Commodore Faro did not like that Admiral Thrawn gave Luxsolaria Viita-Tristane the run of the ship. She could understand giving it to Rukh, he served a very specific purpose—he was supposed to know things. That sent an uncomfortable shiver down Faro's spine whenever she thought about it. But having a civilian guest, who seemed to serve no other purpose than entertainment, have the ability to roam the ship unnerved her. And rumors were running rampant about the kind of entertainment she might be providing the Admiral. Faro was fairly certain that everything was on the up and up between the two, but she didn't need rumors about Admiral Thrawn being dallied about. And if they were true…well then, good for him. He deserved some entertainment with all the work he put into his job.

Granted, Lady Luxsolaria had only been to the supply closet to get the tea service reserved for the Admiral and to the Officer's Mess to collect the dainties to go along with the tea. Faro heard that she had offered to make them herself, and the chef had indignantly refused. She may have access to the kitchen, that didn't mean she could use the kitchen.

For some reason, the Admiral did not meet her when she arrived any longer and Faro had felt it remiss that no one should be meeting her when she arrived. She was a princess, after all, and on the off chance that she wasn't here just for the Admiral's entertainment and had some sort of military power, Faro figured that she should be met by someone of importance. That left Faro.

And she was relieved when not only when Lady Viita begged off that the Commodore take away from her duties just to greet her and when Private Nasiri Demsin from the Army contingent on the ship asked specifically if she could take up the task of caring for Lady Viita when she was here. "She saved my life, ma'am," she told Commodore Faro. "It's the least I can do."

So Private Demsin was waiting for Sola as she exited the shuttle on her next visit. She recognized the young woman immediately, her face breaking out into a huge smile which seemed to lighten up everything around her. "Nasiri!" She opened her arms as if to hug her, but then dropped them, blushing at her exuberant faux pas. The young woman was in uniform and standing at attention. "You're looking well," Sola said, trying to save herself from embarrassment.

Nasiri smiled and nodded. "Yes, my lady," she said. She bent over slightly and knocked on her leg.

"How is the new leg?" Sola asked, devoid of flowers at this visit. Nasiri wondered why she sometimes brought flowers and sometimes she didn't. Sometimes she had up to four bouquets or baskets, and other times, like today, she was empty handed. "They're for the Grand Admiral," she'd told Nasiri once. "No one ever sends me flowers." Somehow, Nasiri doubted that. She was a beautiful and experienced older woman. She had to have admirers. How could she not get flowers from them?

"I think that the adjustment is set," Nasiri told her as they began walking. Lady Luxsolaria was also without her house droid this visit. Her ancient droid, Nasiri was positive it pre-dated the Clone Wars, it was so old, put Nasiri ill at ease. It was too close to a security risk. But the Admiral seemed to just ignore its presence most of the time, so Nasiri did too.

The two of them went about the ship gathering items for the tea that was to ensue soonly. Lady Luxsolaria had the box with the tea service in her arms, so it was up to Nasiri to carry the vittles that the chef had prepared for them beforehand. She'd noticed that ever since Lady Luxsolaria had offered to fix them herself, the chef had items ready for her arrival. The less she was to mess around in his kitchen, the better. It made her smile.

"What?" Lady Luxsolaria asked. "What's the smirk for?"

Nasiri erased it from her face. "Nothing, my lady," she said with a shake of her head. "I was just thinking."

"Well, it's obvious you're thinking something," she said with a matching smirk. Once they had left the kitchen she teased, "You're not sweet on Chef, are you?"

Nasiri sputtered. "No, ma'am!" The only time she saw Chef was when she went to pick up the bits and pieces for tea. Otherwise, she wasn't allowed in the Officer's Mess. (She was disappointed to find it wasn't anywhere near as fancy as she imagined it to be. It was pretty much the same as the Enlisted Mess, just with different decorations.)

"Alright," Lady Luxsolaria nodded, but the smirk remained on her face.

