He practices. Hand signs, counting up and down, writing with her finger in midair.

After a minute of this, the droid sets the glass on the bedside table and signs to the Sith; it's an unfamiliar sign language, but he can see the meanings in her mind.

Ma'am? Are you all right?

Yes, she takes back her hands to sign. Escape things.

Okay, she signs, more hesitantly. I don't understand how that could help.

Yeah. Words are hard. (That one is all one sign.) Later.

Okay. She takes the remains of her dinner and leaves her to it.

...i want to learn that too. maybe after we’re out.

and i like your droid.

Yeah. She's so good.

He can probably make her sign? He'll need to back off a little, let the automatic bits do their thing, but she thinks it might be possible, the same way making her fight might be possible.

That seems like an excellent way to learn by immersion.

He tries to move back enough to attempt some signs: I can speak with my hands.

Not quite. She puzzles over it, tracing the path to see what she'll have to give over to him, increasingly displeased with what she sees.

I could get really hurt doing this. You, too, if something happens and the feedback goes wrong. It's more or less exactly what she's been doing with the Force that has her so muddled, and while it being another person is different, she suspects it's not different enough.

...just the signs, or all of it?

Letting you - be in my head that much.

What they've been doing so far is safe, but letting him use her skills means letting him past her filter in a way that scares her.

then let's not.

It's firm. He doesn't want to do anything like what's been done to her already.

She relaxes. But then - we might need to.

...if there's no other way, then...i guess we'd have to.

but if we don't need it i can't do that to you.

She's a little bit baffled. That's risky too. And for him more than her, maybe - it hurts you more if we're slow.

if it’s like what he does to you–

A jumble of emotion, anger and disgust and sorrow.

risky is fine. 

There’s an iron core to him showing through, a strength of will a little different from hers.

Oh. That makes sense. She echoes his strength back to him: what a wonderful surprise, that he's like her in that way.

...oh.

It’s different, seeing himself through her eyes. He likes it.

we’ll do it perfectly without that.

Yeah. Yeah we will.

Time to practice some more?

(While admittedly distracted by hopeless infatuation?)

Yeah.

(When the droid passes back through she pauses to sign, the boy is so good!

She doesn't seem to know what to make of that, and after a moment signs back It's good that you're happy, ma'am.)

He likes being good.

tell her i said hi?

He says hi.

Oh. Hello.