A/N: Thanks for sticking with us in these crazy times and especially for writing reviews. We always love to hear from you, and we sincerely hope that all of you stay safe! One of us was ill for two weeks (not with covid-19) but it still slowed us down a bit. Right now, both of us are spending our time in self-isolation and have more time than usual to devote to role-playing. That might change any time, of course.
In this chapter, our padawans find a lot of trouble and have to live with the (painful) consequences. The long spaceship trip is getting to them. If you feel this is a bit much, take heart: Once they arrive on Arkuna, there will be more action and more variety. Which doesn't mean that Endal and Raven won't continue getting into trouble, of course. That would simply be too boring for us. ;)
Have fun! As always, we love to hear from you.
The week of spaceship travel went about as smoothly as could be expected considering there wasn't exactly a lot to do while stuck in hyperspace. Both Endal and Raven applied themselves to their duties, although it was not without some effort. Raven, in particular, was becoming restless and chafing at the constant confinement, not to mention all the classwork and, ugh, Drkai and her stupid ant project which had replaced the "spiders"!
"Hey, are you in there?" Drkai asked, snapping her fingers in front of Raven's face to regain her attention. "I said concentrate. You're not even trying. Do it again, please," the woman admonished and pointed to the small dish of ants currently expanding their empire and planning a hostile takeover of their entire ship.
"I AM trying," Raven snapped, but it really had no bite to it; she could do better, and they both knew it.
Drkai simply frowned at her charge. So far that had seemed to do the trick whenever Raven gave her an attitude. But apparently, this time it was not to be.
"There are just too many of them, and it's, it's stupid. When will I ever need to control this many ants? Who even cares about ants, anyway?" In truth, Raven did care about the ants; an overabundance of compassion and empathy for life, regardless of what form it took, was something that had gotten her into trouble more than once.
"I know it's hard, but you can do this. Focus, concentrate," Drkai encouraged. Drkai could understand Raven's frustration. She also knew that for a fidgety personality such as Raven's, this was not only a very long spaceship journey but also advanced Force work that took considerable time, effort and patience to master. Thus, she ignored what was obviously a lie and corralled the ants back into their dish so they might begin again.
Raven just wanted to cry. She knew better, though, and so she gave it another shot.
When it failed, yet again, and Drkai offered encouragement to do it over, the padawan folded her arms defiantly and refused. "No!"
"No?" Drkai cocked a brow.
"NO! I don't care! I'm not doing this again. All we've done in two days is look at these stupid ants; I'm SICK of ANTS!"
"And I'm sick of your attitude," countered Drkai. She stood, taking Raven by the upper arm as she did so and pulling the padawan to her feet. Easy-going Drkai might be, but outright disobedience and defiance was something she would not stand for.
The next thing Raven knew, she was staring at the floor, hands on her knees and Drkai's arm wrapped about her waist. Alright, so this was unambiguous. Raven knew what was about to go down and, like most Jedi apprentices, would not fight correction. Thus, she hung her head and waited. What followed, although humiliating, was not really that painful, not really. Sure, it smarted, but Drkai's hand over layers of her tunic, trousers and underpants felt more like an uncomfortable massage. Raven counted her blessings! Force, Eeth was capable of bringing tears to her eyes with just a few swats of his hand if he had a mind to! Drkai's swing was nothing like that.
After the tenth had landed, however, it did actually smart. Not enough to draw more than a grunt of discomfort from Raven, but still… She stood stiffly, eyes downcast and hands at her sides.
"Look at me," Drkai ordered, and this time Raven obeyed her. "Nobody said this was going to be easy. You have the skill, you only lack the motivation. I won't let that stand in your way." Drkai thought that she had already made that mistake once with her own padawan, and it was never going to happen again.
Suitably subdued, Raven knelt for what felt like the hundredth time this hour and worked until Drkai was satisfied with her effort. It took longer than expected, but she was not about to compound her problems with further misbehaviour.
"Are you going to tell Eeth about, well, about… " She trailed off, looking positively pained as she helped clean up their work area.
Drkai could guess what Raven was asking, and she did feel for her, not that she let on. "No, I won't tell your master because you will do that yourself. It goes without saying that he'd expect to hear about this from you."
"You're right," Raven agreed. "But, if you could just tell Eeth that you've dealt with it and that there is no need for further correction, I would be your best friend for the rest of my life!"
