Waiting in the rotunda were twelve very solemn Jedi Masters. None of them even hinted at a smile. Some were openly frowning. Obi-Wan Kenobi looked both disappointed and concerned. Others, like Ki-Adi Mundi and Yoda, were utterly unreadable.

Luke had said he liked Yoda. While the shriveled green elf was a hard taskmaster in the classes he taught and his backwards-speak was sometimes hard to understand, Yoda had also proven he had a good sense of humor. Leia found him the most intimidating of the Council members and preferred the company of Obi-Wan. Something told her she did not have a sympathetic audience.

Leia's stomach churned as she moved to stand in the center of the elaborately-tiled floor and gave the Council a respectful bow. "You sent for me, Masters?"

Mace Windu's multiplying wrinkles added to his serious countenance as he nodded. "Yes we have, Leia Skywalker."

Yoda nodded gravely. "Told us, Master Calon did, of your sparring session yesterday."

Leia bowed her head in shame. They certainly weren't wasting any time in getting to the point.

Plo Koon, his clawed fingers typically steepled, regarded Leia with patience. "Would you care to explain what happened in your own words, young Leia?"

Leia turned to the quiet Kel Dor with knit brows. "With respect, Master Plo, why do you need to hear it from me? Master Calon already told you."

Ki-Adi Mundi tilted his cone-shaped head to one side. "True enough, young Leia, but for a fair judgment, more than one perspective is needed."

Plo Koon nodded. "Explain, Leia. The ears of the Council are open."

For a long moment Leia was tempted to stretch the truth...to say that hurting Derik had been an accident...but that would have been pointless. Yoda and perhaps others had the ability to sense when someone was lying. Perjury before the High Council would only serve to lower their opinion of Leia, and perhaps worsen her sentence.

And she didn't want to lie to Obi-Wan. He was her father's best friend. So, taking a deep breath, Leia began. "We were sparring tournament-style. In the semifinals I was paired with Derik Andress."

"One whom you dislike?" asked Mace with pursed lips.

"Yes, Master. He makes a game of teasing my brother and I," blurted Leia. It was something of a relief to finally be able to tell someone about Derik's faults.

"He did so during your spar?"

"He was toying with me, Master, as he always does when we are paired together. He takes pleasure in inflicting pain on my brother and I."

Yoda and Obi-Wan exchanged troubled looks. Apparently this was the first they had heard of Derik's antics. "Know this, do you?"

Leia flinched. "Well...yes, master. I can see it in his eyes."

The diminutive green being leaned forward to rest his chin on his gimer stick. "Mm. Collaborate, others can?"

Here the girl grimaced. "I'm...not sure, Master Yoda. I don't know that others have noticed."

Mace frowned and leaned back into his seat with something of an impatient sigh. "Continue."

Leia moistened her lips. "Derik outclassed me from the beginning. He could have ended the spar at any time. I got impatient and wanted to end the spar...so I used my anger to attack him."

Mace didn't look surprised. Rather he exchanged knowing glances with his fellow Council members. "Go on."

The gazes of elders seemed to intensify. Leia squirmed at both her feelings and the intense scrutiny. "Derik knocked me over. I kicked him in the knee and then slashed at his eye with the training lightsaber." When nothing else was said, the girl squirmed. "I know I was wrong, Masters."

Yoda frowned at the girl. "Mmm. Retreated, young Andress had?"

Leia nodded. "Yes, Master."

"And yet you attacked him anyway?" questioned Mace.

"Yes, Master," admitted Leia. She had been trying not to think of Derik's retreat. It made her actions seem all the more brutal. "I was just so...angry."

"You could have landed a Mark of Contact elsewhere and ended the spar there," pointed out Obi-Wan.

Leia could only shrug. Just landing a Mark of contact hadn't been her goal. She had wanted to hurt Derik. But how could she admit that to the High Council?

