As they turn a corner they see on a large stone an alien woman crying out and gesticulating to their rickshaw. She has a small following of her own. Rey asks what she is saying, and the mayor says that the woman leads the Church of the Force here, and is saying that Rey is proof of their feeling. Rey inquires further, and the mayor says that a feeling has swept the city recently of heightened awareness. Things are brighter, the sounds clearer, life fuller. The woman has foretold the coming of the Knights of Ren and a new master to lead them. Rey grips her saber as tightly as she smiles.
They arrive at the skull to find it only part of a building shaped as a coiled serpent. It is a colossal structure, stretching into the distance in either direction. Between the multitudes of ribs are doorways in which are docked skiffs and flying devices of a multitude of varieties and sizes. The mayor asks if he should be discussing the selection of their craft with Rey or with her companion, and Rey answers that her servant is sadly blind and mute. Ben nods pitifully. The mayor then suggests that he or an experienced pilot go with them on their journey to the castle, but Rey says that this will not be necessary, only that they want the fastest craft they have. He selects for them a small craft and refuses Rey’s attempt at payment. He bows away, saying that it was an honor to be in the presence of so powerful a Jedi Master.
The small craft, a repulsorlift platform with sails and a weighted water scoop on the front, is carried to the skull and they behold the vast sweep of a cliff wall upon which they are perched. A waterfall cascades from the lower jaw of the skull to the valley below, where it winds its way into the distance. The sun is setting behind the skull, tinging everything orange and red. Rey, Ben, and R2 pile into the craft and the water scoop is cast into the waters of the river. They are pulled above the surface of the water on a ten foot cushion of air to the precipice, and their momentum flings the craft out into the air. Rey fights with the rudder as they swerve and wobble their way towards the river below. Ben pulls up the blast shield to see what is happening. They come in too hot and the bottom of the skiff goes underneath the water before bobbing back into the air. R2 is rattled and Ben is soaked. He removes his helmet and sputters. Rey masters the controls and they lower the water scoop again into the water, to be drawn along at the river’s pace while the wind is low. Rey asks how long it will take to get to the castle and Ben responds that it will be morning of the next day before they arrive.
They coast in silence for a while, then Ben breaks the silence by saying that he can’t stop thinking about what the preacher said. He feels different as well, ever since Rey brought him back. Though for him it’s an absence, not a presence. The terrible destiny that he has felt all his life, the destiny which Luke and even Leia admitted in their moments of darkness, has gone. It has been replaced by this profound absence, and Ben feels like for him it’s a chance for a new start, away from the responsibility and curse of great power. Rey wishes she could feel as he does but all that she feels is deep inadequacy at the loss of her power, and more than anything a sense of guilt that she is deceiving the galaxy in being a false hope. She is placing all her hopes on the Knights of Ren to have answers, and a way to regain that which she lost just as the Jedi of old had to recover from the cataclysm of their sin. This last she says before realizing what she is implying, but Ben understands. He puts the helmet back on and lays down on the deck as if to sleep, pulling down the blast shield once again.