"Oh?" Drkai had to chuckle at this. She snapped the lid shut on the ant terrarium and put an arm around Raven's shoulder. "I don't think that will spare you. However, how about you promise to do your best in our lessons and I'll tell him the truth: you have been punished enough."
Raven grinned and indeed, they had a deal.
Endal fared little better that day. Generally, Eeth now went slightly easier on him than during their first workout; that one had been meant to show him that he was able to push his limits. Still, Eeth worked the boy plenty hard enough, switching between kata, sparring and exercises meant to enhance his agility, endurance and strength. Endal made a real effort, but he was beginning to feel frustrated. His arms and legs seemed to become sorer every day and he felt as if he was never going to improve. He had mastered the moves of the fourth kata now, but instead of leading him on to the fifth, Eeth kept focusing on the details of the fourth. It was tedious work and that only increased Endal's frustration. After Eeth had corrected his grip on his saber for the tenth time, he heaved an exasperated sigh and dropped his arms.
"Can't we do something else?" he asked, giving Eeth a pleading look.
"No," Eeth said curtly. "Do it again."
Endal heaved another sigh and lifted his saber again, not caring particularly how he did it.
"Is that better?" he asked in a long-suffering voice.
Instead of an answer, Eeth divested him of his saber neatly with nothing but a precise kick of his foot.
"Ouch!" Endal cried indignantly, nursing his left hand and giving Eeth a reproachful look.
"I think," Eeth said sternly, "that your attitude leaves a lot to be desired. I will be happy to change that. March yourself over to that crate over there and bend over."
Endal's eyes widened like saucers.
"Noooo," he said desperately. "I'll work on my grip, I promise! I see what you mean now."
"Good," Eeth said in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "You may continue practising tomorrow. Right now, you are going to do as I told you. You will receive two additional swats for trying to argue your way out of it. And when we are done, you may spend the rest of the session climbing the ropes. I know how much you like them."
Endal's jaw practically dropped to the ground at that, but he hurried to obey.
Eight scorching swats with the paddle later, he was sore and tearful and forced to climb up and down the ropes for another half hour until Eeth finally sent him off to take a shower. Needless to say, it was a less than happy padawan who stormed into the thankfully deserted room he shared with Drkai, grabbed a towel and stomped into the refresher in a rare fit of bad temper.
Eeth let him be and went to the galley to prepare lunch, which was where Drkai and Raven found him a few minutes later when they had finished their own lesson.
Drkai glanced towards the galley door which led to their quarters. She could sense Endal's frustration and could only imagine what had caused it. Despite wanting to know what had happened, Drkai refrained from asking Eeth about this for now. Endal would tell her himself. She washed her hands in the sink and pulled a couple of glasses from the cupboard. Over the last few days, some rehydration fluids had helped her padawan after these sessions.
Raven gave Drkai a last pleading look, which was met with a raised brow as the woman dropped two effervescent pills into the first glass of water. Not quite sure how to raise this topic, Raven went for something a bit safer. "How did it go with Endal?" she asked Eeth, picking up a knife and casually twirling it between her fingers.
"That is none of your business," said Eeth mildly. "How was your session with Master Drkai?"
"None of your business, either," replied Raven, looking affronted by his rude answer.
Eeth raised his eyebrows and gave her a pointed look. "Your lessons, padawan, are my business," he said. He had the feeling he had offended Raven somehow but he was not quite sure what he had done wrong.
Raven's posture stiffened, and she eyeballed Eeth. She was about to open her mouth to say something that would have undoubtedly ended up in shit hitting the fan when Drkai spoke up. "I assume," she said, swirling the dissolving pills around in the glass, "that Endal's lesson did not go all that well, and maintaining Endal's privacy was the reason for your master's reluctance to answer your question." Drkai turned to Eeth. "The question was simple politeness, Eeth. And speaking of lessons, why don't you answer your master now," Drkai said, the attention returned to Raven.
Placated, Raven dropped the indignant expression and now looked a little sheepish – as did Eeth, which was a rather rare occurrence! He had indeed wanted to protect Endal's privacy but he had not at all been aware that his reaction might come across as rude, which it apparently had. The fact that Drkai had understood this immediately did not exactly make things better!
