An Unlikely Bridge

"The launch was no longer divided into Bernard's in-group and Ender's outcasts. Alai was the bridge." (Card 62)

Alai was an unexpected "bridge" for Ender to find and use to unite the launch group. Although Alai was the one who stopped the fighting between the two groups, I thought Ender was very mature when he recognized the importance of becoming friends with Alai and worked to build the friendship. Had Ender just avoided Alai and refused to become friends with him because of the feud, the two groups wouldn't have bonded together. It made it easy for others to follow Alai's example of making friends with Ender because he was talented in the Battle Room and most of the boys respected him. He also became a greate neutralizing force for Bernard because even though Bernard would get jealous of Alai's successes and popularity, he couldn't deny the fact that he was friends with him. Ender found a way  to fix his problem through a very unlikely solution. The fact that he worked to form and gain an unlikely resource to gain his enemies over is probably just another step in his journey to become a great leader.