"The Sith represent half of the balance," Luke said. Given his family history, the idea of the balance of light and darkness, the role the Sith played in the galaxy and amongst the Jedi themselves often entered into his thoughts. It was even more prominent now, in the aftermath of what had happened with his nephew.

"But their very nature," he continued, "Disrupts the balance, and in truth nature doesn't exist in perfect equilibrium. Even night and day aren't always the same length. Perspective may have a bearing on how you view good and evil, light and dark, but it doesn't change that the darkness consumes and twists those who touch it."

Perhaps that was what had happened with Jacen, Luke thought. On his five-year sojourn through the galaxy, learning the ways of the Force from other races who had learned its secrets, perhaps he had tapped the darkness within himself that had put his feet on the path that Lumiya had only widened and smoothed for him. They could never know; Jacen was dead, and his path was perhaps long cold.

"This is what we teach Jedi younglings when they are brought to us," he said. "Light will always triumph over darkness in the end."