Part of her wanted to take heed to Yerbol’s comfort, but she knew she couldn’t cry forever (and perhaps another part of it was simply the fact that she had cried so much since Yerbol had peeled off to help Neta that her eyes were scratchy and dry and she simply had no more tears to cry). She didn’t feel much like laughing, either, but her friend’s recollection of his childhood pets elicited an amused giggle from Aria. “You named your dog ‘Potato’? Poor guy.” her gaze returned to the two tomb beasts who seemed to have made themselves quite at home around the duo, Aria shifting uncomfortably under the weight of the second who had apparently gone to sleep in her lap. “They aren’t so bad once you get used to them.” she nodded in agreement. “They’re just...very large, stinky, lapdogs I guess. That happen to have a fondness for tearing things to pieces.” her nose wrinkled slightly at the general sticky and unkempt appearance of the two canines. Baths were DEFINITELY in order, she agreed. Aria dropped her head to rest against his shoulder briefly, not noticing the odor in light of their current company (and she probably smelt just as bad, having spent nearly forty eight hours in the same clothes they had returned to the planet in and not moving except to seek out her companions. Glancing down at the Tuk’ata again, she shrugged.
“Alright, you can stay. But the FIRST thing you’re getting used to is baths. And letting me brush your teeth. I’m not wandering around with dogs that smell worse than a Rancor’s back end.” 
Its ears twitched and it snorted (or sneezed, she wasn’t sure), blinking at the pair in confusion. 
“Buh-ruhsh?” Understandably, it had probably never seen a toothbrush in its life and had no idea what the word meant. Aria tried not to laugh too hard. 
“Yes, brush.” Oh, this would be entertaining. She almost shut her eyes and nodded off then and there (forty eight hours with no sleep would do that to anyone, too), had it not been for Reggie’s sudden scramble to attention and the surge of activity within the command center again. 
Aria’s lap guest was abruptly evicted (with many a snort of protest), Aria letting out a long-suffering groan of her own. “Do we HAVE to go...can’t we just stay here and sleep…?” 

But no, Saresh wanted to see them personally, apparently. She didn’t understand the apparent joke between Yerbol and Bex, but the Knight’s promise of an idea of awesome proportions gave her enough motivation to haul herself to her feet and follow him into the meeting with the remaining Alliance figurehead. Their self-imposed guardians were banished to wait outside of the room, couldn’t have them terrifying Saresh and her diplomats any further after all (“Stay. You understand ‘stay’, right?” They had reiterated the word back at her and thumped their backsides onto the floor. She took that as a ‘yes’.). 
______________________________

Aria was immensely grateful for the presence of chairs, and that they would be sitting down for the exchange, immediately collapsing back into one. Voldon and Matt joined the duo, Ailel not far behind them and Vano trailing in shortly after the final Jedi Master, in Cheriss’ place (who was still confined to the medbay, though the medical personnel on duty reassured them that despite her comatose state, the Dathomirian’s vital signs were stabilizing gradually). Jungze was also unharmed, though so exhausted from her combined effort to control the weather patterns in their favor that she and the younglings were confined to bed rest until they had recovered more of their strength.

Aria stayed quiet for the most part and allowed the others to begin the negotiations instead, watching the Twi'lek woman through narrowed eyes as she recounted her agreements with Bracknell and the moment his behaviour had become so brazenly unreasonable that she had come to her senses. She only sat forward as Yerbol exploded into an angry tirade, extending a hand to place it on his arm as Voldon abruptly intervened and offered Saresh another apology. Frowning at her friend in concern, Aria mouthed ‘are you okay?’, patting his arm gently to convey the best form of comfort she could in that situation. Even Voldon looked tired, and older if that were even possible, his eyes slightly sunken from lack of sleep. She remembered the news about Kira that had reached them as they had rejoined the rest of the group and could understand why. 
“Took you long enough, didn't it?” Vano snorted impatiently in the silence that had settled after the outburst, hands on her hips. “You could have stopped this all, could have done SOMETHING, but you just SAT there and let them nearly wipe us off the face of the galaxy!” 
“You'll forgive our reluctance to just welcome you back with open arms, Chancellor.” Ailel cut in. “But you and your associates tried to kill us and caused the deaths of some of our friends and family members; you'll understand if a simple acknowledgement of your errors is, on its own, inadequate.” 

“So you're going to quarantine us to specific neighborhoods like disease-ridden refugees?” Aria gawked at the Chancellor in disbelief. “How does that put us in ANY better of a situation?”
“It’s for your own protection.” Saresh insisted, her lekku twitching uncomfortably though she maintained her calm demeanor. “While I have withdrawn all Alliance military forces and ordered a complete halt to Bracknell's execution orders there are many governments across many worlds who still view Force users as a blight on the galaxy.”
“Whose fault is THAT?” Saresh ignored the sarcastic comment from Vano and continued: “There is a strong concern that they may attempt to continue what Bracknell and Soto started. It's safer to keep you and your friends here on Zinuthra, and start slowly integrating you back into populations on non-hostile worlds until our delegates can collectively diffuse the tension this war has caused.”
“Take the diplomats back with you.” Ailel suggested after some careful thought. “The ones who defected and joined us, let them address the Senate and give testimonies to validate our innocence.”
“It would be a solid start.” Saresh agreed. “I already have contacts reaching out to settlements on Coruscant, Dantooine and Taris, to start setting up safe zones. If you have Force users who are well enough, and willing, we can arrange safe convoys to provide protective escorts for them and to help them get settled in.” 
The promise of resources to help them recover went down well. Better food and medical supplies were sorely needed by the surviving resistance members, and after some more careful exchanges there were even promises of other doctors who could be sent to give assistance to the feeble gathering they had managed to amass from their supporters (there was concern for the condition of Cheriss and some other soldiers who had been fatally wounded, specialist intervention might be needed to ensure they got the best care they possibly could and maximised their chance of recovery).

Before they were dismissed, Aria recalled one more important point of concern, taking advantage of Voldon’s offer to stand and face Saresh. 
“We keep Soto.” she murmured, determined to stand firm on that fact. “She has to be held responsible for the things she did.”
“Aria.” Ailel began to protest. “I know you're angry about what happened but you can't take that out on Soto-”
“Soto was just as much an instigator as Bracknell, she made the decision to go along with the plans, to help him put them in place. This has nothing to do with personal revenge. Lock her up in prison for all I care, but if they let her go who’s to say she won't join up with these hostile governments and try to rally them again, finish what Bracknell started?”
She let that question sink in, feeling herself teeter unsteadily as another wave of exhaustion hit her, grabbing onto the back of the chair she had risen out of. “Now if that's all, I'd like to go and rest while you hash out the boring political jargon with the diplomats.”

Some sleep and a change of clothes would do her a world of good, and then maybe she'd be in a respectable enough state to actually partake in this idea that Yerbol was so excited about...