Chapter Text
“Another giant,” said Sunny, craning his neck a little to watch the newcomer climb Ahch-To’s long stairway.
“Probably here to see Uke,” said Stillwater. “The plumage is similar, anyway.”
Sunny had to agree. The new arrival’s pale grey and beige coverings resembled Luke’s, though skimpier. “I’ve always wondered if Uke dresses like that to fit in with us, or whether he wants to look like a rock too?” he asked.
“Both could be true,” said Stillwater. “This new one is way too scrawny for a porg though.” She fluffed her feathers and settled herself more comfortably between two stones. With her eyes slitted nearly shut, she might have been just another one of the thousands of rocks on the island.
“I wonder if he’s expecting a visit?” asked Sunny.
“Let’s go up and see what happens when they meet.”
The two porgs dropped through a gap in the stones lining the pathway to the top of the island and made their way up, hopping and scrambling until they could see the flat ridge near Luke’s hut. From there, they could also look down to the the rocky flat where the shining space-bird had landed half an hour before, causing a flurry of excitement among the island’s inhabitants. The giant however was out of sight, hidden by one of the turns of the stairway.
A few minutes later, Luke appeared along the ridge, casting a brooding look down to the space-bird before moving away to stand like another one of the island’s many rock pillars.
“He’s quite good, isn’t he?” said Stillwater. “He’s surprised me once or twice. I haven’t noticed him till he’s moved.”
Luke turned slightly. He caught sight of the porgs and sighed. Both porgs froze, sinking into the stones beside the path and taking on an innocently rounded look. Just another pair of rocks.
“I don’t think we’re welcome just now,” said Stillwater, barely moving her lips.
“Uke thinks I talk too much,” said Sunny. He shuffled himself slightly to one side until he could get a longer view down the stairs. Soon the new giant rounded a corner and began the final climb. Tall and thin, it was carrying some kind of staff. Occasionally it turned its head, perhaps hearing the ripple of of comments from other porgs hidden among the island’s stones. If it was looking for the source of the noise, it saw nothing. When a porg wants to look like a rock, it looks like a rock, no matter who’s staring at it.
Sunny and Stillwater puffed up their feathers, sleeked them down again, tucked in their feet, and pulled their translucent third eyelids shut. Now they could watch without breaking their disguise as just a couple more stones on a very stony island.
The new giant came up to Uke. It reached into a bag and held out a short metal rod, intricately shaped. For a moment its eyes became big and dewy, almost like a porg’s.
“Maybe it’s only a chick,” said Sunny. “I want to protect it already.”
- - -
Sunny held his breath, watching Luke, whose whole body seemed to strain towards the metal rod in the other giant’s hand. Yet he did not take it. Neither giant moved for one long moment. They stared at each other until Luke crossed his arms firmly and tucked them away in his sleeves.
“I was sure he was going to take it,” whispered Stillwater.
The newcomer took the rejection like a slap, stepping back, shoulders braced as though waiting for another blow. “You’re Luke Skywalker, aren’t you?” The voice was light and clear. A female voice, Sunny was sure.
“So what?” said Luke, and continued to stare at her.
“So this is yours!” She brandished the object and held it towards Luke again. “Your lightsaber.”
Luke jerked his head in disagreement, his mouth twisting with disgust. After a long, uncomfortable silence, he said, “I suppose you’ve been told the Force is strong in you, girl.”
The girl nodded warily.
“The Force!” hissed Stillwater. Sunny nudged her to be quiet.
Luke flung out his arms in a sudden gesture that made the girl flinch slightly. “They told me the same thing. And they told my father too. And look where it got us!” He gave an angry snort. “The Force is always looking for another tool - or another fool - to restore its precious Balance.” Luke pointed a finger at the girl. “You’d do best to run. Run as far as you can, before you let the Force pull you into its games.”
“What!?” said the girl. Her fist was clenched on the lightsaber, and she looked as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Even though she only had small slitty giant eyes, they sparked so dangerously that Sunny wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d launched into a porg warcry. He started clicking his teeth quietly in anticipation, to the rhythm of the famous war chant, “I will slap your head inside out”.
