A/N: Hello to all who have followed us and to any new faces! This is another instalment in our Star Wars fan fiction that focuses on the interaction between a Jedi master and his padawan learner.
Our stories originated as online role-playing and are 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. There are approximately twenty-five stories pre-written in this series which focuses on Master Eeth Koth and his padawan learner Raven Trebeck. Although each story can stand alone, it might be a better reading experience to start from the beginning with "Of Padawans Fake and True".
This is the fifth story in the series; it is a sequel to "Lessons of School, Lessons of Life." Raven is twelve years old and has just completed a horrifying period of probation to which she was sentenced by the Jedi High Council due to the events that unfolded in that last story. Now she is ready to move ahead, alongside her master and Eeth's first padawan, Lakhri Tumuel, who has become something like an older brother for her – although he can be quite the authority figure if necessary!
And, let's face it, authority and discipline are central themes to our stories. We realise that our master characters, especially Eeth, will at times come across as harsh to some. 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. His journey with Raven is a learning experience for him as much as for his padawan, which will become quite apparent towards the end of this story and in its sequel!
Fortunately for our padawans, our master characters have near-magical healing abilities at their disposal, allowing us to indulge our preference for strict discipline. There will always be character development, depth and growth through all our stories, so there's more to them than just the spanking. But, yeah, there is and will always be spanking. ;) We do realise that this is not everybody's cup of tea, and we suggest that you not read our writing if it's going to upset you.
If you like our stories (or if you don't like them for reasons other than those of which you have been warned), let us know in a review; we love to hear what you guys think. Okay, so here we go. Enjoy.
It was a normal school day, and Eeth was waiting for Raven to come home from class. Last night, he had promised to take her to the pools today in order to celebrate the successful completion of her probation period. However, this morning, he had been forced to change plans – a development of which Raven was as yet entirely unaware.
As Raven had neared the end of her three-month sentence, which had been imposed for having disobeyed orders and trying to interfere with a rescue mission sent to retrieve her master from the Antar system, the Council had reviewed her record and pronounced it satisfactory. In Eeth's opinion, this was more than deserved, for the girl had worked hard in the past months. Although her schedule had been lightened somewhat by the fact that her Sunday class on combat strategy with Master She'am had ended two months ago, it had still been more than full enough due to hours of community service, imposed by the Council, and meditation, imposed by Eeth.
At the same time, and to her credit, she had made steady progress in many important areas of her training. Six weeks into her probation period, Eeth had enrolled her in a stealth and evasion class which was still difficult for her as it required a lot of focus; but she was slowly starting to master the skill. She regularly worked with Lakhri, Eeth's former padawan, on Force-enhanced speed, and Eeth had intensified her training in manipulating inanimate objects. Her sparring lessons had become much more challenging since she had been allowed to build her own lightsaber. Much to her relief, this cycle she had been permitted to drop maths, but only to replace it with starship astrophysics, which was hardly less demanding. She was also becoming quite good at drawing on the Force to replenish her energy reserves, although Eeth made sure she did not rely on this technique too often; the Force could not replace proper sleep and rest in the long run. Still, it was going to be extremely useful on missions.
All in all, he thought, maybe the probation period had not been such a bad thing, since it had allowed Raven to gain a number of important skills. And she would soon have an opportunity to put those to good use.
"Astrophysics is neither stupid nor is it a pointless waste of your time, Padawan Trebeck," Raven mocked her teacher as she lead her old friend, Worik, back to their quarters. Raven had not seen the Mon Calamari boy since they had attended Eeth's advanced saber class together as initiates over a year ago. It wasn't until she ran into him by chance at the padawans' lounge six weeks ago that the two were able to catch up. Apparently, Adi Gallia had offered Worik an apprenticeship, which everyone had hoped was going to happen. Worik and Adi shared a love for diplomacy and all things academic, so it hardly came as a surprise that the Force deemed this a good pairing also.
"Honestly, who would ever need to manually plot a course through hyperspace anyway?" Raven continued griping.
Worik just shrugged. He liked astrophysics well enough. In fact, he was so good at it that he had been put into Raven's class despite the fact that he had only recently become an apprentice.
"You never know when something is going to break," he replied, repeating their teacher's answer to that question.
