A full night of rest, and Rey still felt exhausted. As she made her way with Rose, summoned by Finn and Poe to the council tent, she couldn't bring herself to feel anxious about the reason behind the summons. Rose had not looked that pleased as she led Rey, and Rey had a feeling she already knew what was about to be discussed, but even still, she felt rather numb inside. All of her emotional energy had been expended the day before, and now, she felt as if she were running on autopilot.
Her eyes were bleary and unfocused as she was greeted, more somberly than she had been the day before, by her companions. Around her stood those closest and the most integral to the Resistances' victory, muttering to one another about topics Rey had little interest in. Once she had arrived, the meat of the meeting could finally be addressed.
"We know you're still recovering," Poe began, a little more formal than he was used to being, especially with Rey, but she just waved away his statement, shaking her head
"Not any more than anyone else here," she said, not unkindly. "Let's get on with it though. I can't imagine there is much military business that needs be discussed with me anymore, so we all know why I'm here." She didn't sound plussed by this, it was more a resignation than anything else. Perhaps if she were not so emotionally and physically exhausted, she might feel a particular way about these proceedings, and there was still the potential for her to grow that concern as she continued her resting, but for the time being, her general apathy towards the inevitable was...alienating to her friends, to say the least.
"You're the last Jedi left alive," Finn said, a hand placed gently in Rey's shoulder. "I don't think there's anything we could say that doesn't directly need your input."
"All the same," she said, donning a weary smile. Those gathered exchanged hesitant glances.
"Right, well," Poe continued, clapping his hands together and resolving to rip the topic off like an unpleasant bandaid. "The tr- ...the issue of Kylo Ren. That's why we've assembled." Rey didn't immediately make eye contact with the new General, instead electing to affix her gaze to a loose rope flapping from the rafters of the tent structure they occupied. When she did bring her gaze back down to Earth, she was acutely aware, but could not bring herself to care much about the fact that while almost everyone in the tent around her wore some sort of suppressed expression of disgust about this topic, none would look directly back at the Jedi as Poe spoke. Rey was perfectly fine with this.
"Yes," was all she replied, taking a seat on a nearby bench, resting her hands on her knees.
"...Well, he's here." Was what Poe came up with in reply, glancing to Finn for help, but his companion didn't offer him more than a shrug.
"He is," Rey countered.
"...Why?" It was a question many had been asking themselves since his arrival on base, but had dared not ask Rey. The minor looks of relief on several faces were a dead give away for how sought after the answer to this question was. Even Ben himself had asked her this.
"He was hurt. I saved him from Palpatine. He- ...saved me as well." She found it hard to describe what had happened, especially to a crowd. She found it hard to process in the first place, and articulation had never been Rey's strong suit. Finns eyebrows knit tightly together in confusion, but Poe remained stony of expression.
"You saved Supreme Leader Kylo Ren from Emperor Palpatine, a man...on Kylo Ren's side, supplying him with a massive armada?" Poe asked, though he hadn't meant it to sound so accusatory. It was more of a confirmation, really, although to say he wasn't confused would have been a lie.
"It's hard to explain," Rey began, but was suddenly interrupted.
"Try," Rose interjected, her expression was carefully crafted to try and conceal her contempt for this subject, though Rose was not known for her especially adept sense of emotional concealment. "People died at his hands, good people, innocent civilians. As far as the Resistance is concerned, he should be tried and executed for his crimes against the Galaxy."
"Rose," Finn said quietly, lifting a hand to try and subdue her barely masked rage, but she violently shrugged his attempts away.
"You saved us, Rey," she continued, "you were our last hope, and you came through for us. So I want to believe you brought that...scum! Here for any reason even remotely reasonable, but it's really hard to imagine anything he could have done to warrant any mercy at all!" Rey was a little shocked at Rose's outburst, though she didn't know her that well, she could tell there was more to her swirling emotional turmoil than an average resistance fighters allegiance to the rebel cause. Rey wondered what loss this woman had personally suffered to provoke this response.
"Kylo Ren is dead," she answered carefully, and didn't insult Rose by avoiding her fiery gaze. "The man I brought is Ben Solo, General Organa's son. Kylo Ren tried desperately to kill him, but in the end, I saved him-"
"Don't act like they're separate people!" Rey stood as Rose interrupted her again; her autonomic nervous system was kicking into overdrive with a spike of adrenaline, and she needed to stand, to be able to...well, her body wanted to fight or flight, though she knew neither response was especially appropriate at that moment. "Don't insult the people who died to help us get here by acting like the man who ended their lives isn't in our base right this minute! I don't care what name you call him! The wretched body you dragged into camp is the reason our celebrations feel bittersweet!"
"Rose, that's enough-" Poe said, a vein of authority returning to his voice, but Rose was long past her capacity to listen to commands.
"Ben chose the light," Rey asserted, her voice watery, though it had more to do with her exhaustion than with overwhelm.
"He chose too late!"
