A/N: Hey to all who have followed us, and to any new faces. During the past months, we've been editing stories that originated as online role-playing, situated in our alternative Star Wars universe – well, mainly the universe of Episode One, pretending that the tragedy of the Great Jedi Purge never happened! Ahem. This is the second story that focuses on Eeth and Raven. Again, re-reading and editing this is going to be fun. Okay, so we also cringe, laugh and can't believe some of the crazy ideas that we came up with :D
There are approximately twenty-five stories pre-written in this series, and this being number two means that we still have a lot of work to do, and we hope that you guys enjoy the ride with us.
And now for the housekeeping. We realise that our master characters, especially Eeth, will at times come across as harsh to some. To be honest, in Eeth's case that is because he was meant to be harsh. However, please keep in mind that this is a fictional universe in which teenagers with extraordinary, potentially lethal abilities are raised to do an incredibly hard, dangerous and responsible job. Their masters feel an obligation to keep them in line in order to protect them and others by various types of discipline, including corporal punishment, i.e., spanking with the hand and different implements. And sometimes, they will need to dispense with the cuddling and tell their charges to do their duty. These are teenagers, after all, not small children. There will always be times to offer comfort and moments of closeness between master and padawan, but they might sometimes have to wait. Plus, masters might have their own issues… which is certainly true for Eeth, as will become clear over time. His journey with Raven will be a learning experience for him as much as for his padawan. Fortunately for our padawans, our master characters have near-magical healing abilities at their disposal, allowing us to indulge our preference for strict discipline.
We realise that this might not be everybody's cup of tea. We assure you, though, that there's always character development and growth involved in our story arcs. If you like our stories (or if you don't like them), write us a review; we love to hear what you guys think. Okay, so here we go. Enjoy.
Raven bounced down the Temple corridor. She was in a particularly good mood today as her zoology teacher, Master Granzien, had informed the class that they would be going on a field trip to Mount Akemi the day after tomorrow. A message had been sent through to Eeth, along with the other masters of all the students in her class, and she hoped Eeth would let her go. The eleven-year-old had been Eeth's apprentice for a little over a month now, and despite a few firm words and a reminder swat here and there, she had been well-behaved since the fight with Rayan – Rayan, who was being kept under close supervision for the moment, with the Council exploring options for his future that did not involve weapons of any kind.
"Master?" Raven shouted to their common room while hanging up her cloak and sitting to pull off her boots. Her pack would be tossed into her bedroom next. It was a routine the padawan had gotten into after having been told off for throwing her boots off by the couch and leaving her stuff lying around the place.
"Hello padawan," Eeth replied, emerging from his room where he had been working and giving her a small smile. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yes! Have you checked the comm unit yet?" Raven didn't wait for him to reply before continuing. "We're going on a field trip!" Despite the fact that Eeth had taken her into Coruscant a few times since she had become his apprentice, Raven would still grab any and every excuse to broaden her horizons.
Indeed, Eeth had already read the comm message about the field trip – or rather, the series of field trips that would take place in the coming weeks to different non-urbanized planets in the sector – and he had no objections.
"I have, padawan," he said. "And I have already returned the consent form. After all, this is part of your education. Now come and help me prepare some sandwiches for lunch."
"You know," Raven started, completely ignoring his comments about her education. "Master Granzien says we might make the third marker, if we don't get stuck in traffic on the way out of Coruscant, that is." Mount Akemi played host to a variety of creatures. However, the walking did require a certain amount of fitness and dexterity, which was why it was not always covered in gawking tourists and remained reasonably unspoilt.
"Are you going to study zoology or is this about climbing mountains?" Eeth asked as he went to the kitchen, exhibiting an almost imperceptible amount of disapproval. "I hope these trips are not just random nature rambles into picturesque areas. This excursion should be meant to contribute to your education, rather than offering you entertainment."
"Force forbid such an atrocity dare take place," Raven replied, rolling her eyes as she turned to set the table for lunch.
"Indeed," said Eeth drily, taking a loaf of bread out of the bread box and starting to slice it.
"Anyway, the fact that it might be entertaining doesn't mean it won't be educational," Raven stated.
Eeth chose not to comment on that. She was probably right even if the notion of a class providing entertainment did not sit well with him.
Eeth's doubts did not deter Raven, and she ploughed on. "There are rumours that Master Granzien is an environmental activist, among other things. I even heard that as a padawan he chained himself to a tree during a mission to prevent the locals from cutting it down." She paused, contemplating. "I doubt his master would have been too happy about that."
