control the connections so far, so I hope that this will be possible as training progresses."

Ben watched Rey as she explained her ideas and thoughts on how to proceed. Her expression was highly concentrated and her hands moved in a quick dance with each additional sentence she spoke to him. Her hair was dried again and small strands played around her face.

He felt the almost painful urge to touch that face again. To touch her again. He could hardly concentrate on her words, since all his senses were directed at not following this urge. He clenched his teeth so that his jaw muscles twitched and finally forced himself to join in the discussion.

"Your thoughts are plausible, we should do that, have you already read the contents of the chapter?"

Rey returned to the book and turned over some pages. Then she put a finger on the corresponding spot in the book and replied: "Indeed, there are three tasks described to seal the unshakable will of cooperation:

- Both candidates must save each other's life
- Both candidates must assure each other that they want to be together 3. - That promise must repeated in a forcebond connection on the mental level while being sealed by their own unified blood"

She looked up to him. "The first task is completed ....you saved my life by destroying Snoke and i saved yours a few days ago. The second Task might be finished too, now that you have accepted my request. "She blushed under his intense gaze, which penetrated her eyes like X-rays as Rey spoke of the recent events and assigned them to the individual tasks.

"However, I do not know how we should complete the final task." She held his gaze and both were thinking about the final task: forcebond, exchange of blood .... how would that work if they were neither separated nor able to control the forcebond connection?

Ben narrowed his hands and started pacing up and down the small room. "Above all, we have to be spatially separated in order to be able to start a trial at all." he thought loudly, "the ship seems to be too close to me, because it's within earshot." He gestured indefinitely in the direction of the transporter with which Rey had come to the planet.

"But there must be safe caves in these heights that we may be able to use for this purpose - it is necessary anyway that we find a cave with a spring and running water as the sanitary conditions in this hut are pathetic," said he contemptuously, "we both urgently need a way to wash ourselves and we need drinking water."

Red raised an eyebrow. "I do not think my physical clean condition is as bad as you say, and besides, I will not go into an icy mountain spring. I love water, but I'm from a desert planet, dammit, that would be my sure death! What just falls here on earth as rain is enough to fulfill our needs."

She looked at him indignantly and he had to muster all his mastery to make a motionless face, instead of laughing out loud. "Rey," he said with a controlled voice, "the springs in these mountains are hot springs. I actually remember this from my childhood, so it will not kill you if you cleanse yourself," he pressed his lips together to suppress a smile.

"Since you're a water lover, as you say, you'll probably like it a lot, provided we find a source. The benefit of such a cave would be also, that the one who stays in it, while the force is connecting us, is safe."

Rey could not believe that there should be such a luxury in nature, water in unlimited quantities, which should also be pleasantly warm? Inconceivably! But now her curiosity was awakened and she replied: "Then we should look for it when the storm is over, but what about the question of how to activate the forcebond and the thing with the blood ... how should an actual exchange during a force connection be possible?"

Ben replied, "We've done it before, back in the hut ... that's where our hands actually touched." He looked at his hand then at Rey.

Both of them were caught for a brief moment in this exciting memory of that first gentle and tender touch and the visions that had been associated with it. Strangely enough, Rey, after her separation and escape from the supremacy, had always trusted the force, that the entry of her vision - which Ben would be by her side - was still possible. And now they stood here, together. This realization astonished her and gave her more confidence in the force.

Then Ben said firmly: "We can do it already, we just have to focus enough and want it."