A/N: Hi, hi, and thanks to all those who are reading our story, who have reviewed and who have sent us IMs. We really appreciate the feedback and are thrilled to hear that our writing has inspired some of our readers to begin writing again. That's awesome. The next few chapters are going to see things shaken up a little for our Jedi. We hope you enjoy the ride.

We keep being asked for faster updates. We know we were pretty fast with stories like "Goyts." Currently, we find ourselves unable to keep up that speed, mainly because the original stories that we work with are really bad and some of the things we wrote at the beginning of our role-playing career fly in the face of our characters' later development. So we basically have to rewrite 80% of them and that takes time. Plus, both of us are fairly busy with real life at the moment. We still work on the stories nearly every day but progress is slow under the circumstances. We assume that after the Fenesteer mission, things will get easier because the original threads that we'll work on then are in much better shape already. Thank you for sticking with us!


The trip home passed in silence, save for occasional remarks exchanged between the diplomats on board the shuttle. Everybody seemed to be very full and fairly tired. Eeth was neither, but he was annoyed with his padawan and that did not tend to put him in a talkative mood.

Raven, for her part, was uncharacteristically quiet. She could tell that Eeth wasn't pleased with her; the only unknown was the extent of said displeasure.

Once they had arrived, the passengers made for their quarters. Eeth ushered Raven inside theirs from which Granzien and Sato were still absent, thankfully.

"Explain yourself," he said brusquely as soon as the door had closed behind them.

"Gee, can't y…" Raven stopped herself from finishing that comment, as she knew that demanding Eeth to stop riding her would go over like a fart in an elevator. The padawan coughed unnecessarily. She had returned late to the banquet after having gotten caught up satiating Kaal's curiosity regarding the Force and how the Jedi used it. It was futile, Raven knew that; he would never learn to harness the Force as Jedi did, but that was beside the point. Still, it was important to keep Prince Daimus' personal assistant onside, and to gain his trust. At least that was the angle Raven planned on taking to get herself off Eeth's shit list. Yeah.

"I'm sorry I was late." Because apologising was always a good way to start. "It was like Kaal said. He was interested in the Force and insisted that I help him learn more about it. I also thought it might help to gain his trust because he'd be more inclined to tell me things if I was obliging in return."

"And how did that compel you to return late?" Eeth asked icily. "I had to keep ten diplomats, two droids and a shuttle driver waiting because you were not there when we were supposed to leave."

Okay, so the fact that her apology had fallen flat was condemning; this was not going well, and it was time to switch tactics. "It didn't compel me," Raven looked reflective for a moment. "But if I say that something did, would you still be mad?" Humour was a long shot because Eeth didn't have a sense of humour at the best of times.

"This is a hypothetical question," Eeth snapped, "which has no bearing on our discussion. So, do you have an excuse for being late, yes or no?"

"Yes. I was helping fortify relations with our hosts. Such niceties are implied in our mandate," Raven explained with every ounce of self-assurance she could muster. When facing off against Eeth, finding such assurance, nerve and courage was a feat in and of itself.

"And if you had gone to the trouble of returning in time," Eeth asked, now in a voice of deadly calm, "that would have damaged relations with our hosts how, exactly?"

Fuck. Raven was digging herself deeper each time she opened her mouth here. Was attempting to lie about having been late on purpose going to be a good or bad thing? Bad, it had to be bad! That statement ran counter to Kaal's apology, and Eeth would be all over that. The long pause was killing her credibility with every second that ticked by here! "Uh."

Eeth lost what little remained of his patience at that point. He turned her to face the wall, bent her forward, pushed her robes aside and, ignoring Raven's last-minute attempts at begging, applied a scorching swat to the seat of her pants.

"I am waiting for an answer," he informed her, emphasising this statement with a second swat.

Raven opened her mouth to start talking, because the force behind that first swat had rattled her teeth, only to have the breath she had saved wasted on a wail. "OWw!" An arm flew back to protect herself from further swats, but it was entirely ineffective given the way Eeth held her. "I didn't do it on purpose. I know how prickly you get about punctuality! I swear it! I don't have any excuse, I just lost track of time." All that came out in a rush, but at least she had gotten it out before further swats were added.

"I thought as much," Eeth said coldly, letting go of her. "When I give you a time to meet me, I do expect you to mind me. Especially during a mission. Eleven people and two droids were kept up because you did not care to look at your watch. If you want to talk about diplomatic damage, you might think about the damage this could have done."

