The following day Eeth took Raven and Flynt to the simulators as promised. Both padawans were keen to get in the extra practice and eager to get going. "Master?" Raven asked, drawing Eeth's attention from frowning at his watch as they waited for their designated speeders to free up. "Yesterday I tried using the Force to sense the landing platform because I figured it would help. It didn't exactly work as I hoped, and Knight Allenchia said that it wasn't a technique we were going to cover in this beginner's class. I want to know how, though. Will you teach me the next time we are landing on something?"
"Either that or you'd have to charm Allenchia into another shot at the real thing," Flynt said before Eeth could answer. Heck, he planned on trying it on for sure. He was kicked back in a chair, his long legs crossed casually at the ankles and hands supporting his head. Things had started to look up for Flynt since his tremulous start with Eeth. For one thing, he'd discovered that he didn't so much mind sewing; for another, he had also started to feel less antsy and more relaxed. Not that a lack of relaxation was usually a problem for Flynt!
Eeth raised his eyebrows at him. "Neither of you will do anything of the sort," he said severely. "That is up to Knight Allenchia to decide. Now, normally, piloting a speeder does not require you to draw on the Force. If it did, no one but the Jedi would be able to fly one. And that is why introductory classes do not cover the use of the Force to sense obstacles, targets and so on. Of course, the Force can be of great help if you have to fly very fast and with precision or if you have to focus on multiple things at once. I will teach you to improve your sense of your surroundings through the Force if you want me to. However, I do not want you to rely on this before I have cleared you for it. When you fly a speeder at high speed, overconfidence can be deadly."
Overconfidence was not an issue for Raven. Yes, she could be cocky in her abilities, but this had yet to evolve into an attitude which Eeth felt required his attention to curb. "Deadly? Only if Flynt is piloting," Raven said, and without giving Flynt a chance to reply, she continued: "Speaking of focusing on multiple things at once, Lakhri did say that I was ready for you to test me in Force-enhanced running. Maybe once I show you how good I have become at that, you will change your mind." Raven gave him a cheeky grin; she was winding him up, just a little bit.
"I can do that," said Eeth, unperturbed. "But if I clear you to do so without supervision, that permission will still not extend to speeders. Those are a lot faster."
He glanced at his chronometer and frowned. "We do not have unlimited time at our disposal," he said. "I signed up to supervise an open sparring session after lunch, in which both of you will participate. Therefore, I want to make the most of our time at the simulators. Yours should have been free two minutes ago."
Less than sixty seconds later, two suitably chastened junior padawans left the training room with haste, throwing wary looks at Eeth as they did so. They were obviously not keen on catching more than the earful they had received from the Councillor. Ignoring their looks, Eeth pointed Raven and Flynt towards their simulators.
"Get going," he said.
Neither padawan needed telling twice; this was going to be fun, they thought. And it was! Raven focused mostly on landing. Taking off was easy, but getting the instruments to align before touching down was problematic for her. Flynt, who was more interested in the mechanics than piloting, spent more of his time fiddling with the controls and settings than flying. He found this stuff fascinating, so much so that he spent most of their lunchtime quizzing Eeth on the functions of specific relays, much to Raven's distaste. She had to endure, though, because Eeth patiently answered all of Flynt's questions.
After lunch, they made their way to the training room that Eeth had booked for his open sparring session. Any Jedi master could offer to supervise one of these sessions. All padawans of the age range specified by the master could take part with their masters' permission and engage in freestyle sparring matches with others their age. This made open sparring sessions highly popular, especially on weekends.
Today, Eeth had offered to supervise a group because he thought that this would be a good opportunity for Flynt and Raven to work out with others, and possibly even have some… "fun". More importantly, Flynt and Raven were unevenly matched, which tended to make their routine sparring lessons a bit frustrating for Flynt. Today, six further padawans had signed up, all somewhere between Flynt's and Raven's age.
Eeth led the group through a quick warm-up and then arranged them into pairs. Each match was to last ten minutes, after which the pairing would be changed. Raven's first match was against a Zabrak boy called Kaech who was roughly her age and had a rather aggressive sparring style. Flynt was teamed up with a human girl who was small for her age, but fast and very good at spotting weaknesses in her opponent's defences, from what Eeth gathered during the first minute of the matches.
