Mara slouched forward to lean her chin on the table, grinning. "Yes we do- just not sabacc."
But Luke was already dealing the cards, his manner brittly good-humoured. "What, afraid I'll beat you? Here- I'll give you a tell for free; one of my cards is the six of staves. How can I possibly make a winning hand with that?"
Her head still leant against the table, Mara sighed and lifted her cards as Luke reached out and hit the small pulse generator, sliding it out into the middle of the table.
"You'd better not win, Skywalker." she growled unenthusiastically.
Which he did- ten games straight. But then it was hardly surprising, Luke knew; he was using the Force.
Mara was sat up straight by now, infuriated at his winning streak- and Luke knew it.
By five games in she was shielding her thoughts, but by then she'd already provided the baseline for comparisons within the Force so he just kept on winning, pushing her to ever more suspicion and shields. For ten games straight he either kept bidding until he knew he held the winning hand or bluffed so high as to make her back down the moment he thought she'd lost her hand. Always watching, always reading her.
Every time the field changed the face value of the cards, every time a card was drawn, every bet she made, every fold, every raise. Closely attuned; pinning down thought patterns and hidden intent, slowly sensing faint variations, the slightest disparity. Chasing down increments, cracks in her armour, chinks in her shields. Hundreds of decisions made in quick succession, always hidden but easy to compare, the results borne out when the chipcards were turned.
He'd taught her the system to use against Palpatine; how to use the Force to shield secrets - a way to screen her thoughts then hide the screens - it was his system... and if he created it, he could break it. But subtly; try after try, test after test, setting bars and standards and offsetting each change in the flow against existing knowledge, every discreet flaw noted, every doubt, every bluff, every momentary triumph exploited, modifying his technique, tailoring his reading.
He had her at seven games; after that it was academic.
She scowled at him across the table, green eyes ablaze. "Are you using the Force?"
He sat back slightly in his seat, "I would never lie to you, Red."
Mara narrowed her eyes at his avoidance. "You lie all the time."
"I bluff," Luke corrected, "There's a difference."
"I'm not talking about sabacc."
"Neither am I." He said coolly, taking the opportunity to draw the conversation where he wished it, a test of new knowledge. "Ask me anything."
Mara leaned back, still frustrated enough to be drawn in. "Why are we playing sabacc at two in the morning?"
"Because I haven't played this game in a long time," he said, "Not with you."
Before she could speak again he straightened, "My turn- was it you who repositioned the surveillance lenses in the corridor so you could get in and out of here easier?"
Nothing too contentious to begin with; something he already knew, but she didn't know that.
Now it was Mara's turn to straighten, freshly wary at this bizarre question-and-answer session. "I didn't agree this was a two-way offer."
"Your question next." Luke said, knowing she wouldn't be able to refuse the lure.
She hesitated- but only for a second... "Yes I did. Why are you doing this?"
"Because I want the truth."
"That's not an answer, it's an avoidance."
"Because I want the truth- and I think the best way to gain it is to offer it in return." Again Luke pushed on before she could ask more."My turn; do you still carry a firearm when you come here at night?"
"I always carry a firearm, you know that."
"Yes I do- so why do you conceal it? What else do you conceal Mara?"
"That's two questions." She said, and Luke shrugged slightly, conceding; it didn't matter whether she answered out loud- she'd already responded in her thoughts.
Mara considered long seconds, realising now that this conversation was going somewhere specific, noting the abrupt edge in his tone and his stance. "What do you want- with this?"
Those sharp, mismatched eyes hardened just slightly.
"I want to know whether you lie to me." He paused just long enough to clarify that he was posing his question; "Do you lie to me Mara?"
Mara tensed slightly "Do you lie to me?"
The slightest smile brushed his scarred lips, "You've already asked that."
"You didn't answer."
"Why do you lie to me Mara?"
Mara shook her head, straightening, aware that the banter was taking a dangerous turn, "Why do you lie to me?"
He sat back slightly, seeming to consider for a moment. "Because you give me no option. If you could honestly say that you wouldn't repeat everything I say or do to Palpatine, then I wouldn't lie. If you would give your word that anything you see or hear in the time we spend together exists outside of your mandate then I wouldn't need to second-guess every moment with you. But you won't do that. So I lie to protect myself in the one situation that I really shouldn't have to, with the one person I really don't want to."
He paused, then repeated his question, "Why do you lie to me?"
Mara held to stunned silence for long seconds, taken aback by that burst of cutting truth, a whole minefield they had very pointedly never even tried to address before.
Luke's voice was sharper this time, the demand unmistakable; "Why do you lie to me Mara?"
"Sometimes... I have to."
He watched her struggle for long seconds before she said that, watched her realisation dawn as to where this was going.
And much as Luke wanted to stay angry, he couldn't; not before that, not with all the history that lay behind them. He had what he needed from this- he knew how to break her shields. Everything else was just to satiate his own frustrations and disappointment; he could probably validate it to himself as maintaining the conversation to hide his intent, or justifying to himself that what he was about to do was the right choice- but in truth it was procrastination, to make this easier. For him if not for her.
He sighed, glancing away, leaning back into the chair. There was, he knew, just one more thing he needed to lay to rest - and he should do it now, quickly, whilst he still had the anger to push it through.
"This is... this will never work, Mara. We were stupid to think it would. We should back out gracefully whilst it's still... at least reasonably straightforward." Mara shook her head but he continued, holding his nerve. "It will get too complicated, Mara. I'm amazed it hasn't already."
"Why? What would change?"
"What are you gonna do the next time Palpatine orders you to move against me- to make it possible to get me down to the detention centre again? Because he will, eventually."
"Only if you make him."
"He will do it Mara. He'll give that order eventually- and I think you'll carry it out." Luke was silent for a while, giving her time to consider that - to deny it. But she remained silent and he let out a resigned sigh, "... And where does that leave us right now- where does it leave me?"
"It leaves us where we are- nothing has changed."
"You want to know where we are? I don't trust you Mara- I can't trust you. What am I supposed to do?"
"What... what is... what's brought this on?"
Luke raised his eyebrows, incredulous. "It doesn't matter! It doesn't make any of it untrue."
Luke stood and backed up step, putting some distance between them, "Why you, Mara. Did you ever wonder... why you to be here every day, always near? Why you at the beginning, when I was completely alone? You're an assassin- a deep-cover operative, not a bodyguard."
"Because I know how to deal with a Jedi." she said, as if it were obvious.
Luke shook his head, refusing the validation. "What about Vader?"
"Palpatine didn't trust Vader, you know that."