He nodded towards the dining room. "Bare your bottom and bend over a chair," he ordered. "I will fetch my paddle and give you a reminder of my expectations."

"Aww!" Raven whined, swiping at her face with her sleeve; she wasn't crying, but nor was she at all happy about receiving those orders. Still, she wasn't willing to risk making it any worse by arguing with him, so, she dragged her feet towards the chair and began to do as told. "I already got a reminder, though, and it hurt already!" the padawan protested loudly enough to be heard and reluctantly dropped her trousers.

Without responding, Eeth went to fetch his paddle. He typically did not go quite as far as to carry it to diplomatic functions. There was no way he was going to paddle Raven in public during such events anyway.

Returning to the dining room, he said: "The reminder you received was for refusing to give honest and appropriate answers to my questions. This is for your tardiness. As you correctly pointed out, I am never particularly tolerant about this. And that goes twofold during a mission. Now, you were eleven minutes late. And the number of swats you will receive will reflect that."

He raised the paddle and brought it down onto Raven's bottom with considerable force.

"Wait, what?" but it was too little too late. "Ow!" The padawan rose up on to her toes because that had fucking hurt! It was a trend that continued as the next few landed. Raven stomped her foot and twisted to little avail because Eeth still managed to land the horrid thing exactly where she didn't want it regardless of her writhing. By six she was sniffling, and by nine Raven had stopped begging and started crying.

Unperturbed, Eeth completed the eleven swats he meant to deal out. Then he stuck the paddle into his belt and said "You may get up."

Raven shot up like a spring, both hands flying to her backside in an effort at rubbing out the sting while she hopped from foot to foot and tried not to tangle herself in her trousers. "Owww!" she continued whining, not caring that she was perhaps not taking this with as much dignity as she ought to.

"If this happens again during this mission, I will give you two swats for every minute you are late," Eeth said sharply. "We are on serious business, and timing is essential. On other occasions, lives may depend on it. So you had better make more of an effort in the future. Now. I have ordered a speeder with a driver that will be at our entrance in –" he glanced at his chronometer – "fifteen minutes. We will spend the afternoon looking at the sites of the coronation ceremony and checking for security hazards. Use the remaining time to clean yourself up a little."

Still sniffling, the padawan pulled up her trousers and ran for her bedroom. Her ass burned, but the cold tiles helped a little with that. Fifteen minutes was not a long time, especially when all Raven wanted to do was sit on her bathroom floor, sniffle and sulk. Lives had not depended on it this time, though, she muttered to herself, wallowing in self-pity.

When she emerged exactly fourteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, the padawan was still pouting. She had not forgiven him, despite the punishment having been deserved. "Harsh," she accused, letting that one word speak volumes.

Eeth did not care for any of what those volumes implied. He grabbed her ear, bent her forward and gave her another of his trademark swats that rang off the walls.

Given that Eeth had just paddled the bejesus out of her barely fifteen minutes ago, Raven thought it safe enough to risk a little sulking. Apparently, she had been mistaken! The yowl she let out in response was deafening and she started sniffling all over again.

"You may tell me why the punishment you just received was well-deserved," Eeth growled. "Right now, within thirty seconds. Or, if you find yourself unable to do so, I will inform the driver that we will be delayed and I will take the time to explain it to you myself. With you over my knee. Your choice." There were a lot of things that Eeth had no tolerance for, besides tardiness. Pouting and sulking over punishment was definitely among them.

"No, wait!" Raven sniffled, because that was not much of a choice! She did absolutely not want to go over his knee; in fact, sitting down was going to be bad enough as it was for the rest of the day. Thirty seconds was not a very long time, especially so when your ass was on fire. "Because I didn't show up when you told me to, and this is serious business where timing is important, and it could have done diplomatic damage, and I tried to get out of it. No more," Raven sniffled. She wasn't crying, but it was getting close to that again.

"I had no intention of giving you more before you started complaining," said Eeth releasing his hold on her. "Stop sulking. It is not going to make me feel bad about having punished you but it might quite possibly add to your own troubles. Now let us go. The pilot will be waiting."