Raven did not do well at academics, but in the training room and the field, these were her moments to shine! She jumped, rolled, twisted and blurred, using all that Eeth and Lakhri had taught her over the years to gain the upper hand quickly. By the time Eeth ended their match, Raven was impressed by her opponent's style: he was fast, strong and not afraid to try something different in the hopes of gaining the advantage.
Meanwhile, Flynt had his hands – or 'hand' was more accurate – full fending off his own attacker. The girl had noticed his deformed arm and was forcing him to use that side to gain an advantage. However, Flynt was accustomed to having his disability used against him and was able to regain some ground and much-needed points.
The group continued to swap opponents until everyone had fought each other at least once. Then they moved on to one-on-two-opponent attack and defence sequences. Raven was in padawan heaven and did just as well with this exercise as the previous.
Flynt didn't mind the change in pace either. Unfortunately, his skill with a lightsaber, although more than adequate considering his deformity, was not exactly stellar. He fumbled, and that slight error was all it took to lose him a point. "Ahhouch!" Flynt yelped, a hand flying to cover his leg. This didn't feel right; a graze with a training saber didn't hurt this badly…
Raven's head whipped around at sensing a surge of concern across her bond with Eeth, although for once it was not directed at herself, but Flynt.
"Everyone stop!" Eeth called immediately. All eight padawans obeyed; they knew Eeth by reputation, and even if they didn't, they would have quickly noticed that this Jedi master took no nonsense whatsoever.
"Now look what you did. If Eeth chews me out over this, I'm coming after you," Flynt scolded Kaela in a mock-serious tone, although he thought that tone warranted when he took his hand off the wound and his trouser leg began soaking up blood. Flynt frowned and looked up at Eeth and Raven who were, by this stage, also at his side. Lightsaber burns typically cauterised! The boy went pale; he wasn't good with this sort of shit.
Eeth took a look at the wound and pursed his lips. A training saber, such as Flynt's opponent was using, should not do this type of damage. Something was wrong with Kaela's weapon but now was not the time to find out.
"Lie down," he told Flynt. He noticed that Imini's master was just entering to pick up her padawan and turned to the Ishi Tib. "Master Shoen, would you mind wrapping up here? I need to take my grandpadawan to the healers. And please ask Kaela's master to check out his padawan's practice saber." He noticed that Kaela blanched as he said this, but he would really have to leave it to her master to get to the bottom of this. And make sure she had done so later.
"Raven," he said, "take a shower, get changed and meet us at home. Oh, and take our bags, please. Use a hovercart if need be."
While he talked, he produced his first-aid kit from his gym bag. He opened a bandage and wrapped it around Flynt's leg tightly to stop the bleeding. Then he lifted the boy up and carried him to the turbolifts with some difficulty, which was owed more to the boy's height than his weight.
Raven nodded as they left. Flynt was going to be okay with Eeth there. She felt sympathy that he was in pain, though.
And Flynt was in pain, as much as he was trying to be manly about all of this. "It's not that bad. it's just a—" He glanced down to the bandage that was fast soaking up more blood than such an injury justified! "Oh."
"'Oh' is right," Eeth said curtly, already halfway to the lift. "Usually, saber wounds hardly bleed, but in your case, a blood vessel seems to have been damaged. Do you typically bleed a lot?"
"No. This is a bit much." Flynt focused his attention elsewhere because, in direct contrast to Raven, this sort of thing made his gut churn. He covered his nose as they entered the healers' wing; it always smelled faintly of diluted antiseptics and alcohol in here. Despite hating the idea of being carried, Flynt allowed Eeth to help him and did his best to make his long frame easier to manage, at least until he found a hovercart or chair or, heck, anything to put him in.
Eeth, however, had no intention of losing time on any such thing. He carried Flynt straight to the reception desk. The apprentice healer manning it took one look at the wound and pointed them to the nearest examination room. Barely half a minute later, a healer came hurrying into the room.
"Training accident," Eeth explained. "This was caused by a practice saber which should be incapable of causing anything more than a mild burn. My grandpadawan is bleeding far more heavily than he ought to be."
"Hmm," said the young, female healer, frowning. "I am going to rid you of your pants, padawan. Try to keep still if you can."