"As a matter of fact, he was not," Eeth, who knew quite a bit about the man, commented.
This had Raven's attention. "Did you know Granzien when that happened to him?"
"Granzien is my age and took many of the same classes as I did," said Eeth rather curtly. He had never particularly liked Granzien whom he considered a fairly weak character and whose lax attitude towards the rules he had always resented. But he was definitely not going to inform Raven of his personal dislike of one of her teachers!
Raven looked surprised. "Were you friends?" From the few stories she had gleaned about his youth, Raven didn't imagine Eeth had many friends back then.
"Not friends exactly," Eeth said cautiously. "My master was friends with his master, though. Anyway, when he chained himself to that tree, it did not take long before the whole Temple knew about what happened on that mission. Granzien's actions caused a whole lot of political disruptions. He was young at the time; I do not think he would do it again." He thought it prudent to mention this; Raven had displayed a bit of admiration for that stunt, or so it seemed to him. He did not want to encourage such lack of discipline!
Raven did indeed find Granzien's efforts admirable, but she didn't say as much.
During lunch, she continued to talk to Eeth about Granzien — not that he was forthcoming about details on the man's youth — and Sunday's up and coming field trip. Once the dishes were done, their workout and her afternoon chores completed, Raven wandered into their common room where Eeth was seated at the terminal opposite their dining room table. She sidled up beside him, all sweetness and light. "Since it's Friday afternoon and all, do you think we can go into Coruscant?"
Eeth turned around to face her. "Was there anything in particular you want to see or do?" he inquired.
"Not really. Anything is better than staying at the Temple, though. Don't you think?" Raven couldn't comprehend that Eeth might just enjoy the peace that Temple life offered. To her, it was all about action, adventure, all the things that most padawans craved but knew better than to voice.
"No," said Eeth honestly. After his childhood in Nar Shaddaa, Temple life had seemed like positive bliss to him. He was not afraid of action and adventure but he did not remotely crave such things either.
"I just thought it would be fun. Fine then, be like that," Raven huffed, and stalked off to watch the holo.
Eeth looked after her in bewilderment, having no idea what had caused that reaction. Adolescence, he thought with an internal sigh. "No holo channel without asking for permission," he said automatically, turning it off with a wave of his hand, which caused Raven to glare at him.
"I did not say we could not go out," Eeth continued, unperturbed. "We can, in fact. I just thought you might have something specific in mind."
"No. I don't have anything specific in mind, and now I can't even watch the holo."
Eeth had not said that either but he was not going to allow her to sidetrack him into pointless debates. "What do you want to look at?" he merely asked patiently. "Parks? Shops? Street markets? The spaceport? The Senate? Traffic?"
"Yeah, traffic sounds like great fun. Where do I sign up?" Raven replied, sarcasm dripping from her words.
Using sarcasm was never a good idea with Eeth, though.
"Alright. We will stay home then," Eeth said calmly, turning back towards the terminal and continuing his reading.
Adults! Raven wanted to jump up and down but her stubbornness wouldn't allow such a thing.
Five minutes passed in which Raven continued silently brooding and beating up on their defenceless couch. She wanted to go out, but it would mean softening towards Eeth.
Eeth finally looked up again. "I will thank you to leave our couch intact, padawan," he said in a neutral voice. "What is it that has you so irritated?"
Raven stopped beating up the couch, but the look she levelled him with spoke volumes. She had thought it would have been obvious; he was infuriating her. "I want to go out and you're suggesting we watch the traffic. I want to watch holo, and you turn it off because I didn't ask! You're patronising me." The insecurities that Rayan had planted were growing.
Eeth raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I am not," he said. "I was asking you to specify what you wanted to look at so I could decide on where we might go. For some reason I do not quite understand, you felt offended by my question. You might not be aware of it, but a lot of people actually do like to watch the traffic. It is quite a sight, especially from above."
Raven huffed. "If you wanted me to be more precise, you could have just asked, instead of treating me like an idiot," the girl said tersely.
Eeth sighed. "I was not treating you like an idiot," he said.
"Could have fooled me."