Raven had indeed been trying to make him feel bad! It had not worked. In fact, each time Raven tried doing something like that it had backfired. Eeth was being harder on her than usual, though; perhaps it was because they were on a mission? Raven didn't know. What she did know was that despite doing her best to clean herself up, it was still obvious to anyone who knew anything about humans that she had been crying. It was also obvious why when she sat down in their speeder, Eeth's latest instalment having reignited the fire. Still, Raven did her best to hide her discomfort. Despite wanting to throw Eeth an accusatory look, she refrained from doing so, if only because she did not want a repeat.

Eeth gave the driver a few short instructions, then leaned back into his seat.

"The main coronation ceremony will take place tomorrow, at the largest square in the city," he said. "We, along with the other diplomats, will be seated on one of the palace balconies, but there will also be huge crowds on the square and in the streets. It is the perfect opportunity for initiating unrest. Of course, for that precise reason, there will be strict security measures in place. We will want to get a good overview of the site, of possible access and escape routes and security hazards."

"Alright," Raven replied and leant forward to examine the onboard holo machine more carefully. It did not take more than a look from Eeth to tell the padawan that flicking it on would not be wise, though. And so she did not.

The palace was not far from their guest quarters, and so their ride was blissfully short, much to Raven's relief. Eeth led them directly to the topmost floor. From here they would have the best view of the overall layout and meet with the security teams who would be on duty during the ceremony. There was also an enormous balcony that encircled the entire floor. Raven waited quietly while Eeth spoke with the local security teams in place for tomorrow's festivities. "I'll start checking out the balcony?" Raven said when there was a pause in the conversation. It had started as a statement but ended as a question; this was a mission and she needed to follow Eeth's lead, of course.

"Yes, but be back in five minutes, and do not leave the balcony," Eeth said curtly before returning his attention to the security official he had been talking to. He was planning on going down and examining the square more closely soon.

Five minutes was not very long at all, but Raven strode off all the same. From up here, she could see down into the square and its surrounds. There were any number of smaller alleyways that could be used to sneak in unnoticed, as well as several adjacent buildings that were being worked on and currently had sections open with only thin protection from the elements in place. Raven took all of this in, and then she returned to Eeth's side five minutes later to the second; there was no way Raven was going to be late for anything ever again, not ever.

Eeth had just wrapped up his conversation. He led Raven down a stairway and towards the front entrance of the building.

"This is the only entrance that will be open tomorrow," he explained. "All the side entrances will be blocked, and the building will be searched tonight to make sure that no assassin hides in there overnight. Now, I want you to keep a close eye on our surroundings and look for opportunities to attempt an assassination or to cause riots. Tell me whatever comes to your mind. We will circle the area first, then have a closer look at critical spots."

Raven nodded at his instructions. She followed him for the first ten minutes or so, but then started to find her own and began branching off.

Eeth had explained how to mentally divide the area up into quadrants and that by doing this, it made a large area easier to search and secure. Putting his theory to the test, Raven went about checking each of her sections. There were a couple of trouble spots, which she reported back. "Section C is vulnerable to attack from the east as some of the wall has been knocked down, although most of it is still there and providing protection for sections A and D," she explained. Raven looked contemplative for a moment. "Do you suspect an attack?" It was a fair question given that they were here at a ceremonial capacity, although Raven couldn't hide that she was perhaps a little excited by the idea.

"An occasion like this always offers a temptation for such attempts, especially as we know that there is a small, but fierce and influential opposition," Eeth replied. "We do not have concrete evidence pointing to a plot, but nor do we want to run any risks. Thank you for drawing my attention to the missing part of the wall. We will ask the security officials about it."

He discussed the matter with a security officer who told him that several roles of barbed wire were going to be delivered to the spot in question and were to be installed this afternoon.

"Now that we have checked the ground, how about the rooftops?" Eeth asked Raven. "Let us go around and see whether there is any way to get access to them without having to pass the security barriers."

The pair split up again as this was the more effective way to search. Raven took the left route, while Eeth began searching from the right. The padawan tried to imagine how she would go about inconspicuously gaining access to the roof if she had to, and ran through the options that would be available given the structure. It wouldn't be easy, that much was for sure.

"It seems pretty safe to me, unless, of course, someone can use the Force or is lucky enough to own a set of rocket boots. A rope gun might work, but given the angle of the overhang, they would have to be quite fit, not to mention invisible, to pull that off," said Raven upon meeting up with Eeth in the middle some time later.

"So you saw no possible opening?" Eeth inquired. "Somewhere that someone well-equipped might get in unseen, however much planning it would require? Remember, we might be dealing with arms smugglers here. Equipment might not be an issue for them."

