[Her hand covers his again, and it draws his focus back to her. It enables him to watch her come to the same conclusions that he had, when it came to Thrawn's trustworthiness. They were out of his time, and he was out of their's -- they had no tether to one another beyond Hathaway.
Kylo Ren offers her a slow nod of agreement as she confirms his fears verbally. Thrawn had already picked up on the fact that there was something there, even if he didn't make sense of it entirely, and was trying to manipulate it. There were ways for him to play it off, but none of them were appealing.
Admitting that he was afraid of Rey's power would make him look weak. Admitting that he wanted to keep her around also made him weak. He couldn't win.]
We will have to work with him regardless.
[That was a truth he'd had to come to terms with two long years ago. He'd gotten better at swallowing down the frustration of needing to work with people he didn't like.]
But we can be mindful of how much we help him.
[He can sense her shame, and he finds that he cannot really blame her. She was so desperate to trust, where he was naturally suspicious as well as inherently selfish.]
no subject
Kylo Ren offers her a slow nod of agreement as she confirms his fears verbally. Thrawn had already picked up on the fact that there was something there, even if he didn't make sense of it entirely, and was trying to manipulate it. There were ways for him to play it off, but none of them were appealing.
Admitting that he was afraid of Rey's power would make him look weak. Admitting that he wanted to keep her around also made him weak. He couldn't win.]
We will have to work with him regardless.
[That was a truth he'd had to come to terms with two long years ago. He'd gotten better at swallowing down the frustration of needing to work with people he didn't like.]
But we can be mindful of how much we help him.
[He can sense her shame, and he finds that he cannot really blame her. She was so desperate to trust, where he was naturally suspicious as well as inherently selfish.]