Important Author's Note:

Howdy All, I've been a fairly consistent presence here for more than a decade and I really love it here (though being much closer to 30 than 20 makes that seem like such a bigger declaration of loyalty). In that time I've come to know myself and how I write- some of you have been the sad victims of my lack of updating. That's probably because I don't write chronologically but Fanfiction sort of indicates it wants you to post chronologically. Therefore I have a new method: this is a work in progress, an extended novella in the form of a one-shot, and when it is updated the updates could be at any point in the action. Beginning, middle, end, who knows. I'll be updating as the writing shows up in my head. Welcome to the chaos- I recommend story alert for the best odds of getting the full effect.

Obligatory Force Awakens Note:

I think it's important if we are putting out post-Force Awakens stories before any of the other flicks come out that we post a warning as to which theories we buy into. I buy that Rey is Han and Leia's daughter, Ben's twin, and that when Ben went bad she survived. Luke found her and in order to protect her he dropped her on Jakku with a wiped memory so that her brother couldn't find her (after all, the Force seems to have to do with consciousness and conscientious connections or else how would Obi-Wan be able to hide from Vader or Luke and Leia not instantly recognize one another?). Ben, Leia and Han all believe she is dead and, clearly, her real name isn't Rey. If this bothers the hell out of you, you probably want to stop reading around 3/4 of the way through.

Cheers and happy reading.

Tena Korza

The ship was moving smoothly along and the space around them was devoid of debris. It would seem like a peaceful journey but something was not sitting right in Tena Korza's stomach….a diplomatic ship, one covered in the Ke'Lani flag, should be able to move through this corridor of space without any problem. The fighting between the Rebellion and the First Order was two systems over and, at any rate, had been quiet for nearly a week. The Republic had just had another failed debate, another vote stagnated by the equal forces of First Order and Rebellion supporters in the hall, and Tena had noted that the neutral parties were beginning to diminish. The near future would tell if the Republic or First Order would be the ones to gain the upperhand and political sway necessary to make big decisions. Not for the first time was Tena disappointed, frustrated even, by the absence of the New Jedi: not so many years ago the New Jedi had been a voice for peace, careful thought, diplomacy.

Something about the atmosphere, the very air, wasn't right.

She sat, reclined on a seat that was a full window, and watching the stars plod passed her. She had been sitting at her father's feet on the Senate floor since she was five years old. Many years on the Senate floor had taught her when a fight was brewing…

She wasn't surprised when the alarms began ringing.

"Your reputation precedes you, Councillor Korza. Starships are rarely taken with so little effort." His voice was deep and lilting as though it really wanted to sound like something other than it was.

"I am not alone Kylo Ren- I might have guessed that the first Knight of the Ren would be the one to take a diplomatic starship. Might I ask what you intend to do?"

She was calm, almost unnervingly so, as though she was taken hostage by Republic aggressors every day. Some of the surrounding officers were discomforted by her demeanor but Kylo's masked face betrayed nothing, nor did his words.

"You had a very interesting time at the Senate, Councillor. You keep very lofty company- General Organa. I am most interested to hear of the overtures being made by her towards the Ke'Lani."

Tena Korza's mouth curved gently, "Terribly afraid of an army of devoted pacifists?"

Ren merely waved a hand and troopers cuff her and lead her away, she presumed to a cell. She stood for the troopers and followed them, following them in utter calm until the door opened to the room she was going to be staying in and the questions began bubbling in her mind. She assumed she might go to one of the torture chambers that the General had just warned her about a few days before. Nothing shocked her as much as the dull gray door opening and a bedroom laid before her. The room was dominated by two structures: a large training circle and a four poster bed. One of the walls was a giant window that watched the entire galaxy go by and everything was heavily strewn in rich black velvets, sumptuous dark leathers and silks except for neutral mats of the training rings.

She expected the room might have belonged to Hux given the luxuriousness of the fabrics, he struck her as a man that enjoyed his fine things even in the muck and mire of a military ship, but the training circle brought her attention back the Knight. She might have guessed it if she had tried but she had been avoiding the thought...thus it had found her. She was sitting there, bound, facing the thoughts she had been so bent on neglecting. Perhaps they hadn't aimed to torture her the traditional way but they were succeeding in doing so nevertheless. She was in the room over an hour before the voices came from outside, arguing, scolding, and the shuffling. The door hissed open and General Hux stormed through. Tena recognized him from recent images though she had never seen the man in person before and was taken aback by his height- she imagined him much shorter when she saw the images. Hux inclined his head at her briefly and she stood, mimicking the gesture. He took in a breath sharply- he had been told that she was beautiful but he found the word lacked the proper qualities now that he beheld her. She was jarring, so beautiful that it was startling. The Ke'Lani had the reputation, on his homeworld, of being called Akera Santi - Full Moon Walkers -and Ikken Sanctum - Ice Angels. It was not that Ke'La had any frigid weather to speak of but rather that its inhabitants seems carved out of the snow and ice that peaked dangerous mountains while it glowed under the full super-sized moon where Hux had grown up. The Ke'Lani's skin was milky white and their hair was almost pearlescent, there was a slight glow to the white it wasn't the same dead shade of absence that colored his grandmother's hair before she died. No the Ke'Lani were radiant in their colorlessness, there was a spark to it. Most of them had blue or purple eyes he had been told- something to do with their pigmentation- but hers were golden. Warm, soothing and crystal clear as amber- he had never seen anything like it.

