1/8/2

It has not escaped Ellie Kinear that Mirina Frakes is still on board the Supremacy.

What's she's not sure of is why.

She does have a hunch though. If anyone at that party was likely to have complicated feelings about Kylo Ren having been Ben Solo once upon a time, Mirina Frakes is that person.

The question is: what to do about it?

But, of course, not knowing exactly what those complicated feelings might be… Makes determining the correct plan of actions… difficult.

Ellie sits in the private chambers she and Pat share. The private, routinely debugged, on her personal ship, chambers. She sips her tea, and thinks, and wonders.

Thirty plus years ago, when the Emperor was still hanging onto sane by his fingernails, and he was living with the third of four mistresses, Ellie was one of her intimates. One who intentionally lived slightly outside the wheel and thrum of the formal courts of the Empire.

She was, of course, invited to important functions, and traveled in the right circles, but as Pat's wife, she was part of the military sphere of power, and not the political/senate circle.

Selina Beau, the Emperor's Mistress, was, of course, the highest lady of the political circle.

And both of them benefited by having in intimate friend in the other's circle.

And both of them, and many others, benefited by having a good friend who had many very wealthy, very well-connected, very talkative clients, who, in a relaxed setting, often with a glass of wine in hand, had a tendency to say things they likely shouldn't have.

Enter Mirina Frakes, who was perfect for the job. She's not the only well-connected courtier that Ellie collected over the years, but one of the best, and most useful.

And even to this day, only a handful of people ever knew what her real job in the Empire was.

But the Emperor didn't stay sane. He disbanded the Senate, blew up Alderaan, and a few weeks after that, he was seeing conspirators in all corners. (Of course, by blowing up Alderaan and disbanding the Senate, the number of conspirators against him likely did increase a thousandfold. People will allow someone on the verge of insane to rule them, but once it's clear they've crossed the line…)

Including his lady of more than twenty-five years.

Before Selina Beau fell, Mirina and Ellie were able to get her out. Officially, she's been dead for thirty-five years, in actuality, she's been quietly living in a small villa on Granium V. They had the feelers in place to see the winds shift before they did. So, a few days before the warrant for her arrest was to go live, Selina went for a pleasure cruise and "oops" crashed. It was a great tragedy for about ten minutes, The Emperor spent a huge sum of credits on an extravagant funeral and tomb, and then, as soon as the cameras turned away, he installed his new favorite into Selina's place.

The Emperor's new pet, Alia Dib was easy for Mirina to woo, because of course, by then a Frakes gown was synonymous with high fashion. To not have one, if not more, was a direct snub, and one that Alia couldn't possibly afford. Especially not after Selina ran the Emperor's court for almost twenty-five years.

Ellie decided it was a good time to see what Pat was up to. The close, personal friends of the ex-mistress are not, generally speaking, welcome in the court of the new mistress.

And that's where Ellie and Mirina's relationship ended, because shortly after, that's when the Empire ended.

But it's not where it began.

It began a long time ago, when a Senator, who had once been a Queen, needed a favor. A small, discreet, favor. One she was willing to pay well for.

And she was such a sweet girl. And a good client. And so pretty. And… well, sweet, pretty girls sometimes find themselves in need of certain favors. Especially sweet, pretty girls who were from planets that didn't approve of sweet, pretty girls making sweet, pretty babies without a husband.

And, while it was true, that technically the sweet, pretty girl had a handsome young husband, it's also true that the cost of revealing that was much higher than what either of them wanted to pay.

So Mirinia would, of course, do her a favor. Over the years she did a lot of favors like that.

After all, a pregnancy is fairly easy to hide, for a while at least, from almost everyone, except for people who see you naked, or, the people who make your clothing.

And Mirina was the latter.

And over the course of several months, as Padme Amidala's sweet, pretty belly kept expanding, it became clear that there was an opportunity brewing here.

There was a chance to… align things in a way that would benefit everyone.

