"It's all about familiarity," Luke agreed soberly. "No matter how unpleasant or dreary a place might have become, it's always hard to give up something you've become so used to."
Jinzler nodded, remembering back to his childhood. "Coruscant.
"Tatooine," Luke said.
"The Empire," Mara added guietly.
Maris said. Her forehead wrinkled slightly. “Thrawn did stop his attack, didn’t he?”
Car’das felt his stomach tighten. Maris had been a shipmate, someone he’d spent half a year living and working and fighting alongside. More than that, he considered her a friend. He’d never lied to a friend before. Did he really want to start now? And with a lie as terrible as this one? And then, Thrawn’s voice seemed to float up from his memory. There are all too few idealists in this universe... The truth wouldn’t help the dead of Outbound Flight. All it could do was hurt Maris. “Of course he stopped Stratis’s attack,” he assured her with all the false heartiness he could create. “I was right there when Outbound Flight flew away.”
“There are all too few idealists in this universe, Car’das. Too few people who strive always to see only the good in others. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for crushing even one of them.”
“No warrior ever has the full depth of control that he would like,” Mitth’raw’nuruodo said, his voice calmer but still troubled. “But I wish here that it might have been otherwise.”
“Do not beg!” the Miskara snapped. “Grubs beg. Inferiors beg. Not
beings who would speak and bargain with the Vagaari. If you wish us to help you and your companions, you must find more to offer me.”