"Fortunately I can yell at him across the galaxy. But, yes, it'd be more convenient if he didn't leave in the first place."

Occlus smiles briefly.

"Well. I believe it is time for me to return home."

"Alright."

"Do you - mind if I stick around for a bit? Near you?"

"If you like."

"I would."

Then it's back to her apartment.

Her mood's still more than a bit melancholy and introspective, but she seems to be enjoying hanging around Occlus.

She feels more open, too. Maybe up to talking about herself.

That is her move to make.

She seems pensive.

After a little bit: "That mission I had was - tough."

"- Thank you for keeping an eye on Luke while I was gone, by the way."

"It was no trouble. I believe I learned one or two things myself."

"Good."

She leans back, staring at the ceiling. "I was - more reminded of things, with what I was doing..."

"My mission had been - there was this race, the Noghri. They're good warriors. Better assassins. Their planet was ravaged during the Clone Wars. A ship with toxic chemicals on board crashed there, and - no one actually bothered helping them with the fallout. They studied what happened, but didn't interfere. The people were pre-spaceflight, and - were pretty much helpless."

"A few years after the Empire rose, I was assigned to investigate them as a resource. They killed a platoon of stormtroopers with nothing but primitive weapons."

"I arranged to get them food, and medicine, and methods for cleaning water, and decontamination droids to clean their soil, and teachers to get them caught up to the galaxy. I then handed them off to Thrawn, and - largely forgot about them."

"Their culture is very heavily based in honor and life debt. They dedicated their loyalty to me and the Emperor, and..."

"I needed to convince them my defection from the Empire was right under their honor codes, to get them to follow me, and to stop obeying Thrawn's orders to target my children. And very little of what he was doing was actually that dishonorable, in their eyes. What - flipped the vote - "

She curls up.

"It was personal, and something I haven't told - anyone, before."

"Was it worth it?"

"Revealing the secrets - yes, as long as they don't spread them, and if they do - the case won't be much worse than for what they or the Imperials already had. Personal, but only a little politically explosive."

" - What happened was also worth it, too, in the end."

She huffs.

"...I don't like the only people I told having been - for political reasons, pretty much."

"Are you working your way around to convincing yourself to tell me?"

"...Don't know."

"...Probably I am."

"Not sure I trust you, is why I'm being hesitant, but I - don't trust you less than I don't trust almost anyone else."

"Since my reawakening, the people I have had the most contact with have been- you. To a lesser extent, your son. The galaxy I once knew is three thousand years gone."

She nods.

"I - yeah. I'm just... Bad at trusting."

"I... Want to trust you, though."

"Trust cannot be forced," Occlus says. "From either end."

"Maybe not."

"I do want to tell you - that particular secret, though."

"What is it?"

She ducks her head a bit.

"...So - almost no one knows I'm Luke and Leia's mother. I'm... Hoping to keep that secret, for a bit longer, but I might not be able to."

"The thing is - "

"Their parentage situation is... Complicated. I gave birth to them - mostly hid my pregnancy, had them sent away, convinced myself they'd been stillborn. Tore my head apart and put it sloppily back together to protect them."

"Sidious had been - interested in my pregnancy. I'd wanted to protect them from him."

Deep breath.

"I'm telling this all out of order."

"Shortly after I realized I became pregnant, Sidious told me a - just-so story, about a Sith who'd learned to create life through the Force, who'd been killed by his apprentice after passing on all his secrets. It was... Very obvious, that Sidious had been that apprentice, and that he was - taunting me, then. He thought it was funny."

"I never slept with anyone - that I remember. Neither did my mother. Sidious - supposedly knew how to cause a pregnancy anyways, and knew how to fuck with memories if he didn't."

"I - managed to verify it beyond just suspicions from him taunting me, eventually. That he'd made both me and my children."

Occlus is very still for a moment, even her restrained Force presence pulling back.

"I see."

She hugs herself tightly.

"I only told the Noghri he was the twins' father and tried to kill them - that was enough - "

"When I was young and foolish," Occlus says. "I reached for more power than I could handle. My body began to tear itself apart, and no amount of kolto would save me. I held together through... strength of will, long enough to find a solution. A machine, a hidden legacy of the Rakata. It rebuilt me, cell by cell."

"What are you - offering?"