The next morning, Drex went to wake Kaden around half past eight, which was considerably later than the boy usually got up at the Temple. Breakfast would be served in a dining room adjacent to their quarters at nine. Kaden's room was just across the hall. On the way there, a door opened and someone shot out, nearly barging into Drex; he could only just avoid a collision by stepping aside.
"Oh, sorry, Master Zaryth," Nafanda said sheepishly, bowing to him, then remembering that the blind Jedi master could not even see this. "I… uh… was just on the way to my master's quarters."
"The next time," Drex said, quietly amused, "just walk. Like in the Temple – provided you ever stick to that rule."
"I do," Nafanda said promptly. "Nearly always. Most of the time, anyway. See you for breakfast!"
She gave him a cheery little wave that, again, he obviously couldn't see and made for her master's door. Drex shook his head and knocked at Kaden's.
Had Kaden been privy to that exchange, he'd have sympathised with them both. It took some time to get used to the fact that a person could not see your expressions and gestures, not that this had always saved him; the incident with Petri in the dining hall a testament to his master's ability to use his other senses.
"I'm up," Kaden called back, his statement clearly a lie. Kaden didn't open his eyes as the sound of their automatic door sliding registered. "I'll be ready in fifteen," he said resignedly.
True to his words, fifteen minutes later Kaden wandered into the common room area of their guest quarters.
"Kaden, look alive, you big pansy," Angkat quipped quietly as the boy walked past him to meet his master. He had been joking, of course, and the friendly shove he received in response was taken with good grace.
"What time did you finally get to escape?" Brill asked, looking from Drex to Kaden, because he had to admit the boy did look a little bit tired.
"Well, since I'm the wise blind man to our hosts," Drex replied, "we left last. I didn't look at my chrono, but it must have been pretty late. Fortunately, Kaden will have time to rest today. You can use the day to explore. Before we leave, we will check with our hosts the limits of where you should be free to go."
All in all, Drex thought that this would be more useful to their mission than forcing Kaden to spend half his day doing school work, as some other masters might have done.
Eleena and Triz tended to agree, which was why all three apprentices found themselves free from homework when their masters left for their appointment later that morning. Kaden glanced at his watch. It was almost ten thirty, and they had the whole day to themselves. Well, kinda...
"Great…" Angkat groaned, looking at the three junior padawan's left in his care. He dragged a hand down his face.
"Hey, don't sweat it, we can take care of ourselves. You know our masters are just being overprotective," Kaden told the older boy; they needed to get rid of Angkat if Nafanda decided that she wanted to go ahead with her idea.
Brill agreed. He knew they'd need to work to their strengths if they wanted to convince Angkat. "Besides, our masters told us to stay together," he shrugged, feigning disinterest, "I'd just come and tell you if anything happened, so you needn't worry," he reasoned, using his reputation as a tattle to aide their plight. Surprisingly, the boy felt a surge of exhilaration at being a part of this ruse. It was a feeling that he had not had before and it was spurring him on.
Angkat narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the sound of that, but neither did he want to play nursemaid to a bunch of kids all day. He'd much rather continue with his preparation work for the theory part of his trials. After a long moment, he finally spoke. "Alright, here's the deal. You're all old enough to know how to stay out of trouble, so don't do anything stupid because if you do, and I get my ass kicked for not tailing your every move, I'm coming after yours next. Capeesh?"
"Capeesh!" Kaden replied crisply, giving the older boy mock salute. When Angkat's frown only deepened as a result, Kaden dropped the smart-ass approach and switched tactics. "Really, we'll just look around, we won't even touch anything," he attempted to placate.
This seemed to mollify Angkat, if only a little. He met each apprentice with a probing expression, then sighed; it had not been so long ago that he had been in their position and just wanted to be free from adult supervision. It was with that in mind that he finally acquiesced. "Alright, go entertain yourselves, then," he said, all the while hoping that he had made the right call. "And I mean it, no funny business!" he yelled to their retreating backs. He had a bad feeling about this, but put it down to the fact that he was doing something that went against his master's orders because – he frowned – that had rarely ended well. Not even with trivial things like this.
