Prologue:

Eight hundred years did not necessarily always confer wisdom on any creature, but it did confer respect. After all, few beings in the universe could claim to have that long or distinguished of a lifespan, and yet Yoda himself frequently brought it up. Especially in the face of the impudent young ones who often felt it wise to argue with their Masters. Not that Yoda ever meant anything from this, pride was an emotion that a Jedi could not dwell on, but the respect it implied did quell the querulous indignant nature of youth.

However, in these dark moments, alone in the Jedi Temple, staring out over the glittering jewel of Coruscant, Yoda wished for the wisdom many believed age conferred. Through many generations of Jedi he had sat, and watched, and listened. And now, in these dark times, nothing in his many centuries of existence could prepare him for the storm he knew would be coming soon. Even his vision was clouded, lost in the streams of the Force like a leaf upon a turbulent wind. The more he tried to grasp at it, the more that the darkness clouded his ways.

"Too old," he murmured, "too old am I, yes." He hated to admit it. His body was no less limber, his mind no less sharp, but his awareness…yes, that was the problem.

"Deep thoughts, my Master," Mace Windu's deep, dark voice sounded from across the sitting room, his dark, ebony face cloaked by the hood he had drawn around it.

"Deep thoughts, I have, yes," Yoda acceded, "dark times they do accompany, Master Windu." Yoda turned to face the taller human. He watched his old pupil, who made his own thoughtful steps towards the window overlooking the capital planet.

"I wondered if you had felt it," Master Windu continued, watching the steady stream of air speeders passing by the Jedi Temple. "It's been growing, that dark feeling. There is one who is growing in power and strength. Soon, they'll make their move."

"Most effective have they been at clouding out vision of them. What, now thirteen years we have been searching?" Yoda knew that it had been only since the death of Qui-Gon Jin that they had ever known outright of the return of the Sith Lords from the mythology of the Jedi's history. But for much longer had their power been growing. He had known, and he had missed it.

The elder Master could easily feel Windu's unease, "Troubled too you be, Master Windu?" Yoda knew what it concerned. He merely waited for his old student's response.

"The Chancellor's growth has me worried." Windu was perhaps one of the strongest advocates of the traditional Republic in the entire Jedi Council. But it was Mace Windu's eye that had been watching matters in the Chancellor's office and in the Republican Senate. "If he refused to revoke his emergency powers when word reaches us from Master Kenobi…"

"Then confront him we must," Yoda nodded his graying, green head in ascent. "He will not go easily. There is more about Chancellor Palapatine than we know. Hides it well, he does, in the manner of all untrustworthy men before."

Windu turned and looked down on Yoda, his face troubled. "He's not the only one in there I worry about."

"Young Skywalker, yes, trouble me as well he has." Yoda turned from the window then, shaking his head. As much as his worry over Anakin Skywalker was, the misplaced distrust of Mace Windu was equally worrisome to him. And yet, to this point, he had said nothing, thinking that the elder Jedi's hesitance to embrace Anakin and his powers was a careful balance to the boy's own ambition. But now…

"I don't trust him, Master Yoda," Mace repeated for what Yoda thought was perhaps the millionth time. Patiently Yoda sighed. Mace continued. "I know you feel I'm being unreasonable, but, there's something about him, something about his arrogance, his drive, his ambition. It's not right, Master, it's not our way."

"And yet, the boy's heart is in the right place," Yoda pointed out with a twitch of one of his long, green ears. "He knows our Code as well as other Knights, he knows our duty,"

"And yet he is still wishing for things that aren't our way," Windu insisted, pulling down his hood, allowing the light from the window to gleam on the dark skin of his bald head. "He wishes for prestige, power, to be…"

"Something more that a slave boy from Tatooine, he does wish," Yoda placidly looked up, seeing the consternation and confusion on the other man's face. "Yes, young Skywalker displays much that we do not condone, but…I wonder…" Yoda looked away, a thought striking him through the Force, a bit of insight that had suddenly burst on him, as a ray of light from behind a darkened cloud.

"Too long have we been set in our ways, Master Windu." Yoda continued faintly, his mind leaping in thought, ideas tumbling one over the other.

"Their still our ways, Master Yoda, should we change them for one, headstrong boy merely because he refuses to conform?" Windu insisted.

"No, change our ways to please him, we must not. Perhaps that is not why we must change our ways." Yoda nodded to himself. Yes, he realized this new train of thought needed more time, more careful consideration.

"Speak with you more I will when I return. Off to help the Wookie am I, and inform you of outcome will I. Keep me up to date on the mission of Master Kenobi." Yoda nodded his head at his former pupil as a means of goodbye, and made his way through the Temple, to the carrier meant to take him to the battlefront.

Yes, young Skywalker had much he had to learn, patience, self-control, and most of all letting go. But there was something he knew, something he understood about the Force that Yoda felt that was missing. He recalled the ancient prophecy, the one Qui-Gon Jin was convinced fit this young slave boy from an Outer Rim world, and remember what it said.

"Balance to the Force," Yoda murmured. Yes, perhaps Skywalker would do that, and in a way that none, not even the venerable Jedi Master could suspect.