"Something is going to break alright, my patience for astrophysics!" Raven said, and although she was trying to be funny, there was a bit of truth to that.
"Hello, padawan," Eeth said, looking up from the stack of datapads he was studying when Raven entered their quarters. "How was your day?"
Surprised to see Eeth home, and not a datapad full of instructions, Raven smiled.
"It was absolutely horrifying," she answered honestly, offering him a bow in greeting. She turned to reintroduce Worik to Eeth, only to notice that her friend had not followed her inside. Ugh! For the Force's sake! Raven was long past the stage where a fellow padawan's fear of her master was entertaining. Now the reaction was simply frustrating. Sighing, she turned her attention back to Eeth.
"You remember Worik from that initiates' saber class you taught? The one where we first met?" Raven turned her head towards the door once again, happy to see that her old friend had worked up the courage to join her. She put an arm around his shoulder briefly, offering him some comfort.
"Hello Master Koth. Sorry to hold the door open, but I dropped my bag." he covered smoothly. He was internally doing deep breathing exercises and attempting to force the memories of Eeth teaching his initiates' advanced saber class from his memory.
"Good afternoon, Worik," Eeth said calmly. "Welcome."
Before Eeth could ask any questions, Raven spoke up again. "Master Gallia asks if it would be alright if he could stay with us for a few days. She has been sent on a mission that he has not yet been cleared for and, well, I was there when she left and … might have offered," Raven admitted.
"My master asked me to give you this," Worik inserted, passing Eeth a data chip. "I believe it is a list of my duties, and a few alternative places I might stay if this arrangement is inconvenient."
"Not that we looked at it or anything," Raven interjected quickly.
Eeth raised his eyebrows. He would have preferred it if Worik's master had asked him herself, but of course, some assignments were too urgent to allow for that; and besides, it seemed as if his padawan had volunteered.
"You might have checked with me before making commitments," he pointed out to Raven. "Be that as it may; Worik may stay for one night, but no longer than that, because we will be leaving on a mission tomorrow night, too, and we will need the day in order to pack and prepare."
"What! We are? What mission, with whom, to where, for how long, and why?" Raven asked in one long breath, ignoring the slight rebuke over having not asked his permission. It had been a shock when her mission clearance had once again been validated, but the cynical padawan had thought the chances of them actually being assigned a mission almost non-existent. Of course, Raven had not said any of this as Eeth had no patience for any kind of self defeating attitude, and she had no desire to be stuck writing lines. That had happened before and it had been horrible!
With a slight smile, Eeth said, "I had volunteered our services for this assignment for a while now but due to unforeseen developments, things will have to happen faster than the Council had expected. The mission is to Larivan, a planet in the Hevelan system where Lakhri has spent two years trying to settle a civil war. Larivan was the first planet in the system to restore peace. They have now applied for membership in the Republic. They have also voted on establishing a democracy and sending their royal family into exile. The Council intended on sending us to retrieve the family and escort them to Coruscant, which would not have been entirely without risk because there are royalists who want them back as well as antiroyalists who want them dead. The situation has, however, been complicated by the fact that the royal family have suddenly disappeared, which has forced the Council to reschedule our departure. We are to find the royal family, if possible, and if they are still alive, of course. It is highly likely that they are still on Larivan somewhere because outgoing traffic has been closely monitored. Since Lakhri knows the system, he has been asked to join us. Does that answer your questions?"
Without giving Raven a chance to respond, he turned towards Worik. "Please bring your bag to Raven's room. I have only prepared lunch for two, and it is nothing that will appeal to a Mon Calamari, so I will have to order in."
Both padawans were intrigued! But it was Worik who spoke first.
"Thanks," he said and rushed off for what he hoped was Raven's bedroom. Most quarters were the same, after all.
Raven frowned slightly at her friend's hasty compliance, and then she turned that expression on the cause.
"Master, you've really got to start working on your image," she informed him.
"Why do I have to start working on my image?" Eeth asked serenely while opening the screen for ordering from the dining hall on his terminal. "The terrifying-master-wielding-a-paddle image suits me just fine, thank you." He punched in the code for a standard Mon Calamari meal.
Raven snorted but couldn't really argue with that. True, Eeth could be terrifying, but he wasn't like that all the time as was rumoured.
