"Initiate," Eeth said gravely as the door to his quarters swished open at 5pm on Wednesday. He beckoned Raven inside, nodding his thanks at the creche aide who had brought her.
His quarters were standard fare for individual knights: a living room with a kitchenette, a bedroom and a refresher. The only non-standard feature was the balcony that overlooked a substantial part of this hemisphere of Coruscant. If he had made an effort, he probably could have kept the larger quarters he had lived in when Lakhri had been his padawan, but after Lakhri had been knighted, Eeth did not see the point in having an extra bedroom. Besides, he was never one to claim privileges, and he positively detested luxury.
The common room walls were white. The room was immaculately tidy and held the Jedi standard furniture; in as far as there had been a choice, Eeth had opted for black. There were few personal items in the apartment but it was still a significant improvement over the entirely stark quarters that Eeth had held when Lakhri had become his padawan eighteen years ago. For example, Lakhri had bought them a rug during a mission when he had been a senior padawan and had left it with Eeth after he had moved out. Fenya had once brought him a Senchi tea set, which was standing on a shelf next to the dining table, along with a collection of various teas that Eeth enjoyed. The kitchenette held a spice shelf that was as well-organised as it was well-equipped because Eeth liked cooking and was good at it. Thus, even though his quarters were fairly spartan, they had a slight personal touch and looked lived-in.
Eeth motioned for Raven to sit on the couch while he took a seat on an armchair opposite her. He had placed a cup of bitter Argoran tea on the table for himself and a glass of juice for Raven.
"Are you wondering why I asked you here or do you have an idea?" he inquired, coming straight to the point as usual.
"I have an idea," Raven replied. She was also not one for beating around the bush which was why these last few weeks had been particularly hard on her. Oh well, it was the Will of the Force. Nothing she could have said or done would have gotten her to this point any faster. It was a relief, in any case. A relief to finally be in a position to confide her thoughts and feelings to Eeth without him thinking her a complete lunatic. "Have you felt drawn to me, too?" Her gaze lingered on Eeth for a moment longer before dropping to the glass of juice he had poured her. It had taken quite a bit of courage on her part to ask it. If Eeth said no, then it would confirm that these last few weeks were just a coincidence. If he said yes, then what did that mean? Raven didn't know, but she hoped Eeth did.
"Yes," Eeth replied. Apparently, his bad conscience, in the shape of his former master, had been right and the girl had indeed felt the same as him. It did not occur to him that Raven had no idea to interpret this, though, so obvious was it to him.
"How do you feel about it, though?" he inquired. "It must be quite obvious that I am not the most lenient of masters. I think I am rather rumoured to be among the strictest. Does that fact worry you?"
Raven had thought about those two questions quite a bit these past few weeks, but now that she was finally talking to Eeth about it, she was finding them hard to answer. "How do I feel about the fact that the Force has guided me to the strictest master in the Jedi Order?" Her nose wrinkled and she sat back in her chair, arms flopping to her sides; how was she supposed to answer that, anyway? "At first I wasn't even sure if it was the Force or not, but the more time that passed, the more I wanted to be around you." She squinted a bit because that had to sound weird! Raven continued nonetheless. "I guess anyone would want their master to be easy-going. Master Lowfac's always telling us that what we want and what we need are two entirely different things, though."
"That is most certainly true," Eeth replied slowly. It had been true for him, in any case, albeit in different ways than for others. He had not exactly WANTED to learn to get along with people, but the Force knew he had needed to! And his master had made sure that he did – well, up to a point, at least. It was still not his strong suit. He had studied small talk like a foreign language, though, so at least the diplomacy part of his job description was not an issue any longer. And, of course, he had had plenty of practice by now.