"Perhaps. There is an unbarred window about six meters up on the far side of the main building. If someone had the will and the skill, that would be a place they could possibly do it." Raven suggested.

Eeth nodded. "Yes. A very good point. I was looking for one or two such openings. We will leave that window as it is and place an invisible sensor there."

"A sensor? Wouldn't it be better to bar up the window like the others? I mean, if we are going to the lengths of fixing up walls, wouldn't it be better to take the opportunity away altogether, rather than setting a trap?" Raven was curious to know what he had planned. Actually, excited was probably a closer adjective; this was what she had trained all her life to do!

"If we do not leave them any opening, potential assassins might either feel under pressure to create one, by forceful means, or postpone their attempt until we have left," Eeth explained. "I would rather have them use an opportunity we know of, at a time when we can deal with it, than use or create one we cannot anticipate. We are neither omniscient nor omnipotent. A determined assassin will nearly always find a way. Provided, of course, that there is an assassin, which might not be the case."

"But it might be the case," Raven couldn't help but point out, a smile on her face that was all teeth. Okay, so it was not very Jedi-like to be excited about the possible assassination of the future king, but still, Raven had been training for this her entire life!

For the next hour, the pair checked every nook and cranny, not leaving a single stone unturned. Once Eeth was satisfied with their efforts, they began making their way back, doing a final check as they passed through the area again. Raven had stopped to look at some red and purple furred rodent that had scurried in fright when she had accidently taken the top off its home checking for possible hideouts.

"Master, check this out," she yelled. Raven was doing her best to calm it down but it was clear that this guy didn't live here by design. He was the wrong colour, for starters, and far more suited to the woods. What it was doing in here was anyone's guess.

Eeth came to check, examining the animal briefly. "It is a beetrin," Eeth said. "Native to a host of planets by now, especially in areas with subtropical and tropical climates. They live in the woods. When colonists encroach into their habitats, it happens that they stray into the city but they are not happy here. They are afraid of people. If you can use the Force to calm it down, we can take it and drop it off outside the city on our way to Sesimore."

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated. It took her a good five minutes, but eventually, and after a few disasters, the creature was calm enough to approach. She spread out her hands and waited for it to become comfortable enough to climb into them. "That was much harder than the scorcher. Do they have some sort of natural resistance to the Force?" Raven asked, standing with the critter in her hands.

"I do not think so," said Eeth as he led Raven back to the speeder, "but unlike scorchers, they have a natural fear of humanoids, and larger beings in general. Connecting to them through the Force will not automatically eliminate their inborn fears and instincts. At some point, you will learn to use Force compulsions strong enough to completely override a creature's own impulses, at least if the creature is not Force-sensitive, but that skill should be used with extreme care and only in desperate situations. If we did not respect other beings' free will, we might as well coerce the Chancellor into turning the Republic over to the Jedi. In any case, we will drop the animal off at the edge of the nearest woods we pass and leave it to its own devices."

"I wouldn't object to that; I'm sure the Jedi would do a far better job of it than a bunch of politicians," Raven remarked while climbing into their piloted speeder.

"Much in contrast to the Jedi, they are elected politicians," Eeth remarked, a hint of disapproval in his voice.

Raven blew that off, as her mind had already skipped to the next part of his statement that interested her. "Can you teach me how to use Force compulsions? – And, can you teach me some time today?" Raven tacked on quickly, knowing that even if he did say yes, it was very likely to be closely followed by something like: 'when you're older'. Those three words were every padawan's worst nightmare, she was sure of it.

"I will teach you at some point," Eeth said decisively, "but certainly not today, nor any time soon."

"Now how did I know you were going to say that?" Raven replied, disappointed. "If I get kidnapped by space pirates between now and then, and my only escape is to use a Force suggestion, it's totally your fault. Just saying."

"I will not allow space pirates to kidnap you before you have mastered that skill, then," Eeth said severely.

"From he who claims not to be omniscient nor omnipotent." It was cheeky, she knew that, but it was also half-hearted; Raven was teasing him. How this playfulness was accepted by Eeth was always a bit hit and miss.

Eeth shot her his best trademark glare.

"Nor will you be, even when you have mastered the ability to mind-control others," he snapped.

Yep, one order of balloon, heavy on the lead, thought Raven. She did not comment, though.