Eeth's eyebrows rose even higher. "If I meant to treat you like an idiot, you would know it," he said. "It is hardly likely that I will, though. I do try to treat others with respect. Most of all my own padawan. I said nothing that could conceivably be construed as insulting or demeaning so I really do have no idea where your ideas come from. Now, do you want to go into the city or not?" He was becoming quite tired of the absurdity of this conversation.
At this point Raven's frown could not get much deeper. It was down to what she wanted more; informing her master how much of an ass he was, or going out into the city. Given that the former would undoubtedly end in a lesson on respect, Raven chose the latter. "I do, but I haven't been into the city much. In fact, I think I can count the amount of times on my hands. I can't give you coordinates."
"Alright then," Eeth said calmly, standing up. "We can go to Maktab Market. It is very popular on Friday nights, crowded, noisy and filled with all the species Coruscant has to offer. And not too far from the Temple either. As long as you do not mind 'a little dirty'?"
Raven was not entirely placated, but what was her alternative here? Continuing to argue would end up with her staying home. Thus: "No, dirt and I are on a first name basis. When can we go?" she questioned, getting to her feet and tossing the abused pillow aside.
"If you have no more homework than you can manage tomorrow afternoon," Eeth said, "we can go right now."
Raven jumped up from the couch at hearing this, her ire momentarily forgotten. "Nothing that I can't do tomorrow, promise!" Raven grabbed a tie and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail. Her hair was still not long enough to do much else with it, but she was planning on changing that. Now that Raven was a padawan, her hairstyle was up to her as long as it was not ridiculous and did not interfere with her training, Eeth had said.
Eeth nodded. "Very well. Let us go, then."
Five minutes later, they made their way to the Temple's speeder garage where Eeth picked a speeder and drove off.
"Which parts of Coruscant do you know?" he asked her while they were cruising down one of the large airlines.
Raven was far too busy looking around at the buildings zooming by below her to give an immediate response. She couldn't believe how much went on outside the Temple. In the short time they had travelled, she had already seen four separate cases of enforcement speeders in pursuit, and if she didn't know better, she would have sworn she had seen someone leap right out of a perfectly good speeder. "Um, I don't know many. I've been to the theatre and the Corella stadium with my crèche twice," she told him, and then she was suddenly engrossed in some commotion going on below and lost her train of thought.
The edges of Eeth's mouth twitched. "Obviously watching the traffic is not as boring as some people might think," he remarked.
"Well, maybe not the traffic as such, master, but the weirdos controlling them are certainly worth a look," Raven replied, disinclined to restart this debate with him.
As she had the last time, Raven watched Eeth like a hawk as he piloted. The instrument panel seemed slightly different from the ones used for Temple sims, but it was still a subject she found fascinating. She always had.
"Two or three cycles from now, we can get you enrolled in a speeder class if you are interested," Eeth remarked, noticing her fascination with the controls. "You will not be allowed to drive on Coruscant for a while, but it might be useful on missions."
"If I am interested!? For real? Yes, I'm interested. I know some of the theory, I've just never been allowed to practice." Raven considered her comment for a moment before hedging. "Of course that can all change now." Her intent was clear. Raven was pretty sure what he was going to say, but then again, she never could tell with Eeth; he was unreadable most of the time.
"No, it cannot," Eeth said crisply, steering into a huge garage building. And that was that.
"Spoilsport," Raven grumbled under her breath.
Ignoring this, Eeth led her out of the garage and through a number of wide and increasingly crowded corridors into a gigantic covered market. It was so huge that one could not see the other side from where Eeth and Raven were standing and it was absolutely crammed with merchants, food stalls and beings of all species, some of whom were flying overhead. There was a tremendous noise, and Eeth and Raven were almost immediately sucked into the stream of people forcing their way through the narrow aisles.
"I am sorry if this is embarrassing to you, but we really have to hold hands, I think," Eeth shouted into Raven's ear in order to make himself heard. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
Embarrassed? Raven couldn't care less as right now all she cared about was not being trampled into the ground! Eeth was bigger and was doing an excellent job of clearing them a path.
"Check it out," she said excitedly, gesturing to a holo stand. The stand was huge! Some holos were stacked with only the spine showing, whereas others, the more desirable choices, were displayed on a tall backboard that was at least three meters high. When Eeth stopped so she could look, Raven wasted no time in flicking through the huge selection, completely oblivious to the large Besalisk man peering at her from behind the counter. "Seen it, seen it, eww! I don't wanna see it!" she rambled to herself, placing the holo titled 'The Yentles' back so quickly one might have thought it were on fire.
