Kade awoke early the next morning as today was his favourite day, SUNDAY! All of his homework was done, there were NO classes, and given he wasn't being punished for anything, no community service or other chores that could clog up his freedom. The boy showered and got himself dressed, fashioned his braid, somewhat slapdash, and practically bounced into the common room. Drex was still in his room, so he decided to take on the task of making breakfast and began pulling things from the cupboard. First came the bacon, then some eggs, sausage and whatever else he could find that would fit in the fry pan; this was going to be a feast.
Drex had sensed Kade enter the common room when he had just entered the bathroom and gotten undressed. He saw no reason to hurry; it was Sunday, after all. So he took his time taking a shower and getting dressed for the day.
"Good morning, padawan," he said as he came to check on Kaden, about twenty minutes later, and found him in the kitchen.
By this point, Kade had a breakfast cooking that would give a Hutt indigestion. "Morning," he replied, swiping a smudge of sauce from his cheek with a tunic sleeve, not that his master could see, but still. "Sit down, I've made breakfast for us today, and it's almost done," he announced proudly. He was secretly trying to keep the man out of his kitchen as it was an absolute shit fest; Drex would come out wearing more than a juice straw.
"So I... smell," Drex said a little dubiously. "Thank you, padawan. Just one word of caution: No matter what the kitchen looks like right now, I want it back to its original state by the time I start preparing lunch, alright?"
"Of course," came the indignant response. Then Kade actually took a moment to glance around at the state of said kitchen. Hmmm.
Fifteen minutes later, the pair were sitting down to a breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, toast and coffee. Kade went for a frozen juice box but Drex had not ordered any more, so he had to settle for milk. It wasn't as good as juice but it was better than plain water. "What do you think?" he asked, biting into a piece of toast that he'd piled with bacon and egg, then slathered in hot sauce. Okay, so the bacon was a little on the crispy side and the eggs were a bit rubbery, but it was edible.
"It's good," Drex said with a smile. "Thank you. A bit on the heavy side, perhaps. It's a good thing we still have some time left until we meet Chatzis and Quarg so the food can settle. We need to do our morning meditation anyway."
Ninety minutes later, with the kitchen cleaned and Drex having informed Kaden that he was welcome to drink water if he was thirsty, instead of the juice packages he so liked which contained way too much sugar, they were on their way to the gym.
"I'll let you have some fun with Quarg first," Drex told Kade. "But after that, we'll work. You can work with Chatzis for a change; he practices Ataru, so there are things he can teach you that I can't."
Ataru was the form Kade had focused on during crèche. Drex knew this, so that he was letting him have some fun with it caused the boys lip to curl into a smile. He was genuinely looking forward to training with Chatzis and Quarg.
When they entered the gym, Chatzis had Quarg on the run. The boy looked determined but Kade could see the Zabrak was not going easy on him. "Focus, find the opening," Chatzis coached as he began backing his padawan into a corner.
"Woah, they're pretty good," Kade commented when Quarg sprang off the wall as if he were about to jump over, then rolled between the man's legs, coming out clear on the other side.
Chatzis had to laugh at the boy's resourcefulness but he'd sensed Drex and Kade entering their training room and did not want to keep them waiting. "Enough," he said, calling their match to an end. "That was a pretty sneaky move," he complimented, ruffling Quarg's hair. He was proud of the kid.
Quarg grinned at his master.
"Thanks," he said. He loved sparring, and he was pretty good at it. At the same time, he was a lot less aggressive than Kade and had no particular interest in winning his fights - at least not when he was sparring against older and more experienced Jedi. He readily disignited his saber and reattached it to his belt, then waved at Drex and Kade.
"Hi, grandmaster. Hi, Kaden," he said.
"Hello, Quarg," Drex said, clapping his shoulder. "Don't try that move with me, or you might find yourself clamped between my legs; not a very dignified outcome to a sparring match."
He gave Chatzis a brief hug.
"Shall we get started?" he asked. "Kade, who would you like to go against first?"
