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Nash Windrider from Alderaan. And my father makes carpets. Impressed yet?”
    “Very.” Thane realized he’d started to smile. “Mine does slightly dishonest accounting.”
    “Always handy,” Nash said. “You never know when you’re going to need to cook the books. Come in and get comfortable—as comfortable as you can be on the lower bunk,
that is. We grabbed the two best bunks already.”
    Nash turned out to have traveled to more than a dozen worlds already and had visitedCoruscant several times. He didn’t even ask Thane whether he’d been intimidated at first; he
assumed as much and swore everybody felt that way the first time they landed on the planet.
    “They should pass out inhalers at the spaceports,” Nash said as they hung out, sprawled on their beds to await the welcoming ceremony and dinner that night. “Or tranquilizers.
Something to help people deal.”

    “I don’t see what’s so strange about Coruscant.” Ved remained completely stiff but overall didn’t seem so bad. “Have you really never been to a real city
before? Or any other Core World at all?”
    Already Thane knew honesty would serve him best. “Nope.” He stretched out on the bunk beneath Ved’s, trying to get used to the hard mattress. “Never even been to a city
bigger than Valentiaback home, and I’m guessing the entire population of Valentia would fill about—seven levels of this one building.”
    Nash rested his hands beneath his head. “You’ll get used to it, Thane. Soon we’ll all be Imperial officers and you’ll have traveled to a hundred worlds, and when you go
home you’ll be as jaded as Mr. General’s Son here.”
    Ved gave Nash a dirty look, but Thane couldn’t helplaughing.
    Ciena had trusted she’d like her new roommates and enjoy the reception, but so far the afternoon was exceeding even her best expectations. She stood in front of the
mirror, astonished to see herself in the cadet’s uniform. Black boots, dark trousers, dark jacket—it was like a vision out of a dream.
    “I hate these boots,” said her roommate Kendy Idele, who scowled down at hersfrom where she stood nearby. “Then again, I hate shoes, period. When you grow up on a tropical
world, you love barefoot best.”
    “You’ll soon be accustomed to them,” promised their third roomie, Jude Edivon. She was as tall as Kendy was short, as pale as Kendy and Ciena were dark. “Bare feet might
be great on Iloh, but on Coruscant? Your feet would quickly become dirty. Plus the likelihoodof scrapes, small cuts, and potential infection would be high—not that hygiene levels
aren’t good here, but the sheer size of the populace suggests—”
    “Are you going to start quoting statistics again?” Kendy groaned.
    “It’s okay to be a science geek,” Ciena said. “Quote as many statistics as you like, Jude. Kendy and I will get used to it eventually.”
    Jude’s lightly freckled face litup with a smile. “Our personalities seem to be compatible. I think you and I will get along very well.”
    “We will, too,” Kendy promised. “Ignore my being grumpy. I’m just space-lagged and tired, and trying to get the hang of these damned braids.”
    Ciena had been wearing her hair pinned back in tight braids for years, ever since she’d learned that this was mandatory for all long-haired cadets.“Here, let me.”
Kendy’s dark green hair was straight and silky—totally unlike Ciena’s tight curls—but she figured a braid was a braid. “Did you really never practice fixing
it?”
    “Not even once. I thought it would be easy!” Kendy sighed. “Thanks for this, by the way.”
    “No problem.”
    Jude leaned closer. “You could simply cut your hair short, as I have. That provides optimal efficiency.”

    Kendy made a face. “On Iloh, only little children wear their hair short. Growing it long means you’re really an adult. No way am I sawing it off now.”
    “You’ll get the hang of the braids soon,” Ciena promised.