Their fight was still fresh in her mind, as it should have been considering those were her last memories before coming here. And she well knew Jacen was armed. It was hard to judge how this conversation would go when Mara herself was still emotionally raw, and Jacen was riddled with guilt. And then fear mixing in. Jacen was afraid of her? Perhaps he should be, she did have the upper hand on Kavan until he'd tricked her, used her son's image to distract her just long enough to be poisoned. And really, did it have to be poison? He had certainly chosen the most cruel death for her, though it had been painless. But the fact that it had been painless had made it all the more painful, a contradiction she would have to live with now.
And he was unable to look at her. Well, this certainly was a change she hadn't expected. Perhaps he really was changing, trying to find his way back to the light side. And if anyone knew how hard it was to walk that path, it was Mara herself. It had taken her a long time to denounce the dark side, though part of it had because Palpatine had manipulated her even in his death. But Luke had helped her expunge that final command from her so she could be free of a need for revenge that was not truly her own. But now as she stood there before Jacen, the need for revenge that she felt was completely her own. But it would be a bloodless one, unless Jacen drew his weapon on her.
Mara listened to the explanation he gave, and she couldn't hold back a scoff as he mentioned Lumiya. Oh Mara detested the woman, always had. That hate had been multiplied when she'd discovered Palpatine had lied to her about being the only Hand, and deduced Lumiya had been one. Oh she would sooner see Lumiya dead. But she managed to hear all of what Jacen said, looking at him, though he still couldn't look at her.
"So my being your sacrifice was not something you'd planned on ahead of time, it came about when I came after you and we fought on Kavan?" She did want to know whether or not Jacen had predetermined that he would kill her or not. It would make a large difference to her. Forgiveness was out of the question regardless of the answer, but the answer would be the difference between a slow acceptance of things and a slower one. At the mention of Allana, Mara nodded. "Yes, I remember her." It did make sense, and he was being forthcoming, which she accepted. What she wouldn't tolerate was more lies. "Tell me Jacen, how long were you with Lumiya before we clashed on Kavan?" Which would then lead into the other questions she had in regards to how many lies he'd told her.
"I know you're not hiding, and I do appreciate that. Just as I am not hiding from you, nor am I out to kill you. I simply want answers, and I want to find a way that we can co-exist. I don't want all of this bad blood between us. I can sense that you are different than you were on Kavan, but you do understand I want no more lies if I am to again trust you." Even now, somewhere underneath the swirling emotions, she wanted to be able to believe in her nephew again, which was probably the most tragic part of this. But she would not let herself trust until he earned it. She'd blindly believed in him before, entrusted her only son to his care. She would not make that mistake again if she could help it.