"Everything the First Order does in the training of stormtroopers is carefully designed to destroy the spirit. Or will, or soul, or any other of the hundreds of names it has been given throughout the galaxy."

Leia poured two cups of tea, some dark reddish-brown brew that LN couldn't even guess the ingredients of. With people due to finish their indoor meditations and start wandering the courtyard, Leia had led the conversation into her own private cottage, a beautiful but humble stone building sitting in the shade of trees off to one side of the lawn.

"It is better to cry in private," she had said. LN agreed wholeheartedly.

The former stormtrooper's eyes were still red, but at least now she could keep her face dry. Part of her expected to be mortified by this embarrassing and unprofessional display of emotional weakness, but the rest of her just didn't care.

Leia set one cup of tea down in front of LN before continuing.

"I believe it's part of the Will of the Force. The part of us that is more then physical. And I don't think it can be destroyed. They can suppress it and twist it, but they cannot destroy it. You and other defectors are proof of their failure."

"Other defectors..." whispered LN. Her throat was sore. She hadn't remembered that crying could make one's throat sore.

"They are out there," Leia confirmed encouragingly. "A few are even fighting with the Resistance, trying to prove themselves as heroes. And more will follow every year until the First Order is destroyed for good."

"I should have taken the chance and tried to convince FL-2218 to come with me. He could be here right now if I had."

"Whether he would have escaped with you or gotten both you and Raey recaptured, that is in the past. There is no use dwelling on it unless to learn from it. Set aside your guilt. Looking back, you would do differently, so how can you use that knowledge moving forward?"

LN rubbed her thumb up and down the cup, letting the warmth of the ceramic soak into her skin. I don't know.

The moment of silence became a minute of silence, both women sitting quietly with their tea and their thoughts. Then,

"LN... I take it those are the first letters of your stormtrooper designation?"

The comment seemed a bit aimless to LN, but she just nodded. "LN-2737. That's me."

"And you decided to shorten it...?"

"Actually, it was Raey's idea."

Leia smiled. "That makes sense. If it was his idea, though, I wonder how he meant it?"

LN raised her gaze from the reflective surface of her still tea, confused. "How he... what do you mean?"

"Raey may have stumbled upon a very pretty new name, at least if you wouldn't rather abandon your old letters altogether."

As she spoke, a thick piece of paper and pen floated over from a writing desk to the table. Leia wrote a short line, then turned the paper around and passed it over to LN.

Eleanor.

LN let her gaze drift over the name, over and over.

Eleanor.

"It is pretty," she said quietly. "But that's not me."

"It could be."

LN was quiet for a long moment. "You're a good woman, your highness," she said eventually, and stood. "A wise woman. Maybe, someday, I will leave these letters behind, but not yet. But I do think I know the answer to your question."

Leia didn't need to ask which one.

"Next time, I won't leave him behind," said LN, her expression set and determined. "Or any of them. I would save my squad."

The door of the cottage slammed open. Ar'tak stood in the doorway, his eyes wide.

"Master, come quickly! Something is wrong with Raey."

.

Leia's temple interior was very impressive, but LN couldn't enjoy any of it. She hurried just ahead of the princess, glancing carefully out of the corner of her eye at the two Jedi behind for twitches that would indicate which direction they meant to go.

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Down the hall, across the cavernous underground courtyard, up the stairs. Ar'tak pointed at the furthest door and LN jogged forward, leaving the others behind. She threw back the curtain door to stride into the room.

Raey didn't seem to be in much danger. He was sitting on the stone bed, a glass of water in one hand and the other pressed against his temple as though he had a headache. He looked up when she entered and gave her a weak, slightly confused smile, like he wasn't sure what she was doing here. LN glared around the room for any sign of damage or a fight, but found nothing.

"If the Jedi consider headaches that alarming, I have some concerns about their fortitude," she declared, annoyed by the unnecessary worry Ar'tak had inspired. "What's the matter?"

"I don't really know," Raey confessed. "I was thinking about space, then I just... conked out."

"Conked?"

"It's a word. I did black out, but it was just for a few seconds. Ar'tak got really worked up about it."

"I sensed something," interrupted Ar'tak, pushing through the curtain behind LN. Leia came in between them and walked across to Raey, sitting down on the bed next to him.