"Hello there, young lady! Perhaps I can interest you in something a little less painful?" The merchant passed her a copy of "Sith Wars". Her padawan braid had not gone unnoticed to this man and he had every intention of using his knowledge to make the sale.
Raven looked up at Eeth, the question unasked.
"Your allowance is yours to spend," Eeth said. "Of course, at the price of this movie, there would not be much left for other purchases, but that is up to you. As long as the film is not age-restricted, you may buy it."
Raven turned the thing over in her hand and frowned. It was, but mildly so! "It's only +14," she said in a whiny tone that conveyed exactly what she thought of that restriction. "Would you be mad if I
watched it? Even though it's still considered a children's film? It could even turn out to be educational." She grinned at the latter and shot him a mischievous look.
"Well, you may watch this educational movie as soon as you turn 14, then," Eeth said plainly. "I very much doubt that your education is hazarded by this delay."
Raven huffed. "You can't know that for sure. It might be, and then it will be all your fault."
"I am prepared to take that risk," said Eeth, stony-faced.
Disinclined to press the issue, she placed the holo neatly back amongst the others, much to the storekeeper's displeasure. He gave Eeth a dirty look and folded one set of arms in a clearly annoyed gesture.
"Is there anything you want to look at?" Raven asked Eeth as they started moving again. She didn't want to hog all their time.
"Padawan, I know this market," Eeth replied patiently. "We came here because you requested an outing. We can look at anything you are interested in, we can explore, or we can have a drink in a café up on the gallery." He pointed to the upper level of the market hall that provided a good view of everything.
"I was just being considerate," Raven defended herself.
Unfortunately, just about everything good was way out of her price range, not that she minded; getting out of the Temple was worth it. Eventually, she decided on sweets, because you can't go wrong with sugar.
"Woah," she said, taken aback by the choice available at the small café. "Can I order this?" she asked, pointing to a delicious looking chocolate square covered in what she hoped was fudge.
"You may, although I have to point out that Velorian chocolate tends to look better than it tastes," Eeth replied. "Still, if you would like to try it, have a go."
Raven thought about that. And then she chose a caramel slice. If there was one thing she had come to know about Eeth, it was to take his advice whenever food was concerned. They pulled up a couple of chairs which gave both of them an aerial view of the markets below. Raven drew her attention back to the table and took a sip of her tea, which she would try to 'acquire' a taste for every now and then. "Yeckk!" she groaned, pulling a most unattractive face. She turned her head to glance at a small Twi'lek girl sitting at the next table who had found her expression humorous and now giggled while pointing at her. Raven smiled bravely and playfully poked her tongue out at the youngster, who grinned and crossed her arms in mock annoyance.
Eeth smiled indulgently at the scene and leaned back to enjoy his own tea.
Raven straightened in her chair at catching Eeth's smile and tried to pretend she wasn't enjoying acting the goat with the kid. Of course she totally was! But she didn't want Eeth to think she was a little kid or anything. After all, Raven wanted to go on missions, build lightsabers and do grown-up things. This time when she took a sip of the tea she remained stoic, much to her audience's disappointment.
"Thanks for bringing me, master," Raven told him.
"There is nothing wrong with going out into the city occasionally," Eeth replied peacefully. "As long as it does not interfere with your duties, of course."
"Yes, because that would be a real tragedy," Raven said dryly, a very slight smile on her face. She yawned and gave her little Twi'lek friend a wink as the family moved to leave the table.
After a while, Eeth decided that it was time for them to head back to the Temple. It took them close to an hour to make their way back to their speeder through the crowds the market hall was packed with, and it was nearly dinner time when they returned to the Temple, laden with boxes of food that Eeth had bought at a Careenian food stall on their way.
Raven was busy trying to negotiate the door, quite unsuccessfully, while juggling the box she was carrying. It wasn't heavy by any means, just unwieldy. She heard Eeth rounding the corner and quickly rushed the box to the kitchen bench when he opened the door for her.
They set the table and Eeth laid out the Careenian dishes he had bought. Knowing what a poor eater Raven could be, he served her a small portion; she could always have more.
Raven, however, wasn't hungry in the slightest as she had gotten stuck into her stash of sweets earlier. She wrinkled her nose, unconsciously pushing the food around her plate with her fork.
Eeth watched this for a while. When she did not stop pushing around her food, he said: "Padawan," giving her a warning look and pointing at her plate.