"I can't believe it. I get to go on a mission with you AND Lakhri!" She shot him a suspicious look, wondering what the catch was: where were the ceremonial robes? Was she to be left at another security booth while Eeth and Lakhri did all the work? It was at that moment that a more comforting thought occurred to her. "At least with both of you there it lessens the chances of me screwing everything up," she said, her mind wandering back to the last mission she had gone on. Well, actually it had been her only mission, and she had fucked it up.
Worik had caught the tail end of that as he returned to the common room and thought her lack of confidence crazy. Raven was a talented apprentice, even if she had gotten off to a rough start. He didn't comment, though, as he was still getting over his nerves at being in the same room with the man responsible for terrorising half the initiates in his saber class.
Eeth did not think Raven's lack of confidence crazy, exactly; "appalling" was probably a more apt term. His face darkening, he turned on his padawan.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" he inquired sternly.
The tone of Eeth's voice had Raven's brow rise.
"It means only that," she said, thinking it best to backpedal a little lest Eeth think her comment self-deprecating. "The last time we went on a mission, I almost got both of us killed, is all."
"Yes, because you were disobedient," snapped Eeth. "There is no reason for history to repeat itself and for you to continue making poor choices. You have got the necessary skills. Lakhri and I are not going to babysit you. We are going to rely on you as a full member of our team, with all the responsibilities that come with that position. Is that quite clearly understood?"
Despite the fact that he was telling her off, Raven couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at the corner of her lip. She was going to be a full member of their team! Not just ordered to stay in their quarters the moment they arrived, never to see the light of day. Eeth was going to let her do things. Catching herself, the padawan feigned a cough and quickly schooled her features.
"Yes, master, understood."
Raven might be taking this with a grain of salt, but Worik's insides had just frozen. Outwardly, however, he remained calm; the shit had not actually hit the fan, yet.
Eeth gave Raven a curt nod and turned towards Worik. He said quite pleasantly, "Your lunch will be delivered in a few minutes, whereupon we will eat. I had planned to spend the afternoon in the gym with Raven and Lakhri, my former padawan and a member of our mission team, in order to go through the most important Force control and fighting techniques we might need on our mission. Raven will be excused from homework today. It might be best if you took part in the open sparring class that takes place in the main gym at three and did your homework after that. Or do you have anything else on your schedule this afternoon?"
"NO HOMEWORK! Force! That's the best news I've heard since, well, since FOREVER!" Raven whooped, before Worik could get a word out. She was practically beaming, and visions of flushing her astrophysics assignment down the 'fresher only added to her elation.
Worik, on the other hand, had plenty of homework as the classes he took were mostly on diplomacy, strategy and tactics. Sure, he was gifted with saber prowess, but he much preferred to do his fighting at a table. He smiled at Raven's reaction; he rather enjoyed homework himself, but he wasn't about to detract from Raven's joy by saying as much right now.
"I can do the session at three. I have enough homework to keep me busy after that," he said, still smiling as Raven was practically vibrating beside him. He was secretly grateful for the fact that Eeth had not invited him to join them for their gym session. Half a cycle of classes with the man had been more than enough for him!
"Padawan," Eeth said, "the fact that you have no homework today does not mean you will not have to do it. You will spend much of our hyperspace travel, which is going to take approximately five days, doing school work in order to prevent you from falling behind. Today, however, mission preparation is more important. Now help me set the table, both of you."
Raven's face fell. Five days worth of hyperspace and homework! Ugh! However, it was still a mission, so it was not something the padawan planned to gripe about, at least not now. Besides, she guessed that listening to her take on Eeth over something like that would probably be too much for Worik to handle.
Throughout the afternoon, Eeth and Lakhri guided Raven through several sets of exercises in sparring techniques, basic stealth and evasion – an area that Eeth hoped they would not have to rely on too strongly –, Force-enhanced running, jumping and Force-cushioning falls. Eeth had no idea what to expect on Larivan, and he thought it best to be prepared. Lakhri was not able to make any predictions either. According to him, the planet was among the more peaceful ones in the system, not that this meant a lot, and the royal family had their main support base in the cities, while the tribal areas were hostile to them. Either their supporters were hiding them somewhere; or they had been abducted or, more likely, killed by members of the tribes. It was going to be up to the three of them to find this out.
