Just a small moment that I felt could've happened at the end of Thrawn: Alliances. Don't read if you haven't read that book.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Star Wars, or Thrawn, and some of the text in this is from the end of Alliances. It's not mine.

"Anakin Skywalker is dead," Vader said.

Thrawn lowered his head. "I know."

Vader nodded slowly. I know. Not So I have heard. Not So I was informed. But I know. "We will not speak of him again," he said. "You will not speak of him again."

"I understand, my lord," Thrawn said. "But I will always honour his legacy." There was a brief pause, Thrawn's characteristic calculation, then: "And his wife's."

Vader took a breath off-sync with his respirator. Thrawn had never– The Jedi had never–

Thrawn had known.

There was the familiar anger rising in him, the urge to crush Thrawn's throat, but. . . The Emperor needed him. And, he had to admit, he had won some small measure of his respect these past few days.

"You will not speak of her again, either."

Thrawn nodded. "Of course, my lord," he said. "But I for one moment. I have to ask: What happened to Ambassador Padmé?"

Vader was silent for several cycles of his respirator before he spoke again. "She died. She and her unborn child." The words were harsh, callous, cruel. They meant nothing to him anymore.

Thrawn bowed his head. "I see," he said. "Did she die with her husband?"

Vader was still unflinching when he said, "He was the one who killed her."

Again, Thrawn had no visible reaction, other than a settling of his shoulders and a lifting of his chin. "I see," he repeated. "Very well, Lord Vader. I mourn her loss."

Vader didn't acknowledge it. "Are we done here?" There was perhaps a slight snap to the voice that came out of the vocoder, but Thrawn didn't acknowledge it.

Instead, he wore a small, infuriating smile as he said, "Yes, Lord Vader. We are done."