Eeth did not comment on that, but he silently stepped up behind Flynt, allowed him to rest his head against his torso, and grasped the boy's shoulders with his hands.
Flynt cringed and was silently grateful to his grandmaster when he felt the man's hands on his shoulders. With his head now resting back onto Eeth's chest, he could no longer see what was going on, which was a blessing in and of itself! He shot Eeth a grateful smile and allowed the healer to unwrap the bandage and divest him of his pants.
The healer threw his trousers away after having given Eeth a questioning look and received his silent approval to do so. Then she cleaned the wound, sprayed it with an agent that would speed up the clotting process and examined it.
"Yes," she said after a few moments. "We occasionally get that but very rarely. It is possible to tune up a practice saber and make it significantly more powerful by inserting a high-energy power cell and recircuiting it. That way, it will produce actual cuts. Needless to say, the procedure is entirely illegal."
"I know," said Eeth. He did not appreciate this bit of information and the look on his face said that Padawan Kaela was in for an unpleasant time. But that could wait. Flynt's health was more important. "Will the wound need stitches?" he inquired.
"Yes," said the healer. Noticing the worried look on Flynt's face, she added, "I'll use a local anaesthetic. You won't feel a thing. And when I'm done, you can have a spare pair of pants from our stores."
"Please don't tell me what you are doing, it's just making it worse," Flynt said, his tone far too earnest to be mistaken for disrespect. He stared up at the ceiling lighting with a barely concealed look of horror on his face. Eeth's presence was surprisingly soothing if he concentrated, so Flynt closed his eyes and hoped to the Force that the woman would do a better job on his leg than he had on his cloak.
Heeding his request, the healer fell silent as she applied the anaesthetic hypospray and started cleaning the wound. While she worked, Eeth rested one hand on Flynt's chest, keeping the boy's hands out of reach of the wound with the other, just in case.
"Just relax," he said softly. "Good. The healer is almost finished."
"Done," the healer announced a minute later. "I'll just rebandage it, then you'll be good to go."
"Thanks," said Flynt, trying to sound as if that had not scared him as much as it really had. Truth was, he had not felt a thing! But the idea of someone sewing him up like a torn tunic had freaked him out. Flynt wasn't good with that sort of thing, and he gave his grandmaster a grateful expression.
While the healer wrapped Flynt's leg in a clean bandage, she said to Eeth, "Let him stay home from school for a day and bring him in tomorrow morning for a checkup. If he feels considerable pain, the bleeding restarts or he is running a fever, bring him immediately. But that's not very likely. What else? Oh, yes. No exercise for a week. Apart from that, he can get back to his normal routine the day after tomorrow unless complications arise. Any questions?"
"No, thank you," Eeth replied, giving the healer a small smile. "Do you have any, Flynt?"
"Some pants would be nice. Otherwise, no, and thanks for the day off classes," Flynt replied and slid off the examination table. He was not thrilled about the 'no exercise' edict, but it was what it was.
The healer nodded and rummaged around in a cupboard from which she produced a pair of standard pants in Flynt's size. Eeth guided Flynt's leg into them the way he would do with a toddler. By the time he was done, the healer had fetched a hoverchair.
"Sit in it," Eeth said firmly. "And do not even think about protesting. Your wound needs rest, we do not want the bleeding to restart, the anaesthesia is still in effect, and most importantly, you are going home in a hoverchair because I am telling you to."
He pointed at the hoverchair, the expression on his face brooking no objection. In his experience, there was not a single padawan in the Temple who would not find this embarrassing, but sometimes there was simply no better option.
"Hey, cool your jets, I'm sitting, I'm sitting," said Flynt, his hands raised in placation as he put his ass in the hoverchair.
Thankfully, Eeth and Raven's quarters were quite close to the healers' wing, and nobody Flynt knew passed them as he was being transported.
"I hope it leaves a huge scar," Flynt said in way of greeting when their door opened to reveal Raven, upside down on the couch, datapad levitating in front of her.
"Flynt, you're okay! What did they do? Let me look." Raven was up and on him immediately, her datapad hitting the carpet as her concentration lapsed.
