Qui-Gon entered the Council room. It was the highest room in one of the Temple towers, taking up the entire top story. Outside the windows that ran from floor to ceiling, the spires and towers of Coruscant hovered below. The sun was just rising, brushing the clouds with orange fire.

Qui-Gon stood in the center of the room, bowed respectfully, and waited. How would they begin? Would Mace Windu, whose dark eyes could burn through you like hot coals, demand his reason for leaving a thirteen-year-old boy in the middle of a war? Would Saesee Tiin murmur that Qui-Gon's actions had always come from an impulsive but giving heart? He had been called before the Council more than most Knights. He could guess at what each would say.

Yoda began the meeting. "Call you here on a matter of grave importance we have. Secret it is. A series of thefts we have discovered."

Qui-Gon was startled. He had not been prepared for this. "Here at the Temple?"

Yoda nodded. "Sorry I am to report such a thing. Taken are things that do not have monetary value. Yet serious the thefts are. Against the Jedi Code, they are."

"Does the Council believe that a student is responsible?" Qui-Gon asked, frowning. Such a thing was unheard of at the Temple.

"This we do not know," Yoda replied.

"If it is not, then some outside force has invaded the Temple. Either possibility is intolerable," Mace Windu put in. "And both must be investigated." He knit his long, elegant fingers together. "That is why we've called you here, Qui-Gon. We need to investigate discreetly. We don't want to alarm the youngest students, or tip off the thief. We'd like you to take charge of the investigation."

"Work with Tahl, you will," Yoda added. "True it is that she cannot see. But remarkable are her powers."