Focussing his attention on the present and on the girl sitting in front of him, he said: "The road towards becoming a Jedi knight is hard and dangerous. You will be wielding deadly weapons on a daily basis, and as such, you will pose a risk to yourself and others. Therefore, you cannot be allowed to indulge your impulses and emotions. You will need to learn control and self-discipline. Some Jedi can achieve this with little trouble but most cannot. Therefore, having an easy-going master is not always the best option if Jedi knighthood is the goal that you ultimately want to reach. You do, however, have a choice. The Force gives us guidance but it does not compel us to follow that guidance. If you have doubts whether becoming a Jedi knight is really what you want, you should be honest with yourself and me. There is no reason for hurry, after all. You may have all the time you need to make up your mind. If, however, you are sure that your path leads you towards knighthood, then, I think, we would be well-advised to follow the Will of the Force. It has been leading us toward each other for a reason, even though that reason might not be apparent yet."
"I have never doubted whether or not I'm meant to be a Jedi. I doubted how I was going to get there, is all." Raven gave him a smile. The longer Raven spent in Eeth's presence, the more she relaxed and the clearer her thoughts and feelings became. It was the Will of the Force, Eeth was going to be her master, and that realisation thrilled, scared and intrigued her all at once.
Eeth returned her smile with a small one of his own. He, too, realised it was the Will of the Force, and he had always felt comfortable about following that. How he felt about the girl remained to be seen; he knew too little about her as yet. She was good with a saber, ambitious and diligent, that much he could tell; and she did seem strong-willed. Such personalities sometimes found it hard to submit themselves to authority, which was the foundation of how the Jedi Order worked. They needed a master who provided a lot of structure and guidance, and that, Eeth could certainly do. At this moment, he made a silent commitment: he was going to do all it would take to lead this girl to knighthood. He was not going to allow himself, or her, to fail.
"Alright, then," he said softly. "I will take you as my padawan learner, if you are willing to accept me as your master."
Like most younglings training to be Jedi, Raven had wondered how becoming a padawan would feel. Who would her master be? How would they meet and what would happen? As she sat there staring at the man who had just taken on the responsibility of training her to knighthood, Raven sensed that feeling inside settle. Apparently, the Will of the Force had been fulfilled; she was on the right path. Or at least that was how Raven interpreted it at this moment.
"What happens now?" she asked, pulling her feet up under her butt to make herself sit taller. The creche chapter of her life was ending, and the padawan chapter was beginning; it was exciting and sad. Raven was a jumble of mixed emotions, but so far the shock of it all was winning out.
Eeth now finally did what he felt comfortable doing and was good at: he took charge.
"I will need to make some preparations," he said. "My quarters do not have a spare bedroom, so I will have to find other quarters. I will also need to adjust my schedule. My Council duties are fairly demanding and will require some degree of independence from you as it is. I will cancel all duties that are not vital, though, as of next week."
He thought for a few seconds, then decided: "We will schedule the Council meeting that will make our pairing official for Saturday morning. You will move into my new quarters after that. That will leave you tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to pack your things. You will also be able attend your current classes and say goodbye to everyone during those two days – including your classmates in the advanced sparring class that I am teaching. I will continue teaching it for two more weeks but you will not be part of this after Friday. Next week, you will start a new set of classes as a padawan. Your physical training will be my personal responsibility. You will receive my one-on-one attention. I believe that, given your natural skill in this area, you will make better progress that way than you have so far."
Raven listened without interruption, her leg swinging and heel bumping the base of the couch as he spoke. Two days was a long time, an eternity, actually, but she did not argue. "Your one-on-one attention, cool. Does that mean we get to have saber lessons together all the time? Because I want to be as good as you." Raven had not had that sort of attention from any master before, at least not longer than a few hours at a time; this was going to be new.
"Yes," replied Eeth. "For your academic subjects and for mission preparation, you will have classes with other junior padawans. Your workouts, lightsaber practice and Force work will be with me exclusively, at least for the beginning. At a later stage, there might be classes as well, but they will always be in addition to the training I will provide. And I have every intention to enable you to become as good as I am. Or better. I am hardly infallible, after all." Eeth was aware that this might sound like false modesty to some, since he was famous for his skill with a saber, but he was entirely serious. His master had cured him of his arrogance in this regard many years ago. And he was honestly glad if his padawans managed to surpass him in some areas of their training; he had no misgivings at all over the idea that Raven might one day be better than him with a saber.
