A/N: Thanks everyone for the great reviews, we appreciate all the feedback! It's great to hear that people are reading our story and you're enjoying our writing.
During the next week Kade dreamt of all the things he would experience in the coming years; everything from diplomatic ceremonies, to civil wars and hostage negotiations. He'd gotten a taste of reality and, like most padawans, now he wanted more.
"But, please? I promise I won't misuse the Force or insult any Taburians!" the boy begged, but it was to no avail. Apparently, they were not leaving the temple this weekend and there was nothing he could do to persuade his stubborn master otherwise. Sighing, Kade stomped into his room, mad at not being allowed to go out, but not mad enough to disobey. He completed his math and Basic homework as instructed, and was surprised at being given permission to visit the padawans' lounge.
Like most padawans, Kade considered his nightly visits to the lounge something he looked forward to, and he couldn't help but smile as he swaggered into the lounge in search of his friends.
"What are you grinning at, kid, don't you know it's not very Jedi-like to make fun of another's misfortune?" a human boy, whom Kade recognised as Aren, scowled. It was no secret that Aren was still visiting a soul healer after having been captured by slave traders during his last mission. He had come dangerously close to dying after being tossed into a gladiator ring with two Acklay for sport, and was lucky that his master located him quickly enough to save him from what would have been a slow, painful death. Fortunately for Aren, the reasons for his mechanical leg and disfiguring scars were not widely known; although many had heard of his mission, only a select few were aware of the trauma he'd experienced.
Kade bristled. What the Force was going on with him lately! First the Taburian heifer on their shuttle to the embassy, and now this. He didn't know much about Aren's history, but nor did he particularly like the teen: he was antagonistic and caused trouble, trouble that Kaden wanted no part of.
"Look, I dunno what your problem is, but I didn't even notice you, least of all want to waste my time making fun of your failure to bob instead of weave," he retorted arrogantly and shouldered his way through the small group of teens, clearly wanting to get past and find his friends.
"Hey, you don't have to be a jerk about it," a Nautolan boy grumbled, slapping his hand onto Kade's shoulder, effectively stopping him from moving past.
Kaden froze, his eyes darkening from brown to black. "Get. Your. Hand. Off. Me," he warned, his head turning to indicate the webbed fingers without turning around.
"Aww, and what is the little junior padawan gonna do if I don't, cry?" The boy taunted. They had drawn the attention of some bystanders now and he didn't want to lose face because of this little twerp.
"Take your hand off me now, or you and Aren are gonna have more in common than your ability to be assholes," Kade threatened, his muscles tightening and temper rising. The air around him turned static, a sign that he was close to losing his temper in a way that would do damage if he didn't keep control.
"Oh, now that's just something I've gotta see. Not that you could actually do any real damage with that little toy you call a lightsaber," a Zabrak said, stepping up beside his two friends.
Kade started counting in his head, trying to use any and all techniques he'd learned from both K'Mi and Drex in order to control his anger; he didn't want to fight them, but his temper was beginning to take over and he was speaking before thinking.
"That's a good boy, you take some deep breaths, then go visit the potty and clean out your diaper," the Zabrak patronised.
"Yeah, I thought I could smell something. Look, don't panic, kid, I'm not gonna call your bluff this time as long as you admit to having learned your lesson and apologise for insulting Aren and threatening me," the Nautolan said, a smug expression on his face. Truth be told, he didn't want to fight the kid either; he'd lose his lightsaber at the very least if his master ever found out.
Unfortunately, there was only so much crap Kaden could handle before his capacity to tolerate bullshit reached its limit. He turned slowly, deftly dislodged the webbed hand from his shoulder and met the Nautolan with a truly menacing glare. "I'll be in the first vacant gym room in section 34 in twenty minutes if you have the balls, then we will see who is apologising to whom," he said caustically and strode from the lounge. He was far too angry to face his friends, but neither did he actually want to fight these boys and he was already mentally kicking himself for letting his temper get the better of him.
Kaden spent those twenty minutes trying to think of a way out of this, but there was nothing for it: he'd just have to go through with it lest those three turn his evenings in the padawans' lounge into nothing but taunts and torment.
