He felt her approaching him from behind, and when Thrawn turned, he saw Lady Luxsolaria walking toward him, his breath caught in his throat. She wore the shift nightgown again and was holding two steaming mugs in her hands. Her long hair was down, and unlike when she came into the command tent, instead of looking ghostly, she looked like a glowing star goddess, golden and pale in the dark. Her bare feet poked out from the bottom of the nightgown as she walked, pink from the cold. She was fetching with her hair down, he thought it a shame she didn't wear it down during the day.
"It's late, Grand Admiral," she said, holding out one of the mugs to him as she approached. "You should be sleeping."
"I do not sleep as much as you," he said simply.
She giggled, a high pitched sweet sound. Pressing the mug toward him, she said, "That doesn't mean that you shouldn't sleep. And I am going to guess you have not been to sleep yet tonight."
For some reason, he liked that she had deduced that. "Your guess would be correct," he informed her, taking the mug. It smelled strongly of citrus. His fingers brushed against the back of her hand. Her skin was soft and warm, much the way she looked in the low light of the balcony.
"This is a grog," she told him. "It's supposed to help you sleep." She took a sip of hers, her eyes on his. "I'm not sure if it actually does, or if you are supposed to have several and just pass out."
He sipped the hot liquid and tasted the strong lacing of some type of whiskey in a honey-citrus concoction. It burned pleasantly as it went down his throat. "I would guess the latter," he said, turning back to look at the night, the mug cupped in his hands.
She followed his gaze, eyes gazing out into the night. The low light behind them illuminated her profile. She had a small nose and full lips, her pale skin almost seemed to glow. "You are upset about today." She stated it.
He took in a sharp breath, fighting the desire to put the mug down and clasp his hands behind his back. Once they had gotten the courtyard and airstrip back under control, Thrawn had ordered all the Twi'lek in the area arrested and brought to a holding area outside of the compound. He'd then gone into the house to find Lady Luxsolaria's white lace dress covered in blood as she helped the Chimaera's physician deal with the injured. He had watched for a long moment as she bustled around the room following the doctor's orders fetching instruments and dealing with people. It was obvious she'd done it often in the past. She was not affected by the blood on her dress, which was torn at the hem, and kept a determined look on her face.
When she had looked up at him, she'd beamed him a smile. "Grand Admiral," she said happily, relief heavy in her voice.
The Chimaera's doctor stopped briefly to look his way, nodded acknowledgment, "Are you hurt, sir?"
Thrawn shook his head. "No." He turned back to Lady Luxsolaria, his eyes scanning her form. "Are you?"
She had looked down at herself, shaking her head. "None of it is mine," she had said. Then added under her breath, "I don't think." She had beamed that smile again, which seemed to light up everything around her. "I'm not injured at all."
"I am not upset," Thrawn said to the night as he stood on the balcony.
"You are concerned," she amended. Again, she stated it rather than asked.
He nodded curtly, eyes still on the dark horizon. "There were too many dissidents involved in today's assassination attempt." His voice was quiet.
"You think it was an assassination attempt?"
"The first speeder did not explode until I was standing near it," he explained. "I think that the person with the detonator misjudged the distance between me and speeder. He should not have been able to execute such a plan in the first place."
"How were you to know? All of the Twi'lek that were with us were vetted" She turned from the night to look at him, her pale brows were brought together in an inverted 'v', the tips of her mouth compressed in disapproval. "You couldn't have been able to tell that there were terrorists in our midst."
He swiveled his head to look at her, his face grave. "I will tomorrow."
She smiled at him, not the beaming, warm one, but a calculated one, her eyes intense on his. "I will help you if you want me to," she said quietly.
He considered it a moment. How far did her Force powers extend? Could she tell if someone was lying? Or was she just referring to her 'being good at reading people'? Where was the line?
"Can you?" he asked.
She gave a small nod, as if barely moving her head would make it like she wasn't admitting to anything.
"I would be pleased to have your help, Lady Luxsolaria."
For the first time since he had sent Eli away, Thrawn did feel the aching sense of loneliness that permeated through most of his waking hours and even some of his sleeping ones. Was it because of the secret they had shared earlier in the day? Or was it because she was out here with him now, in the dead of night? Her body stance was relaxed, as if she were not bothered to be out of bed and in the cold in her bedclothes. Rather, her face showed concern and had since she had appeared with the mug.
"Please, Grand Admiral," she said softly. "Call me Sola. That is what my family and friends call me."
He was silent a moment, regarding her. Her concern had softened some and was now indulgent. She spoke to him formally with his full rank, as she always did. He knew that was an invitation for him not to extend the same courtesy to her by calling him by his core name. She was offering a type of intimacy, like with their secret, without making him give it in return.
"And you may call me Thrawn," he said.
"Thrawn," she repeated with that warming smile. "I like your name. What does it mean?"
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. No one had ever told him they liked his name. And the entire time he had been in Imperial space, no one had ever asked him what his name meant. Was it that no one cared? Or that no one was willing to go so close as to ask? Even Eli, with his talent for languages, had never asked. She, too, he knew, had a gift for languages and was asking for the interest in Cheunh. But she had complimented his name for him.
"It is long and complicated," he decided on telling her. Then, after a moment silence when she just studied is face, he asked, "What does your name mean?"
She shrugged, looking past his shoulder into the night. "It means sunlight in Astarraxi," she replied. Her eyes returned to his. "But if someone were to name their child that in basic, it would be closer to the name Sunshine."
That her name translated into 'sunlight' in her native language was too fitting, he decided. "Is Luxsolaria your core name?"
"It's my birth name," she said. "My mother named me that because all Astarraxians have black hair and purple skin. She said if they were like the night, then I was like the sunshine. I'm not sure how she managed that…I had no hair when I was born." She laughed. "But maybe she knew enough about humans to know that no hair meant that I would be fair haired when I grew up."
"Your mother picked your name well." He raised his brows again at her laughter.
"She did," Sola agreed. "One of the few things she did right in my childhood." There was a note of bitterness in her voice. She laughed it away. "Promise me you will sleep tonight," she commanded.
A small smile appeared on his face. It was a challenge, like in their game of Snooks, to see who would win. "Why should I?" he asked calmly.
"Because I know if you promise," she said, leaning forward toward him a little, "that you will."
"And how do you know that?" His voice was quiet as if he were challenging her to hear him.
"Because you are an honorable man" Her voice was just above a whisper. "And I know you will keep your promises." When he replied with nothing more than a smile, she coaxed, "Promise me."
She had let him win their last round in the Imperial gala with their game of Snooks. He would let her win this round. "Very well."
"Thank you," she said genuinely. She gestured to his mug. "Drink up, then head to bed. I think mine is starting to work." She took a sip to punctuate her words. "Good night…Thrawn." She began to walk away into the house.
"Goodnight, Sola."
A/N: Please don't hesitate to comment on anything that you've read, good, bad, or indifferent. If there is something you'd like to see in the story, let me know. This is a work in progress, after all.