“Run?” snarled the girl. “I’ve heard that before. I never heard before that Luke Skywalker was a coward, though.”
Sunny’s feathers stood on end, and so did every blade of grass on the hilltop. The seed heads went stiff and straight as spears, and the balmy spring breeze was replaced by a moment of midwinter’s icy silence. Stillwater let out a soft hoot of alarm. “Oh no….”
In the face of Luke’s glare, the girl assumed a battle stance. Maybe she couldn’t puff her feathers the same way, but Sunny recognised it well enough. Arms akimbo, head lowered, ready to charge. Luke did not move, and there was a tense silence.
“Everyone’s looking for you!” she burst out at last. “Why are you standing there like that? The galaxy needs you!”
“And you think I’m going to save the galaxy?” said Luke coldly.
“That, or you’re going to teach me how!” said the girl. Her voice held a shrill, slightly shaky note, like a chick left alone on the nest too long. Stillwater clucked sympathetically in response and Sunny, who was one of Luke’s most devoted observers, found himself rooting for the girl too.
Luke was already turning to go, and it seemed he wouldn’t even answer. The girl stared after him, her shoulders beginning to droop. But then Luke stopped to fling a question over his shoulder. “What’s your name?”
“Rey.”
“I’ll see you here tomorrow, Rey.”
The girl straightened up and didn’t budge an inch. Her mouth was compressed into a firm line. It was Luke who stumped off, passing close to the porgs on his way. Stillwater crooned, “Uke, Uke.” Luke threw her a brief glare, and Stillwater said softly, “Don’t be such a jerk, Uke.” Luke aimed a kick at her. Sunny and Stillwater hopped out of the way just in time.
“It’s almost like he understands you,” said a voice nearby, coming from a rounded lump of what looked like basalt. It developed a pair of eyes and revealed itself as Strike, one of Ahch-To’s most talented basalt impersonators.
“It’s been years, and he hasn’t yet,” said Sunny.
“Coo-er! Wasn’t that exciting, though?” said Stillwater. “Looks like Uke is going to go sulk by his fish traps. Let’s see what the girl does next.”
- - -
Rey spent the next few days exploring the island. The porgs couldn’t keep up with her long strides, so it became a game to guess where she might go next, and take a shortcut to arrive there first. Rey quickly found the network of tunnels the porgs used in the breeding season, which Sunny and Stillwater knew well. They didn’t care to follow her down there.
Once a day, Rey and Luke would meet up and have some kind of ritual combat with sticks. Luke said little, apart from giving Rey instructions on how to fight. Rey had plenty of questions for him, but he would generally give no answer, instead staring past Rey at the endless sea with his mouth set in a hard line. Or he’d say, “Don’t ask me, I don’t have all the answers.” Or “I don’t know, what do you think?” Luke was more interested in spending time with the Big Hairy Thing that hung around the space-bird. Whenever Rey was exploring the island, Luke would go down to visit it. The two creatures would sit quietly on the beach, flicking stones into the water and saying little.
“It put its arms around Uke,” reported Stillwater.
“Ugh. Predator hugs are the worst,” said Sunny. “Uke is brave.”
A few days later when the Big Hairy Thing was out of sight, Sunny and Stillwater picked up the courage to take a closer look at the silver space-bird. It was parked on the rocky shelf that was the porgs’ favourite place to haul out and sun themselves. They were in no way prepared for the large, stumpy metal creature that challenged them when they got close.
“What even is this?” said Sunny.
“Is it some kind of joke?” asked Stillwater, outraged. “It’s like some overgrown mechanical clown porg.”
“Made by someone who’s never seen one. And blinged up with lights.” Sunny waddled forward, lowered his head and hissed at it. The metal thing jiggled on its blocky legs, extruded some pointy body parts and whirred them threateningly in the universal language that said “I will waste you if you approach me any further.”
Behind Sunny, Stillwater started up the yattering warcry, “I am the thousand-toothed victory”. Half the rocks in the immediate vicinity suddenly developed eyes and mouths and took up the chant. There was the slap of a hundred porg feet drawing nearer.