After all, it was becoming clear that the Republic would not forever remain a Republic. And it was clear that the would-be Emperor would never chose to produce a legitimate heir. His mistress knew from a long and intimate association with him that he'd made certain that would never happen. Since he was young, he'd had visions of his offspring murdering him, so he made sure said offspring would never be born.

So, a power vacuum was going to happen sooner or later.

And here was a Queen, a Senator, with her Jedi Knight lover, and as it became clear to those who listened to who had meetings with whom, that said Jedi would rise high in the government…

And it was obvious that Palpatine knew what he was doing. He would clear the board, leaving himself the last of the great powers.

But even Palpatine was mortal, so…

So, sooner or later, someone would have to succeed Palpatine, so why not his pretty apprentice and the Queen who had chosen him as her consort? Why not their line? Ellie, Mirina, and Selina were sure that Amidala could be molded correctly, her man seemed… conveniently stupid. That appeared to be part of why Palpatine liked him, too. Powerful, but gullible. They could shape him in a direction they'd like. Amidala and Skywalker would likely make a pile of extremely attractive babies, and those extremely attractive babies could go on to create a stable dynasty to rule this new Empire.

They'd been working the angles on that for almost six months when everything went sideways, Amidala died, Anakin, who's primary advantage over Palpatine was that he was young and looked presentable, (the secondary one being he was easily manipulated) suddenly didn't, and those dreams died.

And then, two decades later, went even further wrong when the Skywalker thing happened.

But… Now… Fate appears to be realigning things back to where they were trying to get them.

After all, if the three of them had had their way… Kylo Ren, who was apparently born Ben Solo, and likely would have carried the name he chose for himself, Amidala, had their plans worked, had fallen back into their laps, and managed to grab the start of an Empire for himself, so…

Better late than never, right?

"Sevvie?"

RI-7V, her personal service droid hovers nearby. "Ma'am?"

"If Madam Frakes is still on the Supremacy, please invite her to join me. If not, clear my schedule so I can see her."

"Done, Ma'am."

1/10/2

"Were you waiting around for me, old friend?" Ellie asks when Mirina comes to her ship, looking around at the lush, private apartment with a nod of satisfaction.

"I could have been."

"But you weren't, were you?"

"Truly private?" Mirina asks.

"We're not being listened to. As you know, anything I get, Pat gets, too. Alas…" Once upon a time, anything Mirina got, that would be valuable to the right people, her husband got, too. And if it'd be valuable to others, well, those others often, in a 'round about sort of way, got the message.

"Alas covers a lot of ground," Mirina replies, sitting down in the chair next to Ellie's small sofa.

Ellie offers her a cup of tea, and gestures to the tower of silver trays laid out with small sandwiches and cakes. "It's not a proper tea. Even with the might of the Order, I can't quite get one out here, but it's close."

"Close will do," Mirina take a cake and nibbles it while Ellie pours, and fixes, she still remembers how Mirina likes it, her tea. "You know, I'm starting to come to the conclusion that there never actually was a proper tea. We keep telling ourselves that we're getting closer and closer, but I don't know anyone who's ever actually had one. At least, not since the Empire fell."

"Perhaps a stable empire is a necessary precursor for a proper tea…" Ellie says.

"Did we have them under the Republic?" Mirina takes a sip. This is good. It's just not right.

Ellie sighs. "I think we did, but it's been a long time."

"It has." Mirina sighs a little, too, and puts her cup down. Between the two of them, they can do this until the end of time, not getting any closer to the meat of the conversation, so… "You want my help, and you know I'm loathe to give it, and why I'm loathe to give it. And, likely you know the real reason I'm here is trying to pry my son away from the spawn of those murderous sluts."

Ellie slaps a fake smile on her face. "Well, let's not be vague when straight out will do."

"I'm tired of vague."

Ellie arches an eyebrow. "If he'd been anyone else's son, you'd be ready to rally the greatest, vaguest vague for the cause."

