Thalias hesitated. Most of her time aboard the Vigilant had been spent with Che’ri or on the bridge. Who did she know well enough to entrust with such a responsibility?

Especially since it needed to be someone of stature and respect if the girl wasn’t going to see this as Thalias handing her off to the first person she ran into along the corridor.

Really, there was only one person who fit both criteria.

“Yes,” she hedged. “May I think about it a little longer?”

“Of course,” Ar’alani said. “Che’ri should be finished with this run in half an hour. I want you on the bridge at that time with your recommendation.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“I’ll see you then. Ar’alani out.”

Thrawn keyed off. “Do you know who you’ll ask to take care of her?” he asked as Thalias headed toward the hatch.

“Yes,” she said over her shoulder. “But I’m not sure the admiral will approve.”

The admiral, Ar’alani thought sourly, very much didn’t approve.

But she’d agreed that Thalias could choose Che’ri’s caregiver, and she was bound by personal honor to follow through on that promise.

Besides which, Thalias’s arguments and reasoning made sense.

Che’ri was curled up in one of the oversized chairs, right where Ar’alani had left her, when the signal and Thrawn’s instructions finally arrived from the surface. “I’m back,” she announced cheerfully as she crossed the suite toward the girl. “Did you get some sleep? Are you hungry?”

“I’m okay,” Che’ri said, her voice soft and weary.

Ar’alani frowned, studying the girl’s face. When she was Che’ri’s age, she remembered a tendency to go all dramatic when she wanted something, or felt she was being treated unfairly, or just felt like getting some attention. But there was something in Che’ri’s expression that told her none of those were the case here. “Are you upset that Thalias left you?”

Che’ri’s lip twitched, enough to show that Ar’alani had hit the mark. “She said she had to go,” she muttered. “She wouldn’t tell me why.”

Ar’alani nodded. “Yes, that always drove me crazy, too.”

Che’ri looked up, frowning. “You were a sky-walker?”

“No, but I was once ten,” Ar’alani said. “Grown-ups were always whispering and keeping secrets. I hated that. But sometimes it’s necessary.”

Che’ri lowered her gaze. “She’s going into danger, isn’t she? Captain Thrawn’s taking her, and they’re going into danger.”

“Oh, there’s danger everywhere,” Ar’alani said, trying to sound casual. “It’s not a big deal.”