"Master Luthan is right," he said, striving to hide his moment of embarrassment. "My reply had nothing to do with you and everything to do with Endal, who should decide for himself if he wants to tell you how today's lesson went. Now tell me about yours."
Raven understood that, and although decidedly unenthusiastic about enlightening Eeth on her own lesson issues today, she did obey him. "Well, our lesson went okay for the most part. But I might have been a little less patient than I should have." She went on to explain how she had gotten frustrated and refused to continue when Drkai ordered her to. "Master Luthan punished me already, though, and it really, really hurt." Raven thought it best to add that in for good measure.
Drkai clicked her tongue at Raven's elaboration. "The punishment fit the crime, nothing more and nothing less."
"Uh, but it did hurt." Raven knew that Eeth rarely added to another master's punishment unless they specifically asked him to. Her problem was that Drkai's spanking hadn't actually hurt much at all, and she didn't want that coming out because Force knew if he would think she needed more or not! More was to be avoided at all costs.
Eeth could smell a lie from his padawan a mile away, and he wasn't impressed. He pulled out a chair from the dining table and sat down.
"Padawan," he said in an ominous tone of voice, "bare your bottom, get over my knee and show me how badly you were hurt. Or tell me the truth. You have ten seconds to make a choice, or I will make it for you."
"Wait, let's not be hasty here!" exclaimed Raven. "Master Luthan really did spank me, but maybe I exaggerated a bit on how much it hurt. It did hurt, though, I felt it," she tacked on just in case he thought that she had felt nothing at all from the ordeal. By this point, Raven was wondering what would be worse, having to show him her ass or being caught out in a lie. Well, was it really a lie? Raven didn't think so, it was more of an exaggeration.
"I see," said Eeth sternly. He was not particularly concerned with Raven's brief episode of defiance in her lesson; after all, Drkai had dealt with it and Raven seemed to have followed orders in the end. He saw no need to add to the consequences imposed by Drkai. But Raven's attempt to deceive him about the punishment she had received from Drkai, just so he was lenient in his own reaction, was not something he was going to tolerate.
"Padawan," he said, "during this mission, two masters will be responsible for you. You might be tempted, at times, to exploit that fact to your own advantage. Do not give in to that temptation. It will only turn out all the worse for you."
He rose from his chair, grabbed Raven's ear and, ignoring her protests, he dumped her over his lap. Pulling down her pants and underwear to her knees, he found, true to his suspicions, that her bottom was entirely unblemished, not even a slight shade of pink.
"Right," he said in a deceptively mild tone of voice. "It seems as if you were not all that badly hurt after all. Let me show you what a spanking that 'really, really hurts' feels like."
At this point, Raven started panicking. "No, master, don't! I'm sorry! Wait, WAIT!" but it was too late. A second later, Eeth's hand came crashing down onto her bottom at full force, leaving a dark pink imprint in its wake. The process was immediately repeated on her other cheek, this one drawing a tearful attempt at yet another apology from Raven.
Drkai left the galley to the sound of Raven begging and Eeth's hand answering. She couldn't exactly blame Eeth; Raven had tried to play them. When Drkai entered her quarters, the shower was running, steam rising from around the door. She set the glass on Endal's bedside table and sat on her own bed to unbraid her hair. Drkai's dark blonde hair was long, thick and, when unbraided, hung low around a bald head of horns. She was lithe for a Zabrak, and the traditional facial tattoos she had chosen at the time of her rite were tasteful, accentuating her high cheekbones and pointed jawline.
When Endal left the shower, he found his master waiting for him in their room.
"Hi master," he said, a tad sullenly, making a beeline for his clothes. "I don't know if Master Eeth told you, but I'm probably supposed to. He paddled me because he thought I had an attitude. Just because I cannot do anything right doesn't mean I have an attitude!"
"Hi yourself," said Drkai, having taken in that assessment. She stopped brushing out her braids as he finished speaking. It would appear that it was not only Raven who was having a rough day.
"I doubt Master Koth would punish you for pulling an attitude if you did not deserve it," she said. "I am also certain that he would not be pleased to hear you say that you cannot do anything right. You do many things right. And you know what? I don't want to hear it either. We've long since proven that you are more than capable if you put your mind to it."
Endal was not typically prone to having fits of temper. But he had been driven hard by Eeth for a week now and, being at the threshold of adolescence, he found it increasingly difficult to tolerate being controlled by adults all the time. Drkai's words pushed him over the edge. He flung his tunic against the wall and, since that didn't make any kind of satisfactory sound, let one of his boots follow.
