[He draws himself up with unwavering resolution, hands slipping behind his back to clasp tightly in a pose better suited to interrogators and intellectuals alike. In this case, however unkind the work, the two are one and the same.
And he is no stranger to the concept of bearing an ugly task for the greater good.
As she sputters back to consciousness— held firmly in place by the hardened, unseen grip of the Force itself— pain sinking into her features, Thrawn's voice is a pool of glacial ice:]
Good of you to join us again. Rest assured, this conversation need not end in your death or...disfiguration. So long as you provide us with the answers we require, you will leave this place alive.
I would think it preferable to face your Empress intact as a champion of your actions, rather than a disgrace to your people.
[It isn't a necessarily lengthy process. In part because she did not have much to give, and in part because yielding came quickly: a certain fluidity between Ren's skill with the Force, and Thrawn's careful diplomacy— within less than a half an hour, she is unconscious again from exhaustion, but alive.
And they are infinitely more informed, though the news is grim at best.]
So it is as I had feared.
[Weariness sinks at last into his shoulders as he turns from Ren and their captive, feeling his way towards the side table to wind his fingers around a cool cloth that had been soaking in a basin of water.]
no subject
[He draws himself up with unwavering resolution, hands slipping behind his back to clasp tightly in a pose better suited to interrogators and intellectuals alike. In this case, however unkind the work, the two are one and the same.
And he is no stranger to the concept of bearing an ugly task for the greater good.
As she sputters back to consciousness— held firmly in place by the hardened, unseen grip of the Force itself— pain sinking into her features, Thrawn's voice is a pool of glacial ice:]
Good of you to join us again. Rest assured, this conversation need not end in your death or...disfiguration. So long as you provide us with the answers we require, you will leave this place alive.
I would think it preferable to face your Empress intact as a champion of your actions, rather than a disgrace to your people.
[It isn't a necessarily lengthy process. In part because she did not have much to give, and in part because yielding came quickly: a certain fluidity between Ren's skill with the Force, and Thrawn's careful diplomacy— within less than a half an hour, she is unconscious again from exhaustion, but alive.
And they are infinitely more informed, though the news is grim at best.]
So it is as I had feared.
[Weariness sinks at last into his shoulders as he turns from Ren and their captive, feeling his way towards the side table to wind his fingers around a cool cloth that had been soaking in a basin of water.]