It occurred to him to ask: "Do you have any questions?" He had not done this with Lakhri, he knew, and that had made for a number of rather awkward situations.
It felt like she ought to have some questions given the circumstances, but Eeth had already covered everything she might have asked. Raven didn't want to go back to creche, though, not yet. So, she picked up her juice and sipped it, thinking. "How did you know that I wasn't Ithan Kord?" The question had been on her mind since she had been busted, after all!
Eeth raised his eyebrows. He understood immediately what she was referring to but it was not exactly the kind of question he had expected her to ask first.
"I was on the Jedi Council when Ithan was made a padawan," he replied. "And I have a good memory. That aside, I only allow padawans in my open sparring class whose masters have cleared them to participate in it. Ithan was not cleared for participation so my datapad alerted me to it."
The look on Raven's face at hearing this information was priceless. If she had a moment with the Force right now, she'd sock it one for that effort at bringing her into Eeth's presence. Well, perhaps she couldn't blame the Force entirely… Not entirely; the class had looked like fun and maybe she might have joined in anyway.
Eeth leaned back in his armchair, fixing Raven with an intense look. "I had better warn you right now," he said, "that it is rather difficult to deceive me. And if I catch you in the attempt, you will not like the result. As a padawan, you will have a single master who is responsible for no one but you. That is very different from a creche master who has to look after an entire group of initiates. Most new padawans find that it becomes a lot harder to get away with mischief than it had been during their creche years."
Raven nodded, but didn't really have any basis for comparison. She did, however, understand his meaning. Well, Raven had never been one to shirk from a challenge, unless, of course, it was mathematical in nature! The thought prompted a question. "Are padawan classes harder?" She had to know.
Eeth considered this. "There is no straightforward answer to this question," he finally said. "The classes will be adapted to your level of skill. You will most likely take placement tests on Monday, after which you will receive a list of compulsory classes and elective subjects. Thus, none of your classes should be beyond your intellectual capabilities. That said, no matter in what level of maths, Basic or any other subject you are placed, there will be a substantial workload which will probably be higher than what you are used to. And I will expect you to work hard and give your best effort. I will never blame you for a poor grade as long as you did your best. I will, however, very much blame you for a poor effort. Should you have problems in one of your classes, talk to me. I do not want to see bad results without being aware that you had difficulties and made an effort to resolve them. Do you have any questions on this?"
Eeth had studied Raven's academic record thoroughly and completely, as he usually did such things. And given what he had learned that way, he rather thought that this was a point he needed to make as early as possible.
Becoming a padawan meant many changes. Well, Raven had expected as much. She had sat similar testing to the ones Eeth mentioned during creche, typically at the beginning of each year. She imagined the test done as a padawan would be of the same design, only it would have different content, of course. Raven carefully pondered over what Eeth had said. That he would never blame her for a poor grade was sure good to know, because academia had never been her strong suit.
"Well, yes. There is one class that I find hard. Actually, I hate it. Can I just tell you what that is now and let you know that I'm gonna suck at it? That way there won't be any surprises."
Eeth raised his eyebrows and took a sip of his tea. "Padawan classes are more specific to your future needs as a Jedi than your classes in the creche might have been," he said. "You might find the subject more interesting with your new teachers. If you do not, let me warn you that I will not accept bad results simply because you are not interested in the subject. I still expect your best effort. I do not particularly want to have to … motivate … you to work for your lessons, but I will not hesitate to do so if necessary. Which class is it that you hate?"
"Anything maths, related to maths or even smelling maths-like." Raven threw up her hands for emphasis. "Surely you must understand, how can anyone in their right mind sit through an hour of that without going completely insane? I mean honestly, can you tell me when I will need to figure out the degree of the third point in a triangle in any real life situation? I can't imagine any missions where I will be required to calculate the angle of the blaster fire before I deflect it with my saber."
Trigonometry, physics, algebra, statistics! Raven hated it all, she really did, and although she had thus far achieved a pass, if only barely, she had yet to make it through a term without ending up in a disagreement with her teacher over some law or theory that she simply couldn't comprehend.