"If I'd been talking to anyone else, I would have, but what's the point? You and I both know the score of this game. You want me to throw in with the Rebellion." It's a curse in Mirina Frake's voice. "I've spent decades taking their shit, smiling along, and allowing them to just storm all over the galaxy, pretending that… everyone I loved was horrible, and I didn't have much to do with them, and it was so tragic… and I'm done with them. I'm not going into their service."

Ellie rolls her eyes a bit. "You always were dramatic."

Mirina glares.

"If Anakin, Obi Wan, and Padme hadn't screwed everything sideways, that boy would have been born on a throne that we'd put him on. The future we spent so much time working for is literally looking us in the face, and you want to spit on it because we had to take a detour to get there?"

"My husband's death was not a detour!"

"Yes, it was. And there was a time you knew that. But on the off chance it's not abundantly clear, do you know what name he chose for himself, and for his lady, when they aren't being Lord and Lady Ren?"

Mirina sighs, making it clear she's humoring Ellie.

"Amidala. She introduced herself as Rey Amidala. Now, tell me, with everyone who knew that name having died before that boy was conceived, how exactly was he to know that name? Pat and I didn't whisper it in his ear."

That has Mirina beginning to look interested. It's true that she's never been one for faith. It's also true that over the years she's noticed more than the occasional useful coincidence, and she knows not to spit in their faces.

"He found it, and he's reclaimed it. He should have been born with that name, and now… We can put him where he belongs. Where he would have been born if things had worked properly."

"The fact that he was able to look up his grandmother isn't a sign."

"It should be. And it should be telling you where you need to go, what you need to do, and who you need to do it for. From everything I've been able to tell, you didn't get out of the game just because the Empire fell. You snugged in with the First Order the second it started raising trouble for the New Republic, you've been feeding the right people the right information for decades, under your son's nose. Then you plopped him in here. Does he honestly think he started up with the First Order as an officer because they really needed a dressmaker to design armor?"

Mirina doesn't deign to respond directly to that. Many people who start military life in the officer track have an in. "He earned his promotions."

"Yes, he has. Between luck, skill, and the fact that he's been willing to work his ass off and on anything in his path he's done remarkably well."

"He married Lane. He didn't just sleep his way into that job."

Ellie's voice is arch. "Just." As soon as Pat brought word of Jon Frakes, both of them got very excited. Once they got into his files and saw he was, indeed, part of the Frakes family they thought he might have been, she got reading, and asking, and looking. And Jonathon William Frakes, has had, to say the least, a storied career. Like many women and several men who rose high and fast in the First Order, and before that, The Empire, Jon Frakes is not only insanely good at his job, he's also ridiculously pretty, a good flirt, sexually flexible, and willing to put all of his skills to use. "I know. He'd likely marry Kylo if he swung that way. You taught your boy well. He's learned every trick you, your girls, and your clients have shown him. But that's the reason you got him that commission. You'd been rather hoping he hadn't. Or hoping he'd learn some new tricks."

Mirina glowers. There are spheres of power, and spheres of power, and the ones she'd been hoping her son would excel at don't appear to be the ones he did.

"If Bill had lived…"

Ellie shakes her head. "Bill would have had even less idea of what to do with your son than you did. I've raised a lot of boys, and helped raise more of them, and there was absolutely no chance that you, or Bill, would have turned your son into a proper, narrow, Imperial. The only thing Bill could have possibly done was make him miserable trying to shove him into a mold he was utterly unsuited for. Be happy he found a way to use the skills he's good at, get over your disdain for the Rebellion, and help me, and him, get the Court of Ren up and moving."

"The Court of Organa," Mirina's voice is sharp and bitter.

"Do you really want to give up now? Or change sides? There are factions that want to see the Court of Ren fall, but the most fervent of them is what's left of the Resistance, which was run by Organa. I know they've got a few people gathering forces on the edges of the galaxy, looking for a way to hit us. Do you want to throw in with them? Or do you want to put your intellect and intelligence behind the man who killed the Resistance."

"Or made peace with them. Or was put in here by them. No one ever suggested Organa couldn't do the math. She had to know she couldn't win by force of arms."

