She found Rominger ignoring his soup, staring down at a datapad with an expression she could only register as distressed. Normally Duros faces held no expression, at lease none she could ever decipher. But not only was Rominger distressed, Kaeko even thought, from the tragic downward tilt of the corners of his red eyes, that he seemed sad.

"Rominger?" she said.

"I can't believe this," he said. "I can't believe what's happened."

Kaeko sat, folding her arms on the table. The butler droid set her soup course down next to her elbow. She leaned toward him. His mouth tightened; his eyes looked a little less sad.

"I am informed one of my accounts has been completely cleaned out. Four million Republic daitaries. I have had my bank looking into this, and who do I find responsible? Baylis."

Kaeko leaned closer. "Your brother?"

"My brother. I was aware he was unhappy that our father disinherited him, but this …" Rominger stared down at the datapad.

Kaeko waited.

"This is unprecedented," he said finally. He didn't look up.

Kaeko did not know what to say. "I'm sorry," sounded so trite. So perfunctory.

"It's as if …" said Rominger. "I feel as if I am under attack."

Kaeko found her tongue. "He doesn't need to do this," she said. "He is on the Directorate in his own right. He is not poor."

Rominger stared into his soup course as if it were endlessly fascinating. "No, he isn't."

The truth struck Kaeko suddenly. "He is angry," she said. "He believes your father loved you and not him. He retaliates through you."

"It isn't even true," said Rominger. "Our stepmother. This was her doing. All inheritance was left to her. This is her revenge, not our father's. Yet Baylis steals my freighters, he hijacks other ships to cover himself, and he steals my money." Kaeko clasped her hands on the table.

Finally he looked up at her. "Kaeko, I find myself at a loss here."

Kaeko committed the unpardonable sin of placing her elbows on the table, propping her chin on her interlaced fingers. She could not talk about breaking the engagement tonight. She took a moment, pondering what she could say.

At last the words rose to her lips. "But what can you do, Rominger? What can you do? You cannot make him stop. And what he's taken this time is but a small pail compared to what you have inherited."

Two red eyes found hers and held them.

"He is angry. And it makes some bit of sense. You accepted his father's choice and what happened between your parents. He doesn't want to let it go."

At last Rominger said, "I cannot make him."

Kaeko said, "No, you cannot. But you could make it worse."

Rominger stared back into his soup. At last he said, "He must stop the hijackings. They are hurting innocent people."

"But that's for the Republic judiciaries. Even the Trade Federation's droid armies. Perhaps you could request Jedi assistance."

Rominger looked up at her again. "I had no idea I had selected a wife so wise."

Kaeko slid her chair back and got up, and rounded the table to where he sat. "Is this a Duros kiss?" she queried, and laid her hands on his shoulders. She bent to nibble his cheek.

"Yes, it is," he said.

Kaeko lifted her hands and walked back to resume her seat.

After a moment, Rominger Ascaris reached across the table and offered her his hand.

After a moment, Kaeko took it.