"Padawan, leave him alone," Eeth said sternly, garnering a frown from Raven. "His leg needs rest. And I do not think there will be scarring. The healer stitched the wound and treated it with bacta, after all. Flynt, I would like you to lie down now. You may watch holovids for a while unless you have classwork to do. I will excuse you from tomorrow's classes. What would you like for dinner?"
That was a rare question indeed. If they ate at home, Eeth usually took care of dinner. He did try to provide a wide variety of dishes and to accommodate his padawan's preferences, and he normally did not force her to eat food she disliked (unless she had served herself). However, he was not in the habit of putting dinner choices to a vote. Asking Flynt about his preferences for dinner showed that he had been more worried than he had let on.
Raven raised both eyebrows at Eeth's offer, her arms folding in mock-indignation. "So all I need do to get my favourite food every night is bob instead of weave?! You got it," said Raven. She was baiting Eeth, yes, but it was worth it.
Flynt, however, was getting in while the getting was good, and Raven wasn't going to ruin it for him by making Eeth grumpy! "Patogga with tubers," he answered promptly. Was this some sort of test, or a trick maybe? Hmmm. Flynt wasn't sure about this.
"Alright," Eeth replied simply, throwing Raven a withering look. He lifted Flynt from the hoverchair and gently lowered him onto the couch.
"Do you have any homework left to do for tomorrow, padawan?" he asked, turning towards Raven.
"No, Master. I finished my Huttese essay and I don't have anything else due. Can I go to the lounge for a while?" she asked, but didn't exactly expect him to say yes. Eeth rarely let her go before she had done her part around their quarters. Then again, he was in a giving mood, and you had to be in it to win it!
"I need your help with some chores," said Eeth, "especially since Flynt cannot do them. First, I would like you to unpack the gym bags and do the laundry. I will be in the kitchen cleaning out the cooler in the meantime."
Raven sighed, but that was the extent of her protesting. She got to work unloading their bags of dirty clothing into the washer.
Flynt didn't show it, but sitting on the couch while the others worked around him had him feeling a bit guilty. He could hear Eeth pulling things out of their cooler, yet he wasn't allowed to move from the couch, so what could he do?
A few minutes later, Raven emerged from their laundry room with a basket of towels that Eeth must have put in to dry earlier. She was about to fold them but noticed Flynt was only half watching the holo channel. He was also draped somewhat awkwardly, at least for him, over the back of their couch. "Does your leg hurt?" she sympathised, seating herself on their coffee table and tossing a towel his way. "Here, make yourself useful."
Flynt caught the towel and gave a wry smile. "A bit, but I'll live."
"No doubt. I assume the healers would have given Eeth some pain medication. If it's bothering you, ask for it."
Flynt waved her off; it wasn't that bad, just uncomfortable. Besides, most pain medication made his head feel like it was full of cotton wool.
Raven shrugged, upended her basket onto the couch beside Flynt where they could both reach, and got to work folding.
When Flynt and Raven were done, Eeth asked Raven to help him prepare dinner. He took care of Flynt's decidedly non-vegetarian dinner choice himself, though. Although he had not gone as far as to ask Raven about her dinner preferences, too, he did cook vegetable stir-fry for her, which he knew she liked.
While they set the table, he asked Flynt, "How does your leg feel? Any aches or pains?"
Flynt wasn't keen on taking pain medication, yet neither was he going to risk the consequences of lying to Eeth. Besides, his leg was bothering him a bit. "Yeah, the anaesthetic is wearing off, and it's starting to pound." He reached down, pulled the two clips free and started to unravel the bandage.
"Lemme look? You didn't get to do a show and tell yet," Raven said, placing the last spoon on the table and going to watch.
"Stop this," Eeth said sharply. "We are going to have dinner now, and nobody told you to unwrap the bandages."
He moved over to where Flynt was sitting and rewrapped the bandage.
"I will give you a chair to put your leg on," he told Flynt. "I will look at the wound after dinner. It might just be the normal healing process, in which case an analgesic will be sufficient. Saber wounds are rarely infectious, but we need to check nonetheless."
Flynt did as he was told and put his leg up on the chair, the sight of his favourite meal helping him forget about his injury for the moment.
"Could I go to the padawans' lounge after this, please?" Raven asked when they had eaten their fill.
Eeth had no reason to deny this request. After all, Raven had spent her afternoon completing her chores. "Yes, you may," he said. "But be back on time."