"Why can't I say it if it's true?" he raged. "We both know I'm not talking astrophysics or Huttese here, I'm talking about my saber training. How can you say that I'm capable when you weren't even there? You should hear Eeth! 'You are holding your saber wrong,'" he mimicked in a fairly good imitation of Eeth's voice. "'Grip it like this. Put your left hand there. Now hold your thumb like this. No, not like this, like that. You are forgetting about your left hand. You are still doing it wrong. Look, I just kick your saber and whoopsie, it's gone. No, we are not going to move on to the fifth kata 'cause you are still holding - YOUR - FREAKING - SABER - WRONG!' AWWGH!"
Endal stomped over to the wall, grabbed his tunic, pulled it over his head and stormed towards the door. He was half embarrassed at his show of temper, but currently, the other half, which was simply furious with Eeth, with himself, with his master and the world in general, was winning over.
That Endal was frustrated was not entirely unexpected to Drkai given that she had sensed as much from the galley, yet neither was she willing to tolerate this sort of attitude from him. "Control your temper and come here," she ordered, but she wasn't sure verbal commands were going to be enough this time. Endal was, quite possibly for the first time in their relationship, really losing his temper.
Endal was sick and tired of being told off and being ordered around. He wasn't used to it, and today, it just seemed to frustrate him to no end. If he had watched himself from a distance, he would have been surprised at his own cheek. Right now, however, he was too caught up in his tantrum to care. He simply waved the door open and stalked out into the corridor, fuming.
Drkai blinked as the door slid shut and Endal was no longer in the room. Sure, he had disobeyed her in the past, but generally speaking, these had been minor issues that could be easily talked out and dealt with. This time, it seemed as if Endal was allowing his temper to override his better judgement, which was entirely unacceptable. It took her a few seconds to work through that thought process and get to her feet.
Five seconds later, Drkai had Endal by his arm, and she pulled him up short. Turning him to face her, she bent so that they were eye to eye. "If I tell you to do something, you will do it. You won't ignore my instructions, ever. Now, you will return to our quarters and meditate on releasing your emotions into the Force. I will help if you want me to, but you will do it. Is that understood, padawan?" Drkai was not angry, yet neither was she willing to accept anything other than compliance and it showed in her expression.
Even in the throes of a temper tantrum, Endal's defiance had its limits. He stared at his master for two seconds, processing what she had said, and ground out: "Yes, master."
When she let go of his arm, he turned wordlessly, stomped back to the cabin, threw his meditation mat on the floor and sat down on it cross-legged in bad grace.
However, it was hard to sustain a tantrum for long while meditating. The reasonable part of himself was starting to win out, and that part was telling him he ought to be ashamed of his behaviour. He did not even know what had gotten into him, really. He just had never felt this frustrated before. Of course, he also had never been forced to work this hard on his physical skills before, and neither had he ever spent more than two days on a spaceship.
Given that Endal had not taken her up on the offer to meditate together, Drkai let him be and went to their bathroom to splash her face. The cold water felt good, so she did it a few times and then organised their laundry while she was here. When she sensed that Endal had once again found his calm centre, Drkai took a seat on his bunk. "Alright, enough of that now," she interrupted gently. When he looked at her, she patted the bed indicating that he come sit and handed him the glass or rehydrating fluids. "Let's try this again. Come and tell me what this is all about. Calmly and respectfully this time."
Endal sighed and took a sip, sitting in the spot his master had indicated. He was under no illusions that his master was thrilled with his behaviour. Nor was he, come to think of it. He had no idea what had gotten into him.
"I'm sorry, master," he said dejectedly. "I didn't mean to shout at you. I guess I was just frustrated. It currently seems to me as if the lessons with Master Koth aren't going anywhere and nothing I do is ever good enough."
"It can sometimes feel that way. In this case, the positive feedback I've received from Master Koth and the improvements I see in you myself don't support your claim. You allowed your frustrations to take over, which is understandable. We are not infallible or unfeeling, yet more is expected from us as Jedi than from others. I expect more from you, which is why, although I accept your apology, I won't stand for tantrums or disobedience when you have alternative outlets." Drkai gestured to his meditation mat.
Endal threw up his hands in frustration.
