Sunshine is to Flowers

Thallose

The victory was incomplete, but Thrawn was satisfied with it nonetheless. They had not captured Cham Syndulla, who had been identified early in the fight, but they had his home. That was a personal blow sure to affect the Twi'lek leader. When emotions ran high, logic ran low. Loss of logic led to mistakes. Mistakes led to defeat.

The house was in excellent condition, considering the fight that took place in it. It took little time at all for the troops to clean it up, securing several conscripted servants from the local population. Lady Luxsolaria had begun decorating the upper half, the lower half being used as a base of operations, once she was done with her two day convalescence in bed nursing a vertigo-inducing headache. In four days' time, she had instituted her designated tea time once again in what they had designated the 'sitting room', a larger open space meant for small gatherings.

Her poetry selection was, once again, insightful to the situation at hand. She chose pieces about victory and new settlements, following it with leading conversation with the officers present. She was good at drawing people out to talk about themselves. Even Slavin, who Thrawn knew did not like her, most likely because she was more competent than him, was not immune to her charms. After the hour was up, the officers began to trickle out to return to their duties.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn," Lady Luxsolaria called out. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

Thrawn felt, more than saw, Viita paused as he turned back toward her. He was surprised at the question. He had not expected it.

"Of course," he said, putting his hands behind his back and reentering the room.

Her gaze shifted to Viita and she shot him a very obvious go away look. It was a long moment after that before Thrawn heard Viita's boots clicking on the floor in exit.

"Sit, please." She gestured to a chair across from her as she sank down into the one behind her. Her gown, a white shift covered in lace and cinched at the waist with a decorative girdle, spread across the chair as she sat with a whoosh. "We—" She stopped abruptly and swallowed. "We must talk about maps," she got out in a breathy voice.

As Thrawn sat on the seat across from her, he could see her heart thumping quickly in her carotid artery at her neck. She was blinking rapidly as if trying to regain her thoughts. He could see her heat signature ran cold. Her back was ramrod straight. Even without all of that, he could feel that she was afraid.

"What about maps?" He tried to make his voice gentle. He did not like that she was afraid, alone in a room with him. For some reason, after her sunny smile and unbounded energy, it seemed a travesty that this was left in its place.

"Please promise that you will never tell anyone about what happened on the bluff," she said quickly, leaning forward.

"Your brother has already taken care of that," Thrawn told her.

"He did?" Her voice cracked.

Satisfaction crept into his shoulders. It was as he had suspected. "Do you not remember?"

She had been in a trance, standing in front of the map on the bluff. She had the same look on her face that Chiss navigators had when they flew, only her eyes were open. It wasn't a blank look, but more of a peaceful one, gentling the features. Her eyes looked as if she were seeing through everything in front of her to something far away.

As soon as her hands touched the map, Viita had put his hand on his blaster. It had made the troopers who saw him start. "If any of you," he said viciously, "breathe a word of what you see tonight to anyone, I will hunt you down and kill not only you but your entire family and whoever you told."