Helene found Lucilius light sabre laying against the wall opposite the door, at the foot of a slash that had cut through the sandstone walls all the way into the next room. Lucilius had been a powerful Jedi.

"It doesn't make sense," her voice nearly broke as she put the weapon into his outstretched hand. She closed his eyes peacefully and wiped a tear from her own, though her hand was trembling as she did so. She clenched it tightly around one of her masters fingers, doing her best to remember all he had taught her. A Jedi could not afford to let her mind be clouded with emotions. She must stay in control of herself if she hoped to control the force. But looking down at Lucilius - so peaceful - she couldn't help but feel it was all right to be weak sometimes.

"Why would he risk this? Sith or not, no Jedi is a fool." Helene had found some cloth to wrap the child's body in. There must be a family looking for this young one. The only family Helene had ever known lay in a heap a few feet away. She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. She was trying to focus on dealing with this situation, but she kept coming back to the sight of Lucilius crumpled against the back wall. "To attack three Jedi on his own? Especially when the least of us had just defeated him."

"The least of us?" Juno raised an eyebrow in admonition. He tightened the bandage on his arm that had soaked through with blood. "Do not speak so lightly of yourself, Helene. You have more potential than a dozen Jedi."

Helene let out a snort that turned into a sob. "I can't even keep control of my own emotions. No wonder they wouldn't let me take the trials."

"Even Jedi are wise to fear a power they cannot control. You are ready for the trials whether or not the council can see it."

"Then it makes even less sense for him to have come back to face all three of us. Who was this girl that he'd take such a risk?"

Juno raised an eyebrow - the other this time. "The girl?"

"He was either after you or the girl - and you were out cold when I got back, so if you were his target he would have finished the job. How could he have overcome the both of you?" She looked down again at her master, and the scorch marks he'd cut in the back wall - facing inward. She drew her light sabre and turned on Juno.

He regarded her with a raised eyebrow and a smile that touched only half his face. "I have no wish to fight you, Helene. Especially in my condition." Juno pointed at the bandaged gash on his arm and shrugged with a self-indulgent smirk.

"All of Lucilius' attacks face away from the door. He was fighting someone who was already inside."

One side of Juno's face curled even farther up - into a macabre grimace that barely seemed possible. "Very astute, Helene. I was right about your potential."

"Potential for what?"

"Power, Helene! Leadership! You can be a gear in a great machine that will bring true order to this universe, not merely speak and debate such things like those fools in the Council!"

Helene began a circle to her right, her cyan light sabre held defensively in front of her. This was an opponent she could not afford to take lightly, and a premature attack could be fatal. "You wish to rival the Jedi Council? What are you proposing, a new Empire?"

Juno threw his head back and laughed. "Those pompous fools? The Empire ruled with shackles and an iron fist. They squeezed so tightly that revolt was inevitable. For millenia true powers have ruled with whispers and a shadowed hand. I am but a finger on one of those hands. I offer you the chance to become one as well."

"Never!!" Helene screamed. She had worked her way around to Juno's left side - the side Lucilius had wounded before... She had to push that image from her head if she wished to stay focused on this fight. Calling on the force, she lunged at Juno.