It was nice to see plants after two years of nothing but sand. 

As I took the final step off the Falcon's ramp, I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill my lungs as I savoured the feeling of the cool breeze waving over my face. Everything felt fresh, even the ground beneath my feet, and as the sun glimmered in reflections from the lake in front of us, I found myself grateful to no longer be on Jakku. There, everything felt sun scorched, worn out and broken down. Here, everything felt alive, even in the force. No longer did I feel muted in my connection to the force, held down by the lifelessness of Jakku. Here, I felt right again, like myself, feeling the sensation of life flowing around me. 

The sun still felt warm, but after years of being on a desert planet, it was a nice warmth, a warmth that didn't feel crushing or overbearing. On Takodanna the sun felt as though it had a purpose, an energy source instead of just a burden. Maybe that was helped by the lush greenery surrounding me, because as I opened my eyes I felt tiny compared to the great trees, stretching up far into the sky. I used to be scared of them, but once I brought Izzy and Erika when we wre travelling and they insisted we climbed them, they felt less limitless. Now, they just reminded me of a better time, a time I felt alive. 

Maybe staying on Jakku for so long hadn't helped my recovery from the academy, leaving me to just dwell on my feelings and suffer. On Takodanna, I felt free once again, possibilities infinite as if the galaxy was open for me to explore. I knew better than to believe that, but still, the nature mixed with nostalgia had made me feel better than I had done in a long time. 

I glanced to the side of me, seeing Rey stood by the water's edge. She was looking around in wonder, and I knew if it was amazing for me to be there it was more so for her. I knew so very little about her, but that feeling of familiarity had appeared once more. We had both escaped Jakku, but whilst I knew just what that meant for me, I was curious to know what it was for her. 

"How long were you on Jakku?" I asked her.

"Longer than I can remember," she admitted, that same kind smile in place once more. 

It was with that smile that triggered a new realisation within me. I felt a flutter in the force surrounding her, and it was a sensation that I hadn't felt since my one that I hadn't felt since my last day at the academy, when I had been surrounded by other force sensitive individuals. Standing next to Rey by the lake just then felt as though I was back in the training room, meditating with everyone else. Back then, there was a constant aura around me, and it was one I hadn't felt at all after fleeing. Now though, it was like I was being greeted by an old friend.

No wonder Rey felt so familiar to me. I'd been feeling the force with her the whole time since meeting her but never realised. Maybe that was because I wasn't used to being around force sensitive people, not anymore anyway, but now I was away from Takodanna where my senses felt so much more refined I couldn't avoid the feeling of it. I wondered if she knew about her connection to the force, but of course she didn't, otherwise she'd have told me when she first saw my lightsaber. 

If she didn't know, they she wasn't trained either, and that would explain just why it all felt so overwhelming around her. It was like I was standing with Ben back as children, before we had been trained, when we first started to engage with our powers. Surrounding Rey was such an intense feeling of pent up potential, trapped within her, without her knowledge. 

I wanted to tell her, but yet I couldn't quite figure out just how to broach the subject to her. How could you tell someone that they belonged to something they hardly knew anything about? Rey thought my Uncle Luke was a myth, so telling her she had that power too seemed like such an ironic twist of her fate. It would be a shocking revelation for her, and one I couldn't drop onto her lightly. 

"And I've been waiting longer than I can remember, now come on!" Dad called, and I was grateful he had broken me away from my thoughts. The past few years on Jakku meant I was alone with no one but my thoughts, so it was nice to not have to listen to my internal monologue endlessly anymore.  

"Where's Chewie?" I asked, pacing over to my Dad, noticing my wookiee uncle was nowhere to be seen. Dad offered me a small shrug, and I raised my eyebrow at him. "You can't seriously have him stay by the Falcon just because you hate how Maz acts around him?" 

"Come on, kid," Dad muttered simply, hitting my shoulder as he began to head off in the direction of Maz's castle, gesturing for Finn and Rey to follow us, BB-8 rolling after us eagerly. 

I'd forgotten how much I loved the walk to Maz's castle. As a kid I used to love running about the grass alongside my father, chatting excitedly to him about all the nature around us and the adventures we were going on. I'd grown up since then, and it was quite a change from that as we now walked in silence, side by side. I was too distracted by the thought of getting BB-8 to the resistance to care though, until I saw the great stone castle come into view. It was an amazing sight, surrounded by the vibrant flags of different symbols of allegiance that hung from the old stones. I hadn't seen those flags in so long, and I felt my heart beat faster in excitement, a grin creeping up onto my face as I saw the one marked by the symbol of the old Jedi order. 

