"Probably because they've failed to do what they intended to do, are too embarrassed to face you and admit it, and have already left Ansion to report their failure to their aged superiors."

Everyone else turned to look in the speaker's direction. Tun Dameerd, another delegate, responded. "Unlike the rest of us, you are not a chosen representative of the Ansionian populace, Ogomoor, and are here only as an invited guest. It's not your place to comment on these ongoing negotiations."

"What negotiations?" Blithely ignoring the admonition, Ogomoor set his drink aside and spread his long, three- fingered hands wide. "These Jedi came here and asked you to delay your vote on the matter of secession so that they might strike a bargain with the Alwari enabling everyone on Ansion to live within the suffocating strictures of the Republic. You graciously consented to give them this chance."

He turned a slow circle, presenting himself to each of them in turn. "What has been the result? More delay, more obfusca- tion, more of what the Republic has given Ansion for decades. If that isn't proof enough that it's time for a real change, I don't know what is." Feigning indifference, he picked up his glass again. "Of course, as you say, I'm only here as an observer. But I do know that there are many who eagerly await the outcome of your eventual vote. A positive outcome."

"Your bossban, for example?" Volune eyed the majordomo sarcastically.

Ogomoor was not upset. "Naturally, Soergg looks forward to the day when he and his kind can conduct business in this part of the galaxy openly and without being crushed beneath the onerous burden of outdated Republic rules and regulations."

"I didn't know a Hutt could bend," Dameerd quipped. Mild laughter rose from the delegates-but not from all of them, Ogomoor noted. He and his bossban had allies here.

"You can joke," Kandah observed icily, "but my family's commerce and the businesses of those who supported my elec tion to this position have suffered mightily under the Republic's sluggishness and indifference. I say it's time we moved forward! We've delayed long enough. Call for the vote!"

Fargane raised his own glass. "Kandah is right. I flatter myself that I might live long enough to see it."

Volune's lips tightened and he shook his head. "I agree that the Republic has lost its way. I agree that our pleas for relief from oppressive laws and taxes are too often ignored. But the Senate has responded to our complaints." He looked around at his fellow delegates. "Do you not all agree that if the Jedi can make this peace between the Unity of towns and cities and the Alwari that Ansion will be better off under the laws of the Republic than outside them?"

The discussion that followed was heated, and short. Once again it was Kandah who spoke up. "Of course we are agreed on that." She ignored the look of surprise on Ogomoor's face. "If we were not, we would have gone ahead and taken the vote the same day the Jedi arrived. But we have no peace with the Alwari. We have no agreement. And with each day that passes, our assurances of support from the Malarians and the Keitumites that they will follow our lead diminishes. It is critical that this matter be decided."

Into the silence that followed, Volune offered a compromise. "We cannot vote today in any case. The proper procedures are not in place. I am willing, albeit reluctantly, as the chosen representative of my constituency, to set a date on which the vote to secede or not to secede shall be taken." He looked at the Ansion-ian on his right. "Will this satisfy the venerable Fargane?"

The eldest Ansionian present paused, then gestured affirma tively. "It will."

Volune turned back to the others. "Then let us settle on a date and a time, and not deviate from that. If the Jedi return before then, we will hear them out. If they do not, then we will go ahead and take the vote, and they will have only themselves to blame for their lack of a timely response."

The proposal was too reasonable for even Tolut to object to, and the Armalat found himself making the suggestion unani mous. For his part, Ogomoor knew that Bossban Soergg and his supporters would be well pleased. The date chosen was not as soon as might have been wished, but neither was it uncon scionably far in the future. Tolut might be a problem, but the Ar-malat's vote could be ignored. Following today's gathering, Ogomoor would be able to report back that, besides Kandah, Fargane and at least one other delegate would be likely to vote in favor of withdrawal from the Republic. The votes of the others were not yet a certainty. The transposition of certain large sums of credits to untraceable banking accounts might yet have to take place prior to the formal vote in order to ensure that Ansion opted for secession.

In the interim, he and his bossban had little else to worry about. Because to all intents and purposes, the Qulun Baiuntu was doing his work very well indeed.

Morning saw the group of fast-moving travelers slow as Kyakhta rejoined them. The guide had ridden on slightly ahead. Now he returned at a gallop, visibly excited, bulging eyes aglow.

"Found them!" he announced proudly as he turned his suubatar. He extended his artificial arm to point. "Just over the next rise."

"At last," Luminara murmured. "You're certain it's the Borokii?"

The Alwari gestured emphatically. "No mistaking it, Master Luminara. They are in full ceremonial camp, pennants flying. The overclan Borokii, most influential of all the Alwari clans."

In truth, it was a more impressive sight than any of them had expected. Having been exposed to the nomad encampments of the Yiwa and the Qulun, the travelers believed they had some idea of what to expect. Neither of those previous encounters prepared them for what greeted their eyes as their suubatars topped the crest of the low ridge.

Spread out before them were not dozens of recently unfolded and erected portable structures, but hundreds. Several boasting sophisticated energy arrays for the generation of power must have required dozens of draft animals to pull them, Luminara reflected. Thousands of Borokii of all ages milled about within the vast, elaborate camp. Beyond, uncountable thousands of herd animals grazed peacefully within perimeters patrolled by sadain-mounted handlers. The din of their passive moaning and mewling, a kind of rising urrr noise, dominated the sounds of the camp. Here, just as they had been told, resided the supreme power of the Alwari. Where the Borokii led, the rest of the Alwari would follow.

"Surepp," Bulgan explained in response to her query con cerning the herd. "Males are the blue ones with the darker neck ruffs and coiled antlers, females are green and slightly larger but without the ruffs."

Sitting up straight in her saddle, she let her gaze rove over the impressive panorama. "I've never seen an animal with three

eyes lined up vertically like that, instead of in the usual horizontal position."