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“That’s it? She gets up there and lies—”

“My dear.” Eramuth’s hand shot over and squeezed Tahiri’s leg so hard Leia could see the muscle flexing in the old Bothan’s shoulders. “I have just established that Lieutenant Pagorski could not have heard everything that passed between you and Captain Solo. Isn’t that enough for one day?”

Leia saw Tahiri’s shoulders sag at the same time she heard Han groan.

“Colonel,” Tahiri whispered.

Eramuth frowned. “What?”

“Jacen was Colonel Solo,” Tahiri explained. “Not Captain.”

Eramuth’s ears dropped. “Didn’t I say Colonel?”

Before Tahiri could respond, Judge Zudan’s sharp voice demanded, “Are you done with the witness, Counselor?”

Eramuth motioned for Tahiri to be silent, then rose. “I’m sorry, Your Honor, I was consulting with my client.”

“I asked if you were finished with the witness, Counselor,” Zudan repeated. “You didn’t dismiss her.”

“I’m done with her for now, Your Honor,” Eramuth said. “But I’d like to reserve the right to recall her at a later time.”

Zudan nodded as though that was a wise idea. “I’m sure you would. The witness is excused with instructions to remain available in the waiting room.” The Falleen turned just long enough to see Pagorski acknowledge the order with a nod, then looked back toward the defense table and motioned Eramuth and Dekkon forward. “I’d like counsel to approach the bench, please.”

Tahiri took one glance at the frowning jury and let her head drop, but Eramuth simply patted her on the shoulder, grabbed his cane, and strolled toward the bench. He was barely gone before his client turned and motioned to Leia and Han. As they huddled together, Leia thought the young woman looked confused and worried, and more frightened than anytime since the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

“What do you think?” Tahiri whispered. “Is he too old to take this?”

“Hey, don’t underestimate the old guy,” Han said. “We’ve got tricks you’ve never even heard about.”

Tahiri gave him a disapproving scowl. “Do you really think this is a trick?”

Leia frowned, thinking, then finally shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “There were a lot of opportunities to discredit Pagorski’s testimony—maybe even have it completely stricken—and Eramuth didn’t take them.”

“Yeah, but Dekkon’s a smart guy,” Han pointed out. “If Eramuth wants to trap him, it’s got to look convincing.”

“Convincing, not foolish,” Tahiri said. “Unless his strategy is to make the jury feel sorry for me, I have no idea what he’s doing.”

“And you don’t want to just trust him?” Han asked. It was an honest question, not an argument, and that suggested to Leia that even Han was having doubts. “You’ve been pretty happy with him until now.”

Tahiri thought for a moment, then nodded. “I know,” she said. “But this is my life … and Eramuth’s, too, if the strain is more than he can handle.”

Leia fell silent for a moment, trying to think but really just worrying … imagining how it would feel to lose this last link to her two sons, to the shining star that had been Anakin and to the all-destroying vortex that Jacen had become. Tahiri had loved her youngest son and gone to war with him, had watched him die and lent him her strength so that he would know he was not dying alone in a distant place. Then Jacen had taken that love and twisted it to serve his own dark needs, and somehow she had survived and returned to them again, not quite whole, yet stronger than ever and ready to answer for her misjudgment. If Leia lost her, she would be losing so much more than the woman who had been a close friend to both her sons in their last hours—she feared she would lose what remained of her sons themselves.

Still pretending to think, Leia took a couple of moments to compose herself, then turned to Han. “Eramuth is taking on a lot by himself,” she said. “Dekkon has a whole team of assistants sitting at his table. It might not hurt to get Eramuth some help.”

“Yeah.” Han turned to Tahiri. “We could talk to Tendra Calrissian and see if she knows someone who can take that second chair—maybe the third and fourth ones, too.”