True to his word, the boy strode into the first gym that wasn't occupied at exactly 1900 that evening, looking decidedly less enthusiastic; if Drex found out about this…
"Pff, I can't believe the little twerp actually showed up," Aren scoffed.
The Nautolan boy went pale for a moment, but quickly pulled himself together. "Fine, then, let's get on with this so I can kick your ass and get back to the lounge," he said, unclipping his saber and handing it to Aren.
Aren raised a brow but clipped it to his belt regardless.
"I can hardly fight him with my lightsaber, I wanna scare the kid, not kill him," the Nautolan explained discretely, then moved to face Kade. "I'm pretty sure neither of us want to take home evidence of a fight," he said simply, but his implication was clear. He summoned one of the practice sabers from the far wall, dialled it down and assumed a ready stance.
Kade swallowed. The boy had a point; Drex wouldn't be happy if he found out about this. Kade shuddered as the memory of their conversation over consequences flitted through his mind. Hell, how could he be expected to take punishment like a man when he was forced to lay across his master's knee like a youngling? Kaden would rather hand his master a big stick and take his chances standing. But just as there were disadvantages to having a blind master, there were also advantages, one being that he might be able to hide evidence of injuries easier than his friends.
"C'mon, kid, attack already," the Nautolan pushed, glancing nervously towards the closed door. He wanted to prove his point and get the hell out of dodge before anyone caught them.
Kade followed suit, dialled his blade to low and without preamble launched at the older boy, emulating the move Eeth had used to flatten him with. He drove him backwards with such ferocity that the Nautolan landed flat on his ass. He wasn't down for long, though, and deftly tumbled backwards, jumped, then kicked off the wall to land at Kades back. "Not bad kid, but you've lost your element of surprise now that I know what you've got." And with that, the Nautolan attacked with a series of blows that would have trampled most junior apprentices.
Kade, for his part, blocked where he could and got out of the way when he couldn't; the older boy was good and had far more experience, but he wasn't an organic fighter like Kade.
They fought for a solid ten minutes, both apprentices careful not to leave so much as a single scratch on the other. As the fight entered the fifteenth minute, Kade had gained the upper hand. Just when he had dropped the Nautolan on his ass, his blade inches from his throat, the sound of someone trying to open their locked door had his saber deactivated immediately, assuming that the Nautolan would follow suit.
The older boy's pride was smarting, however; he kicked out with his foot, causing Kade to stumble backwards. He expected him to jump, and wasn't planning to go further with it, so what happened next had him wide-eyed.
Kaden, in his arrogance, had switched off the moment he'd won the fight, thus, he neither sensed nor was able to cushion his fall before cracking his head on the stone floor. Hard.
Thankfully, whoever had been at the door must have gone to reset the code, not that any of the boys noticed as they were all staring in horror at the trickle of blood that ran from the younger boy's eyebrow onto his cheek.
"Fuck! You idiot…" Kade grumbled, staggering to his feet and doing his best not to get any on his uniform. He wasn't sure how good Drex's sense of smell was, but neither was he willing to take any chances.
Acting fast, the Nautolan glanced at Aren, "Give me your sock."
Aren frowned, but complied. "Why my sock?!" he said indignantly, tossing it at the Nautolan.
"Because you've got so many odd socks your master won't question it," the Zabrak said with a grin, as he caught on to his friend's train of thought.
Aren just smirked because it was true; with a mechanical leg, he only needed one sock.
"Hold steady pressure on it," the Nautolan told Kade. "It's not serious, but head wounds tend to bleed out. You're gonna have a bruise and probably a decent sized lump to boot, not to mention you're gonna have to explain this to your master."
"I wouldn't have to explain anything if you hadn't chucked a tantrum."
"It's not like I was trying to do damage, I was just funning with you. It's hardly my fault you haven't learnt to land properly," the Nautolan boy shot back, but he could see the ship sinking around him. "Look, kid, just tell your master the truth, it will be a lot worse if you try covering it up with bullshit; besides, with a mouth like yours, I'm sure it's not the first time you've gotten a whipping, and it's nothing I can't handle either. The name's Shald."
