girlandherstaff | The Marriage Rites of the Jedi [closed to niteofren]

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The Marriage Rites of the Jedi [closed to niteofren]

There is a level of awareness that Rey has regarding her lack of guilt for stealing the sacred Jedi Texts from their generations old home on the island. That being said, it's often dulled by the knowledge of Master Skywalker's insistence that there was no more need for the Jedi when she knew that there was, or at least was incredibly sure that there was.

She had made an attempt or two to read through the old texts, but they were not exactly what could be called page turners, and the heavy going dry information was made only worse by the fact that age had dulled the appearance of the text, making it hard to make out what was actually written. That was the main reason she was so sure she had gotten it wrong. After all, everyone knew that the Jedi never married, so why would there be mention of marriage rites in theirs texts?

But they were there and that sinking feeling in her stomach made it clear to her that no, she wasn't misreading. If this was right...

Did he know? He had read these, hadn't he? Or, at least the Histories? Could that be why he made that offer?

Rey had thought that reading the texts would help clear her confusion, but now she felt more confused than ever

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Kylo paced the empty throne room. The time since Crait had been a blur. His master was dead. Rey left him. He was Supreme Leader but his general wanted his head and his rank.

What did he need with a massive throne room? He needed to call his knights. He needed them here. This would be their room, a room to train in, to plan in. They were the only ones in the First Order he could trust.

His planning stopped when he felt a tingle along the back of his neck and the world grew quiet. He knew what he would see if he turned around.

She was surprised to feel the bond flare back into life, but almost grateful at the same time. With these questions, she did want answers and it would provide the easiest way to get them. Granted, the grateful feeling was weighed down with a lot of anger to see him, especially after all that had happened. On top of all of that? There was just this uneasiness that settled in her stomach.

Anger and happiness and fear and uncertainty and relief and regret and... Uneasy was the best way to explain all this mix of feeling. Rey knew she couldn't exactly show that to him though, and she stared at the back of his head, willing him to turn around. She needed her answers, and she was going to get them.

"Have you ever read the Sacred Jedi Texts?"

He hurled debris through the air. She had abandoned and betrayed him, closed the bond on him. Now she wanted to ask him about the Jedi?! As if he needed the reminder that she'd chosen his enemies after promising he wasn't alone anymore.

"What Jedi texts?"

He hadn't read them. She could feel that strange uneasy feeling in her stomach loosening somewhat, and there was less tightness in her chest.

"They... they were written a thousand generations ago," she said. "They set out everything about the Jedi Way." She looks down at her lap, running her hands nervously along her legs. One of the books lay just at her side, the one that had brought up all the questions.

"It's ... it wasn't always how it turned out to be." Her brow furrows, trying to find a way to explain it. "They understood compassion. A need for a connection."

"Why should I care about the Jedi?" he spat, the Force around him gathering like thunder clouds. "They were weak. Compassion? Compassion is weak!"

Look what compassion had brought him. He should never have left her alone on Starkiller, should have just brought her to Snoke as soon as he realized she had the Force. What did he have to show for it? A dead master and a bond to someone who betrayed him.

"Compassion isn't weakness," she snapped it, and then a heavy sigh came from her. This was not going the way she had thought it might. Not that she had thought on it much, but the rare time she had considered seeing him through the Bond again, she had hoped it would go better than, well, this.

"They had marriage rites." Better to just get to her point. She picked up the book, her fingers gently lingering over the words. It was easier, she felt, if she didn't look at him. If she focused on something else. "It's all here."

Compassion had been his weakness, inherited from his father. He still hadn't overcome it. He was tired of suffering for it.

He sneered. He couldn't help it. "You ran back to your precious Resistance but now you want to get married?"

"There wouldn't be much point in that. According to these I already am."

It's snapped out, anger boiling just below the surface. Compassion - her compassion for him - kept him alive when she had been mad enough to strike him down. Why he wanted to stay with the First Order... Rey could understand why he wanted an end to the paths that had brought him to this point in life, but why did Ben not just leave with her?

A question she suspects she'll never get a satisfying answer to.

That makes him stop cold. Married?! He'd asked her to make a life with him. He hadn't even guessed at the time. If he'd known... He doesn't know what he could have done differently. Even if he had wanted to go back with her, the Resistance would have killed him on sight or tried to.

Then he remembers some of his family history and laughs bitterly. "Then I suppose I have become my grandfather after all. His wife betrayed him, too."