The Very Big Hairy Thing appeared suddenly in the doorway of the space bird. It let loose a tremendous howl. A hundred porgs dived to safety in the sea, scattering like stones.
Sunny and Stillwater surfaced in a sea cave five minutes later. They floated among the fingers of seaweed, catching their breath and warily watching the chop and glitter of the waves outside in case they’d been followed.
“I didn’t realise that monster was awake. Lucky it doesn’t swim,” said Stillwater.
“That’s a mercy,” said Sunny. “Some victory, huh?”
Stillwater snorted. “I’m not messing with that hairy thing again. Let’s stick to watching Rey.”
- - -
The porgs were on a rock shelf overlooking one of the island’s beaches, watching Rey spar with Luke. Some of the porgs called Luke “Dances with Sticks” due to his daily bouts of lunging and twirling while holding a stick. The stick dance didn’t seem so pointless now that he had a partner. Their combat was pleasant to watch and the sticks made a satisfying “clack” when they hit together. Sunny had always found Luke fascinating, and the arrival of another one like him filled every day with an undercurrent of excitement.
“Rey,” Sunny cawed softly to himself. It was a name that fitted easily in his mouth. “Rrrrrrrrrey.”
“They’re doing Jedi training,” said Strike, who’d just hauled ashore to dry off. “I heard Uke say it yesterday.”
“She should have worn white,” said Stillwater. “She’s more of a seabird kind of a thing. All skinny and angles everywhere.”
“I wonder if she can fly?” asked Sunny, tilting his head admiringly as Rey made an extra-long leap, sweeping her staff low across the sand as she did so. Luke hopped out of the way with a startled almost-laugh. “He must be a good teacher,” Sunny commented. “She’s nearly flying, look.”
A seabird who’d been standing nearby on one leg untucked its hidden foot and put it down impatiently. “What would you know? What kind of a bird are you, anyway, if you can’t fly?”
“What kind of a bird are you, if you can’t swim?” asked Stillwater nastily, and with one quick leap she had the seabird in a headlock under her stubby wing. The two of them flapped and struggled their way to the edge of the rock shelf and into the water. After an interval of flurry and bubbles, the seabird surfaced and flapped off heavily. Stillwater bobbed up, snickering.
Sunny peered down at her. “I was going to get the seabirds to shit on that metal monster, that Aaaaaartoo. But now you’ve made them our enemies.”
“They’ll probably shit on it anyway. They can’t stand the sight of it.”
- - -
Sunny had nearly got the wrist-flick right. Maybe seven out of ten times he could twirl his chosen piece of driftwood - a thin, straight piece - and swap it from claw to claw like he’d seen Rey and Luke do. The sandy beach was patterned with his footprints as he practiced. Lunge. Stab. Twirl. Sweep.
“Hey!” said a soft voice from above him. Sunny jumped into a defensive crouch and looked up. Rey’s head had appeared over the lip of a seagrass dune above him.
“I see you, porg.”
Sunny looked up at her warily, feeling an uncomfortable flush under his feathers. Being seen was embarrassing, for a porg. But she didn’t seem to be trying to shame him. In fact her voice sounded gentle. “It’s always you, isn’t it? You follow me around, don’t you?”
Sunny dipped his head the way he’d seen the giants do. “Yes.” He wasn’t sure she understood him. But Rey’s face brightened.
“You’re smart! I thought so!” She swung her legs over the edge of the dune and slid down to him. “Let me look at you.”
She did more than look. When she saw that Sunny was not running away, Rey stretched out one hand and very gently stroked his feathers. It felt wonderul. Sunny half-closed his eyes with pleasure. “Rrrrrey,” he said.
“Oh, you’re so cute,” Rey said, and her eyes sparkled. Taking courage, Sunny hopped up onto her wrist and shuffled up until he could perch on her shoulder. Rey laughed and scratched him softly on the top of his head. Sunny purred with happiness. Slowly Rey stood up and Sunny squawked appreciatively at the view from his new vantage point.
“Want to come for a walk with me?” asked Rey. Sunny nodded, and Rey laughed again. “I’m sure you can understand me!”
Sunny bobbed his head smugly but said nothing.