"Padawan," Eeth said sternly. "First of all, we are on a mission, and unless there is a pressing need for it, I will not start teaching you new skills at all this week. Besides, this is a very advanced skill. It requires supreme control of the Force and extremely good judgment on when to use it and when not to. You will need to improve your meditation skills significantly before you have any chance of success. Even in the unlikely event that you managed to fully master this technique at the current stage of your training, I would not want you to employ it for several years at least. Is that clear?"

"Yes, master," Raven acquiesced. Sure, it was a skill she wanted to learn, but it wasn't worth pissing him off over.

After a brief stop to drop off the beetrin, Eeth and Raven arrived at their destination. It was the place where the king was going to address his people, the day after the coronation, and needed to be checked for security hazards as well. The pair wandered the grounds as they had with the last, the occasional pop quiz question on what to look for the only break in their companionable silence.

Finally, Eeth led Raven back to the speeder.

"We will return to our quarters now, but only briefly," he said. "Tonight, we are required to attend a banquet at the palace. It is held in honour of the parting king, and everyone who has rank and name on this planet will be there. I will introduce you to a great number of people, and I ask you to be attentive. You know what kind of information we are looking for, but do not walk around asking people about it. Listen rather than talk. We do not want to arouse any suspicions. Alright?"

"Aww, you totally ruined my strategy. I planned to construct a banner and acquire a megaphone." She shot him a look that was not dissimilar to the one he treated her to when he failed to find humour in one of her jokes.

Completely ignoring her remark and look, Eeth said: "I do not actually anticipate finding anything of interest tonight. Senator Izz Whee might have an easier time of it; he has some useful contacts. In any case, the banquet will give you a good impression of the Fenestrian aristocracy."

"I can hardly wait…"

The rest of what little remained of their time was spent either preparing for the evening's festivities, i.e.: going over the guest list, and Eeth drilling Raven on security measures and the like. He did give her half an hour to go swimming, which Raven thoroughly enjoyed. She emerged from the outdoor pool shared by the other guests staying at their suite, swaddled herself in a towel and ran, still dripping, through their door to find Eeth. She was right on time.

"Padawan, dry yourself properly before you drip water all over the floorboards," Eeth admonished her as soon as the door had closed behind her.

Raven threw the towel at her feet and jumped on it to prevent further dripping.

"You look like a little prune," Sato commented from her spot on a divan. She and Granzien had gotten back shortly after Eeth and Raven had returned, and spent their time organising their findings onto data chips.

"So you do," Granzien said with a smile, looking up from his datapad. "Did you have a good day?"

Raven paused, but only for a split second; he didn't need to know that she had been late back from the banquet and the trouble that had landed her. Instead, she said: "Yes! We explored the palace and it surrounds for tomorrow. What did you two do? More plants?"

"More plants," Sato confirmed, inputting the last one into her pad.

"Dry and comb your hair and pull on a clean uniform," Eeth told Raven. "We need to leave for the banquet."

"Sounds riveting," Granzien remarked, leaning back and stretching. "We'll pass, I think."

"As a matter of fact, you are not invited," Eeth informed him, raising an eyebrow.

Granzien grinned, not rising to the slight provocation. "Pity."

Sato snorted, ignoring Raven as she ran off with far more enthusiasm than necessary given that they were going to some dumb banquet. "Perhaps we could remain uninvited?" she hedged, not looking up from her datapad to look at Eeth. "We could sure use the extra time tomorrow for research."

"Well, we ARE invited to the coronation," Granzien pointed out drily. "We can't uninvite ourselves."

"You sure about that? I thought as Jedi we were all about making it happen." She shifted her gaze to look over at Granzien now. "About getting the job done."

"Depends on what kind of job we want to get done," Granzien said with a shrug. "Being a Jedi is not about following your whims, you know."

Eeth did not think he had ever agreed with Granzien this much. "Precisely," he said sternly. "We are not going to discuss this any further. You are coming."

Sato could argue that; this had nothing to do with whims and everything to do with not going to that coronation. She wasn't about to start an argument with their mission leader, though, and so she said nothing.

Raven emerged some time later, dressed in her formal Jedi robes and dragging a comb through her hair. "What are you two going to do while we're out having all the fun?" she asked.

Sato rolled her eyes; apparently Raven was more naive than she first thought.