"I said I'm sorry," he said. "What else should I say? I don't even know why I suddenly threw a tantrum. I certainly didn't for Master Eeth. I only asked him whether we couldn't do something else and there he goes and starts paddling me. He might have given positive feedback to you, but that was not what he gave to me." He knew that this was not entirely fair because Eeth had praised him several times – not frequently but it had happened nearly every session. Not today, though.
"You should say that you will do better at controlling your emotions in future," said Drkai. "You might also add that although you did not receive the feedback or praise you wanted from Eeth today, it's no excuse to give less than your best effort, lose your temper, or disobey me. Given that you seem to be having trouble coming up with proper responses, I'm going to make this easy on you." Drkai stood and, after a brief pause, removed her lightsaber and pulled off her belt. "Trousers down and bend over your bed."
Endal's eyes widened in shock. "You can't be serious, master!" he said. "I have enough trouble sitting down as it is! And I said I'm sorry!" He had meant it, too; didn't that count for anything?
"I know you are sorry, padawan, but apologising doesn't excuse you from the consequences of your actions. Losing your temper, throwing a fit and disobeying me is not something I've ever tolerated and I'm not about to start now." Drkai doubled the belt over and took a firm grip. "Do as you're told, please. You don't want me to ask again."
Endal was still staring at his master in disbelief, but he was bright enough to see that arguing was not a particularly sensible option at this point. Biting his lower lip to keep it from trembling, he undid the drawstring of his pants and let them slide to his knees. He then shuffled up to the bed, turned around reluctantly and bent over, placing his hands on the mattress. He did not want to bend any lower than that because, while he had never been spanked with a belt before, he was quite certain that it was not going to be fun.
Wordlessly, Drkai put the belt aside for a moment, pulled Endal's underwear to his knees and then gently pushed him down so that he was lying over the edge of his bed. Ultimately this would be easier on him, not that she expected he'd recognise the reprieve. As anticipated, Endal's backside showed signs of the paddling he had spoken of, and although it had not been a token punishment, nor was it enough to warrant a change in plans. Thus, Drkai picked up her belt, took up a position at his side and, without further preamble, landed the first lick low on his bottom, neatly avoiding the worst of Eeth's paddling. She wasn't using her full strength, but it was surely going to be enough to get Endal's attention.
And get his attention it did! He flinched as the stroke hit his bottom. Force, but it stung! Endal knew he would not be able to stay silent for many more of these; his bottom was already sore to start with, after all. "Master, I'm sorry!" he said desperately in a last-second attempt at damage control. "I shouldn't have lost my temper!"
"I know," Drkai said in a surprisingly gentle voice. "And I'm going to make sure that you remember this the next time you feel the urge to lose your temper and disobey me." With that, Drkai focused on meting out a belting that would indeed fulfil that statement. The second lick landed just below the first, catching Endal's undercurve. The third targeted the backs of his upper thighs, leaving three pink lines.
Endal just about managed to stay silent during those first three, although he flinched at each stroke and wriggled around in a futile attempt to alleviate the sting. The third elicited a hiss of pain, and as the next set landed directly above the first, he could not suppress his cries.
"OUCH!" he yelped. "OWWW! Master, please, it hurts! OWWWWWW!"
Tears were stinging the corners of his eyes. He braced himself for the next round, knowing that he would not be able to withhold them much longer.
Drkai knew it hurt, yet she still meted out that last set of three even though Endal started crying at the seventh. Only when the full nine licks had been given did Drkai put the belt aside and sit beside him. His body was still shaking from his sobs, so she gently patted his back to offer some comfort while he got himself under control.
Endal accepted the comfort readily. He knew his behaviour had been out of line. He just wished he had been able to stop himself sooner! Finally, and with an effort, he managed to stop crying and straighten up. He reached back with one hand to massage his burning bottom but flinched at the touch; that had been a bad idea. "I'm sorry, master," he sniffled, groping unsuccessfully for a handkerchief in the pocket of his tunic.
Drkai deftly removed the handkerchief from his tunic pocket for him and offered it, her arm encircling his back and pulling him close. "Apology accepted, padawan." She held him while he swiped at his face and blew his nose, all the while scanning him through the Force. He was suffering, yes, but not unfairly so.
Endal leaned into his master's side. "Sorry," he repeated softly. "I'll try to do better."
