Jedova huffed and swept sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his tunic. It did not really help anymore as the sleeves were already soaked from the sweat. He did not even want to know how well cooked his feet were inside his boots; he was grateful for that they kept the cold away on cold planets but this was not a good place for them to be used.

He felt frustrated. This was the sparsest jungle on the cooler side of Port Haven and it was still like a grill to him and his Padawan. Why could not the Council just send someone from a species which is more used to the heat? Sören could have been a good choice for that, being a Kajain'Sa'Nikto from Kintan's hellish desert, Jedova mused.

It would have been bad even if they did not have to walk all the way. They had been walking ever since yesterday, apart from sleeping and having breaks. Jedova had taken his robe off hours ago, but Arya still kept hers on.
"Aren't you burning alive with the dark robe on?" Jedova asked the girl. "Honestly, Padawan, you could take it off. You won't be freezing here without it."
"So it took you that long to ask," Arya muttered and took the robe off fast. "I was already wondering if I became broiled in this."

Jedova shook his head. He could not believe that Arya had been deliberately keeping the robe on. The girl seemed to have either some masochistic traits or great determination and patience. Jedova could not name which one.
"It would be great if we could get somewhere to cool up a little bit," he sighed.
"I can sense a pond nearby," Arya said then.
"Really?" Jedova asked.
"I'm from the tribe of water, after all," Arya reminded, shrugging.
"Then show the way, please," Jedova said, relieved.

Arya turned from the path and walked to denser part of the jungle. Jedova followed her, hearing the Padawan pant slightly. This was taking its toll on her, too.
"There!" Arya then gasped and jumped over a root. "A small pond but it's water, all right."

Jedova walked to her side. A tall tree gave a good shadow over the pond.
"It's time for a good break," he said and sat down to the ground, noticing Arya doing the same thing. Then the girl took her boots and socks off, and lifted the trouser legs up near her knees before submerging her feet to the water. Arya sighed in relief.
"At least the water here is cool," she said.
"Are you planning to swim in this pond?" Jedova asked jokingly.

Arya made a face.
"You know that I don't like swimming, Master," she reminded. "My legs are just so toasted."

Jedova recalled thinking about that for the last time just a moment ago.
"I have to admit that that's a good idea," he noted and did not hesitate to get his boots and socks off. He did regret that for a small moment as the smell of foot odor hit his senses and he tossed the smelling socks away alongside the boots, then put his feet to the water quickly.

Arya hid her grin as she saw her Master's expression.
"It sure feels good to find something cool in this atmosphere," Jedova said.
"Yeah. This is like a planet-wide sauna, that's how Qui-Gon described this before we left," Arya noted.
"A sauna?" Jedova repeated. He had never heard that word.
"Yeah, it's a real hot room – something like near to 100 degrees, I think – where humans go to sweat and they throw some water to the sauna stove. I don't remember what planet it's from, but Qui-Gon said that it's not very successful outside its home planet", Arya told and chuckled. "Qui-Gon said that he and Master Dooku did not like it when they were forced to try it. He did mention that while Master Dooku retained his nobility when it was suggested, it couldn't be salvaged at the sauna."

Jedova snorted in amusement. He could imagine the younger Jedi sweating in a small room. And he wanted to avoid that fate.
"Who does like it? One has to be crazy to go to a place like that voluntarily," he noted.
"The local people who usually go there like it. They're probably just some sort of stupid race of humans," Arya noted. "Exceptionally stupid, that is."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Jedova asked, making his tone a bit absent-minded.
"Nothing," Arya sounded innocent. Too innocent.

Jedova looked at her. The Veledosian could sometimes note something like that about humans to him in privacy. Arya did not look at him, just kept her eyes closed. Jedova turned to look at the opposite shore of the pond. He could not really blame the girl's Veledosian arrogance towards humans; most of the idiots the girl had met during her life had been humans indeed, and she knew to not let that arrogance show when there was anyone else than just the two of them.
"You know, Master, I haven't really ever liked water that much, but I learned from my peers as an Initiate that it can be amusing," Arya noted, now opening her eyes.
"I see," Jedova said.