Flynt leant back in his chair, chewing thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you're going to let me go, too?" He kinda already knew the answer to this, and so did Raven. She gave him a sympathetic look; she hadn't thought of Flynt's feelings when she'd asked, and now she felt positively insensitive.
"No, Flynt, I am afraid your leg needs rest," Eeth replied gently. As an afterthought, and with quite an effort, he added, "Can I do anything to help you pass the time? Is there a game you would like to play?"
Flynt's eyebrows rose into his fringe. "Play a game? You?" came out before he had time to think about how his genuine shock at hearing his grandmaster's offer might come across to Eeth.
Raven snorted as she pulled her cloak from the hook and sat to pull on her boots. "Careful, Master. You know the dangers of using the 'P' word, your hair might fall out."
Unperturbed, Flynt shook off the moment of honest-to-the-Force shock and jumped in before Raven could make him grumpy. "Do you know how to play battleships?"
"Yes," Eeth admitted after a moment's hesitation. "Lakhri taught me how to play it on a long spaceship trip. Would you like to play?"
It was not easy for him to make this offer. Playing games always felt to him as if he was wasting his time when there were more important and useful things to do. Then again, he told himself, helping Flynt to recover was useful. Besides, Lakhri would not want him to watch his padawan suffer!
"He did?" Yet before Flynt started to sound like a broken record, he reached for his datapad and loaded the game. Honestly, he was surprised to hear that his master had played anything with Eeth as from what he'd gathered, Eeth was not the game-playing kind of guy, and even less so when Lakhri had been his apprentice.
Flynt was down four games to one when Raven entered, right on time. "Oo, that's the one where you get to see the little bits fly off the ships when they explode," she observed. It wasn't looking good for Flynt. Eeth was about to annihilate his armada so she gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and took off for her room to shower.
Twenty-five minutes later, Raven emerged dressed and ready for bed. She perched on the corner of the couch to watch the showdown. "Master? You know how Lakhri said I was ready to use Force-enhanced running without supervision. Do you think we can do that sometime?" It was more of a reminder than an actual request, but Raven was growing impatient.
"Yes, you have already asked me that," said Eeth, raising his eyebrows. "I might look at it tomorrow. – You sunk my battleship."
"So I did," agreed Flynt, a shit-eating grin on his face at his victory. "Good game, grandmaster." He stretched and rolled his shoulders; he was stiff from sitting around all afternoon and evening, yet he'd been far from bored.
Eeth checked his wound once more. He thought it looked no worse than could be expected. After having applied another dab of bacta and having given the boy an analgesic, he sent the two padawans off to bed.
"Tomorrow is a school day, after all," he said. "Flynt, you are excused from your classes, but your teachers will send in your work. You may do it on the couch. I will try to keep you company and provide help when you need it. I am scheduled for a Council session at ten, though. I will take you to the healers before that and will then have to leave you to your own devices for a while."
"I'm surprised," said Flynt once Eeth had left and their bedroom door had slid shut. "I didn't think he was the gaming kinda guy."
Raven's smile was lost on Flynt who could see nothing of her expression in the pitch-black room. "That's because he's not. In fact, he's far from it. He does sometimes sympathise, though. I mean you were stuck on the couch and will be again all day tomorrow."
Flynt felt guilty at hearing that. "I didn't expect him to put himself out to entertain me. Eesh, I am a Jedi!"
"Force, Flynt. Don't feel guilty, feel flattered that he cared enough to try and help you out. He might have just left you there with enough work to last you the time, but even then…" Raven smiled, propping her chin on her palm. "Did I ever tell you about that time he confined me to a tent for thirty-six hours?"
"No, what did you do to earn that?" Because Flynt knew that for Raven, such confinement would be a severe punishment for her.
Raven rolled over onto her other side, so the blankets weren't muffling her voice. "It was during our mission to Arkuna, you know, that one where Endal and I got caught by those little monkey things. It all started when…"
"Quiet!" Eeth called sternly from the common room, cutting Raven off before her story could get into full swing.
Predictably, both padawans obeyed. Raven flopped onto her back, and Flynt rolled to face the door. His leg was not pounding now that he was lying down, and although he had spent most of the day on his ass, he was feeling tired from the ordeal.