Her lips flatten like she's hiding a snarl.

"I can't say I know what you mean, ma'am."

"No one else saw me. Just you."

"Did you know you're seeing things no one else does?"

"Her Excellency isn't known to care about hallucinations, ma'am."

"She would care about a Force sensitive slave, don't you think?"

"Then I suppose she must care more about you than she's been letting on, ma'am."

She snarls, briefly - 

And then forces her expression smooth.

"You'll speak to me with respect, slave."

"I'm a slave by the same law you would be, ma'am."

"And what law is that?"

"Gardulla's word."

The meeting with Gardulla was supposed to have been closed doors. Palpatine hadn't noticed a spy. 

It's just enough of a curiosity to bank her fury, to turn a violent outburst into, "Her words won't exist for long."

"Then I suppose neither of us could be called slaves for long."

She tilts her head. "Unless there's someone else whose word might chain you."

She lashes out, heedless of the consequences, surging into motion - Plagueis wouldn't permit her to bring her lightsaber, but a good punch can be far more satisfying - and Palpatine doesn't need tools to kill -

She slides out of the way, like she'd known Palpatine would lash out before Palpatine did - and the movement caries her until she's next to the door, no longer quite as trapped.

She turns, facing the girl. Power builds around her, items rattling on the shelves, the air tasting sharp, almost like ozone, the already thin light from the single strip in the ceiling dimming precariously. 

She lifts her chin.

"Do you not want my help, then?"

(She's cautiously putting herself even nearer the entry pad.)

"What implied I did?"

"A hunch."

"Masters don't die easily."

She regards the girl -

- And then laughs.

"Some might."

"More so than others, at least."

"I intend to leave Gardulla a dead husk in my wake."

"What do you have for that?"

"A few things..."

She doesn't stop being wary - doesn't remove herself from the door's keypad, nor cede the exit - but she stops feeling like she's one wrong move from running away.

She hadn't, actually, been planning to kill Gardulla - but she's been working against the Hutt all the same, and in the edges of her parts of the discussion it's apparent she's developed a different focus in the Force than Palpatine has, albeit an unpolished and mostly accidental one.

Quite a lot to work with.

(Doing this such that Plagueis doesn't lash out at her intolerably might be difficult... But Palpatine is starting to think her bigger concern is keeping Plagueis from learning about this woman.)

She has tasks to do, still, as Plagueis's errand girl - and the slave has her own jobs - but they can weave in enough instability, subtle, that not too long after Palpatine leaves, the entire thing should come crashing down.

And... It's increasingly obvious the slave is drawing on the light side. Palpatine has inherited much of Plagueis's scorn, of course - she has no patience for the Jedi's self-made chains - but, well. She can recognize a useful tool when she sees one, and while the woman is terrible at hiding herself - she actually shines in the Force, as ridiculous as it feels the first time her attempts to hide slip and Palpatine glimpses it - 

Palpatine has always struggled with foresight. The future that unveils itself before her is murky and often more metaphorical than literal. Twisting, open to interpretation, and Palpatine puts more stock in it than Plagueis (who utterly scorns the idea of predicting rather than seizing the future), but... It's never been useful to her.

Until now.

The woman's only hindrance has been her difficulty hiding herself - a clear picture slowly reveals itself to Palpatine through her, one Palpatine is certain the woman sees even better - a million tiny levers, details no one else perceives, the future emerging clearly from this moment, flickers and glimpses of farther flung consequences, and Palpatine can simply ask what if and get most of an answer - 

The woman struggles to take Palpatine into account in her visions, apparently, which is gratifying to hear. It complicates things, but all the woman's short term predictions are more or less accurate when Palpatine isn't screwing with them - and Palpatine will be here a while.

She learns to hide the woman, first, to disguise the echoes of her actions, to redirect attention, to let her walk where she may... It grates when the woman's visions adjust to her presence, but...

Not too much later, as Palpatine is getting ready to leave - 

"How do you plan to escape this?"