"That's enough of that now," Drkai said gently. "I have accepted your apology. I also believe you when you say that you will do better." Drkai had corrected his phrasing with a slight smile but without a trace of condescension to her tone. When Endal seemed ready to leave her comfort, she reached up and thumbed a stray tear from his cheek. "Go wash your face and then come back to me."
Endal nodded mutely and moved to comply.
As Drkai comforted Endal, Eeth did the same with Raven, wondering whether there was something in the air that caused apprentices to misbehave or whether it was simply the length of this trip that was getting to them. He held Raven in a hug while she had her face buried in his tunic and was sniffling quietly.
"Padawan," said Eeth. "I would like to make one thing clear. This spanking was not for your misbehaviour in Master Drkai's lesson. Had you confessed to me honestly what happened, I would have let you off with a warning not to misbehave for her again. However, you deliberately lied to me, wanting to make the spanking you received appear much worse than it was. That was dishonest towards me. What is more, you accepted the risk of giving me a false impression of Master Drkai's actions. Most importantly, it was an attempt to play the two of us off against each other, to manipulate us. I do not take kindly to being manipulated. You would do well to remember that."
Raven cringed a little more as Eeth made each point. He was right: she had lied to him, hoping to lessen any punishment he might deem necessary, and hadn't thought about how that might reflect on Drkai.
"You're right," Raven said after a long pause. She stood so that he could see her face, tear-streaked, bleary-eyed and pink. "I'm sorry, master, it w-won't happen again." Raven was trying her best to do what she knew was expected of her, yet Eeth had not lied when he'd told her that this spanking was really going to hurt. It had, and it was taking some time for her to regain composure.
"Apology accepted," said Eeth, his voice softening a little. "Before lunch, you will offer an apology to Master Luthan as well. Right now, you will kindly join me in the training room. You may do your homework in the training time assigned to us this afternoon. You need to blow off some steam, and I will give you the opportunity to do so."
He did not consider this a punishment the way it would have been for Endal, but he still intended to put Raven through her paces. Besides, as a matter of fact, he needed to blow off some steam as well. The session with Endal had been frustrating for both student and teacher, not that Eeth had let this on.
"But, I already apologised to Master Luthan," Raven replied, dragging a hand under her nose despite having been given a handkerchief.
"Padawan, use your handkerchief," Eeth snapped, getting immediate compliance. He waited for her to finish blowing her nose and continued, "You might have apologised to Master Luthan for your defiance but you have not apologised for your dishonesty and attempt at manipulation. Will you do so, preferably without further backtalk?"
Raven's hesitation to apologise wasn't anything to do with pride, and everything to do with the shame she felt over having to confess to Drkai that she'd tried to manipulate them! Still, there was no way that Raven was going to argue with Eeth over anything right now, and so she lowered her gaze and nodded curtly. Besides, Raven knew that whatever Eeth had planned for her during this workout could always turn into something she hated, should she push him.
Eeth led Raven towards the training room and waved the door shut behind them. "Alright, padawan," he said. "Your task is simple. I want you to catch me, that is, to touch me with your hand. No lightsabers. Whether you manage to catch me or not, you will not give up before I give you leave to do so. Do you understand?"
"Yes, master." Raven was no quitter, but she was sceptical about her ability to actually catch Eeth, even inside this relatively small area. She looked around the room, found several places that might work for her size but not his, and took a deep breath. This was probably going to be a gruelling, ultimately unsuccessful session, yet Raven was up for it.
And Eeth expected nothing less than her best effort! Not letting himself get caught in the relatively confined space of the training room was not going to be an easy feat to accomplish, especially as Raven was very quick and agile. And that suited Eeth fine. He still was not back to the physical shape he thought he should be in, and he needed some vigorous exercise every day.
For the first twenty minutes, he had his hands full trying to escape his apprentice, climbing ropes and jumping them, flipping over crates and dodging her. Then he felt her slow down. "I haven't given you leave to stop," he barked, glaring down at her from the rope from which he was currently dangling. "Faster."
Raven didn't have the breath to verbally defend herself. She did, however, possess an admirable level of tenacity when it came to physical training. Thus, she gritted her teeth and, in a burst of Force energy, rebounded off the wall and launched herself onto the rope. Eeth was barely a meter above her now, and so she started climbing. Unfortunately, Eeth was fast and practically impossible to grab hold of; just when she could all but feel the fabric of his tunic in her fingers, he was gone. Well, that just made her more determined, and a second later, she was on his tail once again.