So this is why he did it. Hux's immediate thought was- what other reason could there be? She was a diplomat, flying neutral colors, in a non-aggression zone and given the fairly recent destruction of Star Killer base Supreme Leader Snoke had been explicit that they gain allies for the time being rather than attack. Many of their numbers had been on Star Killer and not all had escaped- it would take them a little time to bolster the rosters again and in the meantime they were to gain soldiers through less aggressive means. Of course the on-going order was to end the Rebellion if possible: to interrogate their spies, kill their suppliers, and eliminate their high ranking officers. Of course the Ke'Lani, sworn neutral state of the entire galaxy, hardly qualified for either order and Snoke had once remarked that they were not to be quarreled with. At the time Hux had thought it merely a tease but as soon as he walked in the room and saw her he was sure of something, in the marrow of his bones: this was a powerful creature. She might be docile enough, she might have no interest in wielding the power, but it was there; time had taught Hux that power was like teeth: anything that had it could use it if need be. Hux was hardly Force sensitive but his time around Snoke and Ren had trained him to fear the sensation that he got in his lungs when the art felt sparky and electric: it was the sure sign of the Force in an opponent and no small amount of it.

Hux was so caught up staring at her and realizing her power that he became lost in his thoughts and there was an uncomfortable silence which she felt compelled to break, "Yes sir? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Hux shook his head and felt his cheeks burn, humiliated by his lapse, and looked around again- prisoners had no business in this wing at all, "It seems there has been an error, you are being moved to a more proper cell."

"There is no mistake." The voice echoed from the hall. Hux startled slightly- he normally heard Ren approach.

If Hux was tall Ren was towering- she realized it was Ren's height that made her think of Hux as a short man, she had seen so many images of the two of them beside one another, Snoke's two golden children. Of course everyone looks small next to him.

Hux turned to face Kylo Ren and cleared his throat, "This is unacceptable-unorthodox-if it is not a mistake. I hardly think that the Supreme Leader would approve of such barbaric methods being used on the lady."

Ren tilted his head slightly to the side as though Hux had said something profoundly amusing and very annoying. After a moment he raised one hand, gesturing lightly, "You are right, General. Barbarism is not to be tolerated with the Councillor."

When he flicked his fingers the handcuffs chafing her wrists popped off and flew across the room, landing squarely against Hux's chest, forcing the red-headed man to step back and absorb the shock. Ren seemed amused and said, "Our guest is likely hungry, make sure they bring her food she can eat. Nothing that was killed."

Hux's cheeks grew redder and he looked at Ren's mask. He had learned that if he shouted in his head that Ren could hear him though he rarely liked to play a game where the former Jedi was allowed in his head. Most of the time Hux kept a carefully constructed wall around his thoughts, a wall he focused on whenever his mind began to wonder from its task, so that he was assured of some degree of privacy. For right now however he glared at Ren and silent shouted: Whatever it is you are doing here you are not going to get away with it.

Inside Hux's head he heard the dark, echoing chuckle of Kylo Ren and the playful response: Try to stop me.

Hux left in a huff, immediately setting out for the private chamber where they communicated with Snoke- this unchecked spoiled behavior in Ren was going too far as of late and capturing a neutral ship, one they had been told to avoid, was one cheeky declaration of negligence too many for Hux.

Tena watched the General leave and rubbed her right wrist which was looped with a light purple bruise from the pulsing handcuffs. As the door closed behind Hux she looked over at the imposing figure by the door. Ren cocked his head to the side as he looked at her, it seemed to be a habit he developed to emote even vaguely through his helmet (though she wondered if that rendered the helmet somewhat useless) and he gestured to the room, "Make yourself comfortable, guests do not need to sit in restraints."

"I have, perhaps, not made something clear to you in our first conversation." Tena's eyes were odd, while the faced him so he knew she was addressing him she wasn't focused on him- she seemed to be looking just over his shoulder but he sensed nobody else around them, "That mask is an act of terror-you do not wear it to breathe, you do not wear it to see or to sustain yourself. You wear it to frighten people. I am not frightened, and I will not contribute to your delusion that it is somehow acceptable to terrorize people on first glance. Guest or not, I will not be answering any questions from you as long as that mask is on."

With that she promptly sat down on a hard leather bench beside the training ring and looked out the window across the room. Her white hair was pulled back as it had been for the Senate, it was in a long soft braid that started at the crown of her hair and went all the way down her spine. Her eyes were hard as rocks and he knew better than to toy with her now and let her prove the iron resolve of the Ke'Lani to be true.

The door opened behind him and a Trooper came in, "Sir, Supreme Leader Snoke desires a word with you."

"I will return." He said, shifting his cloak around him, drinking in the sight of her one more time, "Please make yourself comfortable."

She didn't say a word, as promised, but somehow the icy reception did nothing to break the sense of victory in his breast.

It had been two days since she had been on the ship and still she had not spoken a word to him though she was living in his chambers. She had been provided with clothes, food, and given full access to his private bath. She needed no guards but he posted Phasma outside of the door when she bathed so she knew she was being guarded by a woman- not that the Ke'Lani had a reputation for being shy but he was trying to show her that she was being respected.

Snoke had permitted him to try this form of questioning- polite, even courteous- and hadn't pushed Ren on his reasons. He did not think he had any secrets from Snoke, not really, but he hadn't recalled discussing her by name. It was so many years ago, a lifetime it felt like, and Snoke really owed her with providing him the necessary leverage to lure a young Jedi away from his master- though Snoke was fairly certain that remained a mystery to the girl. Ren found himself, he hoped, in the unique position where Snoke and Tena were both in the dark enough about one another that he might be able to get precisely what he wanted from both. Hux eyed him with great suspicion, always suggesting that "This has nothing to do with the Rebellion's overtures with her."

Of course Hux was right- the Rebellion's overtures had provided him with the necessary excuse but secretly he had been watching her for the last few years, waiting for the moment to bring her back to him again. Of course it was important that Snoke not know it was her- Snoke assumed Ben Solo's old lover was dead, as Ben had assumed it years ago, and Kylo Ren had never let on that Tena Korza was precisely the woman that he had once been so devastated over losing. So devastated that he slaughtered hundreds trying to quell the pain, trying to erase the past or re-write the future, always feeling like his reactions were inadequate to the task of stemming the suffering. She had always been a puzzle- half pulling him toward the Light and half toward the Dark, never telling him which side to choose, always insisting that there didn't have to be a side (an assertion he found both ridiculous and unamusing).