"It is never too late!" Both women would not back down, and Poe had to physically step between them, or he feared the shorter of the two might swing on an honest to god Jedi. Finn grabbed Rose by the shoulders, and even as she tried to thrash him away, he held fast. "I saw inside his heart! He struggled, but his triumph over darkness is most complete when one struggles to achieve it!"
"And does that wash his hands clean, then?" Rose spat, "why don't you rouse his mother and tell her that he is absolved of his fathers murder then!"
It was at that, that the tent erupted in a cacophony of outraged arguing. Rey couldn't even make sense of the din, or whom was on whose side as those gathered seemed to take offense to both the notion that Ben Solo had been redeemed, and with Rose's callous mention of the late General. Poe tried desperately for a long minute to try and calm the calamity, but after his voice failed to rise above the racket, he shouted for his droid, and BB8 dutifully responded in the most shrill, high pitched and ear splitting whistle the unit could produce. Immediately, those assembled all fell almost together to cover their ears from the terrible sound.
"This is not a Dorriven fighting pit!" Poe yelled, angered by the loss of control. "You!" He pointed to Rose, who showed not a single iota of remorse for her words. "Speak of the General like that again and I'll have you sectioned! Finn, take her to cool off." Finn nodded, and to Rose's absolute chagrin and rage, he was able to pick her up off her feet by the grip he had on her shoulders. Her loud and fitful protests could be heard as she was escorted out. "And you." Turning back to Rey, he had a somewhat more sympathetic look to his expression. "You've got me in a bind, kid. You bring the fallen Supreme Leader of the First Order to my base? What else am I supposed to do?"
"See sense," Rey replied, surprised that this was the direction this discussion had taken. "You know no one hated Kylo Ren more than I did. Why would I have brought him here, if I did not believe with all my heart that he had turned from the Dark Side?"
"Rey, it's not-"
"I have seen it, Poe. I felt it." Poe cast her with a tortured expression, especially considering the look of such earnest she put upon him. He knew she fully believed what she was saying. And Poe trusted her. But she was not who he needed to answer to.
"I trust you, Rey," he said slowly, shaking his head. "But Rose is right. Light side or not, he committed heinous acts." His voice evened out slightly, as his gaze flitted away from her face. "...Ben Solo will stand trial for the crimes committed as Kylo Ren."
"Then he will be killed," Rey said quietly, her jaw tight. Poe didn't turn back to her, but strode for the tent opening.
"Dismissed," he muttered to those gathered. No one moved as he exited the tent, until Rey moved to follow him. But Poe was determined to not be caught, and was out of sight as she exited the tent after him.
Ben sat up immediately. He could sense her before he heard her. Her footsteps were soft outside the medical tent, and she set something on the ground before entering. She seemed startled when she looked in to see him sitting up, fully awake and alert, waiting for her.
"I- ...good. You're awake," she whispered, a bit surprised.
"You know I can't ignore you," he replied, his eyes the only reflective surface in the dark, shining with the tiny streak of moons light let in from the tent opening. Approaching him, she didn't hesitate as she dropped to a crouch beside his cot, hands hovering cautiously over his splinted leg.
"How are you?" she asked, though it was just a formality. Ben didn't insult her rhetorical question with a straight answer.
"I can't stand on it, but I can make it to Luke's Xwing," he said, and Rey's face snapped up, her eyes startled wide at his words.
"How did-"
"You spoke to the New General," he continued. "I'm to be put on trial." Rey paused for a beat as they stared at one another, and then she nodded once. "And if that is to happen, I will be sentenced to death for my crimes."
"For the crimes of Kylo Ren," Rey corrected, standing, and reaching to take his arm around her shoulders, helping him to stand. With a wince, he managed to get to his feet. "And I'm not letting you die for what Kylo Ren did."
"There have been guards outside the medical tent since I was brought in," he said, his voiced labored with pain as they slowly limped from the tent. He glanced around, no guards in sight. "Did you kill them?" Rey rolled her eyes at this, but didn't answer. "Ah, you let them know they had 'orders to assemble the guards on the other side of Base,' then?" She still didn't answer him, but he knew he was more on the nose with this one. He hadn't seen Rey employ Jedi mind tricks before, but for some strange reason, it made him happy to know she was able to when needed.
She retrieved her satchel and staff as they made their way through the quiet base. Curiously, as they limped along, they passed by several campfires lit with rebels gathered around them, and yet no one seemed to realize the two Jedi were there. They weren't being especially sneaky or quiet, and Ben had to wonder if Rey was using the force to somehow cloak them or otherwise obfuscate their presence. Either way, they made easy work of transversing the base, and despite Rey struggling to help Ben climb into the aging spacecraft, they made it to the Xwing uneventfully.
"Where will we go?" Ben asked, as they laid low in the cockpit, waiting for the perfect time to take off, knowing their departure would wake half the base.
"...Away from here," was all Rey would say.
Poe was woken shortly after with the news that Luke's Xwing had just departed from the atmosphere, and that the medical bay that housed the prisoner was now conspicuously empty.