They returned to Eeth's quarters for an uneventful dinner, after which Eeth gave Raven and Worik permission to go out until eight thirty.
Eeth and Lakhri had worked Raven hard, but despite her exhaustion, there was no way she was going to admit being too tired to go to the padawans' lounge with Worik. Mustafar would freeze over before that ever happened!
Worik took delight in regaling Raven's group with tales of how he had bravely survived the day with Eeth. He really was quite a story teller and had the entire group's attention.
Raven was glad for this as she wasn't really in the mood to put a lot of effort into talking tonight. She lounged back into the couch and listened quietly. Lakhri had been correct when he had said that most of her peers would simply be impressed that she managed to survive an apprenticeship under Eeth. It did make her smile, though. Eeth really wasn't that bad; at least, she didn't think so.
Unfortunately, Raven lost the war with her eyelids and dozed off. It was a mistake!
"Raven? Raven? Raven!" Worik shook her gently, trying to wake the girl so they could head home.
"I'm up, I'm up! What time is it?" she said with a yawn and sat up abruptly. That motion sent several com chips, plastic cards, apple cores and other items they had piled on top of her as she slept flying onto the floor.
"Argh! You all suck!" she replied tolerantly, knowing full well that she would have been in on it, had one of them fallen asleep during their free time.
"It's eight thirty, we should be going," Worik replied, brushing a few corn chips from her hair.
Raven frowned and looked at her watch.
"Eight thirty? But we're meant to be home now, not LEAVING now!" she groaned, springing to her feet and dislodging the remaining corn chips as she took Worik's hand.
"You are joking, right? We will be back in less than five minutes!" Worik said as the two jogged along the corridor. He hadn't been worried before, but now he was starting to become concerned.
"Well, no. He'll have something to say about it if he's home, but there is a good chance he won't be there, so stop freaking out. Besides, doesn't your master get pissed if you're home late!?" Raven asked incredulously as they rounded the final corner.
"Sure, but not over five minutes!" Worik said, suddenly feeling quite ill.
Raven could tell he was freaking out, and so she stopped him before they entered.
"Calm, try not to look like we rushed. He'll probably just tell us off, and maybe we'll have to go to bed or do some extra meditation," she assured him. "It will be okay."
Worik didn't look convinced, but he followed her through the door in any case because what else could he do?
Eeth stood up from the table where he had been studying his pile of mission briefings and folded his arms over his chest.
"You are late, padawans," he said severely. "And from the look of it, it appears that you have been running to be here in time. Explain yourselves."
Worik glanced sideways at Raven, who was busy trying to think how to explain. Admitting that she fell asleep wasn't going to happen, but nor would she lie or blame Worik.
"We just left late. I'm sorry," Raven settled on. She wasn't willing to look at the expression on Worik's face. Two reasons: firstly, she might just crack a smile if she saw it, and secondly, if Eeth was pissed off, laughing at him was going to go down like a lead balloon.
Eeth looked at her with narrowed eyes for a moment. Then he pointed a firm finger towards his bedroom and said: "Please wait for me in my room, padawan. I will be with you in a moment."
Raven gave Worik an apologetic expression and left for Eeth's room. She had known Eeth wouldn't be happy, yet there wasn't a lot she could do about that.
When she had left, Eeth turned on Worik and said sternly: "While you are staying in my quarters, you will pay me the courtesy to adhere to the rules. And that includes minding your curfew and going home in time so you do not have to run through the Temple corridors, which is against Temple rules. Am I understood?"
By this stage Worik was crapping out tacks, and had the man not been standing mere feet from him, he might have attempted making a run for it.
"Yes, Sir. I am sorry, it won't happen again," he replied earnestly, trying hard to keep the quiver out of his voice.
"I should hope so," Eeth said severely. "Now please go to Raven's room and get ready for bed."
Worik nodded and took off so fast for Raven's bedroom that he was practically a blur. It was only once he was safely inside, with the door closed, that the boy took a moment to relax!
Even to Eeth, coming home a few minutes after curfew did not quite warrant a spanking. He was not pleased with Raven at all, however, and the look he fixed her with when he entered his room told her as much.