Still, Tena Korza, golden daughter of the Ke'Lani, was too great a potential candidate for Snoke to pass up. The Ke'Lani had been sworn neutral ever since they broke with the first Jedi Temple over five thousand years ago. Most people had no idea that they were Force Sensitive because there had never been a Ke'Lani Jedi but Snoke and Ren knew differently- the Ke'Lani were an old race and every last member of the planet was Force sensitive. Tena's family, old royalty for millennia beyond counting, were particularly strong.

I can do it Master, I can convince them. I can move them. I can bring them to our cause, but the Ke'Lani will not be moved with force and strength. If you want to move the Ke'Lani you must do it with respect and care.

I will not have her kept here beyond a week. You must make considerable progress in that time or that harmless party of diplomates who surrendered their ship without firing a single shot will show you precisely why a planet as peaceful has Ke'La has never been victimized in any capacity.

It would not be fair to say that Snoke feared the Ke'Lani but he seemed to think that history had taught a particular lesson with them repeatedly-and he would be a fool to ignore it. Ren let him believe whatever it was he wanted to believe, and Ren could care less what Hux thought provided he did not interfere. However Hux was a man with functional eyes and it seemed as though he very much enjoyed laying them on Tena as he entered Ren's quarters almost as much as Ren did, much to the annoyance of the Knight.

Tena had not spoken a word to him and his impatience was rising. He removed himself from the room early on the third morning and pushed himself training with a hologram of Snoke looking on, disapproving, rubbing his nose in his lack of success with the Ke'Lani ambassador, reminding the Knight of how small a boy he still was behind his imposing mask. Training with Snoke was always like this- the push was necessary, it exposed the raw nerves of the Force, the Dark Side, to Kylo and made them easier to manipulate. Still, he was off of his game and the taunts cut deeper than usual, broke Ren's concentration, and he found himself on the receiving end of some very high charges from the training droid.

By the time he returned to his room he was heralded by the wafting smell of burned fabric and seared flesh.

Tena turned toward the smell instantly from her perch by the window and even when she saw Ren slumping into the room she watched him closely, but did not speak. He looked over at her- it didn't matter to her that he was a murderer, he was hurt and the Great Tenet of the Ke'Lani was All Life is Sacred. She could no more watch him be in pain without helping him than cause him pain outside of defending herself.

Still, this wasn't how he was hoping to gain her attention, not when he was weakened and feeling low.

"My lady Korza you have been so apt to ignore me these last two days. Please do so now. Avert your eyes, I have to dress this wound and I would rather do it without your gaze on me."

She continued staring at the same spot he had occupied when he first entered the room even when he left it and moved toward the small sleep-couch that had been put up beside the training circle. Though he had not used it since she had been here there were more nights spent on that small couch than in his gaping bed- the couch reminded him of comfort, of something that might be called home. Underneath the couch was his medical kit- he refused to let the medic droids and drones attend to him, it was vital they not see him as weak and made of breakable flesh. Vader had been a machine, unshakable, bloodless, and Ren aimed to achieve the same aura.

As he walked over to it he let his cape fall off and began gingerly peeling at his tunic. His gloves came off and, without thinking of it, so did his helmet. He did breathe easier without it and it restricted his neck movement more than he needed to stitch his own torso up again. It fell to the floor with a dull metal thud and he was stripped to his pants, threading a needle, when he heard the near-noiseless pad of her feet bringing her towards him.

"I thought I asked that you keep ignoring me?" He snapped.

"What happened?" Her voice was soft, soothing, as though she was trying to calm a fidgety animal.

"Nothing my increased focus wouldn't have prevented." He moved to begin his stitches but she gently reached forward and took the needle from him, saying mildly, "I'll do this- you will never get it properly closed on your own."

He surrendered, cheeks warm with rage that with all his careful planning and gentle treatments of her since she came on board that this, this humiliation is what drew her back to him. His back was still to her but the wound curled around his side and she would see his face sooner or later- he wondered if she had guessed at his former-self already. Wanting to make her feel as uncomfortable as he did he turned around and looked her in the eye- her gaze was steady, her face had the even expression the Ke'Lani were known for, but he saw her pupils dilate and heard her pulse begin rushing. Scarred face and all: she recognized him.

"Do as you will, Tena. You always did."

For a moment her hand with the needle trembled and she had to take a breath and steady it before she merely tucked her head down and got to work on his stitches. Mostly it was the needle that touched him but she had to get closer- she had to reach a hand out and pull at his skin, smooth out a curve so the stitch would lay flat, she had to gently push or pull him into position. She worked fast and before he realized that she was done with his back she had lifted his arm and tucked herself on his side. As she curled into position she let one hand run over the gnarled scar that crawled over his waist from the Bowcaster- it was nearly done healing but it would never go away, a permanent souvenir she didn't even want to try to comment on. Where he was sitting on the couch made it hard for her to crouch or kneel as she worked so she wound up having to sit with one leg wrapped around his back and one leg wrapped around his front. He wondered if that sent the same chills up her spine that it sent up his- he wondered if it took her back to another time when even stitches might have been a mere stepping stone to naked wonderment, where they had been inseparable and enthralled. He had so few ways to accurately describe that time in his life- it was love, certainly, but more. It was devotion, perhaps. Perhaps worship. Maybe obsession. Maybe it was lust-overwhelmingly, all-consuming lust that couldn't be quenched by his younger body- maybe if they had it all to do again now that they were older they would find themselves unmoved by one another.

Or maybe only he remembered those days with such a fever, maybe she had forgotten.

He hoped not.