That gets a look of withering scorn from Ellie. "I'll ignore that, because you don't know him. But it's abundantly clear to anyone who's spent more than an hour with him, one on one, that he was not here on his Mama's orders. And if you don't believe my ability to judge character any longer, judge this, Kylo Ren is the man who killed Han Solo."

That gets a slight widening of the eyes and a swallow out of Mirina.

"Yes, that's going a trifle far just to sell a role. The reports of the Battle of Crait, the last military encounter with The Resistance, shows that Kylo Ren took the field, personally, with his lightsaber, and cut Luke Skywalker in half. He did it hours after he took his throne by cutting Snoke in half. They call him the Jedi Killer, did you know that? The whispers were that he personally destroyed Skywalker's Jedi Academy. I never met Organa, not personally, and I know you haven't either, but nothing, nowhere, ever suggested she'd send anyone, let alone her son, in to do that.

"So, I ask you, Mirina, how much more blood do you need from the boy? Does he have to personally murder his mother, too? Or was just betraying everything she ever stood for enough?"

Mirina's regrouped, and re-centered her disdain for the Republic. "Is he? Or is he resurrecting it in his own hands?"

Ellie shrugs. "I don't recall the New Republic being fond of the idea of an executive branch. They eventually decided they needed one, but… They were too afraid of another Palpatine to give it enough power to be useful. And for all their talk of democracy and fairness, I don't recall them actually attempting to do anything but go back to what was there before the Emperor rose. Ren's interested in trying something new, and we both know it's been a bloody long time since anyone's tried anything new in the political sphere."

"Because there are no new ideas. Just old ones reheated and served on different platters."

"Well, if this one isn't new, it's old enough no one in living memory remembers anyone trying it."

That gets them to a momentary impasses. And for a moment, both of them sip their tea, staring at each other, thinking.

Finally Mirina, says, "He'll be bad at it. There's too much of both of his grandparents in him, and not enough of the adopted ones. Last time we backed an Amidala who was thinking too much with her heart and… cunnie, just about everyone died."

"He won't be bad at this. Or if he is, he'll be bad in an endearing way. I know you felt the rush of the crowd. They like him. And her. Or the idea of them, and… You remember her, right… The long flowing hair, those perfect dresses, Naboo countryside in the background… We could have run that forever. Could have made everyone stand up and cheer. They're not quite as pretty as Amidala and Skywalker, but I think they're more compelling. And I think if we work it, we can run this to the end of time. We can use them to build a stable dynasty."

"Again, until they all died horribly. There's too much of the Great Urus in him. Too much of Anakin's fire and Amidala's sorrow. He's thinking with his heart and shaft, and it's all focused on her. The rest of this is… whatever he does when he's not doing her."

Ellie shakes her head. "Amidala wasn't in the game just for her gonads, and Kylo isn't, either. He might have started this for her, but… He's in it for him, too. Maybe she was the push he needed to get moving in the right direction, but she's not the endgame."

Mirina's awfully certain Ellie's wrong, but… Kylo's only half of the story. "She doesn't have the temperament for it."

"Not yet. But she's trainable. And… I think, when she comes into her own, she'll bring something truly interesting to the table. People like the idea of one of their own rising up high enough to rule them. She's perfect for that. Orphan from the desert who becomes a queen. They'll eat that up. Couple that to his royal birthright… It's perfect."

"You told me that about Skywalker and Amidala, too."

"And I wasn't wrong. If they hadn't imploded, people would have liked that."

"If. And these two…"

Ellie stops that before Mirina can get started. "Are rock solid stable with each other. Even you don't doubt that about them. When we were playing with Amidala and Skywalker we were playing the game with children. This time, we're not playing with children. We're playing with people who have been through this, together, and come through it. They know the stakes of the game… We can spin this out, we can win this, with them."