"Ug!" But that was the extent of her complaints and Raven started eating. After Eeth had dragged her from the dining hall by the ear for trying to swindle her way out of eating her food, she was not keen on a repeat.
After another ten minutes or so had passed, Eeth had finished his meal and was now sipping patiently at his tea. Raven took one last mouthful of her own dinner; she had gotten at least half of it finished.
"May I be excused, pleeease?" she hedged.
"No," said Eeth. "You haven't finished your food."
"But it's cold," Raven whined.
"Reheat it, then," he said. "It is not all that much. You cannot possibly be full to the bursting after what little you have eaten, and the food is not all that revolting either."
Raven couldn't help but stomp her foot at the order. She didn't want to admit to having eaten too many sweets earlier as Eeth was unlikely to be sympathetic to that. But what else could she do?
Eeth just raised a stern eyebrow at that little outburst, but did not comment. He did, in fact, suspect that having eaten too many sweets was behind all this. That was not a type of behaviour he wanted to encourage.
Irritated, the padawan reheated her food, all the while muttering about the unfairness of this all. Of all his rules, the 'finish your food' one was by far the most annoying.
"Padawan, stop sulking," Eeth said firmly. "If finishing a small serving of food is really beyond you, there will be no more sweets the next time we go out."
Raven weighed up her options here, and then she started eating. "Bully."
"Only when necessary," Eeth said, unperturbed. He had been called a bully more than once by Lakhri and had decided to simply embrace the term as something that was part of his job description, as master of a Jedi padawan.
"What are you reading?" Raven asked sometime later, tilting her head to one side to get a better look at his screen. She had reluctantly eaten the rest of her food, done her homework and visited the padawans' lounge. Now she was tired, and maybe a bit bored.
"A report on economic loss caused by weapon smuggling," Eeth replied, showing her a long text with a couple of viewgraphs. "I will have to moderate a hearing tomorrow morning while you are in your first aid class. I need the information."
Raven concentrated on the data pad for a moment, and then she sat down beside him and hugged her legs into her chest.
"Ten percent loss to government profit, due to smugglers!" She shot him a slightly confused look, almost certain she was going to miss the point. "Is that why the government has upped the tax on all weapons sales for that planet?" she said, pointing to the second graph. "Simply because they are losing out on claiming tax from what's been swiped?"
"Partly," Eeth replied. "Taxation is only one of the problems at stake, but sadly, it is what most motivates the Senate to act."
"So they can argue over whether to give aid to a struggling planet for months before doing anything. Yet as soon as something affects their credit flow, it gets immediate attention. How can you stand it? I hate politics."
"It is not as easy as all that," Eeth said with a slight smile. "How are they supposed to get struggling planets back on their feet without tax income? Even the Jedi Order costs money. We work for free, but we need clothes, food, the Temple needs maintenance; then there are our speeders, our starships, our mission equipment… We would be hard-pressed to do any good without all that."
"I know they need taxes. It's their priorities that bug me. They take months to do anything that needs fast action, and take forever to do anything about those issues which, coincidentally, directly affect their credit flow." She shot him a grin. "Lowfac used to say that politicians are to be treated with the same kind of gentle care and caution you'd give to a baby Acklay." Even if the subject was politics, Raven was enjoying Eeth's company.
Eeth looked amused at the comparison. "Well, he is right. I am not saying I approve of each and every choice the Senate makes. And there are certainly many politicians whose personal motivation is less than honourable. But many of them are actually decent and hard-working persons. Unfortunately, the slow procedures and the bloated administrative system make it hard to finalise decisions – any kind of decision, even where taxation is concerned. We have been struggling over this tax issue for far too long."
"You could always gather a bunch of the masters and organize a mass mind whammy. I'm pretty sure that would bring an immediate end to the struggling." Raven couldn't keep a straight face, not that she was trying hard.
"The Jedi Code does not allow us to do such things," Eeth said solemnly. "We cannot claim to know best how things have to be done and then impose our will on everyone else. Despite all their flaws, we are loyal to the Senate and to the Republic. And now, I think, it is time for our evening meditation and then for you to go to bed."
"Yes, Master," Raven said through a yawn, unfazed by the fact that her joke had fallen flat. Today had been exciting, but tomorrow she had her first aid mission class which she was looking forward to. And of course on Sunday was the pièce de résistance; their zoology field trip to Mount Akemi!