"I thought I did. My parents and grandparents hated me for something that I could not control. Had I not been born as a slave in the Sith Empire, I imagine I would never have lived to see adulthood."

Being slaves had never stopped them from raising a hand to hurt him. But due to the unique situation, and the fact that they worried about the harsh punishments that might come their way should they destroy Imperial property, they had never hurt him so badly that he wouldn't recover from his injuries.

Still, because of them, he had lived his life in fear of everything that had to do with his species, and preferred hiding himself from them when he met them, even as he'd climbed to the top of the Empire. The only person he had never really feared was Aden, and that was because of their bond in the Force.

"And because they were all I knew, I thought all Chiss would react to me as they did. Though I was eventually proven at least somewhat wrong, my fear never fully subsided. It hasn't, even now."

It was probably a good thing that he had worn his armor around Thrawn in the beginning, since he'd often found himself flinching in his presence, despite his body language ranging between neutral and confident, depending. Had it not been for his armor, Altair imagined their relationship would be pretty awkward even now.

He looked up to the lights in the trees too, and smiled. It was pretty.

And pretty romantic, though he was trying not to think too much about that.

"Besides, I am a Sith too, so I didn't mind been seen as one, even if it meant burying other parts of me."

He probably shouldn't mention the fact that he'd spent much time gathering things from the Ascendancy. Art, plants, banners and the like. He already felt like he was coming of as pitiful enough, and that wasn't really how he preferred to be seen. Especially not by one of the only people whose opinion he actually valued in this time.

"Same goes for now. Having a Sith around is more useful than having some random other Chiss around, isn't it?"