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Ever since the expedition to find the Wayfinder, Rey Skywalker (formerly just Rey) was used to having familial surprises of some sort. Indeed, it was after Exegol and looking up certain things that led her to connect her family to the Skywalkers, of all things (apparently in a different timeline, the Skywalker family would have been the Palpatine family in general. Rey shuddered to think about what that would be like), that she took on the name Skywalker (the fact that Luke and Leia had been more family to her than that monster Palpatine ever had definitely helped). When Ben had come back from being dead, Rey had gotten used to the idea of calling him her cousin. (Not that she minded. In the end, all she'd ever wanted was her family back. It was more than she anticipated, at least) And then of course, the original Dathan had decided to come back.
Dathan. Simply calling him Dathan was easy; after all, there was no use in getting names mixed up when you called your parents simply "Mum" and "Dad" (or other variations). It had been D'Arcy who actually told Rey about him. "He's a Symeong," she said, and that at least debunked the idea of Rey's parents somehow surviving what Ochi did to them, "He claims to have known your father."
Rey already knew, deep down, who he was. She could still remember what her father had told her about him -- "Despite the hardships he faced, he was nothing but kind. I do wish that I could have introduced him to you and your mother; he would have loved you both." -- and she swallowed. She didn't know if he forgave her, necessarily, for the collapse of Exegol -- for the Sith Eternal's collapse itself. She'd felt bad about it even putting aside Ben, and the idea that her grandfather hadn't been the nurturing archetype that you typically associated with that sort of figure. Even though it had been sanctioned by the Light...it didn't feel right, somehow. How many people had been kidnapped, no different than Finn or Jannah, for that matter? (In another life, Rey thought, shuddering, Finn would have been a Sith Eternal cult member and they would have met a different way)
"It's okay, D'Arcy," she said. "I already know who he is. My father told me about him."
"I'm just worried that he may want revenge on you. This could be a trap."
"No." She could sense something else in the Force; vengeance was the last thing on his mind. "It's not what he came for. Just...trust me, D'Arcy. And even if something goes wrong...well, I have a lightsaber."
D'Arcy frowned, but nodded. "Very well. Just be careful."
Poe, Ben, Finn, Rose, and Jannah were already backing her up even as she headed over to meet the visitor who called himself Dathan.
***
He was...small. Definitely smaller than Rey. Rey definitely knew that next to the right people she could be positively imposing (except for Ben, who had always been Wookiee tall, really. You didn't have to feel bad about being short next to Ben considering that almost everyone was short next to Ben), but she was still struck by just how small and hunched over the Symeong was. The streaks of gray in his fur, too...he seemed to be almost all silver.
"It's you." Dathan the Symeong, Dathan Prime, already sounded amazed, even as Rey squatted next to him. Already, she felt bad; she didn't want to frighten him.
"Yeah," Rey said. "Hi, Dathan." It was such an awkward thing to say, the sort of thing only said when words didn't suffice. How exactly did she greet the man who'd probably felt his surrogate son die along with his wife? Whose first meeting with his surrogate granddaughter was her accidentally nearly killing him. "My...father told me about you. Many times."
"I can only imagine." Dathan surveyed her. "You are awfully...tall for a pup raised on Jakku."
"I wouldn't say I was 'raised' there," Rey said. "We...we drifted around a long time before we even found Niima Outpost in the first place..."
"I am sorry, pup," Dathan said. "Had I known where you were, I would have gotten you to a safer place..."
"You had your limitations," Rey said. "So did I. So did...all of us, really." Then, "It's not like I'm any better; I nearly killed you..."
"Not by design. The Jedi work in mysterious ways. Sometimes...beyond any comprehension of morality." Indeed, Rey thought, that was an understatement.
"You sensed them there?"
Dathan nodded. "I am...glad, at least, they protected you in that time. That they did not judge you for your bloodline."
"Master Skywalker once said 'Some things are stronger than blood.'"
Ben cut in. "It sounds like him," he said. "I can only imagine he learned through bitter experience given his own father." Then, "All things considered, I do wonder if Lord Vader even knew that his brother, of sorts, was onboard his ship..."
Dathan shook his head. "I doubt it. I...gave him a protection that I hoped made him invisible. I am only glad that it kept him alive long enough..."
"I'm sorry." Already, the guilt was flooding Rey once more. "I never...I never wanted this..."
"The only one to blame is the Emperor himself. And you dealt with him well."
Rey nodded. In some ways, she didn't deserve her surrogate grandfather's forgiveness. It seemed she got it anyway.
***
"It is quite ironic that my pup is following the ways of the Jedi."
Rey smiled as she sat next to Dathan. "It wasn't planned," she said. "Not really. If I told you everything that happened...well, you'd think I was making it up."
"Tell me anyway."
Rey told him. About finding the Skywalker lightsaber. She left out the part about the identity of her torturer (though she did notice Ben shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He regretted torturing her. Sometimes, Rey thought, it seemed her cousin beat himself up more than anyone else ever could), but she did tell Dathan about pushing Ben out (while not mentioning his name). She told him about summoning the lightsaber when Finn was injured, training with Master Skywalker, everything. There were details she'd tell him later; she felt guilty for lying, even in a from-a-certain-point-of-view way, but she figured after his surrogate son's murder, Dathan had suffered enough. She told him as much as she could...all the way up to now.
Dathan paused. "I sense you had quite the ordeal, and there are things you are not telling me."
"I'll tell them when we're both ready," Rey said. "I figured you'd suffered enough."
"You, too, lost a family member. Multiple, I would say."
"Yeah." Rey smiled faintly. "I'm just blessed by the Force that I got some back."
"Does that include me?"
Rey snorted with laughter. "Why wouldn't it? I would have taken you any day over the Emperor. If you had been my grandfather, I would have been honored. Everything my father told you...you were infinitely more than Palpatine could ever be. He wasn't anything more than a coward who was better at having other people do his dirty work over doing it himself." She grew more somber. "Kylo Ren...he might have had many, many flaws, but he wasn't a coward."
"Thank you for the support, Rey," Ben said wryly.
"You're welcome." Their relationship was healing, at best (and perhaps she'd end up filing that kiss under Things Rey Regretted. Ben tried to comfort her by saying that apparently his mother and uncle had kissed -- which hadn't necessarily made the situation better, but it was the thought that counted). That was enough. She turned back to Dathan. "And I think Ben...I think Ben could use a grandfather too. In a way."
Ben nodded. "I'd be honored."
Poe spoke up. "Seconded. Or...thirded, whatever. I'd take you any day over Vader."
Finn spoke up. "I think I would be proud, too," he said, "To have you as part of our family."
It was obvious that in a way, Dathan's broken heart had been remade. Rey could feel it; his son wasn't gone, he thought. He was still there, in a way, with his new family. No one is ever really gone indeed.
"Then," Dathan said. "I would be honored to be part of the family." Then, "Am I too, a Skywalker?"
Ben cut in. "There's no rule saying you can't be."