Regardless of how certain Star Wars fans may feel about the controversial Star Wars sequel trilogy by directors J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, it’s undeniable that there are still plenty of gaps within the timeline for Star Wars spin-off material to expand on. It’s these gaps that Lucasfilm has honed in on, with novels and comics following the likes of Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, Rey, and Finn.
Madeleine Roux’s Star Wars: Legacy is no exception. Set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Roux — a writer of sci-fi, gothic fantasy, and paranormal stories — takes us on a journey following a master and apprentice duo that never got the chance to shine as much as they deserved to in The Rise of Skywalker. We are, of course, talking about the relationship between Leia Organa and her unofficial Jedi Padawan, Rey.
Seeking answers on how to repair her lightsaber after the loss of her previous master, Luke Skywalker, in The Last Jedi, Rey’s research leads her to the planet Tython. To her own surprise, Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, joins her on her mission.
“If Leia is a special character for you, if Rey is a special character for you, then this book was written for you,” Roux shares in a statement to Polygon. “Maybe the greatest pitch I can give for this novel is that both of these women are important to me — Leia since I was a child, and Rey since she sparked a lightsaber to life in The Force Awakens. It’s not often that you get to experience a story like this, one that stands as a bridge between films and as a deep interrogation of (and retrospective on) a beautiful and complex relationship.”
In this excerpt from Star Wars: Legacy, which is published by Random House Worlds, we see how the bond between Rey and Leia is at the heart of their journey to fix Rey’s lightsaber on Tython — and what gives them the courage to press on in a mysterious yet terrifying abandoned temple alongside a skeptical Church of the Force member, a human named Gavrin. Read below to find out more.
“What did you see in there?”
Her own twisted self. Kylo Ren. Destruction. Death.
She avoided everyone’s searching gazes, wandering to the edge of the platform. It hung precariously over the cistern. There had to be supports and pillars somewhere, but it seemed suspended as if by magic. Her eyes swept down to the floor and the pool, across the bridge to the rotunda, then back. “Things from my past. A sandstorm that trapped me in my house on Jakku. A… battle I had not long
ago with the First Order.”
“Bad memories,” Leia agreed. “But they were different. They were changed, or I was changing them.”
“I don’t know if I was in control,” Rey added, walking the perimeter of the platform. Something wasn’t right. How was the ritual supposed to
go? She didn’t feel lighter; if anything, she felt worse. “What are we missing?”
“I’d say try again, but that doesn’t seem like a great idea,” Gav said, blowing out a tense breath.
Rey stopped at the far end of the area, where it trailed off into nothingness. There had to be a way across. Why else was there a riddle just there and a door on the other side? It was a test of some kind. From what she’d been able to piece together from the texts and Master Luke’s journals, the Jedi loved their tests. She pulled off her own cowl and started to squeeze out the extra moisture, annoyed at how heavy and droopy it had become. Leia came to join her, placing a hand on the center of her back. Her arms twitched, then raised and opened, and Rey accepted the embrace, hugging her.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” Leia said softly. She touched Rey’s hair in a few places, as if checking for injuries. Her own mother used to do
that, after Rey would slump into their shelter, covered in rough and tumble bruises, giving her daughter a once-over before having her
turn around so she could comb the sand out of her hair.
Relief trembled through her.
“Thanks for coming in after me, even if it…” Rey let go of Leia, then turned and took out her frustration on the wet cowl drooping from her
grasp, twisting it. The water droplets gathered at the edge of the platform but also slapped quietly against the darkness.
“Even if it almost killed us both?” Leia prompted, but Rey wasn’t really listening.
“Hang on,” she whispered, eyes widening. “Did you see that?” She wrung out her scarf again, gasping as the same soft music twinkled
up from where the droplets hit a path she hadn’t been able to see before. Rey dropped to one knee, smoothing her hand across
perfect, smooth glass. “There’s a path here.” She twisted to look up at the lamps swinging from the distant ceiling. Wetting her hand on her clothes, she stuck her right forefinger into the air. The wind passing persistently through the cistern blew a few strands of loosened hair across Leia’s face and tickled Rey’s finger.
