Admiral's Honor [ThrawnXReader][Arranged Marriage]

Chapter 22

Author's Note: Watch me spit out made up bs about Chiss culture lol :P (also I made an edit to chapter 21. I designed the captains quarters a bit more in-depth and now his bedroom is a separate room. Now this whole conversation took place in the main room. You can re-read the last chapter if you want, but its not really necessary.) 

Anyways Enjoy! <3

There was a pause in the conversation after your comment about him feeling even his victories were in some ways still failures. He didn't respond right away, and you weren't sure how to get the conversation going again after that. Thankfully though Thrawn cut the silence. "We have time now to talk, if you still wish to do so."

"I do, but... don't you want to as well?" You had hoped you wouldn't be the only one interested in making this forced marriage into a tolerable thing, although you supposed if he wanted to all he had to do was stay on his ship and he would never have to see you.

"Indeed." was his only answer. You wanted to facepalm. 

"Alright." you said, and you stepped past him to sit on the couch, drawing your legs up to sit cross-legged under your dress. Thrawn looked at you for a moment, before he moved around and sat facing you in one of the chairs.

You thought you were going to have to be the one to start the conversation, but you didn't really know how to start. "So..."

It turns out you were wrong. Thrawn seemed to have a plan of action for starting this conversation. Prepared as always. Honestly you shouldn't have been surprised. "It is safe to assume that since neither of us were aware of this before it was announced that, it wasn't either of our ideas. That begs the question, did you argue against this arrangement after the night was over?"

You blinked, mildly shocked that he was so direct. You should have expected it from him, you had just gotten so used to people being vague at the palace, nobody ever spoke in clear terms. "No I didn't. I guess I assumed I wasn't allowed to... I mean, he announced it to the entire galaxy. That kind of removes the ability to back out of it... Did you? Argue against it I mean."

"I did not. For some of the same reasons." 

"What were your other reasons?" you asked. You placed your hands in your lap and fiddled with a fold of your skirt.

"I-" He paused as if embarrassed, "Honestly, I am not good with politics."

"Really? I thought politics would be a lot like battle strategy? Though I don't really have much experience in either." you added wryly.

"They might be similar for some people, but for some reason, I have never been able to manage understanding politics. Mainly for that reason I did not object. I have no idea how objecting would affect my career, and I am not inclined to lose my hard earned position."

"I suppose I accepted this for the same reasons. I don't have much experience in politics except a basic understand from my books so far, but I don't want to lose what I have. I..." you frowned, trying to figure out how to say this without sounding like you were complaining. "For years, I never had anything. Everything I owned I could fit into a few pockets. I don't really want to go back to that if I can avoid it."

Thrawn hummed and gave you a small nod. Well he was a good listener at least. That's supposed to be a key factor for relationship building. You continued. "And on top of that, I'm not naive enough to ignore that the politics in the palace are vicious. I don't know how it all works yet, who is enemies with who, who is allies with who. There is really no way to know where the idea for us to get married came from in the first place. It could be anyone who started it, not just the Emperor. I don't have any leverage, with anything. Even if I wanted to, there's really nothing I could do."