A while later, the three junior padawans were standing on a hill overlooking the park. It was huge, lush green and almost completely deserted. They had been informed during breakfast that these were government compounds, open to the general public only during big festivals. They were allowed to roam them freely, but not to climb the fences that guarded them against the city in some places and against the wilderness in others. A few gardeners were tending to trees, but that was the extent of humanoid activity. Towards the north, in the direction facing away from the houses, there was nobody. The lawns stretched out smooth and inviting for about a kilometre, until the fence, without any obstacles.
"How long would it take you to make it to the fence?" Nafanda asked Brill curiously. "You are cleared to do this, aren't you?"
"Of course," came Brill's indignant response as he held a hand up to block out the sun and gauge the distance. "That's about a kilometre," he said, pondering for a moment longer. "About ten seconds," he replied, and glanced at Kaden. "You?"
Kade shrugged. "Dunno, I've never tried. Technically, Nafanda has had more practical experience than I have. Drex just made me read up on the theory. Apparently, most of us are taught the basics as initiates, and it's just a case of building on that foundation. One Jedi wrote that it's also about slowing down your perception of the world. That the increased speed enables you to see the world around you in slow motion. It helps dodge attacks and eventually you can even run up a vertical wall when you master it. What did it feel like when you tried it?" he asked Nafanda.
Nafanda grinned. "Great," she said. "And confusing. I lost all sense of time and speed for a moment, which is why I ended up bouncing into the far wall. I gather that's the part that takes the most practice; to retain control over what you're doing."
"Yeah, a friend of mine said that happened to her the first few times, and if the reading I did holds true, hardly anyone manages it first go. Those who do usually end up on their ass," Kaden said. "That you did it at all might mean you've got a gift for that sort of Force work," he suggested. It was not unusual for Jedi to be gifted in certain areas, especially so in Force control techniques. Kaden was just not one of them.
"He's right. It took me two sessions before I managed it for the first time. I didn't hit the wall, however. My master did say that focus is one of my strengths," Brill said. He looked puffed up and proud of himself for a minute before quickly dropping it; how many times had he been told that arrogance was not acceptable for a Jedi? Too many times!
"Brill," said Nafanda, nudging him with her elbow. "D'you wanna go first, seeing as you are not actually restricted from doing this?"
Brill nodded "The best way to start is to meditate. It's how to clear your mind of distractions which could make you run into something." He sat down, closed his eyes and entered a light meditative trance. Brill had many faults, but Triz had been correct regarding the boy's discipline and focus; it was exceptional.
Kaden watched Brill go from conversation to meditation but said nothing, choosing instead to wait and see what happened next. "Let's join him, I might give this Force running a try also. It would be nice to impress my master with something like this for a change," he told Nafanda and sat down. It was true, too. Kaden would like to get this right the first time and make it look like he had just been naturally good at this. It was all too often that he felt the opposite these days.
Nafanda had no illusions as to how impressed any of their masters would be if they found out about them practicing Force-enhanced running without permission; but then, Kaden didn't need to tell his master about it.
And Kaden definitely had no intention of telling Drex he had been practicing this without his permission. Force, the man would kick his ass into next week if he found out! He did, however, hope that practicing might just give him an edge, and that he impress the man for a change. Of course there was also his own desires. Kaden was curious and thought himself well able to do it without incident.
As for Nafanda, Kaden's remark had spurred her on; maybe it was true and she really had a gift for this kind of thing? That would be way too cool! What Nafanda did not know was that her master was entirely aware of that gift. Yet, Eleena had chosen not to teach her the skill as yet because Nafanda simply did not pay sufficient attention to her surroundings. She was capable of running into things or people at entirely normal speed, despite her Force awareness; and that, in Eleena's opinion, needed to change before she could be trusted to try Force-enhanced running. Nafanda knew about this part of her master's thought process, but considered it simple overprotectiveness. After all, she was well able to be mindful of her surroundings when she focussed properly, that much she was convinced of!