Kade kept the slightly damp, makeshift compress over his head trying to stop the bleeding with little success. "If we can find a way to stop this bleeding and get rid of my headache I might be able to save us both the trouble," Kade said, then at seeing the collective confusion added: "My master is blind."
"Blind? Force, you've got to be joking. No problems then, you're home and hosed," the Zabrak said, not believing how lucky Shald was.
"I said he's blind, not stupid. I can't just waltz in with blood gushing from my forehead and a pounding headache and expect he won't sense something's off."
"I wish I kept that tube of bacta, or better still, where is Raven when you need her?" Aren commented ruefully. Their fellow padawan was quite good at Force-aided healing; this would be just what they needed right now.
"What makes you think Raven would help you after what happened the last time? Force, if I had Eeth Koth as my master, I would have a personal restraining order out on your ass," the Zabrak scoffed, earning a snort of laughter from the others.
Aren was about to shoot back a smartass reply when he had an idea. "What about Lyn Ems? He's not Raven, but he's got more ability than we do, AND, he still owes me for, you know…" he trailed off, not wanting to discuss that particular favour around Kade. "Plus he should be in the lounge by now," he concluded.
"It's not perfect, but I think it's the best we can do. Ok, we'll get the midget out of here before the door's reset if you go find Lyn. We'll meet in the refreshers by the lounge," said Shald.
Five minutes later…
"What the Force did you four get up to?" Lyn said, frowning at the split on Kade's forehead from which blood was still trickling down his cheek.
"Don't ask….. Look, you owe me one, remember? So can you fix it or not?"
Lyn flushed slightly at being reminded of the favour he owed Aren, then scratched at the back of his head. "No, I cannot 'fix' it. I'm not a healer, this needs antiseptic and at least three stitches, not a patch-up job," he explained, then sighed at seeing the look on Kade's and Shald's faces. "Alright, I will give it a try. I can stop the bleeding and get rid of the headache, but I will need help to close the wound, and even then it will not hold up to much. I cannot do anything about the underlying damage, which from the looks of this," he removed the sock to reveal a bruise and matching goose egg already beginning to rise, "is going to be impossible to hide from your master."
Kade nodded. "If you can stop the bleeding, I may be able to pull it off."
"The kid's master is blind," Shald elaborated at seeing Lyn's confused expression.
"How come you get all the luck?" Lyn exclaimed, his eyes meeting the Nautolan's gaze with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "Very well, we should at least flush the wound with water first. I'm hoping the steady flow of blood has kept anything nasty from finding its way in. Otherwise, in a few days, you will have one hell of an infection in there and will have to see a healer." He shot Aren a pointed expression, his implication clear; if that happened, they were all going down, Lyn included, and personally, he was not keen on having the healers after him in addition to his master.
"C'mon kid, lay down before you bleed out and we all get nailed," the Zabrak encouraged.
Lyn worked on the area for as long as Kaden thought he could get away with, and after a combined effort from all four boys, they managed to close the wound, but only just. "Look, the wound is barely holding closed, so please, do not even sneeze until tomorrow or you might rip it open. If you have access to a medical kit, put a plaster over it to sleep, alright?" Lyn said, helping the boy to his feet.
"Sure, I'll do my best, but I gotta go, I'm already late."
The others all agreed, but before Kade could leave, Shald held him up, looking at him with a sincere expression. "I'm sorry, Kaden. You've got guts for a newbie, truce?" he said, holding out his hand.
Kade slapped his palm and replied: "Truce," then took off out the door.
"Hey, don't run, you'll bust it open!" Lyn scolded, his tone earning him snickers from the others as Kade disappeared around the corner at a more subdued pace.
"Shall I drag him back by an ear so he might apologise, Master Ems?" Aren quipped.
"Very funny, smartass. If he busts that open before he even gets home, I'm going down with you, and I don't know if asking you to set me up with Kishan is worth that sort of consequence. If he goes down, you owe me." Lyn told him, an expectant brow on the rise.
Aren nodded. "Agreed, but he won't get busted, so we're square for now."
