One

In a turbine-hall gala tied to an imminent peace conference, Diziet Sma works the room, managing dignitaries, staff, and pets. Seeking quiet, she meets composer Relstoch Sussepin in the arboretum and initiates a flirtatious exchange, planning a slow courtship while considering commissioning him.

The drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw interrupts, informing Sma she must leave immediately for Special Circumstances business. The crisis: the Voerenhutz cluster’s forty-year peace is collapsing. Only Cheradenine Zakalwe can convince former president Tsoldrin Beychae—now in retirement on a subtly hostile world—to return and stabilize politics. Memories and relationships mean only the real Zakalwe and Sma will do; trickery or proxies would fail.

Skaffen-Amtiskaw outlines contingencies: nebula fleet assets will remain last-resort; Sma’s public role at the conference will be covered by a Mind-controlled stand-in, while the very fast picket Xenophobe will carry her to collect Zakalwe, then on to the cluster. Sma bristles at the timing and the stand-in’s intimacy boundaries, but agrees, setting strict instructions.

Sma reenters the party, rapidly delegates tasks, makes media arrangements, and tends to her hralzs, promising care in her absence. Later, in her apartments, she updates the stand-in via a scan, then invites Sussepin to stay. Aware of her impending long absence, she proposes a one-night affair; he consents, and they retire together.