"What happened?"

"We drifted apart after I was Knighted, and stopped talking as much, and Sidious - convinced me he could teach me to make people immortal, if I sided with him against the Jedi. I wasn't able to talk it over with her, but thought - surely she'd want that."

"The next time we met, she tried to kill me. I defended myself. She died."

"That sounds like... multiple levels of misunderstanding. But typical of what I know of Jedi."

"Sidious was almost certainly manipulating information streams, which - didn't help."

"No, it wouldn't. The Jedi must have lost their edge, in their thousand years of peace."

"The Senate, too, and every structure meant to keep the peace going."

"I think they - we - all forgot that peace isn't the default. It's something you have to constantly move towards."

"My time was continuous war. Simpler."

"I found I'm not much one for war - at least not the kind with command structures."

"The key to working with a command structure is to be at the top, I've found."

"Even being at the top isn't always pleasant."

"I find it so. To each her own."

She nods.

(She would've been content, she thinks, or maybe even happy, to give Elesse an empire, and serve as her right hand - )

(Well, now she can give Leia a Republic with all the shiny trappings of democracy. Close enough.)

"I'm - not particularly surprised you like leading, really."

"Of course not."

She smiles, but - doesn't really know what else to say.

There's so many - things she'd say to Elesse - but -

It's both an incredibly dangerous trap and also probably not fair to just... Substitute Occlus into Elesse's place, minus the difficult history.

"Where did Elesse die?"

...And there goes her good mood.

"Mustafar."

"Mm. Volcanic, primarily mining interests?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever observed any traces she left behind, lingering voices, manifestations?"

She shakes her head. "I was - numb, though, to much of the Force, for - a while. And had intentionally cut myself off from my visions, partially to hide certain things from Sidious."

Worth investigation, then.

"I see. Thank you."

"Why do you want to know?"

Occlus smiles.

"Curiosity. A powerful Force user sometimes leaves behind an echo when they die."

This is her skeptical face.

"And what would you do with that?"

"What makes you think it is possible to do anything with such a thing?"