“The darkness keeps the transparisteel practically invisible,” Rey explained, running her palm across the invisible bridge just to be sure. “And the air flow blows any dust away, to keep it hidden. It was a test.”
“Anyone have a light?” Gav asked, hurrying over.
“How clever,” C-3PO said. He kept a safe distance from the edge but more or less joined the group. “The ancient Jedi were masters of architecture, but I have never seen such a device.”
Rey pulled her scavenging goggles out of her hip bag and switched on the small glow rod on the top corner. She shined it back and forth, showing the way forward. It was a bridge, sparkling in the new, bright glow, perhaps wide enough for two humans to pass side by
side.
“Cleaning this place must have been a nightmare,” Gav muttered. “Imagine sweeping that.” He audibly shuddered. Rey put one foot on
the transparisteel, testing it. It vibrated softly under her feet.
She took a few more steps forward, always zipping the light back and forth to illuminate the bridge. When she took a deep breath and jumped, the others gasped in unison. C-3PO cried out, but Rey landed without incident. It felt sturdy. Solid.
“Follow me,” Rey told them. “It looks like it runs straight across.” They went cautiously, in a single-file line, Leia holding the back of
Rey’s jacket, Gavrin right behind her, and C-3PO bringing up the rear. She could hear the nervousness in the droid’s teetering steps. Rey wasn’t sure she breathed the entire time, and by the time they reached the other side, she was lightheaded. The door that had seemed so far away was now right in front of them. Rey recognized the raised button on it; it matched the one on the antechamber doors.
“Stay close,” she said. Her lips pressed together in concentration as she withdrew into her mind, envisioning the moment as she needed it to be, seeing the energy that would bloom around them—protective, trapping them safely inside. Carefully, eyes closed, she reached out for the button and pressed it.
“Should I remind you what happened last time?” Gavrin hissed.
“We’ll be safe,” Rey said. The door lifted gradually, and once it locked into place, it seemed to trigger another mechanism, a light above
them blasting on and brightening the path back across the chasm. A twin aperture to the lights blinked before playing a blue holorecording of the Jedi Master they had seen before. He seemed less urgent in this one, calm and at ease, noticeably younger.
“Through careful reflection or sheer determination, you have survived the Chamber of Quenching,” he said. “I tell my students of a gold-smith of renown, one who uses their tools and furnace with immense skill; they do not allow the flames to grow too hot, nor do they tamper overmuch lest the gold never refine. This smith knows the nature of the metal, applies heat and cold at suitable times. So, too, must a Jedi know when to turn their focus, determination, and restraint inward. Prepare yourself — the Way of the Reforged is arduous, and your journey has just begun. Beyond lies the Simulacris.”
“’Way of the Reforged,’” C-3PO repeated. “Why does that sound like some manner of trial?”
“You’re the translator,” Rey reminded him. The energy surrounding them sputtered out as she refocused her attention on what the Jedi projection had said. Goldsmiths and forges. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “There must be a forge here somewhere. Why else
would he mention one?”
“Sorta sounded like a metaphor to me,” Gav offered quietly, avoiding Rey’s subsequent stare.
Leia let go of the back of Rey’s coat, placing a careful hand on her forearm. “Whatever a Simulacris is, I don’t know that we should attempt it now.”
Rey nodded. She wanted to press on, but she couldn’t deny that something had gone wrong in that pool. “I wouldn’t mind drying off,
and I should check through my books to see if the Simulacris is mentioned in any of them. I don’t… want to rush into anything like that again.”
At that, Leia gave her a warm smile, a proud one. “Books are best with tea.” She turned to face Gavrin, and Rey knew he would be
helpless against whatever came next, because Leia extended her arm, suggesting he take it to help her back across the bridge. “Is there tea at your camp? If not, we can share some of our supply from the ship.”
Star Wars: Legacy by Madeleine Roux will be released on July 28.
