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“People find what they look for,” said Ackbar. “Look to their motives, not their words.”

“Tuomi says that his motive is justice,” Leia said with a shrug. “Alderaan is a nation of refugees, sixty thousand people with no territory except for our embassies here and on Bonadan. Tuomi represents five inhabited planets and nearly a billion citizens. Why should Alderaan rule Bosch, he asks.”

“But you do not lead us for Alderaan. You lead us for the New Republic.”

“In which Alderaan is a member only due to misguided pity, according to Tuomi.”

“Tuomi is an ignorant fingerling,” Ackbar said with sharp contempt. “Alderaan’s membership is neither a courtesy nor a violation of the Charter. The New Republic is an alliance of peoples, not planets.”

Leia nodded an acknowledgment. “Something often forgotten, even here.”

“Then I will presume to remind you that the structure of the New Republic was crafted to avoid dominance by the most populous worlds—to prevent what Kerrithrarr called a tyranny of fecundity,” Ackbar said.

Leia laughed tersely, tossing her hair. “I remember that argument.”

“Perhaps you remember another quote I am fond of,” Ackbar said. “ ‘Today, we become a galactic family—a family of the great and the small, the young and the old, with honor to all and favor to none.’ ”

Leia recognized the words from her own Restoration Day address. “That’s cheating.”

“I trust you still believe what you said then.”

“Of course I do.”

“Then it does not matter if Alderaan now means sixty thousand, or six hundred, or six.”

“No,” agreed Leia. “The exact number matters only to the assessors and accountants. Our claim to membership is valid, and just, and moral—regardless.”

“I am glad to hear you say that,” Ackbar said, and dug into a large flap pocket in his belt. “I have brought something here for your endorsement.” He unfolded a single sheet of pale blue document vellum and handed it to her. “That is an emergency petition for membership for Polneye, offered by its representative on Coruscant.”

Leia eyed Ackbar questioningly as she circled the table toward the window. “I think I’ve been manipulated.”

“This claim, too, is valid, and just, and moral—regardless.”

“Is there any reason at all to think that anyone else on Polneye survived the Yevethan assault?”

“There is no evidence either way,” said Ackbar. “Why does it matter?”

“If Plat Mallar wants to sit in the Senate—”

“Plat Mallar wants to sit in the cockpit of a fighter. The Senate seat for Polneye will remain vacant, unless other survivors are found—as a reminder.”

“I see your handprints all over this, Ackbar.”

“I am trying to help the boy,” Ackbar admitted. “But he has his own mind.”

“Let me ask a different question,” Leia said. “Have you made him aware of the offer from Jobath of Galantos, for sanctuary and membership in the Fia?”

“Plat has spoken with Jobath.”

“And?”

“In the days after Alderaan was destroyed, how would you have looked on an invitation to become a citizen of Lafra or Ithor?”

Leia placed the vellum on the table and bowed her head, pressing her palms together and touching her fingertips to her mouth. “I’m being roundly criticized already for the applications I approved when I came back.”

“If that’s so, then one more can hardly make any difference,” said Ackbar. “But it will make all the difference in the world to the Polneya. And I must add this—for whatever it may be worth to you, I was proud of you for what you did.”

Frowning, Leia leaned forward and rested her hands on either side of the document as she studied it intently. “You know,” she said slowly, “I felt pretty good about it, too.” She keyed her comlink with the remote. “Alole—bring me an endorsement tablet, please. Admiral Ackbar has called my attention to an application that was overlooked.”

Belezaboth Ourn, extraordinary consul of the Paqwepori, paced restlessly in the sleeping chamber of his cottage in the diplomatic hostel.

For the tenth time, he checked to see that the tiny blind box the