“I doubt it,” Zistalmu said sourly. “I’ve talked with her once or twice since her promotion, and she’s very intent on upholding her new nonfamily status.”

“Then we focus on Thrawn,” Thurfian said. “And, perhaps, some of his less highly placed allies.”

“You’d know more about that than I would,” Zistalmu said. “Very well. We’ll watch, and wait, and see.” He looked around. “And of course, we’ll speak of this to no one.”

“Absolutely,” Thurfian said. “Thank you, Aristocra. Hopefully, we’ll never be called upon to act. But if we are…?”

“Then we act.” Zistalmu gestured around the corridor. “I trust you noted the irony of our discussion, given the March of Silence’s reputed history.”

“I did,” Thurfian said. “We’ll speak again, Aristocra.”

“Indeed we will.” With a nod, Zistalmu turned and walked away in the direction of his office.

And as Thurfian turned in the other direction, a belated thought occurred to him. The March’s history spoke of some of the Aristocra being dealt with for crimes occasionally as dark as treason. The question was whether Thrawn would be the object of any such future charge, or whether it would be Thurfian and Zistalmu.

Only time would tell.

Chapter Nineteen

Thrawn and Che’ri were gone for nearly five weeks, and with each day that passed Thalias felt her soul die a little more. She should have been out there with them, she knew, facing the same dangers they were facing. The fact that her Trials gambit had thrown Thurfian off the scent didn’t really count as being useful to their mission.

The Patriarch’s command to watch over Thrawn just added that much extra knife twist to her sense of guilt.

She therefore felt a huge sense of relief when Ar’alani finally called to inform her that the scout ship had entered the Csilla system, that it was staying away from the capital itself for the moment, and that a shuttle was on its way to bring Thalias to the Vigilant.

It turned out that the travelers’ quiet and unannounced return was only the first of the surprises.

“This could change everything,” Ar’alani said.

Thalias nodded, thoughts and possibilities spinning through her mind as she gazed at her questis and the details of the Republic energy shield Thrawn and Che’ri had brought back with them. In a quiet spot in the back of her mind, she found extra amazement in the fact that Thrawn and Ar’alani trusted her enough to share their secret.

But then, Che’ri knew everything, too, and sky-walkers and their caregivers spent a lot of time together. The two officers had probably decided that Thalias might as well hear the whole story up front rather than getting it in dribs and drabs from a nine-year-old.