She readily followed Brill's and Kaden's lead and entered a light meditative trance. She dropped it, however, when Brill got up and made his run, turning into a blur that, ten seconds later, emerged a few dozen meters short of the fence as a very small human figure.
"Whoa," Nafanda said, impressed. "Kade, you wanna go after him? Or shall we both go?"
Kaden was pretty hard to impress, but Brill's rapid departure had gotten his attention. "Skills," he admitted, as Brill blurred from view and appeared as a tiny speck on the horizon.
Did he want to go after him? "Hell yeah, let's go together. Ready?" he asked Nafanda, taking a moment to centre himself; he'd have to really concentrate if he was going to pull this off without incident. Kaden had never done this before, but he had a solid grasp on the theory thanks to Drex's insistence that he read that enormous file on the mechanics behind achieving Force-enhanced running. It was that theory, coupled with what he sensed from Nafanda and Brill's Force presence that enabled him to get it right. He blurred after Nafanda and raced alongside her. It was exhilarating!
Brill squinted. He was barely able to make out two small figures standing on the far side where he had left them. For a moment he wondered if he should have stayed and given more instructions, but before he could do anything about that, Nafanda, closely followed by Kaden, blurred from his line of sight. And five seconds later, it went horribly wrong. Despite the half-kilometre distance, it was clear to Brill that it was Kaden who went down since he was much bigger than Nafanda. His heart lurched, and a wave of panic swept through him as he blurred towards them.
Nafanda had been racing alongside Kaden, full of exhilaration as the grounds swept past her. She had no idea how to know when to stop - maybe she should try counting the seconds? It suddenly occurred to her that there was a lot that she did not know about Force-enhanced running; and at the exact moment at which that thought crossed her brain, she saw, at the edge of her vision, an automated lawn mower coming her way. Realistically, it could not hit her because she was running too fast, but she reacted before she had any chance to think this through, swerving to her right - which was right where Kaden was. She did not quite know what happened next because it all happened too fast, but she hit something heavy, stumbled, managed to slow down and straighten herself up again and turned around... to find Kaden on the ground, his face white and his leg oddly twisted.
"Oh, fuck," she said bluntly, hurrying towards him and dropping to her knees. "Are you okay? You aren't, are you?"
Nafanda was not the only one who had felt exhilarated. This was quite possibly the most fun Kaden had had since Drex last allowed them to do Ataru. Unfortunately, right now the boy felt far from elated. "Ow!" he hissed, clutching at his knee. It was then that he caught sight of his shin and foot both of which were twisted and sticking up at an unnatural angle. "Fuck! It. It's Di-dislocated," he said through gritted teeth, and was forced to start deep breathing lest he pass out from the intense pain.
Brill looked as if he'd seen a ghost. His gaze flitted from a concerned Nafanda, to Kaden who was in serious pain, and then back again. He wasn't any good at Force-healing, and Kaden was too big for him to risk an attempt at popping his leg back into joint. He might just end up making it hurt a lot for nothing, or Force help him, actually making it worse! "We need to call Angkat," he said, pulling his commlink from his belt and punching in the teen's code.
Kaden held up a hand to stop him. "Let me. Try. first," he managed to grunt out over several short breaths. If he could fix this himself they might not need to bring this to anyone's attention. Yeah, right. Apparently his brain was also broken because hiding injuries from Drex had reliably ended badly. Not to mention that he was kidding himself here; this was bad and he knew it. As expected, his effort did nothing. Not only was he unsure of exactly what to do, but the pain of his attempts hurt so badly that he was now unnaturally grey, nauseous and had broken out in a full body-sweat.
Brill had sensibly ignored Kade's effort to stop him and made the call anyway. He quickly explained what happened to an increasingly concerned Angkat as he knelt by Nafanda, who was comforting their injured comrade. "He's on his way," he told the two in a tone completely devoid of its usual superiority; the teen would have looked as white as Kaden if such a thing were possible.