"You will be surprised at how many missions actually require maths," Eeth commented. "Perhaps not in order to deflect blaster fire, but in order to draft or evaluate treaties. Most of the fine details come down to numbers, really. You also need maths in order to be able to understand starship astrophysics. And that is a vital subject. So, I have to disagree with you. Maths is not a useless subject, and I expect you to apply yourself to it." He pointed a severe look at her.
For a moment Raven looked like she were in physical pain. "Apply myself to astrophysics..." she groaned more to herself than to Eeth.
"Astrophysics classes will definitely be in your future," Eeth said drily. "But not quite yet. At eleven years of age, you will be placed in more basic maths and science classes. Now, do you have any other questions? Or shall I just sum up the rules for you so that there are no misunderstandings?"
"Rules…" Raven's pained expression morphed into something more sheepish. "Master Lowfac says I have a talent for bending those. I'm not sure if he meant that as a compliment or not, but I took it as one." She grinned. "It's probably too much to ask that you don't have any."
Eeth frowned. This statement matched what he knew from Raven's record but that did not mean he had to like her attitude.
"Of course there will be rules," he said firmly. "If you find it difficult to stick to them, you will just have to try harder because if you break them, I will punish you. And that is something you will want to avoid."
Raven wrinkled her nose at this statement, but did not interrupt.
"Now," Eeth continued. "Your first and foremost duties as a padawan are honesty and obedience. You are, of course, supposed to obey every Jedi knight or master, but your primary loyalty is to your own master. Disobeying me or lying to me are serious offenses, and you will be well-advised to avoid them. I also expect you to behave respectfully towards other Jedi, including others of your age. Swearing, rudeness or physical altercations with initiates or other padawans are not acceptable. Furthermore, I take your safety seriously. Therefore, I expect you to avoid needless risks to your health and life, especially where your weapon is concerned. Any amount of recklessness will have consequences. In addition to these fundamental rules, the general Temple rules are valid. I assume you have learned them in creche. If anything in the main Temple is specifically off-limits to junior padawans, there will be signs that you will kindly pay attention to. Do you have questions about any of this?"
Raven shook her head. She would have expected as much from any Jedi master, let alone from one with Eeth's reputation. Given that she suffered from a chronic case of speaking before thinking, she could only hope that he was sometimes hard of hearing. Yeah, unlikely…. "Is there anything you expect that I may not be aware of?" she asked.
"Other than what I told you?" Eeth asked and thought for a moment. "I do not like to be kept waiting," he finally said. "I expect you to be on time for your lessons, curfew and appointments." This, in his opinion, ought to be self-understood but he had learned that it was not as obvious to anyone as he would have thought it was. Lakhri, for example, had had a habit of running late. Eeth had cured him of it quite effectively, though.
Again, Raven winced. It would seem that Eeth personally detested most of her downfalls: lessons and keeping track of the time! Great. For a moment she wondered what to do now. Should she hug him? Thank him? Raven looked Eeth over quizzically and decided against both for the time being; he did not strike her as the cuddly sort. "What do we do now?" she asked, draining her juice and setting the glass back onto the coffee table.
Eeth rose from his armchair. "I will take you back to creche, talk to your creche master and make arrangements," he said simply. "We will meet again on Friday in class. And then, I will pick you up on Saturday morning for our Council meeting and to move your things. I will send you the time as soon as I know when the Council want to see us. You need only pack personal items. You will receive new uniforms and an upgraded practice saber from the commissary, once you have been made a padawan."
"Alright," Raven replied and stood, bouncing a bit as she did so; she had always been fidgety. She picked up the glass and held it out for him to take. "I don't need an escort, I can make it back to creche alone," she told him. After all, she was a padawan now (well, almost).
"As you well know," Eeth replied calmly and firmly, accepting the glass and placing it on the kitchen counter, "initiates are not allowed in the main Temple unsupervised. Whether you think you need an escort or not, you will have one. Besides, I do want to talk to your creche master. Come."