Mirina's eyes narrow. And Ellie can feel, or at least imagine Mirina seeing a moment of their shared past. A quiet room off the main floor of Mirina's atelier. Small cups of tea, savory and sweet nibbles, the scent of Virnania Lilies and hot house roses, and a girl, almost a woman, with a stomach that wasn't bulging, yet, but would soon, a need for a favor, and discretion.

And all the myriad opportunities of that moment.

Ellie says, "He's her grandson. We didn't know her long or well, but we knew her enough, and, more importantly, we knew the opportunity she represented. Take the time to sit with him, and really look. There's Anakin in there, and, of course Leia and Han, and Luke and Snoke, though he's cutting that out as fast as he can, and… Padme's in there, if you look for her.

"Sit with him, have a chat, about something other than looking pretty for a party, and see. Then remember the plans we made, back when his grandmother was young, and the Chancellor was moving into position, and hope was still a thing."

Mirina's eyes narrow. "Neither of us can afford to be hopeful, not any longer."

Ellie shrugs. "Maybe. But I'm still allowing it for myself."

Mirina's eyes narrow further.

"And if you won't feel it for yourself, feel it for your son. He's going to go so far with this."

"They told me Bill would go far, too."

"Bill did go far. Your son will go farther. Grand Marshall, Diplomatic Corps. Right hand of the Master. The paperwork is filed. All he has to do is claim the title, and it's his."

"A pretty title, but no real staff under him. And only a few million under his command. I know Ren wanted to make his people feel special, counted, appreciated, but he just let everyone know that he's vastly below the targets everyone thought he was at."

Ellie hadn't thought listing their numbers was the greatest plan, ever, either, but… What he lost in surprise, he gained in loyalty. She hopes. "He's working on that. They're coming, too. Coming in droves. He'll be where he's supposed to be in less than five years."

"In less than five years he'll have real enemies, too."

"And hopefully friends."

Mirina glares. But Ellie can feel it, the anger is fading. She pulls the last card out of her sleeve. "You've dressed Senators and Republicans. You've made their weddings sparkle. You've listened to their confidences and passed along their secrets and lies. You've done it to ensure your position and the position of your children. All you have to do is keep going."

1/10/2

Kylo lays another data pad with yet another report to the side. So far today he's approved paying navigators more, and offering them full citizenship after three years. He's done the same for experienced pilots and mechanics.

What he hasn't done is magically come up with the money to actually pay them those higher wages.

He reaches for the next pad, hopefully details on the first of the potential meeting space deals. Hopefully lucrative details.

Jon says they're getting nibbles, so…

He's pulled his cup of coffee close, taking a sip, and opened up the latest pad (Not what he was hoping for. This one is a status update on his new dreadnoughts, so he's not disappointed, but he feels like this is a fairly low priority item… He checks the date… And it's been on his desk for six weeks, so… Low priority indeed.) when he feels half of an argument.

Kylo puts the pad down, and closes his eyes for a moment.

Mirina Frakes is in what had been his throne room, and from the feel of it, is attempting to intimidate C8 into getting a meeting with him, even though she doesn't have an appointment.

C8, of course, not only cannot be intimidated, but he also has been told that today and tomorrow are days where no one other than Schiff, Kinear, or Frakes has any access to him, because he's wading through the million plus reports that have been sitting on his desk for, apparently, at least the last six weeks.

So, he can feel an irate Force signature, small, dim, untrained, but very much there.

And he can imagine what C8 is doing to cause said signature to be so irate.

And he sits, rubs his eyes, and wonders if this is the sort of thing where, if he ignores it, pretends he can't feel her out there, that it'll just quietly go away.

But, given who this is, and what Jon's said about her…

He stands up, stretches a bit, flips the top datapad so it's face down, takes one more sip of his coffee, heads to the door, opens it, and says, "C8, it's Jon's mom, just let her in."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"No. But apparently we're going to do this anyway."

Mirina stares up at him, looking… he was expecting her to look pleased about being let in, but… She's… not… exactly. He's having a hard time reading her right now. Partially because he's not really trying, and partially because she's shielding.

