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“And what part is that?”

“I know which of those three things I want that I’m willing to give up first,” she said. “The moment we begin to think about staying in power before we think of anything else, we betray the Rebellion. That’s the heart of what we were rebelling against.”

“It was, at the end, the only idea Palpatine stood for,” Mon Mothma agreed.

Leia turned and looked back at her mentor. “But I still don’t know how to choose between the other two.”

“I think you do,” said Mon Mothma. “What you don’t know is how to live with the choice. And there I can be of no help to you. That secret escaped you when the clarity left you.”

“When did that happen?” Leia asked, returning to sit on the edge of the stool at Mon Mothma’s feet. “I didn’t see it go—did you? Never before in my life have I struggled with decisions, or with accepting their consequences. It’s been so strange, watching myself from the inside, wondering why this woman was speaking for me.”

“Your clarity came from your certainty that our cause was just and our purpose worthy,” Mon Mothma said. “But there is little certainty of that kind to be had in a place like the Senate, in a city like Imperial City. Certainty is eaten away by the thousand and one compromises that are the currency of democracy. Causes fall victim to the building of consensus. Accountability becomes so diffused that it vanishes, and agreement becomes so rare that it startles.”

“I would have said that I understood that—that none of that was a surprise.”

“Understanding it and dealing with it every day are separate problems,” Mon Mothma said. “You have always drawn your map with straight lines, Leia, and in that respect, you were ill prepared for the arcane cartography of the Senate.” She smiled gently, fondly. “You are welcome to blame me for that—privately or publicly.”

Leia shook her head. “There’s no need for such talk. You have nothing to apologize for.” She stood and glanced over her shoulder toward the door. “I have to be going. I don’t want to leave the children alone for too long.”

Mon Mothma rose to her feet as well. “There is something your father told me a long time ago, when I was new to Coruscant and its ways were a mystery. It was valuable to me—perhaps you will find something in it as well. He said, do not expect to be applauded when you do the right thing, and do not expect to be forgiven when you err. But even your enemies will respect commitment—and a conscience at peace is worth more than a thousand tainted victories.”

By the time the recitation was over, Leia’s eyes had misted. “That sounds like Bail, all right.”

Mon Mothma gathered the younger woman into a fond, comforting embrace that lasted fully half a minute. “Draw a straight line, Leia,” she whispered as they separated. “You will see where it leads.”

* * *

It was still an hour before the Senate was to dissolve into the New Republic Assembly to consider the petition of recall against Leia, and the session itself promised to last many hours under a rule of unrestricted debate. But both the media and public levels of the Senate gallery were already filled, and the corridors outside were choked with the overflow.

Some of those crowding the public areas held a color-coded gallery pass for a later three-hour block. Others had managed to wangle only a site pass and a place in one of the overflow auditoriums. With demand exceeding supply, the going price for a gallery pass had already topped ten thousand credits—if you could find someone willing to sell.

And despite the efforts of Palace security to discourage it, there was a brisk and animated swap meet under way among those already holding passes, driven by a series of contradictory rumors about when key events might take place—most especially when Leia would appear at the podium. Session Three passes, covering the period from seven to ten that evening, were presently commanding a three-thousand-credit premium over Session Two and a five-thousand-credit premium over Four and later.