Lore rolled her eyes as Jedi Grand Master Yoda lectured her about controlling her anger. She wished she could leave, that someone would take her away from the Jedi. A smack on the head from the tiny Master's stick brought her back to reality. She sighed. Oh how she wanted to leave.

********

A large, callous hand covered her mouth, waking her.

"Be quiet and lay still," whispered a cultured baritone.

She obeyed.

"When I take my hand from your mouth, you will be silent, gather your things, and follow me. Understood?"

She nodded, fearing the man she could not see.

He took his hand away, and she did as he had told her. He then led her from Yoda's quarters. In the light of the hall from the city outside, she could see he was tall, standing at 6' 4", dressed in dark, elegant clothes, and his face hidden by a hood on his cape.

He seemed to know where he was going, as he led through the temple and out to a landing platform, where a sleek ship awaited.

"Get on board," he ordered.

"And if I don't?"

She got her answer through a painful twisting of her arm.

"I will break your arm off."

She quickly boarded the ship, clutching her arm.

They took off and were soon in hyperspace.

Once the pain in her arm had faded, she turned on her kidnapper.

"Who are you?"

He looked at her and drew back his hood. She recognized him from the Lost Twenty. The man before her was Count Tyln Dooku, the twentieth Jedi Master to willingly renounce the Jedi Order.

"Count Dooku?"

"Ah, you've heard of me. I'm flattered, my dear."

She scowled at him.

"Why have you kidnapped me?"

"You don't belong among the Jedi, do you? Accused of murdering one of their own then held prisioner within the walls of the temple."

Lore knew this to be true.

"It might not have been so bad if I hadn't been stuck with Yoda."

"Master Yoda means well, my dear, I assure you of that. Of all the Jedi, I would be the one to know him best. He did, after all, raise me. He was like my father."

She was surprised at this.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be insulting him then."

"It's all right. I tend to throw an insult or two myself once in a while."

"Yet, he was still a father to you, and I respect that."

He smiled at her.

"Good. Now, if Master Yoda took you under his wing, then that means there's something truly special about you. I'm still trying to find what he saw in me all those years ago."

She giggled for a moment then caught herself.

"Sorry."

"It's quite all right. I tend to mock myself once in a while. It's a bad habit I've had since I was a child. Even Master Yoda couldn't train it out of me."

She smiled. Part of her liked him, but something still didn't feel right about him. She didn't know what it was and resolved to just wait and see.