Raven huffed. She was a padawan now, not an initiate, but it didn't look like Eeth was about to acquiesce. Besides, she was still too wary of him to attempt any sort of challenge, and that he might need to speak with Lowfac was not exactly unreasonable. Thus, she followed
That Friday at three, Eeth, as usual, entered the creche gym to find his class waiting for them.
"Good afternoon," he said. "As you might have heard, one of the class will be leaving you as of next week. Initiate Raven Trebeck will become my padawan learner and will therefore be transferred to padawan classes. I will, however, continue to teach this class until it ends. This will give us an opportunity to work on strategies for two-on-three fights for the next two weeks which will be quite useful for all of you. Now let us begin."
He noticed that Rayan, in particular, was wearing a mighty scowl on his face at hearing his announcement. Possibly, the boy had hoped to be chosen by him; or he simply considered himself more deserving than Raven, which was in line with what his demeanour generally projected. Well, these things were not subject to any logic of age or skill; and besides, despite what Rayan might thing, Raven was not actually inferior to him where sparring was concerned. Eeth decided to pay the boy no mind, for now.
Although Raven was not a prideful personality, she couldn't help but puff up at Eeth's announcement. She had spent the last two days meditating with Lowfac and talking to her friends about her apprenticeship. It was a huge deal to be chosen by any Jedi master, let alone one as high-profile as Eeth Koth. Most everyone had seemed happy for her, with the exception of a few who were jealous. Well, Raven could understand that. Rayan had been giving her the stink eye since she had entered the gym but she had thus far ignored it. They had never really gotten along; he was an arrogant sod, as far as Raven was concerned, and this latest news would do nothing to improve their relationship.
Eeth noticed that Rayan seemed to be sulking, or more than that; the boy was positively angry. There was, of course, no place for such emotions in a Jedi, let alone one who was participating in a sparring class. While he had the group run through a number of muscle-building exercises as part of their warm-up, he crouched next to Rayan and asked quietly: "Do you need to meditate in order to control your emotions?"
"No," Rayan ground out. He was not going to allow Eeth to humiliate him by sending him off to do meditation like a junior initiate! He was also aware that, unless he made some semblance of an effort, the Jedi master might not give him a choice. So he wiped the scowl off his face and tried to calm down.
"Alright," Eeth said, but he was not fully convinced. "If you sense your aggressions take over, though, you will pull out." This was not an unusual instruction, not even for senior initiates. If Rayan had a problem with it, that was all the more cause for concern.
Eeth rose and had the class join him in order to go through the complex attack sequence he had taught them last time. As usual, he had each of them try it against him to see whether they had practiced. This time, they all had done so; none of them had any desire to replace their sparring class with running laps around the gym, after all.
Then he teamed up the initiates for a round of freestyle sparring, walking between them to give advice. He kept an eye on Rayan while he did so. The boy was currently sparring against Worik and keeping things together, more or less. The initiates were to rotate partners every five minutes until they had all fought against each of their classmates.
The truth was, Rayan was angry, and he felt he had every right to be! Why the Force had Eeth Koth picked Raven over him?! It was unfathomable! As the lesson continued, his indignation grew because everyone seemed to be happy for her. None of them were even questioning if she was good enough, or, more importantly, if there was a better candidate. Of course there was, HE was a far superior initiate. He got better grades, had a far more developed grasp on the Force and was more mature. Rayan had gone out of his way to demonstrate that to Eeth, all for nought. So, yeah, he was seething fucking mad when he got the news.
It did not help that when it came around to sparring with Raven, she wore a smug expression. Well, he was going to wipe it off her face.
Raven was, in fact, just smiling. She was both relieved and happy! Who wouldn't she be after the past few weeks? She opened her mouth to say something about the scowl on his face but closed it again. This was probably the last time she would have to see him unless someone was crazy enough to take him as a padawan. The latter thought had her rethinking her silence, because she knew that he was talented, even if he was an asshole, and there might be a master out there who was willing to deal with that. "Why you giving me the stink eye?" she asked him, just as Eeth called for them to begin.