Kade was still smiling as he approached the corridor that lead to their quarters. He might not have made friends out of the older boys, but he had earned their respect. His smiled dropped, however, as he punched in their door code; he knew that Drex would have a thing or two to say about his methods if he ever found out. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes briefly, drawing on the Force to project as much calmness as he could, and wandered into the common room as he had done almost every night for the last two weeks.
"I'm back," he announced, knowing that he was almost ten minutes late but hoping that if Drex noticed, he wouldn't think it was a huge deal. Like always, he headed directly for the cooler where he took a frozen fruit drink from the icebox; it was going to serve a dual purpose this evening.
"Hello," Drex said, looking into the vague direction of the door as his padawan entered. "What took you so long?"
He immediately sensed that something was off, but it was only an inkling; he could not put his finger on it.
"I got dragged into a game of planetary pursuit," Kade lied with an air of rehearsed confidence, then rounded the corner to meet his master. "Sorry I'm late. I'll go shower and change now if you like," he offered, not willing, or wanting for that matter, to talk about his evening.
Drex put his keyboard away. It was a keyboard made for blind people, with raised letters on the keys. He had been learning to write with it from an early age and was very fast.
"Yes, take a shower and get changed into your pyjamas," he agreed. "Then come back for our evening meditation."
Fifteen minutes later Kade entered their common room as he did most evenings, barefoot and clad in a pair of cotton sleep pants. His previously shaggy mop of dark hair had been clipped short into a traditional padawans cut, and was now sticking up at all angles thanks to a rough towel-dry. Some water droplets dripped onto his bare shoulder from his padawan braid, which was rather short as yet. He had spent some time running his forehead under the cold shower in an effort to reduce the swelling. However, as hard as he tried to conceal it, the boy still felt as if he had been hit by an airbus.
Drex asked Kade to sit opposite him, cross-legged, on the soft rug in the common room as they usually did for their evening meditation; on account of being blind, he expressed a lot of things verbally that other masters might have indicated by gestures. When Drex told Kade to close his eyes, enter a meditative trance and link with him, the boy hesitated for a moment, as if suddenly afraid; but then he did as he was told. The reason for his hesitation became abundantly clear to Drex as soon as they had linked. And the fact that Drex had noticed, in turn, became abundantly clear to Kaden. Barely two seconds after the padawan had let down his shields, he sensed Drex's presence shift from peaceful to concerned. And as if that wasn't bad enough, with his shields down, his feelings of guilt were now pouring freely across their bond.
Drex withdrew abruptly from the connection and said, his voice thick with concern: "You're hurt, Kaden. And something is wrong with your brain; a concussion, most likely. Where are you hurt, and in what way?"
From what he had sensed, it was not a minor injury; Kade would need a healer's attention. They could, and they would, get into the whys and hows of Kaden's injury, including the reasons for his silence about it, later. For now, it was important to get him treated, and for that Drex needed complete information. He was no healer; he could sense through the Force that something was wrong, but nothing more than that.
"No, I'm fine it's just a headache," Kade tried, hoping to all hopes that his master would accept his explanation.
Drex's features tightened.
"Don't lie to me," he said in as stern a voice as he had ever used with Kade. "You are not 'fine', and we both know it. I want to know where and how you are hurt, now."
The boy stiffened at hearing Drex's tone, his eyes opening wide.
"I fell and hit my head, but it's nothing serious, I've had it seen to already," he stated honestly, his hand reaching up to cup the pounding lump that seemed to be growing by the minute. "I didn't want to worry you."
"You're still lying," Drex stated calmly. "You might as well save yourself the trouble. I am going to get to the bottom of this one way or another. By trying to deceive me, you're only digging yourself in deeper. Have you seen a healer about this, yes or no?"
The expression on Kade's face went from optimistically cautious to resigned in a heartbeat; apparently, Drex was not buying his story. He leaned forward, cupping his aching forehead with a hand as if the gesture would somehow stop his brain from leaking out his ears, because that was what it felt like! "No, master," he answered.
"Alright," Drex said, rising from his cross-legged position. "I'm going to call one, then. You lie down on the couch and don't move. And don't even think of arguing."
He crossed the room and entered the code for the healers on his terminal; after having raised three padawans, he knew it by heart.