He's fairly sure she's not doing it intentionally, at least, not beyond the most basic level of being aware that keeping her thoughts to herself is of value right now.

So he shrugs, steps out of his doorway, and gestures to his office. "Come in. Is there anything you want? C8 can get you anything on the kitchen rotations."

"A cup of P'Talian Brusk tea, two sugars, one citronen slice. Two almond biscuits on the side."

C8 looks to Kylo, and he nods. Then he glances at the chronometer. "Might as well bring my lunch, too."

"Done, sir."

Kylo pulls one of the chairs at his conference table to his desk for her, though he doesn't wait for her to sit before he seats himself.

She follows him, eyes on him, and his office, and back to him.

After a moment of it, he finally says, "I'm not sure if I wasn't clear about this before, but I don't exactly enjoy being looked at like a zoological garden exhibit."

She shrugs. "Cost of being a leader. People will look."

"Yes, but in my experience very few of them look at me and try to catalog how similar I am to whatever that large, shaggy black thing in your mind is."

"It's an Urus. And the answer appears to be, fairly similar."

Kylo shrugs at that. "If it is, it is."

She watches him a bit longer. "Your lady thanks droids."

He thinks for a second, realizes he didn't thank C8 for fetching lunch. "I will when he brings the food."

"Would you have if I didn't remind you?"

"Eventually. I don't always remember, but I do more than most people, I think. Why does it matter?"

"It probably doesn't."

Kylo stares out at space, and sighs. Jon's mom, be nice is going through his head.

She's still just looking. Well, not just looking. He can feel her Force trying to read his.

That gets a sigh from him, too. "Ellie Frakes said that once upon a time, you couldn't walk twenty meters without bumping into a Force user on Coruscant."

"Near the senate or the Jedi temple, yes."

"Then you have to know this isn't going to get you what you want. Your Force is mild and untrained. Honed by decades of reading people, but you never really learned how to use it. Mine not mild. I've been formally trained in how to use it by two of the most powerful Force users of the last century. My babyhood was spent with probably the best untrained Force user of the last century, and I've had at least a few years of honing the skill of just getting a feel for people. You will not get what you want just by looking. My walls are considerably better than your skills. That said, you're Jon's mom, and he's happier when you're content, so just ask, and I'll talk to you."

She continues to look at him. Just feeling him. The wave of exasperation off of him staggers her, but only for a second.

"It's not a question I can ask, Kylo."

"Yes, well, being stared at is annoying, so if you'd at least point me in the direction of what you want, we could get this done a lot sooner."

"I knew your grandmother."

"I understand many people did. Queen of Alderaan not being a particularly obscure position."

"No, not Breha. I knew of her, too, but I'm talking about Padme." That's got his attention. Mirina is continuing to stare at him, trying to peel away his skin and walls and see him. "She was young and hopeful and in love and stupid. And because she was young and hopeful and in love and stupid a lot of people died."

Kylo blinks at that. "I… didn't know her."

"Obviously. She died well before you were born."

He watches her, and feels it. "And you're trying to see if I'm similarly young, and hopeful, and in love, and stupid?"

"Just stupid. You're already older than she was when she died. You're obviously in love. And I get the sense you're simultaneously hopeful and wary."

Kylo's not sure what to do with that. Finally he asks, "She was a senator. The books say she was a good queen. What do you mean by stupid? Obviously she wasn't slow or low on book learning."

Mirina inclines her head, and nods. "Decent question. The galaxy was shifting around her. She was being nudged into place to take advantage of those shifts. She and her Skywalker should have been the Emperor's heirs apparent. She knew it was coming. She had to know it was coming. She was sleeping with Skywalker, pregnant with his children, and he was the Emperor's enforcer, and yet, when the blow fell, she got weak and silly, and… Everything fell apart, and what should have been an easy shift from one regime to another fell apart in a wash of dead bodies and ruined hopes."

"Are you asking if I'm weak and silly?"

She keeps staring. "I'm certainly trying to figure it out."

He raises an eyebrow, and is saved from having to immediately respond by C8 entering with his lunch and her tea.

