And with a second jolt she finally recognized the old man facing her. “You’re Mitth’oor’akiord,” she breathed. “You’re the Patriarch.”

“Very good,” Thooraki said. “You paid attention to the row of simulatings along the grand hallway. Impressive.” He shrugged. “Sadly, that level of observation skill has nothing to do with the Trials, or you’d have just earned yourself extra points.”

“Thank you, Your Venerante,” Thalias said. “But honestly, I don’t think you’re the type to be dazzled by mere numbers.”

“Very good, my dear Thalias,” the Patriarch said, his smile broadening. “Indeed not. I search for quality and cleverness.” He cocked his head slightly. “Speaking of which, I was called away as you were starting the water-channel challenge and haven’t had a chance to review the recordings. Would you be so good as to enlighten me as to your solution?”

“It wasn’t that hard,” Thalias said. “The channel’s only about a meter deep, so I took two boards, placed their ends together in the middle of the channel, then pushed one board to the opposite side and lowered the other to my side. With the two of them angled up against the channel’s edges, I laid another board horizontally across them.”

“I don’t believe that would quite clear the water,” the Patriarch pointed out.

“No, Your Venerante, it didn’t,” Thalias agreed. “So I added two more angled boards, these set into the center of the horizontal, and placed one final horizontal across them.”

“Very nice,” the Patriarch said. “I remember one Trial-born who began as you did, but then simply laid more boards across the first horizontal until the stack was above the water level.”

Thalias felt her lip twitch. Focused on angles and engineering, that solution hadn’t even occurred to her.

“Equally effective, but not nearly as elegant,” the Patriarch added. “I’ve always liked elegance, and your records during your sky-walker years suggested you were of that frame of mind. Indeed, that was why I made the decision to bring you in.”

“You brought me into the Mitth? You yourself?”

“Why not?” he said. “Watching over the family also means watching for those who will make the family stronger.”

“I’m honored,” Thalias said, feeling a sudden stifling sense of her own shortcomings and inadequacies. “I can only hope I’ll someday be able to live up to your trust in me.”

“Someday?” He gave another snort. “Really, child. You’ve already repaid my trust many times over. Even now you stand guard between my greatest achievement and those determined to destroy him.”

“I don’t understand—” She broke off. “You mean…Thrawn?”

The Patriarch nodded. “Another whom I personally chose to join us.”

“Really,” Thalias said, frowning. “I thought it was General Ba’kif who pointed the Mitth to him.”