"That was a pretty neat move, although I have to admit the mental picture of getting clamped there is pretty funny, too," Kade said, nodding a greeting to them both. "You wanna try me first, Quarg?" the boy asked. He was looking forward to the challenge. Quarg was a few years older and shared his passion, so he had to be pretty awesome with a saber.
"Sure," Quarg said brightly, and as both masters gave a nod of approval, he beckoned Kade over to the other side of the room, taking a ready stance.
"Let me watch this for a while," Drex said quietly to Chatzis. "Kaden has improved a lot, but he still has a tendency to give in to his aggressions and take them out on his opponent."
Taking a moment to focus, Kade ignited his weapon and adopted a stance typical of Ataru. When he opened his eyes he could feel the Force around them and it was calming. He could also feel Quarg's presence which stood out like a beacon before him.
When Quarg attacked, Kade was already moving to block, a grin creeping to his lips as he matched the attack with one of his own; the teen was good, and this was going to be fun!
They fought on for a few minutes. Neither boy could seize an advantage over the other, but both were enjoying the fight. After about five minutes in when Kaden began to up the ante a little. Unlike Quarg who had been working out when he'd arrived, Kade was well rested and fresh, and he was curious to find out how his opponent would react to the more forceful, aggressive types of attack.
Chatzis was stretching, and like Drex, was paying close attention to the fight without making it obvious. He raised a brow at the power behind Kade's last attack; it was an advanced attack sequence that was designed to knock the lightsaber from an opponent's grip and usually resulted in said opponent flat on their back, wondering what the Force hit them.
Drex knew that Quarg could hold his own against Kaden, and so he did not intervene, for now - even though he felt that Kaden's ambitions were starting to overcome his reliance on the Force. Quarg, on the other hand, had learned to tame such emotions; moving with the flow of the Force, he swirled away from Kaden's attack, vaulted to the boy's back and moved into a fast counter-attack.
Kade blocked and avoided the attack, but only by the skin of his teeth… The close call reminded him that his focus was not where it should be, and for a moment he became irritated for almost making a fool out of himself in front of his new friend; the teen was going to think he was full of hot air if he didn't pull himself together and manage a decent attack soon.
Determined expression firmly in place, Kade tried to refocus. However a little of the frustration he felt had bleed into his attacks, slowly increasing the ferocity as each bout was encountered. Kaden was in padawan heaven; Quarg was a well matched opponent for him and this was up there with the most fun he'd had sparring since meeting Jin-Dai.
By this stage Chatzis had given up the pretence of appearing inconspicuous and was standing tall, arms crossed about his chest. Quarg was doing an admirable job of controlling his emotions and although he probably sensed a slight shift in the younger boy's focus, he remained in tune with the Force. Chatzis smiled in spite of himself. His apprentice had not always possessed such control and it reminded Chatzis just how far he had come in just a few short years.
Drex was not as happy with Kaden's control. For one thing, Kaden was becoming more and more aggressive as the fight progressed; for another thing, he was fast exhausting his energy reserves which was more than unwise when fighting against an opponent against whom no easy success could be expected. However, Drex thought that this might better be learned from experience than from being told off, so he let the match continue.
Although vaguely aware that his attacks were beginning to border on unacceptable, Kade was having a hard time reigning them in. He didn't want to actually hurt Quarg, but he did want him to think he was a decent fighter; someone worthy of his new status as Drex's padawan.
Kade continued to attack and parry, giving it his all, but it was soon obvious that Quarg was equal if not his better, and Kade was not going to win this fight; in fact, he was slowly being worn out!
Drex followed the fight impassively through the Force, his face giving no indication of his thoughts. Only when Kaden was actually starting to stumble and was giving the impression of nearing complete exhaustion did he say, quite calmly: "Alright, that's enough. Kaden, you can go against Chatzis now. Quarg, how about trying your new attack sequence against me?"
Quarg immediately disignited his saber. He was feeling the exertion, but pleasantly so; he was older, stronger and more practiced than Kaden, and more importantly, he had better learned to save his energy instead of wasting it on ferocious and pointless attacks.
"Good fight," he said cheerfully, holding his hand out to Kaden.
