The Mirror within the Mask 5

A soft knocking on the door woke me up. Thrawn walked in before I could say ‘don’t’.

“Were you asleep in the bath?” he asked, giving me a look. “I called your name twice and knocked. You didn’t answer….”

I sank under the bubbles into the now lukewarm water and re-emerged washing the sleep from my face.

“No, I was just resting my eyes.” I told him tartly.

“Drowning is very bad form, drowning in my bath-tub would be a terrible breech of decorum.” He said handing me a towel. “Lord Vader would be most unimpressed. Lots of paperwork”

“Ha very ha.” I said. “Do I smell food?”

He nodded. “Corellian take-out. I ordered you the noodles you like so much, maybe you’ll eat them?”

I shot him a look from under towel I was using to dry my hair. But he was right. Ever since the night at the Jedi Temple I had neither eaten nor slept well. He just smiled and left me to dry and dress. I ached and falling asleep in the bath until the water was cool had not helped any. Lord Vader had worked me hard. I was hoping I would sleep the whole night through instead of waking screaming with nightmares built on memories that were not mine. I had suggested going to sleep in the spare room so as not to disturb Thrawn but he had just shaken his head saying; “If you do that I’ll just have to get up to see if you are okay or are being murdered in your sleep.”

While he changed from his uniform, I set the table. He opened a bottle of wine and we sat down to eat.

“I received the invitations to the Bernau art exhibit today.” I told him.

He smiled. “When is it?”

“Next week.” I chewed absently on the noodles and stir fried vegetables. “Will you be able to accompany me?” I asked with a grin.

“I’d be delighted to but it depends on my schedule.” He said. “I cannot make you any promises.”

I nodded. “Well, the Emperor mentioned that I ask you.”

He stared at me for a moment. “He did, did he?”

I nodded. “I believe his exact words were ‘I’ll look forward to seeing you both there’.”

“He does not miss much.” He said after a long pregnant pause.

“No, he doesn’t.” I added. “It drives me crazy. He makes all these innuendos but he never comes out and says anything straight. Speaking with him is like watching a holo with dual language soundtracks. One you hear and can understand and the other one is incomprehensible but you are still aware of its presence.” I shook my head.

Thrawn nodded. “He enjoys these games.”

“That’s what Lord Vader says. But I don’t understand it.”

“There is a point, my dear, when power is not enough. He has all the power in the galaxy so now he plays with it. People become pawns and he manipulates them to see who is stronger, who can adapt and survive. He weeds out those he deems unsuitable by playing them against each other, the fittest survive.” He sipped his wine and continued. “He has made a life time out of studying the fallibility of the beings around him, using their weaknesses, their desires and their fears to gain what he wants from them. It is almost poetry to watch sometimes. Most creatures in his court are completely unaware of it; you are among the few who at least see something is going on, to a certain extent.”

“I hate it!” I said vehemently.

Thrawn smiled. “Of course you do. I know that as does he.” He said. “He counts on this fact.”

As I sat staring at the food on my plate a terrible thought suddenly came to me. “Do you suppose he knows that I can get into the Jedi Temple?”

“Hard to say.” He replied. “But who gave you access to the Library where you found the blue prints to both the Imperial Palace and the Temple? You have to ask yourself, what were such valuable plans doing left lying in an unused library to begin with?”

Suddenly I wasn’t so hungry any more. “What is it he wants from me?” I asked.

Thrawn shrugged. “Nothing and then again, perhaps, everything? You interest him. I suspect he throws these bread crumbs in your path to see which way you will go. How much use you could be? How far you can be pushed.” He said pouring more wine in my glass, nodding at me to continue to eat. “The Emperor has at his disposal an exclusive group of people known as his Hands. They act as agents to his will. Most of them believe they are the only one, unique in a position created just for them, which could not be further from the truth. I have often wondered if he is not grooming you for such a place in his court. As I have said before, you are far too talented and clever to have your skills wasted as a mere personal assistant, no matter what you believe. Your language skills alone are remarkable enough to warrant a better job.” He sat back and studied the wine in his glass. “It is your strange devotion to Lord Vader and perhaps Vader’s own odd relationship with you that has allowed you to keep the job you love so much. Of all the things you are it is this one point that the Emperor does not quite understand and so he watches.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Understand?”

He smiled. “Perhaps a little more than Palpatine does.”

I just made a face and then nodded. “What does he expect me to get out of the Temple then?”

“That I don’t know, but then again maybe he does not expect anything, perhaps he is just looking to see what happens and what you do with the information you obtain.” He said. “Does he know about your ability to read memories from objects? I remember you mentioning that it was a surprise to Vader when he learned of your talent.”

I thought about it for a moment, my fork playing absently with the now cold noodles. “I don’t know. Lord Vader has said often enough he doesn’t bother the Emperor with trivial information about me. He hasn’t told the Emperor about my birth mother, I am sure of that. I am not that important in his eyes and my psychometric gift isn’t something the Emperor would just feel from me, it’s not a force gift, it is merely enhanced by the force.”

Thrawn nodded. “Perhaps then, he was just giving you access to a larger library, to see what you would do with it.” He said. “Sometimes it is easy to ascribe too much meaning behind an action, over estimating one’s opponent’s intelligence or knowledge.”

“Are you saying I am giving him too much credit?”

Thrawn arched an eyebrow. “It is just a thought. The Emperor is very powerful, make no mistake, but he is also very single minded sometimes. He believes he knows his servant, Lord Vader through and through yet you prove that this is not the case. Vader keeps information back from his master, perhaps for the simplest of reasons but still….” He paused. “Palpatine is a very clever man but he lets his desire for power and his desire to maintain that power cloud his sight sometimes.”

“How do you know all of this?” I asked pushing the last of the food on my plate around with my fork.

Thrawn gave me one of those smiles. “I make it my business to know, my dear.” He said, giving me his standard answer. He did not fear the Emperor the way so many others did but rather seemed to study Palpatine, the way he studied works of art, looking for patterns and weakneses. I often wondered why but I never asked. There was a moment’s pause and then he asked. “Would you like something for desert?”

“What did you have in mind?”

And there was that smile again.