Kade did not comment; he did not feel like speaking any more than absolutely necessary. He might not want to admit it, but he was secretly grateful that his master had noticed this since by the time their door announced the healer's arrival fifteen minutes later, his head was starting to pound in earnest.
"I just need a heavy-duty anti-inflammatory, that should take care of it," he stated, not looking up at the healer who was shown into the common room by Drex.
"You will leave that up to the healer to decide," Drex said in a tone of voice that brooked no argument.
The healer was a young, tall, slender, turquoise Twi'lek.
"Good evening," he said cheerfully. "I'm Healer Bril. Ouch, that looks nasty. What did you do to hit your head like that? Let me have a look."
"I fell," Kade answered, the clipped response sounding lame even to his own ears, but there wasn't much else he could say without incriminating himself further. He turned so the man had free access to his injury and closed his eyes.
Bril knelt down next to the couch and examined the wound closely, both outwardly and through the Force.
"Somebody tried to patch that up, but badly so," he commented. "You really should have come to the healers straight away. I'm not sure I can prevent scarring at this stage. Besides, we definitely would have prevented the infection that you're currently developing. You've also got a slight concussion, but I'll take care of that in a moment. First, you need a shot against the infection. Are you squeamish about that?"
"No," said Kade, watching the Twi'lek pull a syringe from his bag and start to roll up his tunic sleeve. Kade huffed but resigned himself to the inevitable and simply looked the other way as the man did what needed to be done.
Twenty minutes and four stitches later….
"Thanks," Kade said gratefully as the healer began repacking his medical bag; his head no longer felt like it was about to split open and he had barely felt the four stitches required to close the wound properly.
"You're welcome," Bril said a little absent-mindedly. He put his bag aside and rested his hands on Kade's head, closing his eyes and establishing a healing link. The light concussion that Kade sported would have healed on its own with a couple of days of bedrest, but this way was faster.
"Done," he finally said, withdrawing his hands. "The next time you get hurt, go see a healer right away. Whoever tried to patch you up should have had more sense than this. If your master had not called us as fast as he did, this might have turned nasty. I assume you tried to keep this from him in order not to get into trouble or to keep someone else out of trouble, but really, forget it. It's not worth it. You all end up with us sooner or later, and with a seriously displeased master to boot. Get some sleep now; the shot is going to make you drowsy. Master Zaryth, I know you will want to talk to your padawan, but I recommend you wait until tomorrow. He should stay home for a day. And no workouts for three days."
He clapped Kaden's shoulder and rose.
"Well, I'm off," he announced. "If the pain returns or if there is any further bleeding, call me immediately. But I don't think that's likely. Good night, and may the Force be with you."
"May the Force be with you," Drex replied, bowing to him. "Thank you."
Bril shot him a quick smile (not that Drex could see it) and left.
"Well," said Drex, turning to Kaden. "If the healer recommends it, we will postpone the inevitable discussion on what really caused you to be hurt until tomorrow morning. But before you go to sleep, tell me - truthfully - whether anybody else was hurt and might be trying to conceal it."
Fantastic! As if being busted wasn't bad enough, apparently, he was now under healer's arrest for another three days… Kaden looked positively sullen as Drex asked about the others involved. "No, no one else was hurt." When the silence dragged on for a bit longer the padawan started to squirm. "I'm sorry I lied to you," he said earnestly, his tone riddled with guilt, and oddly enough he found that he could still not meet the man's eye, despite the fact that Drex was blind.
"I thank you for the apology," Drex said solemnly, sensing that Kade, for once, was sincere. "I will want to hear the truth tomorrow. All of it. Now go to sleep. It is getting late and your head needs to rest."
Forgetting that the man could not hear his gestures, Kade inclined his head and wordlessly made for his room. He didn't know which had been worse, the pounding headache or the guilt he now felt at having been so dishonest.
Drex tucked Kaden in, turned off the light in the boy's room and left quietly. He knew that in the next morning, they were going to have to have a serious discussion about honesty and taking unnecessary risks to one's health... and about what Kaden had done to sustain his injury in the first place. Drex was certainly not going to let this slide.