They're pretty cool! He likes this one that kind of looks like a really dangerous dragonfruit on a stem.

She likes the style, but none of the statues catch her eye enough for her to want to bring them home. A few give her ideas for her own art, though; she likes how that one suggests leaves with a few twists of wire, and how this one is balanced just so to give it a sense of movement.

Do you want that one, Love?

don't think so. it's pretty but i don't want to own anybody else's art yet.

All right. She takes another look at his pick: maybe she'll be able to reproduce it later.

If she wants to. 

(It's hanging from the ceiling of the window, surrounded by a halo of wire, the individual leafy spines clearly nearly sharp enough to cut yourself on.)

If he wants her to. Otherwise: no. She just wants the option; those're good to have.

Onward?

Options are good to have.

Onward is a good option.

Onward they go, then.

There's a little alcove set into the wall a few shops down, between a shop selling dishware and one with a selection of underwater toys, with a bench against each side and a sort of fancy manhole apparatus at the back with a sign indicating that it's closed for the winter. It's a bit of a squeeze, getting all three of them onto one bench, but she does it: him on her left, with her arm around his shoulder, Daisy on her right. "Are you okay, Love?" she asks the droid.

    "Yes, Ma'am. May I ask why you didn't want me to learn to take care of the snake?"

"I wasn't sure if you'd want to, Love, that's all. Do you?"

    "Yes, Ma'am." She sounds sincere, almost enthusiastic.

"All right. And if it comes up again, then too?"

    "Yes, Ma'am."

"All right."

This isn't really his conversation – not his Daisy – but it's nice to listen to anyway. They trust each other.

She won't mind him chiming in, though, if there's anything he wants to say.

"And - have you seen anything you want?"

    "...Ma'am?"

"In the stores, I mean. If you see something you want, you can have it."

    "Oh. Okay."

"Is there anything we should go back for?"

    She thinks about it for a bit. "No, Ma'am."

"All right. Ready to get going," she asks him, "or do you want to sit for a bit, maybe try a piece of cake?"

“Let’s save the cake.”

He stands and turns to offer — nope, not that one — his hand to Pradnakt.

She takes it, standing, and leads them on. The shopping district gets more interesting as they get deeper into it; they start to find obvious subdivisions, whole blocks dedicated to stores selling jewelry, technology, high fashion, paintings, and so on, each shop competing with the others to have the best products, the most interesting displays. (She turns them away from the block where droids are being sold; she doesn't want to murder anyone today.)

They've stopped to sit in a little plaza with a three-piece band of street musicians performing at one end when she notices that the sun has started to set.

It hurts, in the best way. Oh, she thinks, forgetting for the moment that he can even hear her. I'd forgotten.

you told me about it.

He knows she can see that, but he’ll say it anyway.

it’s gorgeous.

Because it’s hers.

Yeah.

Gorgeous.

He drifts on her aesthetic high for a while, hand clasped in hers.

They can watch until the glow of the sunset is gone, if she wants.

He'll have to interrupt her, if he doesn't. And for a little while after, too, as she sits, remembering it, feeling it.

She's out. Really, truly. She'd known, but she hadn't felt it, until now.

She leans over to kiss his forehead. Thank you, Love. And in that moment, she's not a Sith, she's just herself, and it's inconceivable that they could be anything but equals.

Then he can kiss her, just for a minute, as just himself — whoever that is.

Yes. Good.

It’s dark, now.

Something feels kind of...off.

He grips her hand tight.

...right. Well.

He's hers, and she's not going to let anything happen to him, and it's just as simple as that.

Everything’s going to be fine.

(He’d be fine now, anyway. They fixed that part.)

Something like that.

She had a plan; she falls back to it. We should eat. Restaurant - we can find one with a private room if that'll help - or takeout?

restaurant sounds kind of nice. while we’re out here.

Okay.

She's been keeping track of nearby restaurants for a while, and there are a few within walking distance - the nearest sushi one is a few blocks away, or there's a place nearer by that does grilled fish over rice with various sauces that she liked the look of.