"Good fight," Kade reciprocated, although it was obvious that he was struggling. Quarg had really pushed him and truth be told, he didn't think there was anything good about that fight. Nor did he think his attacks were pointless; against the majority of opponents, they worked just fine.
"Not yet," he told Drex, his face flushing at the realisation that he needed a little more time than the others to recover.
"Right now," Drex said, still quite calmly, but with a hint of steel in his voice. There was a lesson he wanted Kade to learn here, and that lesson was that he needed to take his physiological limits into account. He needed to stop rushing into fights without thinking. As soon as he had realised that he was not going to score an easy win against Quarg, he should have revised his strategy and tried to focus on his defences, waiting for his opponent to create an opening. Drex had taught him this; and still, Kade's instinctive reaction to having his attacks thwarted was to up the ante. Against a real-life opponent who was able to outlast him, this would almost certainly be a fatal strategy. And Drex thought that for Kaden to make that experience first-hand was going to be more effective than any lecture on his part could be.
Therefore, he pointed Kade towards Chatzis who presumably knew what he was doing because they had had the same kind of run-in many years earlier; the expression on Drex's face clearly said that he expected Kaden to obey.
"But," Kade started to protest; yet, there was no mistaking the seriousness in Drex's tone, and he was soon standing in front of Chatzis, his saber drawn.
Chatzis knew from experience how Kade felt. He also knew how important it was for the boy to learn this lesson, and it was with that in mind that he ignited his blade and lunged into a moderate attack sequence that would prove challenging for the padawan in his current state.
For Force's sake! Kade thought while attempting to deflect the attack and backing up as best he could without landing flat on his ass. Unfortunately, his defences had never been stellar, least of all when he was tired, so it was not long before Chatzis had him on the run, literally.
"Keep your guard up," Chatzis coached, feigning a blow at the opening with his saber that would have been lethal had this been a real fight.
Kade rankled. "My guard IS up, you just keep pushing it down!" he snapped, his temper spiking and driving his next attack. He put some real hurt into this strike, and was satisfied when Chatzis sidestepped rather than turning it into a counter attack and pummeling him as he had done so far.
Drex signalled to Quarg to pause.
"Let's switch for a moment," he called out to Chatzis. His former padawan smoothly flipped away from Kade without disigniting his saber and took over the fight against Quarg while Drex started on Kade with an attack sequence that had his padawan flat on his back within seconds.
Chatzis felt for the kid, especially as he hit the floor with one hell of a thump; he was heavy set and he landed hard! The Zabrak man also understood that Drex was doing this for his own good. If Kade did not learn to control his aggression, and that attacking was not always the best strategy, he would not last very long in the field.
"That," Drex said sternly, "would not have happened if your guard had been up. Get up, pull yourself together and go on."
He knew that Kaden was feeling shattered, but that was rather the point.
Shattered was an understatement. That said, the boy knew that using anger to fuel his attacks was unacceptable. Thus, he was on his feet again in a heartbeat, doing his best to hide his discomfort. He did, however, keep his saber pointed down at his side in an effort to halt their match.
"No," he huffed. "Force, if you'd just let me have a second to recover, my guard wouldn't be down," he quipped, swiping at his brow with a sleeve. Kade wasn't usually outright defiant, but he was feeling frustrated and his pride was smarting at having been dropped on his ass.
"If you hadn't wasted all your energy on ferocious attacks, you wouldn't need a second to recover," Drex said softly. "You are very close to earning yourself a sore bottom. When I tell you to go on, you do just that, no matter how you feel about it. Now, GO ON!"
That last bit was said with enough emphasis to suggest that further defiance would be a very bad idea.
Kade bristled at being told his attacks were a waste of energy. The indignant response didn't last long, though, and his gaze was soon lowered, face flushing with shame at Drex's warning. The padawan was already embarrassed enough at having been dropped on his ass and told off, let alone being put over his master's knee in the middle of the gym! He had his saber up in a flash and was backing up ready to defend. He was shattered and decided to focus on defence until he recovered.