"Probably have a swim, eat, and turn in early," Granzien said, getting up and stretching. "We'll have to get up early tomorrow, after all. We want to take another walk in the woods before the coronation. You go ahead and have all the fun. Unless your master feels it's inappropriate to have fun, that is."

He grinned. Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Whether or not we have 'fun' tonight is entirely inconsequential," he pointed out. "Come on, padawan. Once again, our driver is waiting for us."

Raven chuckled; she did like Granzien.

She had noticed her hair taking on a greenish tinge since last night, but had yet to mention it. Once they were out in the sunlight, though, she thought it was a bit more noticeable. "What's with my hair?" It wasn't exactly a question, but more of a statement. She pulled a part that was just long enough to reach before her eyes. Yep, it was definitely greener than last night.

Eeth frowned. "It does look slightly green," he said upon giving it a closer look. "When did you first notice this? Did you use a new shampoo? Something provided by the Fenestrians?"

"Last night. It's worse now, though. I used the shampoo they put in my shower, and no, I didn't read the label. I kinda assumed it would be safe." Raven wrinkled her nose, hoping to avoid a lecture over being inattentive.

"Yes, it should be," said Eeth, his frown deepening. "They would have made sure that the food and toiletries they provide are suitable for our species. Someone might have made a mistake. Or it might be something to do with the pool water – it first appeared and then worsened after you went swimming, did it not?"

"Yes," she replied, letting the chunk of hair she had been scrutinising go. Like her skin, Raven's hair was correspondingly fair. Thus, it did tend to take on colouring in things easily. She had made that mistake once and used a purple shampoo in creche, with disastrous results.

"We will ask the protocol droid about it," said Eeth, glancing at his chronometer, "and he will find out what can be done while we are at the reception. There is no time to resolve the issue now. Come." Given the multi-colored nature of the Fenestrians' skin and hair and the presence of a multitude of species at tonight's reception, he doubted that anyone would even notice Raven's peculiar hair color.

Raven followed without comment. She really didn't care what colour her hair was. There were far more exciting things to think about, in her opinion!

On the way out, Eeth asked the protocol droid about possible effects of the shampoo or pool water on blonde human hair and asked him to find a cure against said effects. The droid apologised so often that Eeth nearly became impatient. In any case, he was confident that by tomorrow morning, they would know what to do about the green tinge to Raven's hair. When that was accomplished, they finally entered a large speeder in which the other diplomats from Coruscant were already waiting, and left for the reception at the palace.

It seemed like no sooner had the speeder begun to move, that they arrived at their destination. A brightly dressed Fenestrian with an outrageously fancy hairdo was there to greet them upon arrival.

The two bowed and were led through the palace entrance into the main dining area. It was huge, as was the number of tables and the extent of their decorations. Well, Raven supposed that a banquet in honour of the parting king would have to be elaborate, even without the Fenestrians' knack for embellishing everything.

Protocol droids led the guests to their places. Eeth and Raven had the honor of being placed at the old and new king's table. Granted, it was a huge table. There were about fifty beings seated between them and the kings, most of them assigned to Fenestrian nobility but also including some high-ranking diplomats, such as themselves. Eeth knew that there would be a reception after dinner where they would have ample opportunity to mingle freely with everyone. For now, they had to endure about an hour of long-winded speeches in Fenestrian that were simultaneously translated into Basic.

It took Raven all of ten minutes to grow tired of the boring speeches, and her attention began to wander from the fat woman speaking to some of the more unusually dressed guests. She scanned down the table, her curious gaze resting on each diplomat just long enough to be considered polite, before moving to the next. The padawan jumped when her gaze landed on Kaal who, much to her surprise, was staring right back at her with a stupid grin on his face. She couldn't help but roll her eyes and used them to discreetly gesture towards the long-winded speaker who was just beginning yet another spiel on how pleased she was with the way things had progressed.

The two began a banter of discretely delivered hand signals, eye movements and gestures. Both were making it known to the other that they would rather be anywhere but here. Then, just as Raven was about to respond to a dig at her green hair, her own expression turned into a wince as Eeth sent her a scathing surge of disapproval through their bond. This immediately warned Kaal of trouble, and he turned just in time to catch quite a hard clip under the ear, and some hushed stern words from the man seated by his side.

In contrast to Daimus, Eeth had no intention to address Raven's antics in public. He was not going to forget about them, though, and the look he pointed at her told her as much. She had better be on her best behaviour for the rest of the night…