"Isn't it obvious?" Rayan snorted, lunging forward into an attack that was brutal even for his style. "The Force my ass. Obviously, the Force is broken if it led you to Eeth Koth."
Raven frowned, the smile indeed wiped off her face as she only just managed to block that. "Hey, back off unless you want it right back at you." Raven retaliated with an attack of equal measure, satisfied when he stumbled. Like most of her peers Rayan, too, mistook her small stature for incompetence. It was a mistake. Why couldn't he just be happy for her? She had watched countless peers chosen around her, even her best friend, and yet she had not reacted like this. They didn't even like each other, they never had. In fact, the times their creche groups combined for lessons, Raven and Rayan had gone out of their way to antagonise each other. Well, now she had the ultimate weapon against him; she had been taken as a padawan before him and not by any old Jedi master, by Eeth Koth.
The fact that he was unable to flatten Raven merely infuriated Rayan even more. Forgetting every kind of restraint he had been taught to exercise, he allowed his fury to fuel his attack. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you," he threatened as he came at Raven hard and fast. "You–OOOMPH!" He found himself grabbed by his collar and pulled against an iron-hard torso so suddenly that it knocked the wind out of him.
"You are not going to do anything of that kind," Eeth said icily. "I told you to get a handle on your aggressions and to pull out if you sense them taking over. And I expect my students to heed my instructions. Go and meditate. We will talk more about this after class."
By this stage, every initiate knew what would happen to them if they disobeyed Eeth during his class. So it was with a mighty temper that Rayan disignited his lightsaber and stormed off to do as instructed. This was all her fault, but there was nothing he could do about that for now.
Raven looked up at her master, giving him an 'it wasn't me' kind of look. "I'll go easy on you," she challenged, spinning her saber and eyes twinkling.
"That," Eeth said calmly, "would be a mistake. Because I will not." He launched into an attack sequence that would have had her flat on her back within seconds, had she not learned during the past weeks how to defend herself against it. Eeth knew that Raven had mastered the moves he had taught his class but she would still need to make a substantial effort to hold her own. That would have the added benefit of taking her mind off Rayan's taunts.
By the time Eeth called them to switch to the next person, Raven was panting heavily. As was typical for her, she had given the fight her all and Eeth had not cut her any slack which she appreciated. Force, did she love this.
Meanwhile, Rayan was sitting cross-legged on the bench, eyes closed and doing his best to release his anger into the Force. He was pretty good at Force work and meditations, which was why when Eeth approached him sometime later, he had not even noticed that the class had ended and the room was now completely silent and empty except for Eeth.
"You may stop meditating," Eeth told him, standing in front of him, arms folded across his chest. "Stand up."
His scrutinising gaze was fixed on Rayan's face.
"Initiate," he finally asked, "do you have any idea how dangerous your actions were?"
That was a question Rayan did not want to answer. He huffed as he stood, brushing invisible dust from his tunic. "I was in control," he replied. The last thing he wanted was for Eeth to think he was some crazy out-of-control youngling running around, flashing his saber around without thought. There was plenty of thought gone into it, after all.
"No, you were not," said Eeth firmly. "You let your aggressions fuel your fighting. That is against your training, and what is more, I explicitly warned you not to let it happen. Why did you do it, then?"
"I don't know!" Rayan couldn't admit to Eeth that he was jealous over being overlooked by him. "Sorry. I won't do it again." There.
"I hardly think," Eeth said, "you are in any state to make such promises, seeing as you claim not to know what caused you to act like this. If that claim is truthful – and I am not sure that it is – it is the opposite of being in control."
His gaze never left Rayan's face as he talked. "Did your meditation yield any insights?" he inquired. He knew that he was being obnoxious; the boy most likely wanted nothing more than for this talk to be over with. But the topic was too serious to just deal with it as Eeth usually did with disobedience in his class, which was to punish the perpetrator and dismiss them without further ado.