That hope, distant and odd to him, brought him back into a skin he thought he had abandoned- brought him back to a cage of emotions he wasn't certain he still possessed until Tena's touch had him clawing at the bars of it again. There it was- that bottomless thirst, that need, that knowledge that somehow she was the answer and he wasn't sure how to get enough of her but he knew he would try.

Tena paused in her efforts and looked at him as though she could see the fury of feelings clashing about inside of him. When he looked up at her eyes she smiled, but it was sad. Holding the needle in her right hand she reached out her left and traced the burned scar on his face. Tears were suddenly in her eyes and she didn't ask the question but looked down at the work again until she cleared her throat, "What happened?"

He touched his scar, considering how to phrase the mistake, "Underestimating someone."

She nodded and finished his side, tying the end of the stitch off neatly, "We've all done that at one point or another. It takes you by surprise-hopefully you recover from it."

He nodded, "Did it happen to you?"

She looked back up at him and he saw the warmth and glitter he remembered in her eyes, they shined like polished gems, "Yes, but I didn't get a visible scar."

He caught the loose thread of her words, "Did you get an invisible one?"

"Not a scar." She reached out a hand and pushed his hair back behind his ear, "A brand, perhaps, is more accurate a description."

The feeling of her fingers in his hair was somehow worse than her fingers closing up a wound, somehow more intimate than her legs wrapped around his body. He shut his eyes for the brief moments she touched him in that way and absorbed it, he didn't mean to but he heard himself release a quiet moan. When was the last time someone had touched him so sweetly?

His eyes were still closed but her body shifted off of him and he felt instantly disappointed, every part of him wanted to scream for her to come closer, to reach out and pull her back, but instead he opened his eyes and watched as she stood in front of him, crouched down so they were at eye level as he sat on the couch. Her expression was curious, her tone however was sharp as a knife, "I'm not here because of the Rebellion. You don't care that your mother talked to me at the Senate, do you?"

He blinked when she said the word mother, "Not particularly...did the Rebel General tell you what happened?"

"You...killed ...him." Tena had picked up on his aversion to the word mother and felt that father might not be more appealing.

Ren waved his hand as though an annoying insect was in the room, "I meant did she tell you what happened with me?"

"Parts of it. Parts I found out...then there are the parts I'm sure she doesn't know and couldn't tell me."

He smiled, "Part you could've told her….I'm not sure I ever got to tell you before how very relieved I was to find out that you were actually alive."

Tena reached out and traced the scar on his face with the tip of one diligent finger; fascinated by the jarring addition to a face she once had memorized. He couldn't help it-he had waited long enough and he reached both hands out to her and cupped her face. His eyes were misting now as he looked at her-eight years, had all that time really passed? She was still beautiful, still looked fragile as glass in his hands but he knew she wasn't so delicate. He had held her just like this the last time he had seen her- just before she walked on board a starship that would be found with bodies on it months later, bodies burned beyond recognition and half eaten, and she would be declared dead. He had held her face, looked in those eyes, promised himself that the kiss he gave her on that landing platform wasn't going to be the last and that she was going to come back to him; he had promised himself that she would be safe without him there with her, that nothing could harm someone he had loved so deeply. For so many years he believed that promise to be broken, eternally unfulfilled, a constant reminder of his weakness and failure, and here she was again- an unlooked for second chance at strength and success.

"I missed you." He pulled her in for a kiss-praying she let him, knowing there would be no hope if she resisted, but the next sensation he received was not the Force thrusting him into a wall on the opposite side of the room. No, it was her lips, just as soft as he remembered them. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and Tena, mighty among those with stony faces, sobbed for a moment against him, breaking the kiss long enough to whisper, "I missed you too Ben."

He wanted to react to the name, to push it off, but Tena was against him and he could feel nothing else. She pushed gently forward and slide herself on top of him on the couch- time seemed irrelevant to them. As far as their bodies knew it was eight years ago and all they could think about was satiating that seemingly endless hunger.

Closer.

Yes...more...please.

Harder-don't stop.

Touch me-please touch me.

How had he forgotten how magnificent it was? When their walls came down all their walls came down- her body wasn't just hers to command but was seamless with his, he moved instinctively with her, intuitively, guided by the current of the Force that was suddenly rippling through both of them in unison as though it was water and they were one lake instead of two rivers. He had never known this with anyone before her and, try though he might have, he had never found it since. It seemed like something Tena alone offered- something he would live his whole life looking for- that utter oneness with everything: her, himself, the Force around them.

Great Ke'la touch me again-it's been too long.

It's been hell- it's been cold and empty. Just touch me until I forget anything else.

He was too focused on her, too focused on them, too absorbed. He didn't even remotely realize that Hux had been at the door and listened in long enough to be under absolutely no illusions about what was happening. From Hux's pocket he took a small recorder droid- it fit in the palm of his hand and was capable of basic recording and transmission data, though it lacked sound; it was used to great effect in the back of the ranks during training exercises for pulling up mistakes and forcing the troops to re-watch them. He opened the door just long enough to place the droid on the inside of Ren's chamber and then he slipped away- he didn't need to stay and spy, the droid would do it for him. And Hux had a feeling this information could be wielded to inflict greater damage than even the great Kylo Ren's mighty lightsaber.