"That's more like it," Drex said approvingly. He kept attacking, but at a pace that Kaden would be able to deal with even in his current state if he really focussed. This gave the boy an opportunity to recover, if only slightly.
Only when Drex felt that Kaden had given all he could give did he allow him to stop.
"Now, do you have any idea why that just happened?" he inquired.
By this point, Kade was sweating and working to catch his breath. "B-because," he puffed, "You enjoy torturing me."
"Yes, of course," Drex said mildly. "Let's go on, then. Ready stance."
He reignited his saber, clearly expecting Kaden to do the same. He was not going to give his padawan a break as long as he received this type of answer.
Kade had barely caught his breath when Drex ordered him to begin. Again! He was tired out but obeyed all the same, quickly bringing his saber to a ready position. "Master, give me a breakkkkk," he begged quietly, shooting the man a beseeching expression. His arms were beginning to ache and he was tired of concentrating on defending himself.
"Well, as you said," Drex replied calmly, "I like torturing you. If this is your explanation for what is happening, there is no point in begging."
He brought his saber down in a basic attack move and started driving Kade back.
Quarg, who hadn't been able to help overhearing the conversation, winced. He knew what his grandmaster could be like when he was determined to teach a lesson, and he was pretty sure Kaden would have been much better off suppressing his claim that Drex liked to torture him in favour of a simple "I don't know".
Chatzis had also overheard, and the corner of his lip curled up a little at seeing his apprentice wince in sympathy. "Don't worry, he will live," the Zabrak sympathised, driving their fight across the gym where they would give the two privacy in case Kaden managed to push the man too far.
Unfortunately, Kade didn't know Drex as well as Chatzis and Quarg, but he did know that disobeying him had never ended well. His body protested as he forced himself to duck, dodge, block and jump in an effort to avoid the following attacks, and by the time Drex was through with him Kade was honestly wondering what would have been worse: the exhaustion he now felt, or being put across his knee in the middle of a gym for refusing to continue! The thought was short-lived as he recalled how bad it had hurt the last time his master had seen fit to spank him; he was certain there was a spot on his ass that was still slightly numb.
"N-no, more," he panted, hands on his knees.
The expression on Drex' face remained impassive, showing no hint of pity.
"Let me repeat my question," he said. "Do you have any idea why this is happening, other than the absurd assumption that I like torturing you?"
It was on the tip of Kade's tongue to state that it could hardly be considered absurd if it happened to be true! But he bit his tongue in favour of self-preservation; the boy was wrecked. "No!" he simply said.
"Think back to when you were sparring against Quarg, then," Drex said patiently. "You realised he was at least as good as you, probably better, and you couldn't score a fast victory against him. How did you react?"
Although Kade did not move his head or move from his slumped recovery position, he glanced up at the man with a resigned expression. "I got frustrated and," he paused to consider his answer a moment longer. "Instead of releasing my frustration into the Force I let it fuel my attacks… And they became more aggressive," the padawan admitted, straightening and clipping his saber to his belt.
"And in the process you exhausted your energy reserves against an opponent who could clearly outlast you," Drex replied evenly. He disignited his saber, too, but did not yet reattach it to his belt.
"Can you guess what the consequence of such behaviour would be in a real fight?" he inquired.
"Yes," Kade answered honestly, doing his best not to drop his gaze.
"Then tell me," Drex said.
Kade frowned. "Why? you already know that I'd have lost the fight. We both already know it, you're just rubbing salt into the wound," he grumbled.
"Because this is not about your pride, but about the fact that I don't want you to die for no good reason," Drex said, unusually sharply. "What you did was not only against your teaching, it was stupid, pointless and it could have been outright fatal in a real-life situation. Had you limited yourself to blocking Quarg's attacks and waiting for an opening, you would not have ended up too exhausted to fight Chatzis, but that is not my concern here because you will hopefully have other occasions to work with Chatzis. My concern is with preparing you for the kind of life you have chosen, while you insist on acting as if this was all about getting an award for the fastest attack."