Eeth was correct, Rayan wanted this talk over with. That said, he was well aware that being evasive with Eeth would not aid his plight to end the conversation any sooner. He was between a rock and a hard place here. "I released my frustration into the Force, I didn't meditate on anything else." Which was true. "I'll talk to my creche master about it. Okay?" He was clutching at straws here, but he was not comfortable talking about this with Eeth.
Eeth realised as much, and he was not going to push it. Rayan hardly knew him, after all, and if he did not want to confide in him, Eeth was not going to blame him for that.
"You will," he said. "I am going to call her tonight and make sure of that. That leaves the matter of disobedience in my class to discuss. You know I will not stand for it."
He pulled out his paddle and ordered: "Bend over the bench." Rayan was going to have trouble sitting down for the next few hours. But that should not come as a surprise to anyone who knew Eeth.
"You think Rayan's going to get in trouble?" Chinda commented. She was one of the three who had successfully avoided that sort of attention from Eeth so far.
Raven wrinkled her nose. "Probably. He was told to sort himself out, and he didn't. You know what my master is like with disobedience." It felt good to say that, 'my master,' even if the topic was related to the man's infamous aptitude for punishing errant students.
The Twi'lek gave an awkward expression to match Raven's, but let it drop. Rayan would be with them soon enough.
"What was his problem, anyway?" asked Shelya.
"He's jealous," said Raven, taking a sip of her juice.
"About Eeth taking you as his padawan," Barnis finished for her.
Raven nodded. "He thinks I don't deserve it."
"It's not like it's up to you, even if you didn't," Shelya commented, looking down her beak at them. "Anyway, congrats."
"Yeah, congrats," added Chinda. "I can't say I'm jealous, though. He scares me to death."
Worik, who had been silently chewing through the snack he had gotten chose that moment to add: "I think Adi Gallia is going to ask me. I just have a feeling." This got them all talking and took the focus off Raven, for which she was thankful.
"That would be a good match. She's a senator, right?" asked Barnis.
"Yes. But she's still a Jedi and I know for a fact she was considering taking on a padawan learner. I just don't see myself as a field Jedi. Sure, I'm good with my saber and all, that's why I'm in this class with you guys, but I'm better with words than I am with a saber."
The group talked for a while, each giving their opinion on who they thought would end up taking them as a padawan. Rayan did not join the group again, at least not before Raven had to leave. She had to pack her things – granted, not many things, but still. So Raven said goodbye to her classmates. It was Friday afternoon and very unlikely she would see any of them again before leaving the creche tomorrow morning.
Eeth, too, was packing his things. He had managed to procure quarters with a balcony again. Being from a desert race, he had found himself enjoying open spaces ever since he had been brought to the Temple. In the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa, where he had spent his childhood, he had not known any such thing, of course. But he tried not to think about that part of his life if he could help it.
It took him several hours to pack all his belongings into crates and have them transported to his new quarters by hovercart. Even though he did not own many possessions, he seemed to have accumulated quite a number of things over the years, from his spice shelf and his tea collection to the assorted civilian, Jedi and mission-related outfits in his wardrobe. He wanted to have them all unpacked before Raven moved in. It was going to be a long night…
That evening, when Lowfac came to tuck her in, Raven was understandably restless. "There is no way I'm going to sleep," she complained, kicking her feet and pulling the sheet and blanket out from the end.
Lowfac smiled knowingly and sat by her bed. "You've had a lot going on the last few weeks. Try to relax and clear your mind like we practiced."
Raven did so, but with little success; she was just too wound up. "I'm kinda scared."
For Raven to admit to that was all-telling. "That's normal. A lot of big changes are coming your way. You're about to take an important step towards knighthood. A new master, new classes, new friends. You will have Orion around, although I'm not sure if that is good for you or not. A lot more is expected of a padawan and Eeth Koth does not strike me as the sort to let you run wild."
Lowfac happened to think that the match was perfect. Raven would not make knighthood without guidance from a master who would not let her walk all over him. He patted her feet, causing them to still from the constant fidgeting. "Close your eyes and link with me," he said; getting Raven to settle tonight was going to take some doing. The next morning, she was going to start a new life.