Kylo Ren reclined in bed, relaxed, calm, and waking from a deep sleep-his first deep sleep in countless months. One arm was curled under his head, the other had been warm underneath Tena but was cold now. He opened his eyes and quickly searched the room- he didn't have to use the Force to find her, he didn't fear she had run away, but he wasn't surprised to find her in front of his giant window. She had always been a big believer in meditating, he wasn't shocked that her eyes were partially closed as she watched the stars flickering in and out of view. She was a picture of peace to him- she was laying on the plush black rug, propped up on one elbow. It was not Luke's form of meditation- none of her peace, her calm, her methods had been of the Jedi. She was pure Ke'Lani. She had drawn the one white sheet from the underlayer of his bed and dragged it toward the window, it was draped around her. From where he laid in bed he could see the outline of her back go quite low until the sheet concealed her from him. Though it was impossible for anyone to spy on her from the open window he was happy she was covered- he'd be happy to be the only one to ever enjoy the sight of her again. He heard the slight humming, low and slow, that seemed to vibrate from her. Ren rose from the bed and walked over to her-his scars seemed to glow like her skin, when approached her he knelt down, laying beside her, and the darkest thing between the two of them was his hair and his still-burning new gash, doomed to join the long line of scars he currently hosted. When he curled his arm around her the humming stopped and her eyes opened, she turned her head to smile at him, "You were so peaceful, I couldn't bear to wake you."

"Paca seen bah rin." He replied seamlessly.

"Peace is the greatest reward." Her smile widened, "And I thought you must have long forgotten your lessons in Ke'Lani."

"No," He pulled her gently, rolling her onto her back so he could hover over her. As always she yielded-the sheet fell below her waist and he ducked his head down and let his lips trace over her ear as he repeated the phrase she had taught him years ago, "Lek Forkå Se."

He remembered it all these years like it was yesterday- that first night, coming to her chambers, feeling the draw to her but having no idea what it meant and what he could do with a growing host of desire and no outlet. He remembered- he was so young, he had never seen anything like Tena, and he was led to her rooms with little more than an instinct that she was either going to accept him or break him. She had smiled when she opened the door that night and saw him there, had warned him in a teasing voice that there were no lessons to be had that a Jedi Master would approve of, and he had blushed, stuttering that he hoped not. When he had first kissed her that night he had wondered, aloud, how any creature could be so intoxicating and nearly died of embarrassment that she had heard him. She had whispered in his ear that they believed in Ke'La that Forkå Kasta Skans - All Life Was Sacred. Therefore they did not kiss or fondle or make love- they worshipped that which was sacred, and another person was sacred. Tena had grabbed his face in her hands and leaned her forehead against his, telling him gently to let go of his embarrassments or his fears and to trust her, to follow her, to allow himself to bask in the full glory of devotion because "Lek Forkå Se."

It meant two things at the same time in her language- it meant You are my Force but, also, and to Ben more importantly, I worship you. To the Ke'Lani the two sentiments were indistinguishable but to Ben Solo only the second had any meaning, he thought the first felt like it lost something in the translation to common-tongue.

Years later it was still the second phrase he thought about when he whispered it in her ear and then ducked his head even lower to show her that he remembered other lessons in worshipping her.

Somewhere in the back of his head Kylo Ren knew that he had spent too much time in his quarters, that he would be missed, that someone may even foolishly come and search for him. He knew if he was caught worshipping a woman he was supposed to be interrogating and converting to the Dark Side that Snoke would have some terrible punishment for him, something that would break him of this petty attachment. However, Kylo Ren could not bring himself to care. Long ago he had been a boy confused over loving both the Dark Side and the Light, wanting to follow the path his uncle and mother beckoned him towards, pulled toward his grandfather, and more or less ignored by Han. Everything frustrated him, compounded the confusion, never helping him decide what to do. Then there was Tena, beautiful and captivating, who looked at him like he wasn't confused and told him that the answer to his query was simple-neither side was correct. She had represented to him a glorious neutrality where both pounding desires of the Sides were silenced and all that existed was Tena and the Force. Now, with all that had happened, with all the disturbances in the Force, with all the changes, he would be lying if he didn't say that he was tempted by that glorious neutrality again.

Of course when he eventually dragged himself out of bed with her, and got dressed, and went to report to Snoke he had to bury those thoughts somewhere unspeakably deep. He had told Snoke years ago that a girl whom he had loved, a girl who had died, had made him question Skywalker. It was his rage over his loyalty to Luke, his loyalty to the Jedi, that had allowed him to let Tena go to a dangerous planet alone that triggered his first wayward rebellion. Ren had let Snoke tell him about his grandfather and grandmother, had let Snoke remind him what love did-what the cost was of protecting those you cared most deeply for, that the price of love was always the Jedi-Jedi who swore to uphold that which was good but denied their knights the right to love.

You have already made that sacrifice which the Dark Side craves- you have already had your heart torn out. Now we must cauterize the wound so it cannot recover. Come with me, come with me and I will teach you how to stamp out this agony.

Even then Ren had, shyly, insisted that erasing the girl seemed wrong- without her he would never have opened up to Snoke's advances.

Snoke had been practiced at manipulation even then, Remember that it was the chaos of the New Republic, its disorder, its lip-service to peace while courting war that killed her. She was killed because those who could have saved her did nothing, and they did nothing because there had been no treaties, no safeguards, no ...system. They lack guidance, they lack leadership- they are all a cacophony of voices accomplishing nothing. She died because of their inefficiencies.

Snoke had been right. It had been a burden on the Republic's shoulders to defend its people, and instead of following through they had let Tena and her father wallow on that poisonous swamp of a planet they had landed on. It had also been well within Luke's power to send the Jedi-but he hadn't. Half the reason he hadn't was, as he later professed, he was worried at how much Ben had been taken with the girl- how quickly, how deeply. He was worried Ben might throw all his training away for the girl, he had worried that letting her dictate the Jedi's movements was a step down a Dark path.

For a moment Ren remembered screaming at Skywalker, "Then why bring her here to begin with?"

Luke had sighed, "I had hopes that Tena and her people could show us how to avoid not only the Dark Side but the mistakes of our forefathers."

The conversation now felt incredibly ironic to Ren.

Snoke seemed amused, a feeling that Kylo Ren had long since come to distrust in his master. Snoke's larger-than-life projection smiled, though given his scars it looked like a sneer, and he chuckled, "How is it that you have been so late this morning?"

