Star Wars - All Media Types+1
by Improbable, Not Impossible
Victorian AUAfter a difficult start in life, Rey has the good fortune to be engaged by Lady Solo to work at her country retreat in the lake district and serve her son, Lord Solo.Upon her arrival though, the situation is rather different to how she imagined it and the man she is to work for? Well, he seems absolutely beastly.
1. Chapter 1
**Author's Note:**
* For [Dalzo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalzo/gifts).
> Tags/warnings/ratings may be updated.
Rey was cold. Cold and exhausted, because although she was in the women’s only carriage of the train, she didn’t feel safe enough to fall asleep. This was probably just foolishness on her part, but thinking so did little to help her.
So she sat, occasionally wiggling her fingers and toes when they went numb and trying (unsuccessfully), not to worry as she stared out of the window.
At first she had very much enjoyed the view- she had never been outside of London before and the sight of so much green, such lush tall trees and gently rolling hills, the way rivers curved and ran thick and fast and _ alive _ , was absolutely enchanting.
But then the night had come, total night, such deep darkness that she couldn’t help but be anxious. In London, even with the regular occurrence of smog so thick it was known as a pea-souper, you never really felt so alone, there was always some form of light near you, some illumination.
Here though, the darkness was almost complete, save for the odd town or village to speed through, which made the contrast so much more obvious when they were quickly left behind.
Rey was travelling 280 miles, she still couldn’t quite get her mind around such a figure, it felt alien inside her head, but then so did the speeds the train travelled at.
The current situation altogether was mind-boggling, her life had been turned completely about in the space of one week, a week that had seemed both to last a lifetime and to have slipped through her grasping fingers, much the same as water does…
As a child, she was abandoned by her parents and ended up in a workhouse. It was a bleak situation at the best of times, but Rey had managed to survive. From the women there she learned to sew, weave and spin, how to wash clothes, how to cook and clean. There was help, but no affection, no one to hug her when she was sad or exhausted, no one to wipe her tears after she hurt herself or pat her on the head when she did well. Over the years, she grew to accept this lack, and be glad of it, that meant it hurt less when someone left or died and both those things happened regularly.
There was a priest who came in once a week to teach simple reading and writing to anyone who wanted to learn. Rey got scoffed at by the women for attending, they told her no one wanted a clever _ girl _ , but Rey decided if she were ever to get out of there, education would help.
And as It turned out, it did help. To the priests surprise and her pleasure, she soaked up her lessons like a sponge, anything he could teach her she voraciously absorbed, reading, writing, figuring, how to speak properly, how to behave politely… and then one day, the Priest came to tell her he had found a position for her, a man who needed someone just like her.
At age twelve, she left the workhouse for the employ of a man named Unkar Plutt. She was to cook and to clean and to help him manage his home.
Mr Plutt was not a particularly kind man, but that never bothered Rey, she hadn’t been expecting a friend. What she had was better than friendship, she told herself, she had work to do, clothes that didn’t carry the fetid stench of the workhouse, more food in her belly and a tiny room to call her own, a small bed that was just for her.
As she grew older, she became aware that Mr Plutt’s business was less than savoury in nature, but she turned a blind eye to it because there was no guarantee that she could get another place without a reference and she had absolutely no desire to return to the misery of the workhouse.
Unfortunately, Mr Plutt’s chickens came home to roost, as Rey had secretly feared they would. Mr Plutt was arrested and as his maid, so was Rey.
After some questioning she was released, deemed to know nothing and have no part in his crimes. She was permitted to go home and collect her things before she was out on the street, with nowhere to go but back, _ back _ to the workhouse.
But she couldn’t do it, couldn’t bring herself to return there and so she went and sat despairingly on a bench and allowed herself to cry for the first time in many, many years. Rey knew she had options, but none of them were palatable. As she gazed at her gloved hands, trying to think of a solution, a gentleman stopped by her to ask if she was alright.
Utter mortification overwhelmed her as she looked up to see an older man with a scraggly beard and kind blue eyes staring at her with genuine concern.
After excusing herself and wiping her eyes, rather than walking on, the man had sat next to her, and Rey, to her astonishment, found herself telling him everything.
The long and the short of it was that the gentleman, Lord Skywalker, introduced Rey to his sister who was looking for a maid for her son.
It was like some sort of fairytale, some miracle that offered her a second chance at a normal life. Lady Solo, who was so regal Rey was a little afraid of her, engaged her straight after meeting her… and now, here she was, sitting on a train with her past far behind her and heading towards a future she didn’t know the shape of.
Her train arrived at Penrith mid morning. The air, once she had left the station and the smoke from the train, was overwhelming fresh and sweet, but also cold.
With a shiver, she went in search of transport and eventually found a man with a horse and trap and asked him to take her out to Varykino, the home of Lord Solo.
Teen 77k words 25 ch Complete 1.6k kudos
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