It was rare that Thrawn was truly alone as he was today, piloting his private shuttle, a private acquisition from a pirate that he'd defeated years ago. He'd left his newly acquired death troopers, a gift from Emperor Palpatine, back aboard The Chimaera, so no one accompanied him on his shoreleave to Elam, at Governor Gardjinn's repeated requests that he be his guest at his sprawling villa there. He wouldn't be alone on his return voyage, though, he reminded himself.

He had so much to do, he was getting closer and closer to finding the rebel base, to outing the spy that was on his ship, the mysterious "Fulcrum" that was feeding the rebels precious information. Oh, he knew it was Agent Kallus, he was simply biding his time, feeding him false information, leading the rebels right into his hands.

He'd eliminated the rebel sabotage in his factory, which had never made it to the TIE Defender project, thank the stars. 17 speeders had exploded in total. The loss of the workers was neither here nor there, there were easily 17 people to replace them within the Lothal population. Governor Pryce saw to that.

He had so much to do, shoreleave was the last thing on his mind. But the saving grace of taking holiday time to Elam was that Luxsolaria would be waiting for him.

He did not miss tea with her, no matter what chaos was going on around him with the rebels or spies or the Emperor. He had the Emperor's blessing to see her, after all. Why should he not indulge in this one small pleasure? Especially now that Eli was gone.

He felt a stab of loneliness that he batted away like an annoying gnat buzzing at his face. Loneliness was a constant companion of his, since his earliest memories, he had no time for it to try to envelope him in its embrace. But that did not erase that he missed Eli Vanto. This was a trip he would have brought Eli on.

Eli would have liked Sola. Sola would have liked the young man. They would have spoken to each other in languages that Thrawn did not understand, and he would have stood by and listened to them not knowing what they said, proud of them both.

But Eli wasn't there, and the constant loneliness was. When he was with Sola, it was held at bay, slightly. She seemed to understand things that other people didn't. She seemed, sometimes, to understand him, and the comfort that gave him was wondrous.

She would be waiting for him on Elam when he arrived.

And she was. When she saw him, she ran up to him, a huge smile beaming on her face, making her seem to shine like her name implied, She wore the necklace he had given her around her neck and threw her arms about his, not seeming to care that Governor Gardjinn and his wife were waiting behind her. She kissed his cheek and then released him quickly, stepping away, still smiling.

"I've missed you!" she breathed.

He inclined his head in her direction, a small smile on his face. "And I you," he admitted.

She put her arm through his and led him forward, "Governor Gardjinn, this is my friend, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn, this is Governor and Madame Gardjinn of Elam."

Once introductions were made, Thrawn was not alone for the entire rest of the time he was present on Elam, save when he went to sleep at night for the two nights he was there. Which he wouldn't have minded had he been occupied with Sola, but he wasn't. He was occupied with Governor Gardjinn and his various pieces of art. Some of which were interesting. Most of which were not.

The second evening, his patience having worn thin, Governor Gardjinn showed him his new prize; a painting from a master.

"This is a forgery," Thrawn told him without preamble.

"Excuse me?" Gardjinn stuttered.

"This painting," Thrawn said, gesturing to it. "It is a forgery. You see the brush strokes? They are small and controlled, showing someone trying to copy that of the master who painted the original."

"A fake? That can't be! I paid—" Gardjinn's face began to turn purple with rage.

"Thrawn!" Sola pulled him bodily away from the Governor. "We haven't seen the garden at night, yet, let's go look at it!"

She dragged him toward the exit as Gardjinn let out a string of expletives as his wife tried to assuage his anger. The door closed behind them as they left the house and their voices became muffled. She slipped her arm around his and the two headed toward the gardens.

With a mischievous smile on her face, Sola giggled. "Thrawn!" she breathed. "That was awful of you!"

"Why?" he asked, glancing down at her. Their pace slowed as they entered the manicured paths gardens of the mansion. "He needs to know that the piece was not an original."

"Not that," she said. "The way you did it." She giggled and shook her head. "You know what, it wasn't awful of you. He's a pompous ass anyway, he deserves it, with all of his showing off."

"He has been showing off the entire time we've been here," Thrawn pointed out.

"Yes, he has," she agreed. The night insects were singing, and the two moons illuminated the gardens in a pale, white glow. They were silent for a time as they walked, watching the insects flit from plant to plant looking for nectar in the moonlight. Sola said, "Speaking of showing off, want to see a trick I can do?"

She did not wait for an answer before closing her eyes and putting out her free arm. She took a deep breath and Thrawn felt a calming in the air around them, much like the air felt before a rainstorm. She opened her eyes and the beautifully winged insects from the plants began to slowly flit from the flowers and leaves toward her outstretched arm. Soon, her arm was covered with colored wings from the insects.

They had stopped walking as the insects swarmed her arm. He looked at it in wonder. "How are you doing that?"

"I talk to them," she whispered. "I used to do it all the time when I was a girl. I'm surprised it worked so quickly, I'm out of practice." She swirled her arm in the air and the beautiful insects scattered, flitting back to the plants from which they'd come.

"Do they talk back?" Thrawn asked softly, as if speaking any louder would disturb the flying bugs.

Sola shook her head. "No," she admitted. "They've never spoken back to me. Not in words. Only like that." She held up her now empty arm. "Just by doing what I ask. I would do it to pass the time when I was young back on Astarrax during the Clone Wars. It gave me a lot of time to practice it," she smiled nostalgically and then sighed. "I tried it on the clones a few times, but never really got a response."

"That is very impressive," Thrawn told her. "It is a trick you keep to yourself, I take it."

She nodded. "I haven't done it in years and years." Her hair fell in front of her face as she nodded.

He reached over and moved it, thinking she was full of tricks. Just when he thought he might know her, she came up with something new, like this, that took him by surprise. The back of his fingers stroked her cheek as he moved her hair from her face and she leaned into them, her eyes searching his. Her hand reached up and rested behind his neck, pulling him gently down. He cupped her cheeks in his hand.

Then their lips were touching. For the first time, he leaned into the kiss, holding her face still in his hands. She opened her mouth, her tongue swiping his lower lip. He returned her invitation, pressing into her mouth to deepen their kiss, their tongues playing against each other. The sounds of the insects were almost deafening in the bright, moonlit night.

"Admiral Thrawn! Princess Luxsolaria!"

They broke away from each other quickly, each taking a huge step backward broadening the distance between them. Sola stepped into a bush and sent a spray of lovely winged insects flying about her, as if she'd summoned them like she had only a few minutes before.

A servant emerged from the path. "Sir," he said, bowing when came to them. "My lady. Lord and Lady Gardjinn ask that you come back to the house and join them for a digestif, please."

Sola batted insects from her long hair. "Of course," she said, not looking at the servant. "We'll be right there."

"Of course," Thrawn said at the same time, his voice smoother than he felt.

The servant looked from Thrawn to Sola then back again before bowing once more and heading back toward the house.

Thrawn approached Sola and plucked an errant insect from her hair and let it go, watching it fly away into the night. He offered her his arm, "My lady."

She looped her own in his and smiled up at him. "Admiral," she said with a nod. As they walked back to the house, he noted that she was shaking. Or was it him?