"Padawan, are you actively trying to make me reconsider my decision to entrust you with any amount of responsibility during our upcoming mission?" he asked sternly.
Raven's shoulders slumped a little at hearing him mention their mission and hint at a lack of trust in her, but again, she had kinda expected as much. Raven had always had a propensity to run late, but Eeth had mostly been curing her of that over the past year.
"No, master," she said sheepishly as Raven really didn't have any valid excuse for coming in late other than to blame Worik, and that wasn't going to happen. "So, did you scare the tar out of Worik? You know the story will be huge by the time he's told it a few times," Raven added, hoping to change the subject. Not that this ever worked.
"I do not care about the gossip Worik tells," Eeth snapped, "I care about your behavior. When I tell you to come home at eight thirty, you come home at eight thirty. And that goes tenfold during a mission. Are we totally clear on that?"
Okay, so Raven had expected that. Still, she sighed at his lack of humour.
"Yes, master, crystal," she answered, fidgeting with the hem on her tunic sleeve and not meeting his gaze. It had not been the worst kind of misdeed, but lately Raven had managed to keep out of trouble, and she was eager to continue that streak.
As Lakhri might have been able to tell her, Eeth never felt particularly humorous on the verge of a mission. Glaring at her, he said brusquely: "Consider yourself warned. Any incident of tardiness during our mission, and your backside will pay the price. Now go and get ready for bed. When you are finished, you and Worik will meet me in the common room for our evening meditation."
Raven didn't exactly relish the idea of copping it over something as stupid as being tardy! Stiil, she was entirely unwilling to push him any further.
"Yes, master," came the predictable response, and she took off out the door almost as fast as Worik had left their common room a few minutes earlier.
"See, you survived. I told you so," Raven teased upon finding her friend brushing his teeth.
Worik spat into the sink and huffed, "Barely," although whatever he said next was indecipherable given his mouth was once again full of toothbrush.
Raven nodded her agreement in an effort at placating her friend and pulled on her sleepshirt. Worik wasn't really upset, he was just venting a little, and that was totally normal. Heck, Raven did it often enough with Lakhri!
Worik had not exactly slept well that night. It wasn't because he had been uncomfortable; the mattress Eeth had supplied him was more than ample. It was due to worry about his master. She was on a mission without him, after all, and that would weigh on any padawan's mind. Suffice it to say that when Eeth flicked on the light at 6am the following morning, the boy was unusually sluggish. He half stumbled, half sprang to his feet, sitting on Raven in the process.
"Worik, you spaz-ma-tron!" came the predictable protest from Raven as she pushed at his back to get him off her.
"Good morning, padawans," Eeth said, completely unfazed. "Time to get up. I expect both of you in the common room for our morning meditation in half an hour."
"Morning, master," Raven replied through a yawn. Once he had closed the door, she curled into a ball.
"Since you sat on me," Raven started, the only part of her visible from beneath her blanket cocoon being a raised finger, "it's only fair that you go first. I'm going to sleep for another fifteen minutes while you shower."
Worik still looked a little shell-shocked, but by now he had mostly remembered where he was and what was going on. "Fair enough." And it was, in his opinion. That didn't mean he hadn't found sitting on Raven amusing. He totally had.
Exactly half an hour later, the pair pushed and shoved as they raced each other into the common room, both padawans laughing at their game.
Eeth supposed that was why no master had more than one padawan to take care of. Anything else might drive the most patient of Jedi insane. He wondered how the creche masters did it.
"We will perform half an hour of meditation now," he explained to Worik. "After that, we will have breakfast."
He had taken care to order some food that was edible for Mon Calamari from the commissary last night. He and Raven were going to stick with grains, fruit and yoghurt, though. Mashed algae were not Eeth's idea of breakfast.
"You look tired, you okay?" Raven asked Worik over breakfast. She had not really linked with him during their morning meditation, as she had been focusing on Eeth and their bond.
It briefly occurred to Worik to gloss over it, but then, he had never been the sort to hide his feelings. "I'm worried for my master. This is the first mission she has been assigned without me, and I feel like I should be with her," he answered honestly.
