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Very few pieces of technology could outsmart (or out stubborn) Rose. Even fewer that could outsmart Rose and Finn. At this point, Rey would have had a go at it, but unfortunately, her 'having a go at it 'was what led to the current predicament.
"Are we done," drawled the human analog of a wroshyr. "These aren't going to be unlocked by mundane means."
Rose turned to Finn. "Are you sure we can't kill your cousin?"
Finn winced at that last word. Rose couldn't blame him, she and Paige may have butt heads at times but at least Paige had never tried to off any of their family members. "Leia would absolutely kill me." He paused before adding, "And probably Rey as well. She seems to tolerate him for some reason."
"Your concern for my well-being is touching, cousin," said the former Supreme Leader of the First Order, now not-quite political prisoner-- or as Poe said in a rare moment of emotional intelligence, "If we kill him, Leia may die out of grief, and that woman has been through enough."-- Ben Solo.
"At least they're trying to find solutions," said Rey, frustratedly. "I've yet to see you come up with some way to get us out of this." She finished, gesturing to the softly thrumming cord of twisted steel and kyber crystal between them.
"There would be no need for any solution if you had just listened to me to begin with."
"I thought it was scrap!"
"Just because something is metal and covered in dust doesn't make it scrap!"
"I thought it could be useful!"
"This is a Nightsister's cache that predates the last Galatic Republic. Did you not read any of the datapads I provided before we left?"
Rey rolled her eyes. "And none of them said anything about unremovable cuffs, and the scroll beside it was barely legible."
At this, everyone looked at Rey. "What?"
"There was a scroll," said Ben blankly.
"Yes."
"You didn't mention a scroll," Finn added.
"Well, you two," Rey gestured to Rose and Finn. "Seem to be having so much fun, and you two were finally talking to each other again--"
"Never mind that. The scroll. Is it still in the cache?" Ben unfolded himself from the corner of the ship.
Rey yelped at being suddenly pulled along by his form. "Please remember that I'm also attached this! And the scroll is in my pack."
Rey's bag skimmed across the floor to Ben's feet. He rummaged through it and pulled out a parchment scroll covered in intricate embossment. He unrolled it with a surprising amount of delicacy for someone so large and began to read it silently.
"Well?" prompted Rey. "It's in Aurebesh but an older dialect. Which makes sense given the age of the cache," replied Ben distractedly. "What's odd is that it keeps referencing a union or a pledge of some sort?"
"Like a treaty?"
"Perhaps," he continued to unroll the scroll and then suddenly went still. "Ah."
"What is it?"
Silence.
"Ben? Ben, what's wrong?"
"Solo? You look paler than normal." added Finn.
Curiously, instead of handing it to either of the Force users, Ben handed the scroll to Rose.
She took it and stared at it for a bit. And then a bit longer. She let out a snort.
"Rose, what's happening?"
"Evidently, we'll have to see Leia for this. Well, just you and the groomed Wookie over there."
"But why?" asked Rey, looking between Rose and Ben. "And how can you tell?"
Rose looked at Ben, handing the scroll back to him. Concerned, Rey turned to Ben: "Ben, what is it? What's in the scroll?"
Ben looked down at the ground, his ears starting to flush, and handed the scroll to Rey. "While there's text at the top, the visuals near the bottom context."
Rey scanned the scroll, puzzled. "All I see are two people with this," she gestured to the cuffs connecting them. "And then another person next to them with their hand open? Is this some ceremony?"
"Yes," replied Ben; by now, his ears were the same color as the red glie they had in their salads for lunch earlier.
"And it's something that we need Leia for? Why?"
"In this type of treaty, one party is given to another--" At this, Rey's face went dark. "Consensually, mind you," Ben added quickly. "To another party by the maternal guardian of the first party. Symbolically, she uncuffs them to show that the parties are with each other of their own volition, and then they celebrate the union."
"But what kind of treaty is this?" asked Rey. "I've helped Leia with some and none of them were like this."
"What he's trying to say is that you two are about to get married, and Leia needs to give him," Rose jabbed a thumb in Ben's direction. "To you. To get those," Rose gestured to the cuffs connecting Rey, who was now giving a fairly good impersonation of a Mon Calamari on Jakku, and Ben, who was actively not looking at Rey. "--off of both of you."
"So, who's telling Leia that her only son just eloped with the last Jedi?"
