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“What attracted you to that career path? I would have thought you’d be more of an academic type.”
“Partly the same thing as you—money. Namely, I didn’t have enough of it. But also . . .” He was going to sound ridiculous.
“What?” she prompted, and seemed genuinely curious.
“I’m a patriot,” he said. “I believe in the notion of service to one’s country. My grandfather had a long military career. I’d been considering it since before our family’s changed circumstances.”
He expected her to tease him about tradition or something similar, but she merely nodded as if what he’d said made sense. “And you went from there to your equerry gig?”
“Yes. I’d assumed I’d do a longer stint in the military, but when the king asked me to come work for him, of course I said yes.”
“I suppose you don’t say no to something like that.”
“You don’t,” he confirmed, willing to say more because she hadn’t seemed phased by his earnest expression of patriotism. “But it was more than that. Serving Eldovia seemed like a calling. How often do civilian jobs like mine come along? Jobs where such service is a central tenet? The equerry position seemed unique in that regard.”
“That makes sense. Why does everyone call you Mr. Benz, though? Why not Captain Benz?”
“I was only early in my fourth year of service when the king came calling. I was never deployed anywhere. I suppose I’m entitled to the rank, but it felt disingenuous. And you?”
“Similar reasons. I was never going to be a careerist. And anyway, in my line of work, the rank doesn’t do me any favors. People too often think of me as the invading enemy to begin with.”
This was normally the part wherehewould have made a crack, but he found he didn’t want to. He was too relaxed, or too... something.
They sat in silence for a minute before she surprised him with another question. “Favorite Star Warsmovie?”
She certainly was in an interrogative mood. He was in a forthcoming mood, though, so it worked out. “Of all of them?”
“Yes.”
“A New Hope.”
“Favorite of the prequels?”
“I don’t acknowledge the prequels.”
She nodded and emitted a sort of hum-grunt hybrid as if she approved of that answer. “Favorite of the new ones?”
“The Rise of Skywalker.”
“Argh.” She let her head fall back as she made a dramatic choking sound. His approval streak was over.
“In fact,” he said, deciding to double down, to needle her, because he was feeling mischievous, “it rivalsA New Hopein my mind.”
“What? Why would yousaythat?”
“Well, to begin with, the shock of Rey being Palpatine’s granddaughter—the delicious shock.”
“You would say that.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Star Wars is all about hierarchy and bloodlines. It might as well be a monarchy.”
“I suppose there is the emperor.”
“Sure, but there’s also the Skywalkers.” She snorted derisively. “The almighty Skywalkers. And just when they had a chance, with the setup fromThe Last Jedi, to blow the lid off the whole bullshit Skywalker blueblood thing, to have the next generation be a meritocracy, they have to stick in this last-minute ‘Guess what? Rey is secretly Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter! Gotcha!’ She can’t just be a nobody from Jakku who has the Force. God forbid she’sactuallyan unloved kid who was abandoned by her parents.”
Matteo blinked. This was all a bit surprising. Yet he had to admit that her position was internally consistent. He didn’t agree with her—he didn’t think—but he couldn’t say her argument wasn’t logical. He decided to take another tack. “But if anyone can have the Force, it isn’t special.”