Mace shook his head in disappointment. "First rendering your opponent incapable of escape and then burning his eye was unnecessary. But that is not the main issue here." The dark-skinned Jedi leaned forward to look Leia in the eye. "For a moment, you tapped into the Dark Side. Is this true?"

At the moment Leia would have given anything just to crawl into a hole. She had to nod. "Yes, Master."

Yoda gave Leia a hard look. "A serious infraction, this is, young Leia. Taught you have been since infancy of the dangers of the Dark Side. Have you not?"

Again Leia nodded. "Yes, Master Yoda. I know the dangers of the Dark Side."

The green Grand Master pursed his lips. "Told, you have been. But listened well enough, you have not."

Leia flinched at the accusation. "But Master, I didn't mean to use the Dark Side. It wasn't a choice. One moment I was in control, and the next...I wasn't." She found her eyes stinging. "I'm truly sorry."

Yoda tapped his cane on the floor. "Mmm. Yes. Control! Taught this, you have been. If understand you do not, then perhaps...not properly taught, were you?"

Mace nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps allowing Skywalker to oversee the training of his children was a mistake," the man mused quietly.

Heat flooded Leia's cheeks. "No!" When the twelve Council members turned to her sharply, she shrank back and cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Forgive me. But the fault is not with my father."

No one looked very surprised that the girl had so quickly defended her father.

"Young, you are, Leia Skywalker," Yoda pointed out. "Know you better than this Council, do you?" he asked with lifted eyebrows.

"No, Master Yoda. I'm only saying that my father, Anakin Skywalker, has not been deficient in training my brother and I. He is not to blame for my failure," pleaded the girl. Even if she got into trouble, the last thing Leia wanted was for her father to share in it.

Ki-Adi turned to Leia with interest. "What, then, have you learned from your father? What would you say has been his most important lesson?"

Leia straightened her spine. "My Father has taught my brother and I that being a Jedi does not make you any better than anyone else. Having the Force does not give you permission to use it for your own ends. It gives you the responsibility to make the galaxy better for everyone."

Several Council members, such as Aayla Secura and Kit Fisto, exchanged surprised looks. Others simply nodded.

Mace gave another nod. "Valuable lessons. Unfortunately it seems as though you still have much to learn in regards to using the Force selfishly."

They're right. Leia nodded as humbly as she could. "Yes, Master. I have no excuse." Here she turned about to meet the eyes of every member of the Council. "For my failure in the sparring arena, I can only apologize and promise that it won't happen again. Whatever judgment the Council wishes to pass, I'll accept without argument." The girl crossed her hands behind her back and bowed her head to wait. Perhaps they thought her too dramatic, or too impulsive, or...I don't care what they think of me, as long as they don't send me away. Please don't separate me from my father and brother! It was this, not the idea of no longer being a Jedi, that troubled Leia most. She did want to be a Jedi...but that was mostly to please her father and learn how to control her abilities. There were times when the Force frightened her.

A long moment of silence passed in the Council chambers. All twelve Jedi Masters looked at each other with thoughtful expressions, perhaps exchanging thoughts over what her fate should be. They could sense Leia's impatience.

After what seemed like nearly half an hour, Yoda peered at the young student. "Wish you to become Jedi, young Leia?"

Leia lifted her head with a nod. "Yes, Master. I want to be a Jedi more than anything."

The green gnome tilted his head toward her with raised brows. "Mm. Strong you are with the Force, young Leia. But turn you must from anger, from fear, from aggression. The Dark Side, are they. Once you start down the dark path, consume you, it will."

Obi-Wan nodded gravely. "The Dark Side only leads to suffering, both yours and those around you."

A chill danced down Leia's spine. She suppressed a shudder and managed another nod. "I understand, Master."

Mace lifted his brows. "I hope you do. Are you willing to make the commitment needed to remain in the light and become a Jedi?"

"Yes, Master."

"Then I believe our decision is made."

Leia listened intently, trying not to show how nervous she was. Were they still going to expel her? Send her to the Agri-Corps?