Eeth let her chase him around the training room for ten more minutes. Then he finally allowed her to catch him. He was starting to become slightly out of breath, which would not have happened before his disease, but that was nothing compared to his padawan.
Relieved at having finally succeeded, Raven leant forward trying to catch her breath. However, without giving her more than a few seconds of respite, Eeth ordered: "Now you run and I try to catch you. Off you go."
"Wait, two, seconds, please," Raven panted, wiping sweat from her forehead with a sleeve.
"Run," Eeth barked. "You were the one who had trouble sitting still during her lessons. Go on, what are you waiting for?"
At first, Raven took a few tentative steps back to see if Eeth would do anything. However, when she saw his muscles bunch to spring, Raven blurred across the room, vaulted off the stack of crates Endal had created for aerials and leapt onto a small ledge that jutted out around the ceiling. Immediately, she turned to scan the room, her senses stretching out to attempt getting a read on him. That was a mistake because in the second it took her to do so, Eeth had caught up with her and grabbed her by the ankle. "Do not stop to turn around," he said. "It will cost you time you do not have. Try again. The Force will lead you if you do not stop to think."
The second Eeth released her foot, Raven leapt from the ledge, hoping to catch the rope that hung mid-room and make it to the ground in two neat manoeuvres. It was an impulsive, dangerous move that Raven doubted Eeth would anticipate; entirely the point! The rope was thick, and her hands slipped yet she hung on long enough to fling herself to the ground. The landing was good but one of the crates had moved slightly (probably due to either Eeth or herself using it as a springboard), and she was forced to make a split-second decision: take it out, or be taken out. Raven chose the former and in the blink of an eye, she had her lightsaber drawn and disappeared through an explosion of splintering crate.
"Stop!" Eeth barked, landing next to her lightly. "Are you alright?" he inquired, brushing splinters from her hair and off her tunic.
Raven nodded, monopolising on the moment of pause to catch her breath. "I'm fine, but the crate has seen better days. I'll clean it up," she offered, stowing her lightsaber once again.
"Later," said Eeth. "After you have explained to me what you thought you were doing here. For now, the damage is done. Go on. In a real-life situation, no one will give you time for a break either." He was not going to stop until Raven had had a workout that would make schoolwork seem like the preferable option to her at least for the afternoon; and considering his apprentice's aptitude for physical exercise and the physical condition she was in, that took something.
"But," Raven didn't get more than that out before Eeth was gone once again. Her nostrils flared, and she took off after him.
Eeth drove her on relentlessly. The only sounds were her panting (and, occasionally, his own), the soft thump of their feet landing after a jump or fall and, in increasing frequency, a clipped: "Faster!" Only when she was starting to stumble, clearly completely exhausted, did he allow her to stop. For a long round of stretching exercises. Those were never exactly fun, but necessary after such a strenuous workout, and Force knew he needed them as much as she did; he was still dissatisfied with his agility and flexibility after his illness.
"Alright," he finally said. "Now would you care to explain what you thought you were doing when you destroyed that crate?"
"I was trying to throw you off, but I came down too fast. It was me or the crate." That workout had been the hardest to date. Almost as hard as the evening, or more like the morning, after she had remained awake and focused for most of the night building her lightsaber. After that, Eeth had forced her to fight with it until Raven had started stumbling and failing. She looked up at him. "I'll clean it up." Raven looked as if she would pass out the moment he gave her leave to, though.
"Yes, please go ahead and do so," said Eeth. "You need to work on your focus. I grant you that you are worth more than the crate but next time, try to avoid situations where you have to make that choice in the first place. I did not start this exercise so you would wreck the gym."
Raven sighed. She had hoped that Eeth would wave her off and send her away. Still, she stood, stretched out and got to work cleaning up the mess she'd made. It was only fair. When the remnants of the crate were piled into a tidy heap, Raven summoned a cleaning droid to finish the job. Then she dragged herself back to their quarters. There was steam coming from their bathroom and so Raven collapsed onto her bed, curled into a ball and, despite her general discomfort, proceeded to fall asleep.
Eeth, of course, would have none of this. When he emerged from the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist, and found Raven sleeping, he frowned.
