In a subtle bit of choreography arranged by the protocol attaches for both sides, Princess Leia Organa Solo, president of the New Republic, and Nil Spaar, viceroy of the Duskhan League, entered the Grand Hall from opposite sides at exactly the same moment.
Leia’s strides were measured and steady. She had spent the time alone in meditation, opening her connection to the Force and drawing on its deep, powerful currents, allowing the flow to cleanse and refresh her body and mind. Doing so meant surrendering a bit of her pride, just as drinking naris-bud tea would have-an admission that she needed a crutch. But it left her more ready to face the responsibility in front of her.
Nil Spaar matched her pace, stride for stride. He was not an imposing figure, no taller than Leia, perhaps even a touch shorter without his thick-soled, block-heeled
boots. His
eyes were
strikingly
human, distracting Leia at first from the high ruff of bony armor at the back of his neck and the bold streaks of facial color that disappeared under the soft swirl of fabric he wore on his head. Nil Spaar’s gaze was open and friendly, his smile disarming.
The Yevethan was dressed as he had been on the streets in all the surveillance recordings Leia had seen in a close-fitting, long-sleeved tunic with tan shoulders and a brown body, darker narrow-legged pants that tucked into his boots, and beige gloves that disappeared up the sleeves of his tunic. There was no sign of jewelry or insignia save for the pin that held his head wrap in place. There were no signifiers of rank or station, as she might expect on a uniform or ceremonial garment.
By unspoken agreement, each of them stopped when the other was a long stride out of arm’s reach.
“Viceroy, ” Leia said, and bowed.
“Princess Leia, ” Nil Spaar said, bowing in turn. “I am so pleased to be here with you. This is how it should be. You, the head of a confederacy of worlds, strong, proud, proslerous-me, the head of a confederacy of worlds, strong, proud, prosperous. You have welcomed me as an equal, and I welcome you in the same fashion. “
“Thank you, Viceroy. Would you like to sit? ” Leia said, gesturing toward the two chairs, each with a small side table, that rested in the middle of the room facing each other.
“By all means, ” Nil Spaar said. His chair, provided and set up by his majordomo, was an S of open wire mesh. On the table beside it were two black cylinders with feeding tubes. “We should be able to sit down with each other and talk honestly, as statesmen and patriots. You yourself fought in the great rebellion against that black beast, Palpatine, did you not? “
“I got my knees and elbows dirty a few times, ” Leia said. “But many others did far more than I.”
“Such practiced modesty! But, here again, we can hardly help but understand each other, ” said Nil Spaar. “I had my own small part to play in reclaiming Koornacht from the pestilent minions of the Emperor. So we both know what it means to take up arms in a cause to which we pledge our lives and honor. Indeed, as we sit here this moment, I warrant we are both still answering the call to duty which honor imposes on us-is that not so? “
Leia did not want to be led onto such personal ground. “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making sensible plans-or so I’ve heard, ” she said with a smile. “I do what I can to preserve that which I love. I don’t know that that makes me any different from most of the people I meet. “
“Ah, you are wiser than your years, ” said Nil Spaar. “But of course you know that it is what you love which makes you stand apart. Yourself, of course, and your children, and your mates-but beyond that, a circle of friends, a community of kin, and a collection of ideals. And so it is with me. How pleased I would be, if, here, away from interference and distraction, we should be able to forge an alliance which will benefit those we love. “
“That’s the entire purpose of the New Republic, ” Leia
said, sidestepping the word alliance as if it were quicksand. “I think that if you’ll speak to the leaders of some of the hundred worlds which have become members in the last twenty-eight days, you’ll hear that the benefits are substantial and immediate. “
“I do not doubt it, ” said Nil Spaar. “One need only look at the miracle of Coruscant. Was it not but half a dozen years ago that this world was ravaged by the clone Emperor himself? “
“Yes-“
“And now I find it rebuilt from its own ashes to a new glory that rivals the stories of old, ” Nil Spaar said, his tone admiring. “I have walked your city for hours on end, marveling at the industry of your people, the cleverness of your inventions, the grandness of your visions. Such proud edifices you erect out of hope and clay. Such bold dreams you build on the ruins of past failure. “