virgin of the rocks

braiding, and her severity was not without cause—for she was the elected leader ofthe Rebel Alliance. Like Leia's adopted father—like Palpatine the Emperor himself—Mon Mothmahad been a senior senator of the Republic, a member of the High Council. When theRepublic had begun to crumble, Mon Mothma had remained a senator until the end,organizing dissent, stabilizing the increasingly ineffectual government. She had organized cells, too, toward the end. Pockets of resistance, each ofwhich was unaware of the identity of the others—each of which was responsible forinciting revolt against the Empire when it finally made itself manifest. There had been other leaders, but many were killed when the Empire's firstDeath Star annihilated the planet Alderaan. Leia's adopted father died in thatcalamity. Mon Mothma went underground. She joined her political cells with the