"Oh. I – umm, I know how you feel…" Raven replied, not at all comfortable with the topic, but equally wanting to help put her friend at ease if she could. "Just try to think that she has been on a gazillion missions before. It's only for a week or so, right?"
"Ten days at the most," Worik said.
Raven met him with an expression that could only come from someone who knew exactly how he felt, but had not dealt with it half as well.
"Be brave, she'll come back," she said softly, and placed her hand on his. "Right, master?" Raven said, wondering if he would know how to help. After all, Worik was a boy, and Eeth was, well … not exactly a boy but male all the same. Perhaps there was some sort of secret guy-speak she was not privy to?
"I think it unlikely that she will take more than a week," Eeth said. "Since Master Gallia is a highly accomplished Jedi with a padawan who is waiting for her, she might come back even sooner. Of course, that is little consolation for a padawan who is left behind. I do not know of a single padawan who would not resent the situation and worry about their master. The best thing to do is probably to think about what your master would expect from you while she is gone, namely, to get on with your lessons and training as well as possible. It can also be a possibility to work with other Jedi. Do you still have a grandmaster, Worik?"
"I do," Worik answered, appearing to be rather happy with Eeth's advice and suggestions.
Raven had half expected Eeth to tell him to harden up, work harder and learn lots! That he had not had her smiling, too.
After breakfast, Worik got his things organised, and once ready, he hugged Raven and wished her luck.
"You'll do fine, wait and see," he told her before turning to face Eeth. "I have classes as normal, and I know where I am going. Thank you for allowing me to stay, Master Koth," Worik said, offering the man a bow as he threw his pack over his shoulder. If he were being honest, being stuck with Eeth Koth had not been as bad as he had made out in the padawans' lounge the night before. Not that he ever let the truth get in the way of a good story when it came to such things!
After having said goodbye to Worik, Eeth gave Raven more details about Larivan, its royal family and the social and political climate. When he was halfway through, Lakhri came in to join them, and his good-natured comments about his personal experience in the place helped much to give a more vivid impression of conditions there.
"The main feature," said Lakhri, "is rain. It always rains. And that's ALWAYS. People over there are half-amphibious or something; they actually feel uncomfortable in dry air. Unfortunately, we don't. So pack a lot of waterproof gear. Not that it's going to be much use; the rain will get in eventually. It penetrates everything. You might as well live underwater, only they wouldn't send us on one of those missions if they could help it. They'd pick Mon Calamari or Ishi Tib for that."
"Yes, I am sure the place is charming," Eeth remarked wryly.
After hearing Lakhri's description of Larivan, Raven was consumed with thoughts of Glee Anselm, Ando and other aquatic planets. It was fleeting, though, as apparently Larivan was not a true waterworld, it just rained … A LOT!
"Joy," she replied, but was far from down on it; wet or not, any mission that had both Eeth and Lakhri was bound to be amazing.
"Be that as it may," said Eeth, "we will have to find the royal family, and that will be easier if we retrieve as much information as we can. Anything that might help us once we are on Larivan."
"Off to the archives, then," said Lakhri cheerfully.
And that was where they spent the morning and the better part of the afternoon. Eeth and Lakhri showed Raven how to search for and store information. They worked with Raven in turns, explaining to her which information to store on data chips and which to discard.
Finally, Eeth decided they had gathered most of the relevant data and needed to start preparing for departure.
"Let us go to the gym and put in another practice session," he said. "We will pack after dinner. We are scheduled to leave at nine."
"That's the best idea you've had all day," remarked a now stir-crazy Raven. The hours of research had worn out any patience she had for sitting around, and she was now eager to blow off the excess energy.
Today's practice session was similar to yesterday. After all the time they had spent searching for records, Raven enjoyed every second of it.
"Are you going to have dinner with us, Lakhri?" Raven asked after Eeth called their sparring match to an end and she had caught her breath enough to speak.
"Yes, but we shall have to make it quick," Lakhri replied. "I have my own packing to do."
During dinner, he entertained Raven and Eeth with more descriptions of Larivan. Larivan's major landmass was more of a swamp, with occasional patches of hard earth on higher ground. It had a few big cities and a lot of tribal areas.
"Never leave the roads unless you are forced to," Lakhri advised. "You never know where the ground will be able to carry you. Our sense of the Force helps us there but it requires a lot of focus."
