"He doesn't trust you."
"Of course he trusts me- he always has."
"Then why do you have a watcher, Mara?"
She only skipped by the question, shaking her head. "Vader would have worked to his own ends if he'd been there- Palpatine knew that."
"And what are you doing, in being here- like this?"
"He doesn't know that. You said he didn't know we were together- in the Palace, you said he didn't know."
"I was wrong. He knew- I think he's always known. He engineered this, Mara."
She stood, taking a step forward but halting as he backed up, "Luke, he doesn't know."
"He knows. Maybe, just maybe we could have gotten away with it when we were well away from Coruscant - maybe even for one night in the Palace - but when he was on the Patriot?! When Nath was there, panicking and fretting?"
Mara was already shaking her head, a hundred carefully-created excuses lined up. Luke lifted on hand, chopping her words off with a gesture. "He turns a blind eye because it gains him so much."
"What would he possibly have to gain from you and I being together?"
"Everything. Everything he wants... needs."
Mara shook her head, unconvinced, unwilling to let the avoidance pass now that so much was at stake. " 'Everything' isn't an answer, Skywalker- it's an evasion."
"You want specifics? Fine. He needs a way to control me and he knows he can do that through you because you'll always remain loyal to him at the end of the day, Mara. You'll never disobey a direct order, not from him- so he always has someone close who he can turn on me. Because no matter how much anyone tries to remain vigilant, familiarity lowers defences."
He didn't stoop so low as to mention the other reason in his mind; that her closeness bought her information which she'd never otherwise have had access to, but they both knew he was thinking it, not least because it was true, much as he tried to maintain those defences.
Still, Luke skipped past it, citing other reasons. "He uses you as a direct method of control, Mara- he's used you against me already."
"What does that even mean- used me against you how?"
"As a threat, Mara." Luke said quietly, " 'Do this... or they will pay the consequences'."
Mara shook her head, unwilling to believe Palpatine would use her in that way. "Did he say my name?"
"He didn't need to."
Mara shook her head again. "He doesn't know."
Luke held his ground, unyielding. "He allows this- he turns a blind eye because he knows he has everything to win and nothing to lose."
"What? Like what?"
Luke sighed, reluctant to hurt her but knowing this needed to be spoken out loud. "A child, Mara. A force-sensitive child, to continue his precious dynasty."
Mara felt her jaw drop, realisation striking with an almost physical blow, making her feel sick. For a long time she remained silent, the implications of this slowly sinking in. A child- he would take it from them- from her. Hide it away and keep it; twist its mind and...
She shook her head, stepping back, needing space. Skywalker waited as she paced the room, dragging her fingers through her hair.
Would he do this? Was all of this planned? She knew her master wanted to instigate a Sith dynasty; he didn't need two Force-sensitives to do that, but she knew him well, knew how his mind worked; that he would want the extraordinary, the unique... wouldn't it be just like him to...
"It wouldn't be his dynasty." She said aloud, turning to Luke. "It would be Vader's."
Luke looked away at that, some uneasy disquiet shading his face. "He wants a Sith Dynasty, Mara- he wants his precious Sith Dynasty and this is how he'd gain what he wants. That's all that matters to him; it's what this is all about- you know that. This is what he does- games within games, everything twisted to what he wants. There are no coincidences- not here; you know that. Everything is to his design. And when he realises you're not gonna gain him what he wants, he'll wait for the very next time I push a little too far so he can blame it on me- then you'll be gone. You'll be gone because he knows that can hurt me." Luke shook his head, "I'm not doing this- I can't. I can't give him that kind of control- you know that."
"He only has control if you let him." Mara said, "Nothing's changed since the first night we were together- not really."
"No it hasn't." Luke said without flinching, "I don't trust you Mara. You're lying to me, about more than one thing."
Mara raised her chin momentarily but the anger didn't come; it was pointless and they both knew it. "I'm not lying to you about anything that matters."
"It matters to me."
"It's just Palpa..."
"I know exactly what it is Mara. What I don't understand is why you think that's okay. How you would think I would find the fact that you work for my enemy acceptable- how the hell you think this is a tolerable situation."
"He's not your enemy Luke."
"No? The man who maintains a detention cell specifically to hold me isn't my enemy? The man who equips those around me with a drug designed specifically to control me? He takes me to pieces down there, Mara, in case you hadn't noticed. In all the times I've been down there, I've never once walked out of that cell- because I've never once been capable. How can I think of the man who does that as anything but my enemy?"
He bit back on what he so wanted to say; and you're still carrying the drug that would get me back down into that cell... you!
Mara held her ground, "Those days are over now and you know it."
"How!? How do I know it?"
"He told me."
Luke almost laughed out loud.
"You can't trust him Mara! You can't trust anything he says." His voice was raising now, laced with frustrated disbelief.
"I can trust him." she maintained firmly, "He doesn't lie to me."
"Then why..." Luke broke off, dragging his hands through his hair. He was silent for a long time, looking down as he shook his head, and when he spoke again his voice had a forced calm; "Why do you call him master?"
"What?" She backstepped, avoiding the answer, playing for time. But he wouldn't let her, that calm expression overlaying whatever he was truly thinking.
"He has you call him master but he won't teach you- except what benefits him."
Mara glanced away, unwilling to answer, but he remained silent so finally she spoke. "He's taught me all he can." She insisted, very sure. "He can't teach me what I don't have the ability to learn." He'd told her many times; she had some connection with the Force, some affinity which made her able to hear his voice and respond in kind, but that was the limit of her sensitivity. She simply didn't have the connection to be capable of more. He'd told her that.
"I taught you more- was that so difficult to learn? He's not teaching you- he's holding you back... and deep down I think you know it." He stepped forward. "Mara, it's not that he can't teach you more... it's that he won't. Right now you're easy to control and you'll never become a threat- why should he risk that by continuing to teach you?"
"Well then why has he taught you?"
"Because I..." Luke broke off, clearly almost slipping in the heat of the moment.
"You what?"
"Because I already knew too much. Because he sees power and he wants to control it. Because he believes... claims he has a vested interest."
Mara shook her head in confusion, knowing that he was holding out on her; that he had deeper reasons that he seemed unwilling to share.
Luke sighed, uneasy. "Because he's convinced I'm different... my father's different. This line is different."
"Different how?"
"I don't know."
"Yes you do."