A Fine Line

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Dalia felt him wake up with a start and her own eyes opened. She lay there in silence, staring at the ceiling of the small room on the ship in which she had been sleeping, her heart pounding. A wave of nausea passed through her and Dalia recognized it as his. She closed her eyes again and breathed slowly to calm herself before shutting herself off from the Force just enough to block him out.

So much for erecting barriers between them, Dalia thought morosely as she prepared for the day. The connection between them was growing, not shrinking, and Dalia was rapidly losing whatever willpower she had possessed before to break it. His own uncle had tried to kill him in his sleep. Could it really be believed? Luke Skywalker? What would Leia say if she knew? Did she know?

Dalia had wondered at first if he had been lying, but she hadn't gotten any indication he wasn't being truthful through the Force. And Leia had said that he was not a liar. Dalia was beginning to believe that, while he might be many things, dishonest was not one of them.

Leaving her room, Dalia walked down the ship's corridor to the main seating area where she knew she would find him. Kylo Ren sat in a chair, sipping a cup of coffee. He looked up as she entered and Dalia gave a small smile.

"Good morning." She said, pouring herself a cup of coffee and taking a seat nearby.

He nodded and Dalia watched him for a moment, struck by the normalcy of him. The formidable Kylo Ren that she had heard horror stories about now sat in front of her drinking coffee like anyone else would do. This man was Ben Solo, daughter of Leia Organa and Han Solo. He'd been a Jedi for over three times as long as he'd been with the First Order.

Dalia gripped the arm of her chair tightly as an impossible, terrible idea entered her mind. What if he could be turned? What if she could make him give up the Dark Side and join the Resistance instead? It could mean victory for the Resistance to have someone like him on their side. Together they could dismantle the First Order and turn Atoa into a democracy...

But it was a crazy, foolhardy idea, Dalia reminded herself. This was the same man who had assaulted Jorah the other day for bumping into her. He was uncontrollable and so far gone to the Dark Side, Dalia wasn't sure even the pain of conflict could convince him to return to the Light.

"I've been called back to the First Order." Kylo Ren said, jolting Dalia out of her reverie. "There's something I need to take care of. It won't take long."

"Oh? What's that?" Dalia asked.

"I was thinking you could come with me." He said, and Dalia's heart beat doubled. "We can tell your mother it'll give you the opportunity to see how the First Order operates first hand. We can tell Snoke your mother wanted you to come."

Dalia stood up, becoming anxious he was about to say something incriminating on a ship filled with Atoan security officers. "Let's go for a walk." She said, meaningfully, hoping he would understand.

He frowned, looking at her in confusion for a moment before seeming to understand. "Okay." He said, standing up and following her out of the ship.

Dalia waited until they were far enough away to be out of earshot before speaking. "We need to be more careful." She said. "Assume that it's not safe to talk unless I say otherwise. Our rooms are safe, the beach is safe, the garden is safe, and out here we're safe...honestly that's about it."

"Okay, well what I was going to say is that this is the perfect opportunity." Kylo Ren said, glancing back at the ship as if to check for security officers. "We can go in, kill Snoke, kill all of the Praetorian guards except one, and then blame the murder on him. He'll scream we did it of course, but who will believe him over us?"