The words make her head snap up, eyes narrowing in his direction.

"You knew? What it all meant. In the hut?"

Did... Had he been simply playing her this whole time, allowing her to leave only to call her back with this news? That anger boiling flared hot, burning inside.

He glared at her. Of all the absurd, offensive questions to ask him, she picked that?

"Know? How would I know? Jedi don't marry. If anything, I should be asking you that."

As he said it, he began to wonder if someone, at least, had planned this. Snoke or Skywalker. Perhaps both on their own.

She waved the book.

"Apparently they did at one point! Because we engaged in the ritual!"

If Snoke's claim of creating the Force Bond was true - and since he was dead and the Bond was still there, she was doubtful - Rey could tell him it was Snoke's plan. For what purpose, she had no idea.

Then again, if she read this right, it was Master Skywalker who made it official. It was hard to tell - the print was so faded. Though even that sounded hollow to her ears now. She knows what she read.

Kylo had no doubts Snoke did indeed create their Force bond. Knots once tied normally stayed tied even if the person who tied the knot died. No doubt he'd intended for something like this to happen. He must have enjoyed seeing Kylo poised to unknowingly kill his wife.

"How could we do that? We didn't even know there was one."

Another irritated sigh, though this one was less irritation at him and more with the situation in general. Confusion she could understand, she could handle him being confused. It's not like she wasn't. She glances down at the page again, finger underneath the words to make sure she reads it correctly.

"It's... I'm not quoting but it says that the marriage rite involves two beings who are connected with a Force Bond holding hands over an exposed flame, in the presence of a Master Jedi who acknowledges them in the same space."

There's a pause.

"It's ... actually really simple?"

The Force must hate him. Snoke and Skywalker must be laughing at him from beyond the grave.

"So Skywalker married us. He had to have known what he was doing."

He clenches his fists and turns away. This is he'll. He reaches for the empty throne and twists his wrist. The back twists with a groan of distressed metal.

"I don't think he ever read these."

She's not sure why she thinks that, but it's something that she feels certain on. She can see what Ben does, sees how the throne reacts and there's a grim sort of smile on her face at it.

"I really hate that throne."

"Of course. He just accidentally married us."

But he can feel it, too. Skywalker had no idea what he'd done as improbable as that seems.

"It's not needed anymore. I intend other uses for this room."

Well, it sounds ridiculous when Kylo puts it like that, and the brief look of wanting to laugh that crosses Rey's face probably doesn't help much with anything, but... yeah. Master Skywalker accidentally married them and now they need to work out what they're going to do.

This room. She knows exactly where he is.

"...Like what?"

It doesn't just sound ridiculous. It is ridiculous. His lips twitch against his will. But it leaves them in a far from funny situation. They're married but she left him.

"A training room."

It was a situation that, ideally, they should never have to have been in at all. As much as she wants to laugh at it, it's... actually something that hurts too much to think on. They were... They are married, according to the Jedi rites, and... yet it's like this.

"For yourself?"

He'd wanted her more than anything else. He'd asked her to join him because he'd hoped she would eventually want to get married. Instead he got exactly that but it was poisoned.

"I'm recalling my knughts."

"Your Knights?"

It was easier for her to focus on that, than on the fact this the one person she had felt a real connection to in the first time in, well, ever had opted to stay with a course of action that was bringing pain to the galaxy.

She liked Ben. How deep was that like? No idea. There was a strange feeling in her chest when she looked at Finn and Rose's new found closeness to each other but she didn't think she was jealous of either one in particular but rather...

That could have been Ben, if he had just came with her. They could be working together, to make things right.

"Do they know? All that's happened?"

"My knights. They weren't called the Knights of Snoke for a reason."

He'd led them as well as he knew how. He could admit now that he'd sent them out on their own missions for the First Order to keep them away from Snoke. Once their early training finished, they'd had no contact with the previous Supreme Leader. It serves him well now. He has no need to question their loyalty even after killing Snoke.

"They will shortly."

There was a small nod from Rey, taking in that information. She'd heard - vaguely - of the Knights of Ren, or was it that she'd taken the knowledge from him during the interrogation? She ... wasn't actually sure on which it was. They were all Force users, which meant that things were going to be harder for the Resistance. It didn't mean she could stop the next question. It came with a dry bitterness

"How long do I have 'till they hunt me down?"

"That depends on you."

His tone was as bitter as hers. They shouldn't need to have this conversation. She should be at his side.

"When are you going to try to hunt me down?"

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