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Nan cursed herself for not remembering Arlon’s name until Xeldara said it.

Esperanza said, “He hasn’t been- ?”

Without hesitating, Xeldara said, “No! He doesn’t even know I’m planning this, and he keeps insisting that he’s fine and that he’s proud of me. But we’ve been married a long time, and I can tell that he’s miserable. I just can’t keep doing this to him.” She tugged on her earlobe again, and Nan found, to her surprise, that she was going to miss that irritating affectation. “I’ve been talking to Councillor Gnizbreg, and she’s offered me a job as chief of staff in her office back on Tiburon.”

Esperanza tensed. Before she could say anything, however, Xeldara quickly said, “She actually offered me the job three months ago. Apparently her last COS left the place a disaster. That was when I had first started thinking about resigning. Honestly, I’d finally decided to do it five weeks ago, but I didn’t want to leave while we were in the middle of the Trinni/ek talks. But now that that’s pretty much over, I just- “

Nan held up a hand. “It’s all right, Xeldara. I’d rather have you than not have you, but I’d also rather you were happy.”

Xeldara let out a huge breath, which Nan took for a sigh of relief. “Thank you for understanding, ma’am.”

“It’s all right.”

Esperanza said, “We’ll make the formal arrangements tomorrow. Be in my office at 0800?”

“Sure.” Xeldara turned toward the door. “Thank you, Madam President.”

When she left, there seemed to be a proverbial spring to her step. This was definitely something she needed to do.

Chuckling, Esperanza shook her head. “Honestly, I had pegged Myk as being the first to quit.” Then her expression grew more serious. “I’m going to have Gnizbreg’s head.”

“Leave her alone, Esperanza, all she did was put the bug in her ear.” Nan paused. “That expression takes on a whole new meaning with Tiburonians, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am-and I won’t do anything too horrible to the councillor. But poaching is an offense that definitely deserves some kind of retribution.”

Nan sighed. “Fine, just keep me out of it.” Another pause. “So, what’s happening between you and the ambassador?”

“What do you- ? I can’t believe you’re going to-Look, ma’am, what happens in-Oh, forget it.”

Grinning, Nan said, “That’s amazing-you ran the entire gamut from surprised to annoyed to pissed to resigned in about half a second.”

“You bring out the best in me, ma’am.”

“So does Ambassador Morrow-sorry, Colton. I bet you’d have done even better with him if you’d worn the heels.”

“The ambassador is a nice person- “

“Fairly good looking, too.”

“- with whom I’ve worked very closely these last few weeks.”

“Months, actually.”

Esperanza’s voice grew tighter. “And we get along well, which has made the work easier.”

“Right, of course.”

Sighing, Esperanza said, “Ma’am, as we’ve just seen up close, romance and the Palais aren’t entirely compatible.”

Nan mentally conceded the point, but she wasn’t anywhere near done teasing her chief of staff yet. “Fred and Ashante manage.”

“Fred and Ashante have been in professional politics together for all their adult lives, and they work together. Colton’s work takes him all over the Federation. I really don’t think it’ll work.”

Before Nan could reply, the door opened to reveal one of the guards. “Excuse me, ma’am?”

“Yeah, Marta, what is it?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but a message just arrived for you-the former president died.”

Nan winced. “Ah, damn. Well, I suppose Thelian was bound to- “

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Marta interrupted, “but it wasn’t President Thelian-it was President Jaresh-Inyo.”

That took Nan aback. Her eyes immediately went back to his portrait, hanging between Amitra’s and Zife’s. Although he was fairly soft-spoken, Jaresh-Inyo had always had a commanding physical strength. As far as she knew, he was in good health.

Then again, I also haven’t heard anything from him in a while. I’m guessing this was why.

“Thanks, Marta.”

Marta nodded and went back to standing guard outside