"We should steal that one, take it back for our hut," Izzy had said when we visited. She was intoxicated, and Erika and I had to carry her out. "We're all the last Jedi's anyway,"

"We're not stealing anything, Iz," Erika hissed back, fighting off a grin as she tried to stay serious. 

"And keep it down about the Jedi stuff," I muttered to them both, looking around cautiously. 

"Just cause you're scared of getting kidnapped by the First Order again!" Izzy laughed wildly, especially at my scowl. "Arrested, kidnapped, it's all the same, Amidala," 

We reached the steps leading up to the great doors to the castle when my father stopped us, snapping me away from my memories. Knowing already what he was going so say, I knelt down by BB-8, making sure that his antenna was straight. I was hoping that if his tracker back at the resistance was turned on, they might be able to find our location. 

"Listen," Dad called, signalling for the other two and BB-8 to listen. "This place is dangerous. And Maz is... a little... excentric,"

"An understatement," I muttered, standing back up. 

"Yeah, well, exactly," Dad nodded at my point, before adding, "Anyway, just don't stare," 

"At what?" Finn and Rey said in unison.

"Any of it," Both me and dad said together, before glaring at one and other in annoyance.

Nervously, I straightened my jacket, making sure it was still covering my saber. I pulled my braid around my left shoulder, tugging at it gently to distract myself from the worry that someone would recognise me. If my brother had put out a reward for me, here was the place I was at risk of being recognised. I tried not to dwell on that thought though, instead turning my focus onto my father. I watched as he went to push the door, and held my hand out, opening it myself with the force. He jumped back in surprise, before shooting another glare at me.

"Don't do that!" He said sharply. I rolled my eyes in response, but by then, we were inside, and I was too distracted by all the sights around me to care anymore.

The inside of Maz's cantina was the exact same way I remembered it. Busy, as usual, and full of criminals, as usual. Over all of the chaos the band was playing loudly, an upbeat jazzy tune playing over the shouts of the clientele. Everywhere I looked there was a different breed of alien, and looking around I remembered just why I loved cantinas. There was always so much to look at, something always happening, and as someone who'd spent the latter half of my teen years with a bounty on my head, it was nice to come somewhere and just blend in. I began to look around for Maz, but just on cue I heard her call, silencing everyone else in the castle.

"Han Solo!"

I tensed, feeling every eye in the room fall onto us. Our caution to not be spotted or recognised clearly didn't matter to Maz, either that or she enjoyed embarrassing my father. The latter seemed to be rather successful as he sighed in defeat before calling out a greeting. Just like that everyone went back to their business, no one paying anymore attention to us. I was glad for that, sighing with relief as I glanced down to BB-8, seeing him roll out from behind my legs as if he knew he was safe there, for now. Flashing him a grin, I looked up again, just as Maz was trotting over to us, though upon seeing me stood at my father's side she stopped, a small smile appearing on her face. I mimicked her smile, glad to see her after so long, and as soon as she was close enough I knelt, pulling her into a hug, one that she reciprocated. 

"Hey, Maz, I missed you," I sighed, pulling away, looking her in the eye.

"Lucinda, look at you!" She exclaimed, awe in her voice. "Not Little Solo anymore," 

"I know, it's been a while," I said, standing back up, looking over to the others. "How's business?"

"Terrible, considering a certain mooch never paid me back after twenty years," she snapped, glaring up to my father. "Can you imagine something so horrible?"

"I might be able to," Dad muttered, looking down, scratching the back of his head. "But we came here for help,"

"First things first," Maz nodded, looking up to my father. "Where's my boyfriend?"

"Chewbacca's back at the Falcon," I had to stop myself from laughing at him acting quite uncomfortable at the conversation at hand.

"I like that wookiee," she noted, before looking up to my father. "I assume you need something. Desperately," That was when she noticed Finn and Rey behind me. "I'm so sorry," she said to the both of them.

"For.. for what?" Rey frowned.

"For whatever trouble these two have dragged you into, though I'm guessing Han was more to blame,"

"Is there somewhere more private we could talk?" He asked, looking around suspiciously, and I understood what he meant; First Order spies could be anywhere. "It's important,"

"Isn't everything important with you, Solo? Yes, now come, sit, tell me all about what you need this time,"

***
Word count: 1942

***