The best of the best. Wasn't that what he wanted?

"Thame is a great Knight," Lorian continued. "I'd think you'd want to be worthy of him. If I had a Master, I'd prepare as much as I could before we left the Temple. I wouldn't want to disappoint him."

"I won't disappoint him if I do my best," Dooku said. "That is all I can do."

Lorian threw himself back on Thame's sleep couch with a groan. "Now you sound like Yoda."

"Don't sit there!" Dooku hissed, but Lorian ignored him.

Lorian stared at the ceiling. `No one has chosen me."

Dooku held his breath. Here it was, the big thing between them. He had been chosen by a Jedi Knight, and Lorian had not. Dooku had been one of the first to be chosen. Every day afterward, the two boys had waited for a Jedi Knight to choose Lorian. They knew that many had watched him, and some had considered him seriously. Yet each time, the Knight had chosen someone else. Neither Dooku nor Lorian knew why.

Dooku had always been ahead of Lorian in battle skills and Force connection, but Lorian was just as brilliant in his studies and commitment. It was unthinkable that Lorian would not be chosen eventually.

"It will happen," Dooku said. "Patience exists to be tested."

Lorian flipped over on his side and gave Dooku a flat stare. "Right."

Dooku wished he could take back his words. They were so… correct.

They were something a Jedi Master might say, not a best friend. But the truth was that he didn't know what to say. The period of waiting was hard, but everything would turn out all right.

Lorian coiled his body into a ball and then shot off the bed. "Okay, make a decision. Do we access the Sith Holocron or not?"

Dooku reached over to straighten the wrinkles Lorian had made on his new Master's bed. Thame was everything he'd hoped to get as a Master.

He couldn't jeopardize that. Not even for his best friend.

"Not," he said. "We'd get in serious trouble if we got caught."

"You never worried about getting caught before," Lorian said.

That's because I never had so much to lose. But Dooku couldn't say that. If he did, it would only point out that Lorian didn't have a Master.

Dooku felt Lorian's eyes on his back as he bent to smooth the coverlet at the end of Thame's sleep couch.

"If you could do it without the risk of getting caught, you would do it," Lorian said. "So the fact that it's wrong isn't really the reason you won't. Maybe you're not the true Jedi you think you are."

He sauntered out the door. "Just wanted you to know that I noticed."

Now that Dooku was through with his official Temple training, he was allowed to structure his days himself. Although he was expected to continue to study and devote himself to battle training and physical discipline, it was also expected that he would allot the time for activities he enjoyed. In the brief period between a Padawan's last official classes and becoming an apprentice, the Jedi Masters indulged their students and gave them freedom to roam.

Dooku woke early. His conversation with Lorian the day before still troubled him. He decided to head to the Room of the Thousand Fountains to stroll among the greenery and let the music of the water calm his mind. It felt luxurious to be able to decide how to spend his time. He knew such days would be over soon, and he intended to enjoy every second of them. He wouldn't allow a small disagreement with his friend to ruin them, either.

He stepped out into the hallway and immediately noticed a change.

Dooku sometimes wasn't sure whether the Force or his intuition was working — he wasn't that experienced yet. But he knew that the atmosphere in the Temple had changed. There was a humming current underneath the calm, an agitation he could pick up easily.

Ahead of him, a few students stood in a cluster. Dooku approached them. He recognized Hran Beling, a fellow student his age. Hran was a Vicon, a small species only one meter tall.

He didn't have to ask the students what they were discussing. Hran looked up at him, his long nose twitching. "Have you heard the news?

The Sith Holocron has been stolen!"

Dooku was naturally pale, but he felt his blood drain from his face, and he was sure he looked as white as a medic's gown. "What? How?"

"No one knows how," Hran said. "There could be an intruder at the Temple."

One of the younger students lowered his voice to a whisper. "What if it's a Sith?"

Hran's eyes twinkled. "Yes, what if it is?" he asked solemnly. "He could be walking the halls. He could be anywhere. What if he's behind you right now?" Hran gasped and pointed behind the young student, who jumped in alarm, his Padawan braid flying.

The others burst into nervous laughter. Dooku didn't join them. His heart thumping, he turned away.

There had been no intruder. He was sure of it.

Dooku hurried to Lorian's quarters. The privacy light was on over Lorian's door, but he accessed it anyway. The door was locked.

Dooku pressed his mouth against the seam of the door. "Let me in, Lorian."

There was no answer.

"Let me in or I'll go straight to the Jedi Council room," Dooku threatened.

He heard the smooth click as the lock disengaged, and the door slid open. The room was dark, the shade drawn against the rising sun. He stepped inside and the door hissed shut behind him. All was dark except for the hologram of Caravan, a model star cruiser Lorian had designed. It traveled the room in an endless loop.

Lorian sat in a corner, as if he were trying to press himself against the wall hard enough to melt inside it. His hands dangled between his knees, and Dooku saw that they were shaking.

"You took it."

"I didn't mean to," Lorian said. "I just wanted to look at it."

"Where is it?"

Lorian pointed to the far corner with his chin. "Do you feel it?" he whispered. "I feel so sick.. "

"Why did you take it?" Dooku asked sharply, his gaunt features making him look older than his years. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He could feel the dark power of the Holocron. He didn't want to look at it. Just knowing it was behind him in a dark corner was enough to make him feel shaky.

"I was in the archives. I had it in my hands. Someone was coming. I put it underneath my cloak. Then I ran." Lorian shuddered. "I was going to take it back, but I can't.. I can't touch it again, Dooku.