"Being able to watch the sunset feels strange," Pellaeon said from where he stood at the hotel's window. "I've lived on a Star Destroyer for so long, I think I've become more used to the time of day being decided by a clock."
Thrawn paused in his unpacking to glance over at Pellaeon before his gaze moved past him to study the glow of the still-bright rays of the setting sun. "Growing up I rarely saw the sun."
"Really?"
"Yes," Thrawn said as he turned back to his open luggage and picked up a shirt. "I was born and raised on an ice planet. Its surface is so cold, my people cannot even go above ground for extended periods of time without special equipment. We lived in underground cities."
Pellaeon turned away from the window to look at Thrawn and he blinked, clearly surprised at this sudden forthrightness.
Thrawn would admit, even he was a little surprised at his own words. This sort of honesty – honesty about his past, his home, himself – felt foreign.
But not wrong, as it often had in the past with others. It still made him uneasy, as it always did, but he supposed that he did have a certain level of trust in his second in command.
"There were a few buildings that were so tall that you could see over the planet's surface from the highest floors. Those rooms were almost unbearably cold, but some of the ice walls were as clear as glass there. The angle was wrong for a sunset, but if I sat the right way I could see it rise." He paused as he noticed his hands had twisted up the shirt he held and he made himself relax his fidgety hands. Pellaeon was worthy of his trust. "It was a very dim star, but when it would rise it would turn the surface into a glittering sea of white and blue. I would sit there for hours just watching it as a boy."
"That sounds lovely." The sound of Pellaeon's voice pulled him out of his worry, and he turned his head to look at the captain. "I don't think I ever appreciated natural daylight as a child. It's an easy thing to take for granted when it's just there all the time and your focus is so easily taken by other things. Now I just wish I could wake up to something other than ship lighting."
"It can be easy to overlook the simple pleasures."
"That it can," Pellaeon agreed, but then pursed his lips in thought. "You know, Admiral, I think that's the most you've ever told me about yourself."
It was, wasn't it? Thrawn hummed, and tried to ignore his own nervousness at his next words: "Perhaps it will not be the only thing I share with you about myself."
Pellaeon smiled at the thought and Thrawn found himself returning it, just a bit. "I'd like that, sir."