After dinner, he left. Eeth promptly sent Raven to pack.
"Remember, waterproof gear," he said. "No warm clothes will be needed since the climate is tropical."
"Got it," Raven replied and went to do as instructed.
Raven did not own much in the way of waterproof clothing. She did, of course, own all the basics, which she hastily shoved into her pack along with the other essentials.
Twenty-five minutes later, the girl was packed and ready. She tossed her bag onto the couch in their common room and went to sit at the table where Eeth was standing, checking items off a list on a datapad and frowning in concentration.
"When do we have to be at the hangar?" she asked, not really wanting to interrupt him, but at the same time, not sure what else to occupy herself with in the meantime.
"I told you we would need to be at the hangar at nine," Eeth said in a disapproving tone of voice, clearly not happy that his padawan had not remembered. "That means we will leave here at eight forty. Now kindly let me make sure we do not forget anything important. We have no way of knowing whether there will be any shopping opportunities in the course of our mission."
"Grumpy," she huffed, stalking off to their couch where she flopped down and turned on the holo.
"If you are bored," Eeth said coolly, not looking up from his list, "clean out the cooler and dispose of what is left in there. That will be a better use of your time than watching the holochannel."
"I am no longer bored," Raven replied, not moving from the couch.
Eeth turned abruptly and strode over to the couch, which caused Raven to jump up like a shot.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Raven said hastily, both hands raised in placation.
Paying her assurances no mind, Eeth turned off the holo with a wave of his hand, turned Raven around and propelled her towards the kitchen with a resounding swat.
"We are leaving on a mission in half an hour," he snapped. "I will not have you laze about. Go."
Raven resisted the urge to tell him that she was already GOING, if only because that had really hurt and she didn't want to risk getting any more. Still rubbing, the padawan slunk into their kitchen and did as told.
Finally, it was time to leave. They picked up their bags and made their way towards the hangar. Lakhri came hurrying up behind them just as the hangar doors slid open, his robes slightly dishevelled and his hair messy as usual. He seemed quite unperturbed by it.
"Hello, Eeth. Hi, Raven," he said, grinning at them and completely ignoring the sour look he received from Eeth for his appearance. "I just remembered that the advantage of getting to transport a royal family is that you get assigned a luxurious ship." He gestured at the huge starcruiser waiting for them.
"Yes, well," Eeth said with distaste, "if you happen to like luxury… Let us go on board, then."
"Woah. This is awesome!" Raven said, ignoring Eeth's comments on luxury. "Do we get to do any of the flying ourselves, or are there pilots?" she asked while whizzing from point to point trying to check things out.
"Calm down, padawan," Eeth said severely. "This ship has about twenty-five rooms, and you will have time to explore them all. For now, we will go to the bridge from where Lakhri and I will bring us into hyperspace. When the ship is on autopilot, we will all go to bed. The Council did not see any need to equip us with additional pilots, so we are going alone."
"Twenty-five rooms, and we have the whole ship to ourselves until we reach Larivan? That has to be the most awesome thing I've ever heard!" Raven replied, ignoring his comments about calming down and going to bed. She was totally calm, in her opinion.
Raven paid close attention as Eeth moved to the pilot's seat and began plotting a course into their navigation system, and Lakhri automatically took the co-pilot's seat on his right where he started running through a sequence of checks. This left the engineer's spot free, so the padawan eagerly strapped herself in. There were far too many checks, double-checks and sequences to the take-off procedure for Raven to even try and remember them all. However, once they were airborne, she scooted forward a little in her chair to watch as Lakhri began prepping the hypo-drive generators. They would make the jump to hyperspace as soon as Eeth cleared them.
It had all been very exciting to Raven, who loved anything and everything about flying. She had paid close attention, too, making sure that the codes to and from the cockpit were memorised along with a few other details about the ships emergency systems. Raven could have watched this all night. Unfortunately for her, once they were safely into hyperspace, and the autopilot engaged, Eeth stood and decreed that they should all unpack and go to bed.
"After all, it is past ten o'clock already," he said. "You will need your sleep for the mission that lies ahead, padawan."
"But, wait, we have five days to sleep, can't I explore the ship for a while first?" Raven said while unbuckling her restraints.
