Jacen knew he’d wrongfooted the captain. That was sort of part of the plan after all, get him all confused and thinking Jacen wasn’t as bad as he’d thought. And here he was now staring around Jacen’s home, pretending that he was following all those special little social formalities or whatever you wanted to call it. He wasn’t, Jacen knew well he was checking up on him. And he was fine with that. He actually didn’t have anything to hide. And he was more than willing to answer those questions. “River’s been learning from me, learning to control her psychic abilities so she doesn’t hear everyone and everything around her. You’d think he’d like to help her wouldn’t you?, her dear brother? Well I can.”
Jacen wasn’t without feeling, he understood the worry one could have for a sibling. “Simon is very concerned for the wellbeing of his sister. And I can understand that perfectly well. I can see that he’s worried and scared for her. Of course he is. But she’s safe. I promise she’s safe. As for what worries he tells you, what exactly am I supposed to do about that? Am I supposed to change things because he tells you of his worry? He could tell me if he has worried, how about that? Wouldn’t that be sensible Captain?” It actually was quite a sensible offer. Jacen thought of himself as a reasonable man when he needed to be.
In truth, he was willing to be as open as he could with Mal. “Ask your questions Captain, do you want my story, is that it? Do you want to know my history to see if I’m suitable, or are you so stuck on Chief of State you can’t get past the fear of ‘government’ you smugglers all seem to have?” He could play the elusive mystic, play the realization that everything he told could be a lie, but what would be the point. Mal wouldn’t understand about being as a gardener, searching for that all elusive rare flower he’d found to be River Tam. No, he saw a bad guy. Goverment, Chief of State, head of a Secret Police, and maybe if they were both on Courscant he’d have treated Mal no better than any other smuggler but they were stuck on this new planet. Earth. And things were different