Once it's served, he does thank C8, and, having a bite of his lunch, is able to put his thoughts, and hers together.

"You said you knew her."

"Yes."

"Did she seem… of two minds? Like, say, completely on board with where you wanted her to go when Anakin was near, and rather reticent about it when he was away?"

Mirina thinks, sips her tea, nibbles a cookie, and thinks. "Possibly. It's been so long, I don't exactly remember the time frame, but… Yes, there were times when it felt like everything was just going to slide into place, and then there were times where she was unreasonably bubbling about Obi Wan, and… Well, pregnant women aren't exactly known for iron-clad emotional control, let alone young ones."

He nods. "She was being mind-controlled by Skywalker. It wasn't intentional. He wasn't doing it on purpose. But he wanted her, and she didn't want him, and as long as he stayed close, she was warm, and happy, and pliant, and when he wandered off, or she did, her own mind came into play. You couldn't make whatever your plans were work, because you weren't actually dealing with Padme Amidala. You were dealing with a reflection of Skywalker who looked like her, part of the time, and her own self, the other part. And apparently, her own self was not fond of the future he was attempting to build for them."

Mirina nods, slowly. That's the piece of the puzzle they were missing. "Ah."

"Does stupid make more sense now?"

"Actually, yes."

He stares at her, eyes hot. "Whatever else may be true about me, I'm not that flavor of stupid."

"No… I'd think not." Again, she's watching him. Sipping her tea, eyes on his. Finally, after a long, quiet moment she says, "I lost my husband to the service of one Emperor." She rubs her lips together. "I cared for him very deeply. Maybe not… the great passionate love you and your Rey seem to have. But we were well-matched, enjoyed each other, and had similar goals.

"I lost my place, and purpose in the service of one Emperor. Jon doesn't know what all I did for the Empire, and he doesn't need to. You don't, either. Suffice it to say, pretty gowns are not the beginning or end of what I've done."

Kylo nods. Given how readily she and Ellie Kinear got together, he was certain there had to be more there that two old ladies of similar tastes.

"Since the fall of the Empire, I've kept my family together, alive, and thriving. Very few Imperials can say that. And my guess is if your Mum had had any idea of who I was or what I'd done, I'd be dead or off in some Republican prison somewhere, still.

"I say this because I'm not going through this again. I'm not building up a system to watch some willy-nilly twit throw it all away for a moment of stupid, blind love. If Skywalker had done his job… If he'd kept his Padme in check… By the time Palpatine was a problem, he would have killed him, and taken the throne with her, and the Empire would have gone forth, growing stronger and better with each passing year.

"Instead, Skywalker was weak. He got himself tangled in some mess with Padme and Obi Wan, and all but died for it. He let the Emperor go insane and start blowing up planets for kicks. No one was better off with Alderaan gone. The Rebellion was barely a blip on the scanners before he blew up Alderaan. Sore losers who wouldn't accept the results of a binding election gained hold of the moral high ground overnight because genocide changes everything.

"I know you know these things happened, I don't know what you've learned from them."

Kylo licks his lips. "You mean… what sort of political philosophy I've gleaned from… being the heir of Vader and the Rebellion?"

"To start."

He thinks for another long moment before saying, "I'm not my grandfather, either of them. I'm not my father, or my mother. One of my grandmothers is… the archetype for pacifistic just governance, I guess. The other got caught by the Force in a terrible bargain. And though I am made of those people, I am none of them.

"Snoke sought me out before I was born, hoping for his own Vader. One who wouldn't be turned by affection at the wrong moment. He talked to me about Vader. How he'd been… almost perfect in his service to the Emperor.

"He also thought Vader was weak. He thought I was weak, too. He did everything he could to burn any speck of affection I had for any living person out of me.

"He failed. My weakness cut his strength in half and stole his empire from him, so… take that as you will.