They arrived at the Admiral's office, and Lady Luxsolaria slid her key into the lock to cause the door to slide open to an empty room. It made Nasiri nervous to go into the Admiral's office, especially with him not there, but he was the one who gave Lady Luxsolaria the run of the ship, including his office. She wondered if it included his private quarters.

Don't think things like that, no matter what you saw on the holovids, she chided herself. What they do on their own time isn't my business.

Lady Luxsolaria began bustling about the place, preparing the tea service on a little table she pulled out of the closet. She hummed as she set it up, displaying the refreshments in a pleasing manner on the table around the service. Just as she finished the door slid open—to reveal the Admiral with two ISB agents on either side of him.

He stopped short, the look on his face was one of surprise, as if he wasn't expecting them to be there. The two men stopped with him.

Luxsolaria's eyes went wide as she stood up straight, her cheeks reddening slightly to show the faintest outline of her Astarraxian swirls. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "you have guests!"

The Admiral opened his mouth to say something, but Lady Luxsolaria cut him off. "I only have two tea cups! Let me go fetch another one." She retreated from the table and made her way to the door. An older gentleman with a bushy beard, his eyebrows raised, made room to let her pass.

Nasiri stood frozen at attention in place.

"Private," the Admiral said smoothly. "Are you not to tend to Lady Luxsolaria?"

"Yes, sir!" she blinked rapidly, hurrying behind her through the door.

Luxsolaria was already coming back down the hallway with another teacup in her hand. She rushed passed Nasiri, face still flushed, and flashed her an annoyed look. "Really," she whispered. "If I had known…" Then she turned to enter the Admiral's office, so that Nasiri had to run to keep up with her.

She wasn't used to running on her cybernetic leg and was too many steps behind her to catch up. By the time she entered the office, Luxsolaria had placed the third teacup on the table and was pouring tea for the three men.

The Admiral didn't look happy.

"Thank you, Madame Tristaine," the man with the bushy mustache said as she poured.

She blinked her big blue eyes and blushed more. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

The man had a smug smile on his face.

"This is Colonel. Yularen, of IBS," Admiral Thrawn said smoothly.

Luxsolaria laughed lightheartedly. "Hopefully knowing who I am doesn't mean I'm a Person Of Interest." The laugh had a slightly nervous tinge to it.

"The older sister of a Grand Admiral would indeed be a Person Of Interest," Yularen said.

That obviously wasn't the answer she was expecting, for she stopped for a moment to stare at him like a deer in the headlights. She then laughed daintily again, serving him a delectable from the kitchen. "You'll have me thinking that I'm someone important, Colonel," she said, moving onto the younger man who was sitting next to him.

"This is Agent Callus," Thrawn said, an edge to his smooth voice. "He's stationed here at Lothal."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Agent Callus," she said, finishing pouring his tea.

"Madame," he said quietly, nodding.

"Now that you gentlemen are settled, I'll leave you to finish talking," Luxsolaria put the teapot down and stood up straight, moving around the table to leave.

"Nonsense," said Yularen, Nasiri thought she caught a note in his voice that sounded much like the smug smile on his face. "We're done discussing business. Join us for tea."

Luxsolaria glanced at Thrawn, who said nothing. His face had gone back to its smooth neutrality, revealing nothing of what he was thinking. She then smiled, though it wasn't the bright thing that lit up the room, but something dimmer, though Nasiri doubted that Col. Yularen and Agent Callus would know that.

But then they were ISB…maybe they did know.

"Private," said the Admiral, "would you fetch another teacup?"

"Yes, sir!" she replied, turning and rushing out of the room. When she came back, Luxsolaria was seated at the table, her hands demurely in her lap. Nasiri placed the teacup in front of her and reached for the teapot to pour her some tea.

Luxsolaria put her hand over Nasiri's. "I have it dear," she said quietly. "Why don't you go and tend to your other duties? There's no need for you to be bogged down with tea service."

Nasiri glanced at Admiral Thrawn, who gave a barely perceptible nod. She'd never been fully dismissed before, having always been waiting at the other side of the closed door if she was let go before their tea was finished. She stood up to attention and nodded back at him before gladly leaving the room. At least now she wouldn't have to wait through a boring tea party.