"Ar'tak told me you were attempting to meditate with him?" she asked mildly, and Raey shrugged uncomfortably.

"'Suppose so."

"I sensed something very dark," Ar'tak clarified, his eyes still wide and his voice alarmed. "Just for a moment and from somewhere far away, but it happened just when Raey fainted."

"I just blacked out for a second."

"Describe what happened in that second, Raey."

Leia's voice was still quiet and calm, but LN felt a hidden note behind her words. A tension she wouldn't show.

Raey shifted, looking at LN, then across Ar'tak back to Leia. Ar'tak silently backed out of the room to give them more privacy, but LN refused to follow. She crossed her arms, shoulders squared.

"It was... just a hallucination or something," said Raey finally. He tried to rub the back of his neck with one hand, then looked surprised when his fingers met hair. He began tying his over-long hair back up in those absurd knots while he spoke. "I was thinking about nothing in particular, and then I was in some kind of weird waking dream where I wasn't me. We were talking to someone, but I couldn't breath. That's when I blacked out, and it was just for a moment."

"Who were you talking to?"

The princess's voice didn't seem to change, but LN could tell the tension had increased.

"I don't know."

"Do you remember what you said?"

Raey looked back towards LN for a moment, but he wasn't quite looking at her. His gaze went past her, lost in thought.

"Yes." His tone was subdued. Then, he interrupted his own thought with a sudden, defensive, "But it wasn't me. Dreams are hard to explain, but it was like someone right behind me, talking over me like I wasn't there."

"I understand, Raey."

Raey was silent for a moment. He looked at the ground, rubbing his arms like he was feeling cold space again. Then, reluctantly, "The... person behind me said, 'I will kill whoever I want. You can't stop me.' And the person in front replied, 'You will have your knights, but I will have my heir.' That was it. Just a moment."

LN felt a shiver across her own arms. Knights. She did not like that word.

Leia seemed to agree with her, but did not comment on it. "Please be as precise as possible. This is important, Raey. Remember the details."

Raey's eyebrows pulled together in an irritated scowl. "It was just a-" he began, but cut himself short. His scowl faded into gloom. "There... was a name. Though I don't know why it matters. It was just a dream, right?"

"Sometimes, dreams are more then they appear," replied Leia, and she looked at LN as she said it. LN felt the urge to follow Raey's example and rub the goosebumps away, but she forced herself to keep her composure.

"What was the name?" she asked instead, redirecting Leia's attention back to Raey. The scavenger licked his lips, then took a sip of water.

"Kylo. The man who 'had the knights' was called Kylo."

LN stiffened.

They both knew that name. Leia did not say it, but they knew it. What is going on here?

"Kylo," murmured Leia. "And somehow... you reached him."

Raey's scowl returned. "I don't understand. If it wasn't just a dream, then what was it? Why is that name important?"

"Kylo Ren," said LN flatly. "He is the leader of the First Order, the Returning of the Empire. It is only your backwater planet that doesn't know his name."

Leia held up her hand, cutting Raey's defensive retort short. "Raey, what you just did was very dangerous. It was accidental, which makes it even more dangerous."

"What did I do?"

"You connected to someone else in the Force."

Raey jerked backwards, shocked. LN gave in to her unease and rubbed the hair rising on her arms, suddenly missing her cup of tea left, abandoned, in Leia's cottage.

"I... how?"

"That, I don't know, which is what makes this so dangerous," said Leia, but the tension behind her words had begun to fade. She stood, holding out her hand to Raey. "But of everywhere in the galaxy for you to stumble into the Force, this was the right place to do it. Even if Kylo did sense your intrusion, he does not know where to find you."

"Intrusion?" Raey looked about ready to explode from questions. "How did I stumble into anything?! I was just trying to figure out where your power generators are."

Leia smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes this time. She looked up at LN knowingly. "I think we had better go start another pot of tea. Come, Raey, let's give Ar'tak his room back. We have a lot to discuss."

.

.

Kylo Ren opened his eyes, a powerful crack echoing through the formerly air-tight room. The origin of the sound came from the door, broken now in a jagged, uneven line from top to bottom, and the clean, scrubbed air of the ship flooded in through the break.

The audience had been cut short, but not by him.

Someone was spying.