Mace turned to his left and right before taking a deep breath and leaning back in his chair to meet Leia's eyes. "Leia Skywalker. You have demonstrated a disturbing lack of control in the injuring of a fellow student, and the brief touch of the Dark Side. However," he added, lifting his brows, "you have also shown understanding in both your error and an acceptance of correction. Therefore, it is the decision of this Council that, in order to learn better control of your emotions, you remain in the Jedi Order and continue your training."

Leia's head snapped back up, her eyes widening in surprise. They're letting me stay? Gratitude so great that it nearly weakened Leia's knees flooded her. She let out the breath she had been holding. "Thank you, Masters."

Yoda pursed his green lips. "But consequences, there will be, for your actions." He nodded to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan leaned forward, hands on knees. "Leia, you are not to attend lightsaber training classes for the next two weeks. During that class period you are to volunteer your services in the Temple Infirmary and assist the Healers. Until such time as he is released, your primary focus shall be on Derik Andress."

Leia fought back the grimace in thinking of that unpleasant task. No doubt Derik would milk his injury for all it was worth. She nodded in response. "Understood, Master Kenobi."

Yoda shifted his weight back into his cushioned seat and seemed to relax. "Entrusted you are, young Leia, to continue to learn and grow in the Force. Wait outside, your family does?" he asked with a touch of humor.

For a moment Leia was surprised, then scolded herself for it. She could still sense Anakin and Luke waiting outside. Master Yoda was said to have the ability to sense all Jedi across the galaxy if he so wished. When one was injured, he knew. When one died, he grieved. He had trained them all and remembered them all. Sensing two outside the door was as simple as blinking. "Y-yes, Master."

Yoda nodded toward the door. "Go to them, then. Dismissed you are. And tell your father and brother that we wish also to speak with them."

He's going to let Luke take the Initiate Trials early, thought Leia wistfully. She bowed to the Council. "Understood, Master Yoda. I'll tell them."

"May the Force be with you."

:=v=: :=v=: :=v=:

Luke and Anakin were just as surprised to hear that the Council wanted to see them as Leia had been to hear she was allowed to stay in the Jedi Order. Luke was left in suspense over what the Council had decided to do with Leia and threw a wistful glance over his shoulder as the doors slid shut.

For lack of further instructions- and out of curiosity -Leia waited outside the Council chambers for Luke and Anakin to emerge. As the minutes ticked by she tried to meditate without much success. Her mind kept wandering as to why both father and brother had been summoned. Should she have gone in with them? Neither Yoda nor anyone else had said one way or the other.

Just as Leia had dropped into a cross-legged meditation position and closed her eyes, the doors slid open to reveal a stunned Anakin and a widely-grinning Luke.

Thinking her suppositions had been proved right, Leia forced a smile for them. "What did they say?"

"Dad's going to train us!" blurted Luke ecstatically. "Not just as Younglings; we're going to be his apprentices...both of us!"

"What?" Leia took a step back as her jaw hung open. "I thought it was forbidden for one master to train more than one apprentice at a time."

"I thought so, too," admitted Anakin. Apparently he was just as shocked as his children.

"Can you imagine, Leia? We get to explore the galaxy with Dad!" Luke laughed for sheer joy.

"Don't get too excited, now. This is only on a trial basis. You're still going to have to take the Initiate Trials when the time comes," said Anakin with a quick smile. He turned to Leia. "And we're not going anywhere until Leia's restriction is up."

"They told you?" Leia asked with a sigh.

"Yes. I think it's very fair." Anakin smoothed over his expression with another smile. "Well, we have a little time before your next class. How about we call your mother and tell her? Maybe that will keep you from bouncing off the walls in Conditioning."

Luke chuckled as his father rumpled his hair and stuck close as they headed down the turbolift.

Leia's feelings were still mixed. She was happy to have her father as a Master and thankful for the Council's mercy in deciding her punishment, but as Master Yoda said, the future was always in motion. They would be watching her and her family closer than ever now. Leia could only hope to live up to the expectations.