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Kylo bows his head briefly, the lightest smile on his face as he reaches for the dragon's head. It leans up into the touch, arching slightly as he gives it a scratch. He hadn't meant to acquire the dragon, but something in it's golden gaze had called out to him. They were marvelous creatures, dragons.

Whistling, he calls out to the others as they sniff and study the new creature.

"He has a name." Kylo replies finally as he steps inside the house to greet Rey proper. "They both do."

"Really?"

Rey is skeptical, but she holds out a hand for the new one to sniff and is rewarded with a nuzzle as well. The other two had at least remained reasonably house-pet sized.

"Were you planning on telling them to me at any point?"

The red boy answers to any number of pet names, mostly because he's come to associate Rey with food and scritches. Sunny was more particular, but rarely left Rey's shoulder if she could help it.

He's already a bit larger than the other two, Kylo imagines it'll get large enough to ride. Someday.

"Mmm." He replies, nodding.

To the larger one;

"Grimtaash, a protector of the Alderaainian royal family, and one of the pieces on a game of Dejarik." If she'd ever played it, she'd recognize the name. Chewie had been fond of the game, taught him, beat him many times. He never did get to finally beat him... he tears himself out of the memories to clear his throat.

"And Tai." He'd named the dragon in his head some months back, but it's the first time he'd said it, out loud. "He was... my best friend, a long time ago."

"I know Grimtaash. He's a favorite piece when I get a chance to play."

She'd never managed to beat Chewie either, but she's pretty sure he cheats.

At the mention of Tai, her expression softens into something gently curious. She'd wondered about his friend after he'd mentioned him some time ago, but it had never seemed the correct time to ask, considering he'd likely died in the destruction of Luke's school.

"You asked about Tai before, when you couldn't remember me. Will you tell me about him?"

She moves further into the cottage, settling into a spot on the sofa and immediately being followed by her own dragon who was clearly anxious about the possible competition for lap space.

Kylo pats the dragon on the head, and sighs.

"I suppose I would've. Back then, he was the only friend that I had." It's a spoken fact, even before Kylo Ren had come about, people had already strongly disliked him.

"Most of my classmates were jealous of my ability, or my relationship to Luke. Some even felt... threatened? There was one student, her name was Voe and she constantly tried to challenge me in everything." Rey reminds him a little of her, in a good way. Headstrong and fierce.

"Tai was another student, but he was the only one to really try to get to know me. He became a confidant and friend from the very start. He was also not afraid of me, or of telling me what I didn't want to hear." Kylo swallows, memories lapsing in and flooding his mind. Even while he never forgot, he'd stopped thinking of him as clearly as it was too painful of a reminder.

"I've never talked about him to anyone, before. Out of everything that happened... he didn't deserve to die, but it was my fault he did."

Rey's heart sinks a little; though she'd suspected this would be the case, she'd held out some hope that perhaps his friend had gotten away. That he hadn't been there when Kylo fled.

She's never asked for details because there's a part of her that doesn't want to know how he'd killed the other students, if it had been self-defense or rage that had driven him. He hadn't been entirely himself under Snoke's influence, but still it seemed something that she'd find hard to take in. So she'd left it be until now.

She moves over to make room for him -- and his new dragon friend -- on the sofa.

"You've never talked about what happened. You don't have to, but if you want to tell me, I'd like to know about him."

He scrubs a hand over his mouth. Kylo hasn't talked about it to anyone, but like everything, he carries the events of that night with him continually.

"There's things about that night that I'm not even entirely sure... if they happened how I recall. First, I don't know if I destroyed the Temple or if it was something else. After I brought the hut down on Luke, I ran outside. There was this flash of something, lightning - I don't know where it came from, but everything was on fire after that. So I ran to my ship, just as other students were arriving from a mission off world."

He looks over at Rey, regret shining in his eyes. "You have to know, I never wanted to hurt anyone. My classmates - the ones that died, I never wanted any of it... I'd tried so hard to be good, to fight that darkness, but it didn't matter."

"You didn't kill them."

There's a touch of relief in it, though it's overshadowed by sadness over what he'd suffered and for the students that had died. She covers one of his hands with her own, squeezing it in reassurance and wishing she could do more to take this guilt away. Whatever happened that night hadn't been his intention. She's almost guilty she thought it, even for a minute.

A moment later, a dark realization leaves her cold and almost ill.

"You've never been able to wield Force lightning, have you? So it couldn't have been you."

She'd done it once, and a part of her would always know how to do it again if she needed it. But Ben never had, in all his anger, ever harnessed that particular Force weapon. Which meant Snoke had intentionally killed all the students who'd been there that night just to ensure that Ben could never return.

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