"I'm not a Sith!" said the young padawan, staring defiantly at the Jedi council with cool, steel blue eyes. "My heart is with the Jedi. Can't you all sense that?"

"Helene, you are a padawan. Don't tell us what we can sense," said Joon-Li, an elder member of the council.

Luke Skywalker, sporting a greying beard, studied Helene's face, which bore a striking resemblance to the old holographic images of the young Count Dooku, former padawan of the great Jedi Master Yoda. Helene's angular features and flowing blonde hair made her a stunning, eighteen-year-old padawan, but her hardness and determination broke to the surface at critcal moments. "She could be a danger to us, certainly," he said. "I agree with you all about that."

"Master Jedi Skywalker, your father was a Sith Lord and an even bigger threat to the Jedi than my grandfather ever was," Helene said. "I never even knew my grandfather. And my father never spoke of him. I know nothing of the Sith."

Joon-Li once again led the attack. "I remember your grandfather. I was a child when the clone wars raged, and I lived through the Jedi purge. Dooku's cohort was Emperor Palpatine, the biggest Sith menace of all. Master Luke's father might have been a Sith Lord, but it was Master Luke who ultimately defeated the Sith, rescued his father from their evil hold, and restored the Jedi order. What, my dear, have you done?"

Luke put his hand up to silence Joon-Li. "Let's not lose sight of the issue before us. We have not given Helene any opportunity to shine as of yet. I beg the council to consider that Helene has already been trained in the Jedi arts by Jedi Master Lucilius the Hut. The council may have been ignorant of her lineage, but you did already approve her training. If we deny her a place in the order, she might become an even more likely threat to us. Where else has she to go?"

The council fell silent and regarded their leader. They all respected Master Luke, but their fears of another battle with the dark side plagued their minds. All too recently, they had lost a young Jedi to the dark side, and that rogue Jedi remained at large.

"She is right," Luke continued. "We can sense her loyalty. I do not find the dark side in her." Luke beamed at her.

She returned the smile. "Thank you, Master Jedi."

But the Jedi counsel was not convinced. They voted to deny Helene from the trials and to discontinue her training. Only Luke and one other council member voted in favor of Helene.