"Padawan, get up," he said, shaking her awake. "Take a shower and get dressed. I will prepare lunch in the meantime."
"No, master. Please, just let me sleep for half an hour. Just half an hour." Raven knew that Eeth didn't like whining, but damn it, she was tired and sore and her bed had never felt more comfortable.
"You may go to bed early tonight," said Eeth mercilessly. "For now, you have duties to perform. If I hear any more whining, I will take you back to the gym and repeat this workout."
"Not even you would be that mean." The comment had been meant as a joke, yet if the look on Eeth's face was anything to go by, her attempt at humour could not have been more ill-timed. "I mean, yes, master, I'll go shower." And Raven was gone in a blur.
The following morning's training session with Eeth filled Endal with considerable apprehension. He tried to accept the paddling he had received yesterday as well-deserved, but it still seemed rather harsh to him and he wondered whether Eeth would jump down his throat for breathing next.
As usual, Eeth motioned for him to take up a position opposite him.
"Padawan Endal," he said solemnly. "You are doubtlessly wondering why I insist on torturing you with tedious details, such as how you place your hands and feet, instead of allowing you to move on, and why I have so little tolerance for your exasperation with those details."
"Uh," Endal stammered, completely taken by surprise. "Umm, to be honest, yes. That, err, crossed my mind."
"Then," Eeth replied crisply, "I will explain. From the fifth kata onward, you will work on increasingly complex manoeuvres, all of which will ultimately play a role in sparring. At some point, hopefully in the not-too-far future, you will build your own lightsaber. You will use it for sparring, and you will have to use it to defend yourself against opponents in real life. No matter what complex attack sequences and flashy aerials you have mastered by then, if an opponent can divest you of your lightsaber as easily as I could yesterday, you will most likely end up dead. I do not want to be responsible for your death by having given in to your impatience and neglected my duty to teach you the fundamentals. Therefore, I will continue to bother you with tedious details and I will not hesitate to paddle you again if your motivation leaves something to be desired. Do we have an understanding?"
Endal's ears were burning with shame at this point. He did not think it was possible to feel any more childish and silly than he did now.
"Yes, Master Eeth," he said quietly. "I am sorry for my attitude. I appreciate the effort you are making with me, I really do. I won't complain again."
"Good," Eeth replied, giving him a small smile. "Now let us get started. Today, we are going to begin with half an hour of exercises for your strength and agility. Then, we will work on refining the fourth kata for another half hour. If I am satisfied with your effort, we will use the remainder of the time to start working on Force pushes."
"Alright," Endal replied, unconvinced. "You know I suck at Force pushes, though, don't you?"
The moment he had said it, he clapped his hand over his mouth, but before he even had the time to utter a meek "sorry", he found himself tucked under Eeth's arm and a paddle applied to his backside. By the time Eeth was done, Endal was rubbing his bottom furiously with his one hand and rubbing tears from his eyes with the other.
Resigned to his fate, he started on the workout Eeth set him, not daring to give anything less than his best effort, with the welcome result that Eeth pronounced himself satisfied with his grip on his saber at last – only to have him work on his stance some more. But after an hour was over, Eeth told Endal to sheathe his saber and to start working on Force pushes, so Endal guessed he had done alright so far.
"May I ask a question, Master Eeth?" he asked as politely as he possibly could while returning his lightsaber to its place on his belt.
"You may always ask questions," Eeth replied. "What is it?"
"I don't mean to be difficult about this," Endal started hesitantly, "but what difference does it make whether I get punished for saying things like I did at the start of our session if I still cannot help thinking them? I mean… you can stop me from saying I suck at one thing or another, but that does not stop me from thinking so."
"Over time, it will," Eeth replied calmly. "Or at least it will help. At first, you will stop short before you say certain things; after a while, the habit becomes ingrained in you and you will stop short before you allow yourself to think them. Of course, you will also need achievements to boost your confidence, but I daresay we will manage to come by those. You have already learned more than you would have thought possible two weeks ago, after all."
"That's true," Endal admitted. "I thought I'd never get past the third kata."
"And yet you did," Eeth said. "I told you that you could master the backflip, and you did. And now I am telling you that you can master Force pushes."
Endal had to grin at that. "Alright, then," he said. "Show me what to do."
The smile Eeth gave him now was probably the most genuine one he had yet seen in the man.
"That," said Eeth, "is the attitude I want to see."