In the meanwhile, the Jedi masters, accompanied by their hosts, had just reached the small town where their blind informant lived and were leaving their speeders when Drex stiffened.
"Hennar," he said quietly. "Could you call Angkat, fast? Something just happened to Kaden. I think he's hurt."
Drex could tell through the training bond he shared with Kaden that his padawan was conscious, but in a lot of pain.
Hennar nodded and had Angkat on the line ten seconds later.
"What do you mean, you have no idea?" he asked incredulously. "Do you even know where Kaden is? SORT OF? Go check on him this instant and call me right away!"
He ended the call brusquely and turned towards Drex. "I'm sorry," he said. "My padawan does not seem to have taken his task of supervising the younger padawans quite as seriously as he should have. He's going to call us back as soon as he knows more."
"I'm going to call Brill," said Triz immediately. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful as Brill was currently busy calling a rather harassed-sounding Angkat who was already pulling on his boots and planning to contact what passed as emergency medics on this world the moment he disconnected. His comlink would be engaged for some time.
It was Eleena's turn next, and her call indeed got through to Nafanda's comlink.
"Uh... Kaden kind of hurt his leg," Nafanda said awkwardly. "I think Angkat is calling the healers or whatever it is they have here."
Drex told Nafanda to keep him updated and, despite his worry, terminated the call. Thanks to his blindness, of all the Jedi assembled here, he was the only one who could not simply leave before the meeting had even started.
When Angkat arrived at the place Brill had described, he was just in time to see two darkly furred Ha'en-Shin men jump from a large medical speeder and pull a stretcher from the back. He assessed the situation quickly and sent their droid off to begin explaining who they were to the medics. "That's dislocated," he said seriously, kneeling and placing a hand on Kaden's leg. "Healing isn't my speciality but I can help you with a bit of the pain. I won't lie, popping that back in is not going to be pleasant. How did this happen?" he asked, the latter said in a sharp tone as he looked from Nafanda to Brill.
Brill shrugged. "He fell and twisted it," he supplied. The boy had not actually seen what happened as he was too far away. All he'd seen was Kaden on the ground so it was a fair enough answer.
Angkat, however, wasn't buying it. "He fell and twisted it?" he repeated disbelievingly. From what little he knew about Kaden, the boy had not struck him as the clumsy type. In fact, it was to the contrary. Besides, it took quite a bit of impact to dislocate a knee!
"Yes, it didn't get like that on its own, you know," Brill added a little arrogantly.
Angkat ignored the comment, for now. He needed to concentrate on Kaden who looked as if he were about to pass out from the pain any second.
Less than five minutes later Kaden was being flown to the hospital, along with Brill, Nafanda and Angkat who flatly refused to take his eyes off any of them again. They'd given Kaden a hypo to dull the pain, but it still hurt. The pain was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was a deep, burning ache that became a dagger that shot up behind his knee and into his hip whenever he moved the wrong way. Hell, it even hurt if he didn't breathe the right way; too deep and his leg thumped, too fast and he got dizzy, too shallow and he started seeing black spots. This was intense and it showed on his face. Despite his immediate pain, Kaden wasn't looking forward to having this fixed either, as he was under no illusions about how much it was gonna hurt. He would never say it aloud but he really wanted his master here now.
Once at the hospital, Kaden was taken directly to the body scanners whilst the others were told to wait in reception. Angkat flopped into a chair and ran a hand over his face. Hennar was going to wear him out over this, and what made it all so much worse was the fact that he deserved it.
Having talked to a Ha'en-Shin doctor, the droid came to inform them that the joint was dislocated, there was a minor fracture and a ligament was torn. The joint would have to be relocated, and Kade would need some type of surgery and a day in the bone knitter. According to the doctors, the worst would be over in a few days.
"Oh great," groaned Nafanda, hiding her face in her hands. She dared not say more; after all, she did not exactly want to volunteer information about how this had come about. Not that it would take their masters long to find out, she supposed…