"Meditation, master. Forgive me." Ren bowed his head, it wasn't a complete lie as Tena would have classified at least a portion of the morning's activities as meditation. Though Ren did not give thought to whether or not the same activities would count by Sith standards.

Snoke snorted, "And how goes your...courtship of the diplomat? I believe I gave you one week-that time is half over."

"I've made strides." Still, technically, not a lie.

Snoke's amusement dipped "But no promises?"

"The Ke'Lani are notoriously stubborn, that I've made the progress I've made in this time is no small task. When great undertakings are hastily done they frequently birth mistakes."

At the quiet chastisement of his own apprentice Snoke's amusement utterly drained, "I sense your full focus is not on what you promised me- do not let a pretty face pull you away from that which ultimately calls: we need allies if we will succeed in taking down the Rebellion. If there is one thing the Ke'Lani can agree with us on it is that both the Republic and Rebellion are useless- convince them that we are not. Quickly."

With a swift flick of Snoke's wrist Ren was dismissed and left to ponder whether Snoke intentionally ignored the fact that the Ke'Lani also thought the First Order useless for precisely the same reasons it found the other governmental bodies useless or whether Snoke didn't see the fact as necessary for Ren's mission. Ren walked to the training rooms- if he went immediately back to his quarters after staying in them so long today he would come across as irregular and so he went and put himself through his paces. Today, remarkably, he was stellar- especially given how badly he had been beaten yesterday, especially given the still-burning wound on his side.

He didn't see Hux enter the room with Snoke after he left, and he did not see Snoke eye Hux with what could only be described as pride in the lengths Hux had undertaken.

"Is he focused?"

"Hardly, sir."

Snoke sneered, "But you say that the two are involved?"

"I have evidence of it if required, sir."

Snoke eyed him, "I will not ask how such evidence was acquired. Though I might warn you against Kylo Ren's rage should he discover he is being spied on."

Hux practically rolled his eyes but tried to keep composure, "I am not afraid of Kylo Ren."

Snoke chuckled deeply, "You should be."

Hux thought about the advice for a moment, uncomfortable by the glee Snoke seemed to take in Ren's volatility, and Snoke continued, "All you have proven is that Kylo Ren has seduced the diplomat-and that it is possible he manipulated this moment for the opportunity to do so. This is a distraction at worst, at best a way to convince a mercurial people to ally with us. I need proof that Kylo Ren is distracting himself before I move to strike his dalliance. Make your case."

Hux reflected on what he had gathered: images of the two being intimately acquainted but no audio to aid in deciphering what, precisely, the knight was doing. It was just a feeling Hux had from the start of this whole ordeal- something else was going on, something not right, something that had to be stopped.

Still, he couldn't prove it….yet.

It was the night of her fifth day on the ship- Kylo Ren knew to the hour had long she had been here and knew precisely when Snoke would try to force her to leave. His mind had been tugging at the knot of that problem persistently, trying to unravel it, but he wondered if it was a childish urge: how was he going to convince them to let her stay short of declaring his need for her companionship? And even at that Snoke, the rest of the Order, wouldn't be moved. Snoke thought family ties were nothing but a weakness, it was one of the basic tenets of the Sith and the First Order had roundly accepted it. It was the basis for how they raised the Troopers, how they organized their ranks, how they recruited….Snoke was not going to let him keep Tena, he knew that in the back of his mind, but he was toying with the conundrum nonetheless, hoping for a chink in the armor. He was watching her sleep at the moment, consumed in the vision. Having her here had resurrected parts of him that had been dormant for years and this moment, looking down at her while she slept, his body happily tired and his mind racing about a thousand problems, felt cloned from their early years. How many nights had he spent like this? He had been sneaking around then too, hoping nobody found out exactly how far he had trespassed on Luke's rules, half-hoping everyone discovered it so that he didn't have to hide how he felt about her, wondering if the secret or the revelation had a longer shelf-life.

Tena had never exactly made his life less complicated but something of the confusion she brought calmed him, perversely, and made his other problems seem more manageable. Even now when he should have felt near overwhelmed with everything going on he felt steady instead: the Force would sort itself out, Balance would win, Tena believed that with every ounce of her being and she made it easy for him to believe it too.

He just wasn't sure what it meant that Balance would win. Tena's Balance had never had a side-it had never been Dark or Light. She used to explain it to him by saying that you needed both for true Balance- enough of each to keep the other in check. He had always struggled to follow her logic as it flew in the face of everything else he knew- of Luke's lessons passed on from Jedi Masters of Old and of Vader's legacy tinged with the greatest Sith Lords ever born. Luke and Vader had each chosen a side and believed in it resolutely- to suggest that both were wrong seemed incomprehensible to Kylo Ren, especially now.

Still, she believed it as surely as she was breathing and her resolve had always impressed him.

He ran his fingers down the line of her cheek as she slept, following the curves of her body- down her neck, over her breast, across her stomach, re-learning the line of her hip- and she fidgeted in her sleep, her eyes fluttering open. So many years ago he had struggled to find a word for the feeling she evoked in him and she had said on her planet it was the urge to utterly worship- it still rang true. Every line of her was sacred to him: he was pleased to find that she had remained much the same as he remembered her, he found almost no scars that lasted from her time marooned on that treacherous swamp-hole of a planet. In fact she was resilient through and through, a person so strong not even that experience had shaken her- he didn't know many people who would come back from such an ordeal so seemingly immune to the stress of it.

Stars and galaxies and everything in them-dammit it all - I have never stopped loving you. How is this supposed to work?

She was still half-dreaming, not fully paying attention to him, so he was given a momentary solace knowing that thought was private. He had been a being led by urges and whims for so many years he had stopped thinking fully about the potential consequences of his actions: he was stronger, smarter, than almost everyone around him. His abilities with the Force were some of the most powerful in the galaxy-he was the best student of the Supreme Leader and a Master of the Knights of Ren, their First Knight. He simply took what he wanted: the consequences were for other people.