"Fine then," Kade stated, drawing himself up to his full height and meeting the man's silver eyes with his own dark ones. "You're right, it was stupid, pointless and might have been fatal. I humbly apologise, Master!" he said with a little more sarcasm than was necessary; he was becoming increasingly annoyed, was sore and felt embarrassed at having to deal with this conversation while Chatzis and Quarg were still sparring.
"I don't think there's anything humble about your apology," Drex replied quietly. "Your attitude leaves a lot to be desired. Go home, take a shower, get changed and wait for me there. If you took the time to reflect your behaviour and where it might have been inappropriate, you would be doing yourself a big favour."
Kade stiffened, but did not move. He glanced over at where Chatzis and Quarg were still sparring. He didn't want to leave as they'd both know that Drex had sent him home like some naughty youngling being put in a time out! That said neither did he particularly want to risk the repercussions of disobeying.
"Go. What are you waiting for?" Drex told him.
That was enough to shake Kaden from his thoughts. Wordlessly, the padawan nodded once in compliance, then turned on his heel and strode from the gym, anger radiating from his very being.
Drex crossed over to where Chatzis and Quarg were taking a break from their match to watch Kaden leave.
"I'm sorry I had to cut this short," he said quietly. "But there are some things Kade needs to learn, and I felt I would do him a disservice in the long run if I indulged his aggressions."
He made an appointment with them to meet later that week, then made his way to a meditation garden and took a while to meditate. He did not really need to cool down, but Kaden might; and Drex wanted to give him a fair chance at dealing with his attitude on his own. Of course, if he didn't manage to do so, Drex was more than ready to help the process along.
By the time Kade reached their quarters, he had begun to calm down. As usual, he headed directly for the cooler, ripping open the door with a little more force than necessary only to remember that his master was not restocking their juice boxes, and slammed the door, hard! He went wide-eyed as the freezer went into some sort of gargled death throw, then fell completely silent. "Fuck!"
Deciding to deal with one issue at a time, he showered and changed into a comfortable pair of sleep pants, then spent some time releasing his emotions into the Force.
Finally, after around forty minutes, Drex returned home. By this point, Kade was beginning to focus less on his wounded pride and more on the behaviour that led to it.
He had spent the last half hour releasing his emotions into the Force and managed to calm down somewhat as a result. He wasn't thrilled with Drex for pushing him so hard, neither did he enjoy being scolded and sent home while Chatzis and Quarg were there, but he was no longer seething. In fact, he felt more embarrassed than mad now.
He was contemplating this shift in mood when he heard the sound of their mechanical door sliding open. He was on his feet instantly.
Kade knew his master would sense his presence, but given he had taken to meditating in the common room instead of his bedroom where Drex probably expected him to have retreated, he spoke up. "I'm in the common room," he called, making sure to reposition his mat in exactly the right place. Drex wouldn't fall over it, but it made life easy for his blind master if he was careful with such things, especially in his own home where he came to relax.
Drex hung his cloak on a hook, pulled off his boots, put them away and crossed over to the sofa.
"If you are ready to talk to me respectfully, come sit with me," he said. "If you're not, better meditate some more."
Kade didn't justify that with a response; instead, he simply moved to sit by Drex's side. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked, not quite knowing where to start, but neither was he eager to talk.
In Drex's experience, Kade was hardly ever eager to talk, but unfortunately, there were times at which it could not be avoided.
"Padawan, I am not out to make life difficult for you," Drex told the boy. "The future you have chosen for yourself holds many dangers, and you will only be able to avoid falling prey to them if you learn self-discipline. As long as you are unable to exercise that discipline, I will have to exercise it for you. Tell me: When you were fighting Quarg, did it at all occur to you that what you were doing was not the right way to proceed? Or did you only realise that when you suffered the consequences?"
His tone of voice was calm and without reproach. He was asking because he genuinely wanted to know the answer.
Of course Kaden didn't really believe Drex was out to make his life hard, despite feeling so at times, and he had known what his future held when he'd chosen this career; it was no walk in the park.