He did not notice Arya bending and putting her hand to the water.
"Want to know why?" the girl asked.
"Sure," Jedova turned to look at the girl.

He let out a shout as he tried to get his arm to protect himself from the sudden mass of water. It was in vain; he could not avoid water hitting right at him. Suddenly he was soaking wet and Arya laughed pleasurefully.
"Got you, Master!" she shouted, holding her stomach.

Jedova glared at her and sent irritated waves through the Force. Arya went silent fearfully.
"Err... sorry, Master. I... I did not mean to offend you or anything," she said.
"Quite insolent of you, my Padawan. I am not a person who lets such slip unpunished," Jedova said threateningly. He seemed to straighten his posture to loom over his Padawan menacingly.
"L-listen, Master, I-I'm sorry, I-" Arya stuttered, but her sentence cut off to a cry as she turned her head away and raised her hands to protect herself from her Master.

A great mass of water hit her; Jedova had retaliated. Arya opened her eyes and looked at his grin, aghast.
"Why you..." Arya took some Force from her surroundings to get more water and make sure that the Jedi Master would become soaked. Jedova was not going to just sit and let that happen; masses of water clashed and some of water flew at the laughing Jedi.

Jedova tried to get a different angle to hurl water to, but he bent too far and fell to the pond. Arya's laughter was vibrant as she got an even better position to hurl water at her Master. Then she was suddenly pushed from her back to the pond. It was Jedova's turn to laugh.
"Got you, Padawan!" he shouted and hurled more water. He had Force pushed the girl to water.
"You'll pay for that!" Arya shouted back. She dodged some water, making sure that her momentum made great waves, and dove underwater. Jedova tried to see where his Padawan was heading, but Arya was faster than him; a decent amount of water hit the back of his head and neck.

Jedova turned and splashed water to her direction, but Arya only kept the water from blinding her.
"Too late, I'm soaking wet already!" she shouted and returned the water back to Jedova. "And I'll make sure you will be too!"
"We'll see about that, Padawan!" Jedova said. "You can't topple me!"

Arya splashed some water with both of her hands and an invisible push hit Jedova's torso all the sudden right after that. Jedova lost his footing, stumbled backwards and fell. His head came back to the surface quickly.

Arya laughed.
"'You can't topple me'!" she imitated the Jedi Master. "Thanks for the challenge! And it seems to me that I succeeded!"

A vast amount of water hit her with notable force and the girl had fell underwater. Jedova noticed then that Arya was not coming back to the surface.
"Arya?" he asked, now worried. "Arya?"

He walked to the spot where Arya had fallen. Then the Padawan got up abruptly and splashed water right at his face.
"There!" she said. "Surprise!"
"Arya," Jedova muttered. "I already thought that you got hurt or something."
"Nah, if I had gotten unconscious, I would've come up to the surface," Arya noted. "I'm not a rock, you know!"

Jedova chuckled.
"All right, I think we have been having enough fun, Padawan," he said and put his hand to the girl's shoulder. "Let's move on."
"Sure. Since I already managed to topple you even though you said that I couldn't!" Arya said, grinning. Jedova snorted and started to take the girl back to the shore, making sure that she would not get a new chance to hurl some water at him.

Arya put her hand to Jedova's back, causing him to look at her just to make sure that the girl was not up to some mischief. He only saw a truly innocent smile on Arya's face – the smile of a child.

Jedova could not help smiling. His friend Phayeth could not understand why he liked training Padawans, but once again he saw himself why: it was because of small moments like this one.

It was because of the small moments when he could leave his adultlike role as a Jedi Master be and have fun with someone close to him and see them happy. Those moments lacked his unluckiness. It was swept aside then.

And it was also because of how good he felt to see his apprentices grow up and learn. He felt good to be part of someone's life in such an important way.

Jedova knew he was starting to get old. Arya would most likely be his last Padawan.

He had learned from his mistakes in previous decades. He was going to succeed in Arya's training better than in anyone else's training before.

/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/