"My whole life, previous to two years ago, was spent either trying to live up to, or deal with, a series of legacies. I was supposed to be… the… Everything… of the Rebellion. The start of a New Jedi to go with my mother's New Republic. I was supposed to be Vader reborn. I was supposed to be a lot of fucking shit.

"There's no supposed to. There just is." He untucks the Maji pendant from under his tunic. "That's part of why I wear this.

"I was supposed to be some sort of crowning glory of a lot of different pasts. All merging together into this one spot, one life, and… Fuck that. I am. Here and now. And the Order… that's the promise of more here and now. The past won't die. It doesn't just go away. But it doesn't have to dominate your present and future, either.

"So, that's it. No high or lofty goals. Palpatine… I don't know what he wanted before he went insane, but from what I can tell, after, he wanted absolute power. Snoke did, too. The idea of it bores me to tears. I'll run this thing as well as I can, for as long as I can, and maybe one day Rey and I'll head off into the sunset, raise our family, and just train Maji. Maybe one day they'll vote me out, and like my Mom I'll annoy the hell out of them reminding them of what they could have had. I don't know. I do know I'm not in this to be a God-King. I might be a good king. I hope. I'd be a terrible god."

Mirina's voice and eyes are cold as she says, "If you're just playing at this, being a political dilettante, it's not worth risking my son over."

Kylo would also prefer Jon didn't die for this. That said he's also sure that if he, personally, has to keep this going in perpetuity, a lot of people are going to die. "If I'm not building something that can survive without me, you will lose your son for it, because no one, not even Snoke, lived forever. If there's any chance of this working, it cannot be dependent on me, or my family, or any one person. It's got to be self-sustaining, without the right personality at the head of it."

Mirina inclines her head slightly at that. "The Old Republic lasted a thousand years."

"So, I've been told. You remember it, don't you?"

"I was twenty-four when it fell."

Kylo blinks. She's older than he expected, given that Jon is his age.

"Jon was something of a late surprise. Tasha's twenty years older than he is."

"Ah."

"Supposedly, your mother was trying to get it back."

"I've heard that, too. Given that she abandoned the New Republic, I'm skeptical that she was much of any sort of Republican. I think she knew where she wanted the universe to go, and did her best to get it there, but the mechanics didn't matter much."

"Do you know where you want the universe to go?"

Kylo shrugs a bit. "I know where I want to go. I know who I want to take with me. Everyone else can join in as they see fit, or not."

"You're building a republic."

He shrugs that off. As he does so, he gets the feel for more policy… or more why he doesn't have much in the way of 'policy.' It's not about him. "I'm building a senate. If this is going to outlast me, something has to attach people to this. Something beyond my personality or my power. They've got to have a stake in it, so… This is it. Citizenship, a voice, the ability to help set the course. It's not a republic because republics are inherently good or perfect or whatever. It's a way to make the Order something important to the people it belongs to. It's a way to build identity and purpose. Again, it's a way to keep this going past me."

She's watching him like the Urus again, shifting her understanding of him. "The unwilling prince."

He shrugs. "I like being anonymous. That's not a secret. I like quiet. Also not a secret. I like spending time with people who genuinely like me. I understand that's not a rare phenomenon, either. So, yes, I'm building, or trying to build, something that I may be able to step away from at some point. We'll do this as long as we need to, but… yes, at some point I'd like Rey and I to be able to retire from this. To just be ourselves."

She nods at that, too. "And my son? What happens to him when you retire?"

"Assuming I get to leave voluntarily, he'll either be well-enough off and well-enough situated to make a place for himself wherever he likes. Or whoever replaces me, which I suppose could be him if he's so inclined, may find what he can do valuable."

It's which could be him that lights up Mirina's eyes.

And suddenly, Kylo realizes he's got a firm backer, and that Mirina Frakes will go to the ends of the galaxy to make sure he's well-situated and secure. Because if he does get to give up his power voluntarily, and if there is an election for a future Master of the Order, Grand Marshal Jon Frakes, former right hand of the previous Master, would likely be in a very good place to win said election.

It's after she's left, that he's wondering what Jon's going to think about this.