But now he was going to have to suffer the consequences of bringing her on board, getting involved with her again, knowing she would have to go.

If someone can make life stand still with the Force maybe I can muster a way to make time stand still instead.

He felt Tena's smile as a warmth in his own stomach, A romantic thought, but which moment would you freeze?

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her, Maybe this one.

Tena leaned into him, reached out to pull him on top of her, deepened the kiss and twined her body around his, Not this one?

This one is also a distinct possibility. He missed being so playful and he pushed the covers away so he was only feeling her, his hands moving inch by inch around her, as he teasingly asked her where she'd like them frozen forever, Here? What about here?

She giggled slightly against him as he brushed fingers over her belly but the sound deepened to a moan as they changed course A very hard decision.

He smiled wolfishly against her lips when he heard a sharp tap of shoes on the floor and a voice, brimming with self-satisfaction, mockingly declare, "I do hope I'm not interrupting anything."

There wasn't a word for the type of rage that shot through Kylo Ren in that moment but everything from the base of the furniture to the walls of the room rattled dangerously as though he was going to pull the very metal of the ship apart. The sheer power that rippled out of the Knight should have chilled Hux to the bone but it rather made his smirk wider as he thought Caught you.

In the blink of an eye Ren rolled off of Tena and summoned one of the dark sheets from the floor, flicking his wrist to have them cover her and then standing up in front of the bed to block as much of her from Hux's view as possible. It was foolish but his base jealousy was the first thing to respond- he wouldn't have Hux's eyes on Tena, wouldn't give Hux the satisfaction of seeing her like that, wouldn't let her flesh be feasted on by that jackal. She's mine.

"What are you doing here?" The words were barely hissed, emphasized by the crack and hiss of the Force, by the lightsaber that was vibrating against Ren's bedside table begging to be turned on, but nothing wiped the grin off Hux's face.

"What are you doing here?" Hux retorted sharply and Ren's eyes went red, "Get. Out."

Hux didn't need anything else, before he had announced his presence he had swapped the little spy droid on Ren's door whose battery had worn out with a fresh version. He had had no idea, prior to entering the room, what he was going to see on the inside of it but he had felt vastly rewarded by what he saw: he knew in the core of his being that Ren was up to something, something that had nothing to do with Snoke or the First Order's plans, and it was all but proven by the way he had been sweetly, lovingly touching Tena Korza like a boy in the first thralls of love.

You're done, I've got you. I don't know how but I've got you now.

"You're a fool." Leia snarled, throwing the folder of scouting reports sharply on the table, scattering their contents.

"On that we disagree- taking sides is foolish." Tena countered.

"Dammit this isn't the Senate and we aren't arguing over voting and armed forces and democratic limits!" Leia slammed her hand down on the table further scattering her papers. She was ruffled, angry, hurt, and nowhere near the polished leader normally presented to outsiders. Tena tried to be understanding: Leia had lost everything. Her husband was dead, her children were gone, and the one shadow of that happiness left was Ben...Han's murderer. Even if she got Ben back how was she supposed to look at him?

Still, Tena smoothed the front of her tunic self-consciously, a mother never stops loving her children.

Leia was quiet for a minute, she was spinning a ring around her finger and finally took a deep breath and calmed herself. They were alone in the room and Leia took the opportunity to let herself sink into a chair, let herself let go of the willpower that kept her looking hail and fit and suddenly seemed to age ten more years. After a moment she spoke, "You've seen the best and worst sides of him too. How fast he can turn from one to the other….you love him despite it."

"Perhaps because of it. He is the closest to understanding our way of thinking."

Leia shrugged, "Your people value life, he slaughtered a dozen children in his first willful act of defiance against Luke. I am the last one to give up on him but...I just don't know how Ben is supposed to come back."

Tena folded her hands in front of her, standing ramrod straight, and said nothing- the Ke'Lani learned long ago not to waste their breath on those that saw the world so concretely in black and white. Leia had known Tena's father for years and well remembered Tena from that time….the time just before Ben turned- she recognized Tena's stony face as a cue to change the subject or be frozen out of it.

"I repeat my earlier offer: you should stay here in the heart of the Rebellion with me. I have the best defense in the Galaxy- he won't be able to come after you here."

"I am perfectly safe on Ke'La among my own people."

Leia snorted "You would choose a planet that doesn't possess a single blaster? Against the First Order?"

"You should remember that the Ke'Lani have their own ways General- our people do no harm to others but neither do we allow ourselves to be harmed. We can defend ourselves: we have in the past and we will in the future. We are not weaklings."

"No...never pegged you as weak. You wouldn't have lasted two minutes in my family without one hell of a spine." Leia let her head fall into her left hand, with the right she reached up and let her hair come down. It was starting to go deep gray in patches by her temples but she had it as long as any woman of Alderaan would have kept it- a last declaration of allegiance to a planet few still alive even remembered.

Tena reached out a hand to the weathered General's shoulder, "I didn't come to see you because I wanted protection. I came to see you because life is sacred, and those connected to new life should be part of its story. You will have grandchildren in the coming year and it would not be right for me to shield this from you."

"I'm supposed to ignore the part where my wayward fratricidal, patricidal son basically kidnapped you to facilitate the tryst that conceived them?"

"No. The Ke'Lani ignore nothing of the sort...you might do better to ignore less and confront more."

Leia waved a dismissive hand at Tena's suggestion, "You Ke'Lani always preached as much but all it does it make other people devolve into bickering lunatics while you sit there, pleased as punch and still as statues." Leia instantly regretted the sharpness of her remarks and reached out to grab Tena's hand, almost pleading, "Wait...I'm sorry, that was unfair….."