"Not at first," the boy admitted honestly, "but…" he paused, not keen on revealing this but feeling it was the right thing to do. "I felt frustrated and angry, and I started using those emotions to fuel my attacks instead of releasing them into the Force. I wanted to win."
"Thank you for your honesty," Drex said. "You have seen for yourself that this strategy is not only unlikely to gain you any favours, but also quite pointless. The next time you do such a thing, you will be restricted to defensive moves for a month, at least. Another thing I don't want to see you doing is to vent your frustrations at me. I am not asking you questions because I want to make you miserable, but because I want you to learn, and I do not appreciate insolent or sarcastic answers. I was very close to putting you across my knee right there and then, and if there is a repeat occurrence, that is exactly what I will do."
Although Drex could not see it, Kade flushed with embarrassment at his words. Being restricted to defensive moves only would be torture for Kaden, but what Drex said last really caught his attention. Would he really go through with that? One look at the man's expression said that, yes, absolutely, he would. Kade dragged sweaty palms down his sleep pants and cleared his throat. "Can I go study now?" he asked, keen to end the uncomfortable discussion and get the hell out of dodge.
"You may," said Drex. "I will take care of lunch in the meantime. I think we still have some eggs, cheese and salad left in the cooler."
The kid did not need telling twice and was gone in a flash. That was until he realised that Drex was about to attempt making lunch from a busted cooler and he came to a skidding halt.
"Wait, I can make lunch, it's easier for me anyway and I can study later," the boy suggested. He wanted an opportunity to try fixing the damned thing before having to admit he'd broken it in a fit of temper.
Drex instantly sensed a hint of panic in his padawan's offer, which roused his suspicion.
"Padawan, I'm perfectly able to make lunch for us, as you well know," he said mildly. "What's the matter?"
"I know that," Kaden replied, desperately trying to come up with some credible explanation for his sudden compulsion to cook after he'd just mentioned he had studying to do. He didn't want to admit this but apparently he didn't have much of a choice, Drex was going to find out anyway. "The cooler doesn't work anymore," he said hesitantly. "I broke it. Sorry," he added and scratched nervously at the back of his head. Of course it had occurred to him to lie, to simply say nothing and allow Drex to assume the thing had just conked out, but lying to Drex had thus far proved pointless and reliably earned him a more serious punishment for his efforts.
Well, that was a new one.
"How ever did you manage to do that?" Drex asked, honestly surprised.
Not for the first time, Kade was thankful that the man could not physically see the pained expression on his face. He just had to ask that, not that he should be surprised; after all, it was a fair question, considering. "I don't know how exactly," he hedged. "It just stopped working after I slammed the door shut."
Drex was silent for a while, digesting this.
"Alright, so you didn't only take out your temper on me, you took it out on an innocent household appliance," he said, a hint of humour lacing his voice. "I'll call maintenance, then. And I'll register you for ten hours of community service with them in order to compensate for this waste of time and, potentially, credits."
The padawan squirmed in the silence, and was grateful when Drex finally spoke. He was surprised to hear a hint of humour in the man's tone, but his gaze dropped shamefully when he heard about the community service.
"Alright," he agreed quietly, accepting the consequence without protest; after all, it was fair enough.
The boy turned, heading for his bedroom.
"What I would like to know, though," Drex said, effectively halting Kadens retreat, "is why you didn't tell me right away."
Kaden turned back to face his master. That solemn tone did not fill him with confidence. He coughed to clear his throat. "Because I was already in trouble and I didn't want to get a harsher punishment because I did my block and broke the cooler as well," he confessed. "I was going to try and fix it first, then if I couldn't, I was gonna tell you, honest."
"Nevertheless, I would have expected you to tell me right away," Drex said. "And I think you know that. Not telling me things for fear of getting into trouble will always make them worse. If you had told me right away, community service would have been all the punishment you would have received. As it is, you are going to receive a spanking in order to teach you to own up to your mistakes. Take your pants down and get over my lap."
"Aww, no!" Kade whined, scuffing at the floor with a bare foot. This was the extent of his protesting, though, as the last time he'd complained and refused to obey over something like this, he'd gotten a belting for his efforts. Granted, it was only three licks, yet it had hurt badly enough to make him seriously reconsider doing anything that might earn him a do-over.
