Give me the fluff!

Thrawn took the datapad, and for a moment he studied the numbers in silence. Faro watched him, wondering if, like her, he was thinking that Commander Eli Vanto might have been able to dig something out of the seemingly random times, dates, and comm frequencies she’d collected. Vanto had been gifted at such things.

But Vanto was gone, disappeared without a trace one day from the Chimaera. [.]

Faro had asked Thrawn about it at the time. The grand admiral’s response had been polite enough, but Faro had left the conversation with the clear understanding that she was never to ask that question again.

Privately, given the fondness Thrawn had had for the young man and the master–pupil relationship they’d shared as Thrawn nurtured Vanto’s career, Faro was pretty sure Vanto was dead. She could think of no other reason for him to have left the Chimaera.

~

"Hold it," Ronan said, shooting a look at Vanto. The younger man was standing silently to the side. "He can’t go aboard an Imperial ship. Not with a charge of desertion hanging over him."

"Consider him to be on loan from Admiral Ar’alani," Thrawn said. "I need his expertise with numbers and data." [.]

"Absolutely not," Ronan said flatly, a surge of anger and betrayal flooding through him. "I categorically forbid you to allow him access. [.] I will not see sensitive Imperial data put into the hands of a—" He looked again at Vanto, who seemed to be making a valiant effort to stay as invisible and unobtrusive as possible. "—of a traitor."

"Then you are a fool," Thrawn said.

Ronan snapped his glare back to the grand admiral. "What did you call me?"

"I called you a fool," Thrawn repeated. For the first time, there was a fleeting glimpse of actual anger in his voice.

~

Let this sink in for a second.

If someone like *Thrawn* needs you for understanding patterns and data and numbers, you should TRUUUULY be damn good at it.

Also: Thrawn *visibly* mad because Ronon insulted Eli is A DO RA BLE.

[Photos: this @ritarussiandoll_pins pin, based on a design by @junchan_nyan_art is pure fluff bliss.

And, damn, I LOVE fluff.]