"No," Eeth replied flatly. "It is high time you went to bed. Go get yourself ready. We will make it a quick evening meditation."
He pointed at the door that held Raven's spacious cabin, which was in between Eeth's and Lakhri's equally spacious ones. They shared an extremely large refresher that was located on the opposite side of the corridor.
Raven frowned slightly at Eeth, and then tried Lakhri. She met him with an imploring look; he was her last chance of getting her way without having to argue her case.
Lakhri merely shrugged. "It's not going to be all that exciting anyway," he said. "Mainly empty rooms. And it IS getting late. You'd better get as much sleep as you can during out trip, because sleep is sometimes pretty hard to come by on the ground."
"You're both being unreasonable. I stayed up for twenty-four hours to complete my lightsaber. Is it really too much to ask that you let me look around?" Raven wasn't exactly being disrespectful, but nor was she going to let this go without giving it a good crack. Understandably, if you asked her. Meditation and bed were the last things on her mind right now!
Eeth grabbed Raven's arm, bent her forward and applied three scorching swats to the seat of her pants, each of which drew a yelp from his padawan.
"We are on a mission, padawan," he snapped. "When you are given orders, you obey them. You do not argue and you most definitely do not call us unreasonable. Is that quite clearly understood?"
The moment Eeth righted her, both hands immediately flew to her backside. That had really hurt, not that this came as any surprise; it always really hurt! Raven pulled from his grip, folded her arms and tried to act like her backside was not on fire right now. Instead, she kept her eyes on the floor and gave a curt nod.
"Yes, master. I'm sorry." Because it was the only answer she could give that wouldn't land her in more trouble.
"Beware," Lakhri informed her. "Eeth is in full mission mode, and as you might have noticed, that means he is even less tolerant than he is at the Temple, impossible though that sounds."
Eeth shot him a reproving look. "Come with me for a moment, padawan," he said. He steered Raven into his cabin and waited until the door slid shut behind them. Then he lifted her chin up with a finger, forcing her to look at him.
"Listen, padawan," he said in a low, solemn voice. "When this mission was first planned, it was a relatively straightforward escort affair that the entire Council deemed suitable for a padawan your age. Once it became apparent that the royal family had disappeared and needed to be found, a number of Council members were inclined to assign this mission to a different team with a more experienced padawan. I had to muster quite an amount of persuasion to convince them that you were ready for this and would not jeopardise the success of this mission. You have worked hard these past months and have made a lot of progress, and I wanted to reward you with a mission that will allow you to gain practical experience. I also thought you might like to work with Lakhri whose assignment to this mission had already been determined, due to his experience in the Hevelan system. My point is that many people, including myself, have put a lot of trust in you by allowing you to take part in a mission that would normally have been assigned to an older padawan. In return, I expect you to be on your best behavior, ESPECIALLY where obedience is concerned. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"That a lot of people don't think I'm up to the mission, and you had to convince them that I am, and now you don't want me to make a liar out of you. I'm not exactly thrilled about hearing that," Raven admitted, but she did not pull away from him and kept her gaze on his.
"Padawan, I know you are capable," said Eeth firmly. "You just need to make an effort. Starting now, not five days from now. You have the necessary skills. You just need to obey my orders. All of them."
"But maybe if you didn't give me so many orders, it wouldn't be so hard for me to obey them all … And we would meet somewhere in the middle?" Preferably without the sore ass which Raven was currently nursing, but she left that part out.
Eeth's eyes narrowed. "There is absolutely no reason for us to meet anywhere in the middle," he said icily. "You seem to labor under the misconception that we are on equal terms here. We are not. So, are you going to obey, whether you like my instructions or not, or do we need to discuss this more thoroughly?"
"No, wait! It was just a joke, I was only joking," Raven rushed to say, turning her back to the wall just in case. She absolutely did not want to escalate this any more than it already had.
"I should hope so," Eeth said severely, giving her one last glare before letting go of her. "Now go, unpack, get ready for bed and join us here for our evening meditation."
"Yes, master," Raven said quickly, rushing to do as he said. This was not exactly a great start to her second mission. This wouldn't do. There was just no way Raven wanted a repeat of the last mission; it wasn't happening. Thus, she silently vowed that she would do better. She had to do better!