Resigned, he dragged his feet to their dining table, pulled out the chair and positioned it the same as he had last time, then took down his sleep pants. Kade wasn't wearing underwear, so he was bare quicker than he'd have liked. He didn't look up at his master. Instead, he simply stood there, arms folded and waited for the man to sit down. He wasn't at all happy about this, nor was he thrilled at being put across the man's knee. He hated having to do this! It never failed to make the twelve-year-old feel like a naughty youngling caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He was almost twelve and far, FAR too old in his opinion.
Drex did not actually mind Kade feeling that way; after all, he had been naughty and that was why he was in this position in the first place.
He sat; then, when Kade had reluctantly bent over his lap, he started spanking right away. He did not plan on making this a very harsh spanking; this was simply for not owning up right away, and that in itself was not a particularly serious offense. Nevertheless, he did not want a repeat occurrence, and with that in mind, he meted out fairly hard and fast swats.
As usual the boy kept his head down, gritted his teeth and waited. He wasn't kept waiting long and let out a grunt of pain as the first smack took him by surprise. It always did; it was easy to forget just how much it actually hurt until, well, it was too late. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly against the pain, Kade tried hard to accept his punishment with dignity, but it was not easy, especially as by the tenth solid smack, his master's huge hand began to feel like it was carved from a firethorn tree. "Ahh!" he hissed as the next landed low, roasting his under curve.
"Think of this the next time you feel it would be a good idea not to tell me about something I *really* *ought to* *know about*," Drex told Kaden, punctuating the last part of that sentence with particularly hefty swats. "I do *not* appreciate having to wheedle it out of you."
He focussed exclusively on Kaden's sitspot now. He was spanking nowhere near as hard as he had when Kaden had engaged in unauthorised sparring, but he was sure it was still noticeable enough.
It was noticed alright and it showed despite Kade's efforts at stoicism. "AhhHhhow! I will!" the boy gasped, desperately hoping that acknowledging the lecture instead of ignoring it would work towards convincing his master that he'd learned his lesson and stop! When Drex started nailing his under curve, Kade couldn't help but whine, it hurt! "AHhhhh! Yeouchhhh!" he hissed through gritted teeth, and although he was doing his darnedest to keep from wriggling, he couldn't help it.
A hand came up to clutch at the man's trouser leg and another particularly nasty swat to his thigh had the padawan dropping his weight. It was just too much to support himself with one arm while Drex's huge hand seemed hell-bent on pounding the feeling from his ass.
Drex gave Kaden half a dozen more swats to the spot on which he would eventually have to sit, and he was making each of them count. Then he stopped.
Kade yelped his way through those last six, then lay there for a moment trying to catch his breath. He wasn't crying, but neither was he far off it.
"Alright, up you get," Drex said.
The padawan rose stiffly from the awkward position, stumbling a little as he did so; there was just no dignified way to stand from this position. When he got to his feet his eyes were overbright with unshed tears and he was practically holding his breath to keep from sniffling. "I'm sorry, Master," he said earnestly, while trying to keep his voice even; it had not been the harshest punishment he'd received, not by a long shot, but it had still hurt the boy.
"Can I go to my room now?" he asked while gingerly sliding his sleep pants up. It fucking burned!
"You may," Drex replied gently. He hugged Kade briefly, but not tightly or long enough to embarrass his would-be manly padawan.
The child in Kaden sought solace in his master's embrace and soaked it up; conversely, the young man in him was heartened by the short yet meaningful gesture; it was a real dilemma, but such was life for some adolescents.
"We might go out into Coruscant after lunch," Drex added. "Provided I can get maintenance to come before then. Now go and study."
Kade was about to retreat to his bedroom where he planned on sulking for an hour or so when Drex dropped a bombshell. His face lit up in spite of the sting in his tail. "Yes, Master," he replied, the excitement in his tone and across their bond evident as he took off for his room, all the while praying to the Force that maintenance was not hit by an influx of priorities.
