Palpatine settled, drawing Luke's eyes and his mind back to the moment. "I'd like to know where my companions are," he said, voice steady.
The Emperor only gazed back in silence.
"I know that they're here, in the main Palace below," Luke said firmly. "I'd like to see them."
The Emperor remained still and this time Luke let the silence hang, prepared to wait it out.
Finally, Palpatine spoke. "Do you have any other glaring weaknesses you'd like to declare?"
Luke tilted his head, refusing to be drawn. "I'd like to see them."
.
.
Palpatine smiled just slightly at the battle lines being drawn; if the boy thought he could direct the conversation, then he was wrong. "They are traitors, which makes them your father's jurisdiction," he said, taking the discussion instantly back to where he intended.
"And who commands Vader?" the boy parried.
Palpatine ignored the challenge. "I am curious--you seem...uncomfortable acknowledging your father as such, child."
The boy held his silence for long seconds, gritting his teeth against the reply he so clearly wished to make, fighting to keep his mind on the goal. Palpatine let his expression change not a whit, but inside he leered at the boy's grinding jaw. Already this flaw tormented Skywalker, and Palpatine would lose no opportunity to twist that knife, to work that wound wider. Still, the boy held focus admirably.
"I would like to see my companions."
"Why?"
"To know that they're alright."
"You have the ability to do that without seeing them. It runs in your blood."
The boy's eyes hardened just slightly at that.
"You are...uncomfortable that they are here." Palpatine made this a statement rather than a question, leaving the boy to wonder whether the Emperor had read his mind, or simply stated the obvious. Either way, he said nothing. Instead he took the goblet of wine in his hand then, as if he felt that this was a patent fact that he should nevertheless clarify, he added, "Their freedom is for sale, of course. For a price."
"I very much doubt that--unless it serves your own ends."
"Heh. You judge me too harshly, Jedi."
"I don't think that's possible."
Palpatine only laughed, as if sharing a joke with an old friend. "I have found over the years that everything has a price."
.
.
Luke didn't miss the inference, but chose to ignore it. Instead he let the silence hang heavy for a long time as Palpatine gazed steadily at him...
Finally, with a low sigh of reluctant resignation, but knowing he could do nothing else, Luke asked, "The price is?"
"Well done, Jedi." The Emperor set down the goblet and leaned forward slightly, as if the game were finally afoot. "The price is...what...?"
He hesitated theatrically, mocking yellow eyes fixed on Luke, thin lips pulled back from stained teeth, as if this were a question he had only now given any thought to, though even knowing him as little as he did, Luke knew that wouldn't be the case. He leaned back in distaste; at having to deal so civilly with this creature--at being here at all.
In his excitement, the Sith didn't seem to notice. "What is...what is your little Princess worth?" He seemed to consider this for a moment, then, "Ah, but she is my exception. I think nothing will keep her from the executioner's block."
Luke's heart skip a beat. "You need them alive."
Palpatine smiled a death's-head grin. "I need only one of them to hold you, Jedi. And Leia Organa has been a thorn in my side for too long. Now that I have her, an example must be made--one that my enemies will remember."
Luke's chest constricted at the words, so casually uttered, as if Leia's life was some insignificant part of a much larger game.
"The Wookiee will go to the Kessel mines," the Sith added. "He has some strength, he may well last the year out. Calrissian will go with him, though I doubt he will do the same. The Corellian will stay here for now. Your father believes he will be enough to hold you."
"Vader knows nothing about me."
"He said you asked after the Corellian when you were injured," Palpatine said, implicating Vader in his plotting.
"Because I knew he was the only one who wasn't there."
"Still, you wanted him extricated from the Hutt gangster."
"I would have asked the same of any of them."
"Which is reason enough to believe the Corellian of worth to you." The Emperor shrugged elaborately. "If he is not, then you should say so now and I will have him executed tonight--he's of no value to me. Perhaps then I would have to fall back on your little Princess. Solo's death may just keep her head from the block. For now."
Luke lifted his hand, rubbing at the center of his temple against this provocation. What did he say? Did he say no, Han was worth nothing to him, and risk the Emperor carrying through his threat simply to call Luke's bluff? He knew he'd still have Leia and Chewie to control Luke...
With the stakes too high to feint, he said nothing at all. Palpatine steepled his fingers expectantly, his air one of assured amusement, and Luke could only grit his teeth in the face of these continual provocations and manipulations.
Still the Emperor gazed expectantly for long seconds. "So then--what is the Corellian's freedom worth to you?"
"Leia's first," Luke said, making the Emperor's eyes narrow.
.
.
"No--no, I have plans for your little Princess," Palpatine said deliberately, setting shields to hide his intent from the boy, though not too many or too deliberate; a direct lie could often be detected by the simple fact that it would be notably shielded. But then Palpatine seldom fell back on such vulgarities. In that moment, he very much longed to carry out the threat he was issuing; the girl was nothing but a malicious agitator, and would be a constant spur to Skywalker to keep on resisting Palpatine's will. It was this knowledge that Palpatine relied on now, along with his very genuine intention to remove her, one way or another; he allowed the boy to sense that much.
"You said all things could be bought." The boy knew that he was being led, but he also knew that the threat to Leia was very, very real.
Palpatine struggled to withhold the smallest of smiles from twitching the corners of his lips. How vulnerable they made him...and he knew this, yet still he defended them. "For a price. You cannot afford hers."
.
.
"So you have one." If Luke could gain her only a stay from execution, it would give him time to work out some plan to get out of here. Or buy Leia and Han the chance to do the same.
The Emperor's eyes turned to the huge fire in the grate as he considered and Luke found himself holding his breath in anticipation.
.
.
Palpatine stood and took a few steps toward the fire, his casual manner belying the importance he attached to this conversation. All future plans were decided by it, whichever way it went.
When he spoke, it was in quiet, considered tones. "Twelve weeks...yes, I think that is fair. Twelve weeks of your undivided attention. I would take no less, not for her."
He turned to his Jedi, who frowned for long seconds as he deciphered the offer...then his eyes opened wide, and Palpatine knew he understood. The boy almost refused outright...but he hesitated a fraction of a second--and Palpatine knew he had him.
"Twelve weeks of your compliance, Jedi. At the end of that time, I will let her go."
Skywalker tilted his head before laughing doubtfully, as if unable to believe he was even discussing this. Seeing that, Palpatine pushed on, wanting the deal done before his Jedi thought too long on it. If he gave him time to consider, he knew the boy would simply decide that a better option would be to begin his own escape attempts, and though Palpatine wasn't afraid the boy would escape, he didn't wish to be put into direct contention with him just yet.
He had to curtail such thoughts now; ensure that Skywalker would remain reasonably amenable in the coming weeks. Already he could see resentment at his incarceration settling into the boy's features; another day or so and it would poison his mind, making him unreachable. He would dig his heels in and force a confrontation out of nothing more than his own innate stubbornness. That would come eventually anyway, Palpatine knew, but he didn't want it yet, with so many precedents and practices still to lay in place; compulsions to be hidden within conventions, influence within routine.