Time had not been kind to Leia Organa, especially not recently. She drew in a ragged breath but could not keep herself calm. Silently she chastised herself: it was a similar lack of control over dark emotions that seduced both Vader and Ben, she may have been the germ for Ben's darkness all along. Without Han here to blame himself and take all her self-doubts out the door with him she was drowning- his death was her fault too, had she not sent him there with a specific plea to save Ben and bring him home? Had she not told him to trust in Ben's goodness? Had she not been the one, so many years ago, to let Ben train with his powers and laid the whole twisted path before his feet?

Tena seemed to sense the turmoil and kneeled next to the withering Leia, "Leia, you must be strong for them. They deserve to know this family."

"You keep saying they." Leia made herself focus on the young woman before her, "You can't possibly know…"

"I do." Tena cut her off.

"That's impossible," Leia shook her head, "You're not even showing, how could you know so soon?"

Tena quirked her shoulders up, "The Force knows all things, if you know the Force all things can be yours as well."

Leia didn't like the sound of that wisdom, it sounded like Dark Side propaganda to her, but nonetheless she reached out a hand and touched Tena's still-flat belly, "Why twins? It's always twins. Luke and I, Ben and-"

She couldn't bring herself to say her daughter's name, she never said it. How could she? Everyone has one child they feel more connected to and Ben had been hers- he had adored her as a child and she had reflected it right back to him, cherishing how much like herself and her brother he was. Her daughter had always had Han wrapped around her finger….

No, don't go there too. Leia commanded herself, You're in the dark too much these days, try to push yourself to the light.

Tena understood- she had always seen the divide between Ben and his sister, she wasn't prepared to force Leia to re-open a wound that had probably scabbed over by now.

"The Force likes Balance." Tena offered, "Perhaps there is something intrinsically pleasing to it in making two of something so special. I would think it would be the same for me as with the others-one boy, one girl."

Leia looked at the Ke'Lani woman with her glowing white skin, luminescent pale hair, and those almost frightening golden eyes; she thought about Ben, her black-haired, brown-eyed boy, and wondered what those babies were going to look like.

"If I am involved," Leia croaked, the realization of what she was about to say nearly stealing her words, "it will make him target them."

Tena smiled dryly, "As soon as he finds out about them there will be a target on them, if not by his designs then by Snoke's."

Leia nodded and paused for a moment, staring wistfully out the window as though she could see all her mistakes floating by her with the stars and space debris. Carefully she said, "I know you don't want my protection, but for my sake please take some of my people with you. I have failed so many of my own loved ones by letting them have space and do things their way...this time please let me interfere, annoy you, even. Let me be overbearing-at least then I won't regret my inaction."

Tena considered this but after a moment nodded, "If it makes you feel better, certainly."

The small victory seemed to give Leia back most of the willpower she had lost.

It was difficult to keep secrets when your Master could read minds, and it was more difficult when you had another apprentice competing for that Master's approval who was anxious to dig into your every last private store to find one shred of damning information to wield against you. Ever since Hux had walked in on him and Tena things had been even more tense than usual- Ren resented Hux's moves against him and also the basic intrusion of his personal life but potentially more was Hux's pure loathing of what he considered spoiled, self-indulgent behavior in Ren. In Hux's eyes nothing was more self-indulgent than inventing reasons to kidnap a diplomat because she was attractive you and wanted to seduce her. At least, as far as Snoke was concerned, it was a random tryst motivated by lust- an easy enough sell, Hux would have believed it too if he only had Tena's pretty face as Ren's motivation. One advantage to digging for dirt was that one often found it: it had been worth timing his intrusion for optimal effect- he had seen Ren with all his guards down (though, admittedly, he could have done with the Knight having pants on) and the way he looked at Tena, the way he treated her, the absolute marrow-deep jealous way he guarded her body from Hux's view even at the expense of his own exposure...this wasn't a meaningless coupling, it wasn't convenience or pure lust. Ren cared about Tena-Hux didn't know how or why or when but he knew it, there was a self-sacrificing quality to Ren's reactions and choices that had been otherwise trained completely out of him by Snoke. There was a danger to the edge of possession he seemed to demonstrate-Ren saw Tena as his and he didn't seem to be hosting any arguments on the subject. This was fascinating to Hux and he was very much trying to get a rise out of Ren with the continued mentions of Tena or attempts to draw out more information.

Even Hux couldn't have planned the spy report quite so effectively-he wasn't sure he was ever going to get a more serendipitous set of events. Hux had been going through the reports as he normally would when the recent images from the Senate floor came in. He searched out allies first, then high ranking enemies. He still had a sour taste in his mouth that the First Order had successfully killed Han Solo and yet Leia Organa continued to elude them. She looked smug as ever in her seat at the Senate and he couldn't wait to get his second shot at her. Then as his primary focus shifted he looked for the Ke'Lani seat, shifting and shifting the hologram around until he found it. He pressed play on the brief clips and watched for a moment the events, though he had no sound to accompany them. There she was-Tena Korza, his first Akera Santi in the flesh, glowing as if she was the moon itself.

Who could blame Ren for being attracted to her? Hux shook his head- he thought her naked adoration of Kylo Ren was a waste of a beautiful woman, he found it impossible to believe that the Knight was capable of acting in anyone's favor but his own. Even if Ren was somehow somewhat considerate of Tena's feelings it remained to be seen why a Ke'Lani, a sworn neutral party in the great struggle, would allow herself to become tangled up with the next Sith overlord- it seemed like a conflict of interests too deep to ignore no matter how desirable the body was that housed those interests.

And then Tena stood up in her seat from the Senate floor and her dress caught on the edge of her chair, pulling it tightly against her body and nearly ripping it. Normally such a small thing wouldn't have concerned Hux at all but this time the pull of the fabric exposed something….something very interesting.

Perhaps they would both get a second meeting with Tena Korza after Snoke saw this.

...

A/N: