A/N: Firstly, we'd like to thank you for the kind reviews of our last story, "Teenage Troubles," and thanks for sticking with us!
To all who don't know it yet, our stories originated as online role-playing and are situated in our alternative Star Wars universe – well, mainly the universe of Episode One, pretending that the tragedy of the Great Jedi Purge never happened. Ahem. There are approximately twenty-five stories pre-written in this series which focuses on Master Eeth Koth and his padawan learner Raven Trebeck. Although each story can stand alone, it might be a better reading experience to start from the beginning with "Of Padawans Fake and True."
"Parents and Children" is the sequel to "Teenage Troubles." Once again, there is a gap between both stories; "Parents and Children" is set about a year after "Teenage Troubles." Raven has made considerable progress with her training, and Eeth gets to take her on extended missions more frequently. This one starts a special journey of discovery for them.
Now for the standard disclaimer: As everyone who has read and followed our stories ought to know by now, authority and discipline, including corporal punishment, are central themes. To any newcomers, see the aforementioned statement and take it as your only warning. We don't post content warnings at the beginning of each chapter for this. Also, we realise that our master characters will at times come across as harsh. However, please keep in mind that this is a fictional universe in which teenagers with extraordinary, potentially lethal abilities are raised to do an incredibly hard, dangerous and responsible job. Their masters feel an obligation to keep them in line in order to protect them and others by various types of discipline, including corporal punishment, i.e., spanking with the hand and different implements. And sometimes, they will need to dispense with the cuddling and tell their charges to do their duty. These are teenagers, after all, not small children. There will always be times to offer comfort and moments of closeness between master and padawan, but they might sometimes have to wait. Plus, masters might have their own issues … which is certainly true for Eeth. His journey with Raven is a learning experience for him as much as for his padawan.
Fortunately for our padawans, our master characters have near-magical healing abilities at their disposal, allowing us to indulge our preference for strict discipline – but hopefully not at the expense of character development and progression of the storyline!
If you like our stories (or if you don't like them for reasons other than those of which you have been warned), let us know in a review; we love to hear what you guys think. And that's enough of the preliminaries. Enjoy!
That had nearly been too easy, Eeth thought as he led Raven and a nine-year-old Gelis boy down a wooded slope in the early dawn. Raven and he had trekked through the snowy woods of Gelisia IV for more than a week, trying to find the campsite of a small band of Ragan Greyhym's followers who had kidnapped young Conrad. Their trek had been complicated by the fact that it was imperative for Raven and Eeth to avoid being seen. Gelisia IV was negotiating for membership in the Republic, but there was some opposition to this on the planet, and what remained of Greyhym's adherents had tried to capitalise on that fact. They had kidnapped Conrad, the son of Chancellor Andrag Mitaivar, the most prominent proponent of joining the Republic, in an attempt to sway Mitaivar's opinion. Mitaivar had appealed to the Republic for help, but cautioned them to keep their involvement as unobtrusive as possible. If it became known that Republican agents were active on Gelisia, the effect on public opinion might be disastrous. Consequently, the Senate had decided on sending a pair of Jedi, rather than a police squad.
Considering how hard it had been to reach and find the camp, rescuing Conrad had been so easy that it had been anticlimactic. Greyhym's men were a sorry lot these days; all of them were susceptible to Force compulsions, since there was not a single Falleen between them. All it had taken Eeth and Raven to accomplish their mission was to wait for nightfall, compel the guard to check out a disturbance in the woods, sneak in, explain things to Conrad quickly, calmly and quietly, and get out again with him in tow. And here they were now, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the camp as they could before morning. Luckily, the planet was covered by dense woods, so their pursuers would have no luck finding them from the air.
Conrad was holding up reasonably well so far, considering his relatively small size, Eeth thought. Of course, he knew that the boy had been eager to escape from his captors and go home. Eeth hoped he would not cause any trouble, for they still had at least a week to go until they reached the rendezvous point from which Mitaivar's shuttle was going to pick them up inconspicuously.
One thing that Eeth was extremely pleased with was his apprentice's performance. Raven had kept up with Eeth's pace remarkably well, demonstrating how much her endurance and willpower had improved during the past years. The same was true for her ability to do as she was told. She had been reliable, cooperative, obedient and, all in all, a real asset to the mission, despite the fact that the presence of Greyhym's men had dragged up unpleasant emotions for her.
They had been on the run for about three hours now, and Eeth was aware that they would have to find shelter soon. Conrad would need some rest; and maybe it would be best to lie low while their pursuers were starting the search. They had brought a tarpaulin that would make them immune to heat sensors, plus energy cells and a miniature heater that would keep them warm in the cold winter of Gelisia's southern hemisphere. Hiding out for a while would be the best option under the circumstances, provided they found a hideout that made them invisible to their pursuers' eyes.
"Raven, you are faster than us on your own," he told his apprentice through their bond. "Run ahead and see if you can find a good place to hide. When you find one, let me know. I will follow as fast as Conrad can go."
When Raven disappeared into the darkness ahead, seemingly without communication or warning, Conrad finally broke the silence. "It's pretty dangerous out here, you know," he told Eeth. "The carnivore animals that aren't hibernating will be hungry. Your apprentice is the perfect size for a warbet snack."
The boy was beginning to slow down, but he hoped that his rescuers had not noticed. The Gelis stood about half the size of standard humanoids, yet what they lacked in size, they made up for in pride. They were a strong people, and Conrad would not appear weak, especially so in front of the two taller species. He had remained relatively quiet so far, partly because he was still reeling from having been captured and rescued and partly because Eeth had told them to be silent.
"We are aware of that," Eeth said quietly, stopping for a moment to allow the boy to catch up. "We have been in these woods for more than a week and encountered most of the carnivore species already, including warbet. My apprentice is well able to deal with them." He waved his hand, using the Force to raise a wind that erased their traces in the snow. Without that ability, their capture would have been a matter of minutes. As it was, their pursuers would have a hard time finding out where they had turned to – especially as he had purposefully chosen a rendezvous point that was in the opposite direction from Gelisia City.
Conrad shrugged. "Your lookout," he replied and redoubled his efforts to keep up. He had gotten used to the Jedi using the Force, although it still impressed him when he saw snow flying around or the like.
An hour or so later, Raven found a small overhang of rocks that jutted out just enough to provide shelter beneath and with a little help could easily be enclosed to block out snow and wind, which she communicated across their bond to Eeth.
Eeth was glad for it since by now it was obvious to him that Conrad was overtired, much as the boy was valiantly striving to hide it. He advised Raven, "This will do. Start covering and camouflaging it. We will join you shortly."
Camouflaging their shelter in a way that wasn't obvious was heavy work for Raven. Despite the freezing conditions, she ended up stripping down to a singlet, her jacket wrapped around her waist. She closed her eyes and levitated a huge tree trunk to conceal the entrance. Sensing that Eeth and Conrad were not far away, and deciding that she would need to hurry this up, Raven started grabbing pieces of broken branches from the log she had levitated and tossed them inconspicuously over their shelter so it did not look out of place. In her haste, she grabbed onto a piece of razor grass, which left a nasty gash and slowed her down a little.
Eeth fleetingly sensed her discomfort but he was distracted immediately by a slight disturbance in the Force, further away. He closed his eyes and focused on its source.
"I think they discovered your absence," he told Conrad. "I sense a lot of activity where we came from. My padawan built a shelter, a few hundred metres from here. Can you run for the last bit? We need to hide, quickly."
"Of course," Conrad replied as if the query offended him. Keen to prove it, the boy took off in the direction Eeth had pointed.
Raven was pulling the end of a bandage tight with her teeth when Eeth entered their site, an exhausted Conrad in tow. "Everything okay?" she asked, curious to know why Conrad was struggling to hide that he was out of breath.
"They started searching for us," Eeth replied. "So we ran. You did a good job at camouflaging our shelter. I will use the Force to make them overlook any remaining traces of our presence. If we lie low for a few hours, we should be fine."
He unpacked the heat-deflecting tarpaulin and attached it to the ceiling and "walls" of their shelter. Then he powered up a heat cell and placed it in the middle of the floor.
"What happened to your hand, padawan?" he asked.
"I cut it on some razor grass," she replied, trying to make herself useful while only using one hand. "I thought the snow would have killed it off by now. I can fix it, though."
"Do not be ridiculous," Eeth said. "You cannot do this properly with one hand. Let me check it."
He looked at the cut and narrowed his eyes. "This needs stitching," he said. "Sit down and I will do it for you.
Raven sighed, sat down and tried to keep still. She could administer medical treatment without batting an eyelid if it were somebody else, but the second it was her turn, she started sweating.
"Conrad, I will just look after my padawan's hand," Eeth told the boy. "Then I will get out sleeping bags and make us some tea. Make yourself as comfortable as you can in the meanwhile."
"I'll do it," he said and started pulling out the sleeping bags; if he were busy, he wouldn't have to pretend that watching a mini surgery take place didn't gross him out. He was a Gelis, and they were tough, after all.
"Thank you," said Eeth. He opened his bag, got out his medkit, took out an anaesthetic hypospray and pressed it against Raven's wrist.
"That should dull down the pain," he said. "I would rather not give you more; that would immobilise your hand, and we cannot afford to take that risk right now. Brace yourself."
Ignoring Raven's withering look, Eeth quickly and effectively stitched the gash closed; it did not take more than twenty seconds. "Done," he said gently.
"Thanks," Raven managed through gritted teeth, rubbing the bandage. She opened and closed her hand a few times. The bacta stung which meant it was already starting to knit the surface. The stitches would still need to hold the deeper areas together long enough for it to work, though. She had used the Force to supplement the lack of a full anaesthetic, but she was not nearly proficient enough to make the procedure entirely painless.
Conrad had laid out the sleeping bags and turned his back on the pair, poking his head through the split in the tarp for some fresh air. Many humanoid species smelled bad to a Gelis, but a pureblood human like Raven was by far the worst.
"Please keep your head inside for the time being," Eeth said without turning around as he started sterilising his equipment. "Your captors are looking for you, and at least two of them are coming in our direction. I can only maintain the concealment if we all stay inside."
Conrad frowned, squinting to focus on the trees. "I don't see or hear anyone near," he said. His eyesight and hearing were far superior to that of Eeth and Raven's. However, he was not Force-sensitive, not even a little bit. He pulled his head back in and slumped into the log that Raven had levitated earlier. "Why don't you comm one of my father's guards to come get us? You could use the Force to conceal their presence," he suggested, thinking it the most logical solution and far preferable to this.
Eeth started making tea, using a small, power-cell driven device to heat water he had brought in his pack. They would have to melt snow later to replenish their stock, he thought.
"Your father does not want us to," he told the boy. "He very much fears the political implications of being associated with the Republic if our presence is detected. Besides, your captors, while badly organised, are armed, and a speeder sent in here would run a high chance of being discovered and exposed to their mid-range weapons before it could even come close enough to our campsite for me to conceal its presence. We will have to make it to our rendezvous point on foot, I am afraid."
Conrad rolled his eyes at the Jedi girl who was quietly massaging her hand. If she was such a weakling, he couldn't imagine why the man had brought her along. "My father fears nothing," he corrected Eeth stiffly.
"Yep, we've got a live one here," Raven sent Eeth through their bond, but outwardly she remained neutral.
Regarding the question of Andrag Mitaivar's fears, Eeth begged to differ, but he kept his opinion to himself. He had no desire to antagonise the child or make his father look bad.
"Are you hungry?" he merely asked. "We have a big supply of energy bars and not much else."
Energy bars were not Conrad's first choice, but he surmised that now would be a bad time to try hunting for real food.
"Here," said Raven, tossing the boy a couple of bars with blue labels and drawing him from his thoughts. "You can eat these, just don't eat the yellow labels or you'll end up with the worst stomach cramps you've ever had and we can't afford that right now." Raven ripped open the yellow package and took a bite, and then she tossed one of each towards Eeth who was the only one able to eat both.
"Thank you," said Eeth, catching them deftly. He put a couple of tea bags into the pot in which the water had just started bubbling. "Tea will be ready in two minutes. If you prefer water, Conrad, I could melt some snow. We have time. I do not think it would be wise to move until Greyhym's people have left the area. As far as I can tell, two of them are searching these parts of the woods right now, one or two kilometres from here. If they brought heat sensors, those would pick up our presence if we came out from under the tarpaulin."
"Tea will do," Conrad answered Eeth, tearing open the energy bar with his teeth. Greyhym's men had not exactly starved him, but nor had they been particularly diligent about meal times. Consequently, he had not eaten in twenty hours. "I can find us some better food once it's light," he offered. He wasn't sure what his Jedi companions lived on, but he wanted something brown, hot and substantial.
"Thank you for the offer," Eeth replied. "But we had better lie low, at least for today. Hunting and gathering would expose us, and it would also put us at risk of leaving traces. We would do better to catch up on sleep."
It was many hours later when Conrad woke. He must have been exhausted, he thought. Yet he was pleased to see that he had not been the only one to fall asleep. Raven was lying on the cave floor with her head resting on Eeth's thigh while Eeth leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. Placated that he was not the weak link, and in fact, he was awake while they still slept, Conrad crawled towards the entrance and looked out. He could neither hear nor see anything nearby, so he figured it was safe enough and started to climb out because if he didn't pee soon, his bladder would burst, and pissing all over himself was not an option he was willing to consider.
"Where do you think you are going, young man?" Eeth asked quietly, so as not to wake his padawan, but with an edge to his voice.
Conrad jumped at the unexpected noise. "To take a leak," he replied, doing his best to hide the fact that Eeth might just have made some of it come out!
Eeth reached out with his sense of the Force and made sure nobody was in the close vicinity. Several people were still in these parts of the woods, but they were at least a kilometre or so from their location.
"Alright," he said, "but do it right next to our shelter, cover the place with snow when you're done, and make it fast. And the next time you want to leave, ask for permission before anything else."
"As if I'm going to ask for your permission to take a piss," Conrad snorted, pulling the tarp open enough to allow him through.
"Stop," said Eeth quietly and very firmly, without moving from his position because he really did not want to wake his padawan. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you. I am the one in charge here, and you will do as I say, whether you feel like it or not. I will not take any cheek from you, nor do I have any tolerance for disobedience. I have a job to do, and I cannot do it if I cannot rely on those in my charge to do as I tell them. So the next time you want to leave the tent for whatever reason, you will ask for permission or you will find yourself on the receiving end of a sound spanking. Do you understand?"
Conrad didn't answer that. Instead, he met Eeth with a supremely dignified expression. "You can't hit me. My parents won't approve. You'll be arrested," he bluffed because there wasn't much else he could say to that without losing face.
Eeth might have been keeping his voice down, but Conrad was not. Thus, Raven stirred and rolled over to see what was going on. The look on the boy's face was priceless; whatever Eeth had said had gone over like a lead balloon, she assumed.
"You may complain about that all you like once I have delivered you safely to your father, but until I have done so, you will do as I say or face the consequences," said Eeth. "Now go, and make it quick."
Conrad tutted and went out before Eeth could say anything that might further humiliate him. It really was freezing out here, which made the job take a little longer than anticipated, but the boy wasn't about to risk pissing over himself. Once he'd finished, he deftly covered the spot with snow and crawled back inside. "How much longer do we have to stay here?" he asked Eeth and brushed some snow off his jacket into the mug by his side.
"Until our pursuers have finished searching the area and I feel it is safe to move on," said Eeth. "Padawan, I am sorry we woke you. Can you take over here for a moment? I need to relieve myself, too."
"Yes, master," Raven replied through a yawn. Eeth nodded, rose and silently crawled from their shelter. Raven stretched out as best she could with the extra room and shot a sympathetic expression at Conrad who was currently projecting the wrath of Hades towards the opening which Eeth had disappeared through.
"He has no right to threaten me. I wouldn't allow it; h - he wouldn't dare." Conrad voiced his broken thoughts with all the dignity he could muster, given the topic of conversation here.
"Yeah, he would, so don't give him any reason," Raven said. She thought this conversation quite amusing, but was doing an admirable job of keeping that to herself.
"Does he spank you, then?" Conrad asked, incredulous.
Raven looked at him, wondering if telling him the truth would make their job harder or easier. Deciding that it was probably the latter, Raven met his gaze with a serious expression. "He has. Take my word for it, you don't want to end up in that situation. Just do as we say, and we'll get you back to your family before you know it. Don't worry," the padawan said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.
Conrad was about to ask another question when Eeth re-entered, and he closed his mouth once again, opting instead to attempt roasting the man alive with his glower.
Eeth did not mind Conrad's glower. He was not looking for popularity here, he was looking for compliance. Of course, he was fully aware that compliance could be achieved by various means. Had this been a younger, frailer and less self-assured child, he would have opted for a more compassionate approach. As it was, he suspected that any kind of long-winded, considerate talk would not have had the slightest effect on Conrad, much in contrast to his threat. And it was a threat he meant to follow up on if need be. He was not particularly keen on it as he did not normally consider it his responsibility to discipline other people's children. But if their mission was made easier by it, he would not hesitate to deliver a sound spanking.
"Did you get any sleep?" Raven asked Eeth.
"I meditated some," Eeth said. "If you could take over, I might try to get an hour or two of sleep now. Maybe we will be able to set off after that. I have a feeling that our pursuers are moving away from us."
"Alright," Raven replied. She would not be able to conceal their presence with anything near the proficiency Eeth could, but at the very least, she could wake him if someone was getting too close.
"Shift over," she said to Conrad, grinning. She knew that to the Gelis her scent was akin to that of a toasted bantha shit sandwich, but she wanted to give Eeth room to stretch out.
Conrad wrinkled his nose, and Raven rolled her eyes. "Just go ahead and pinch your nose. I won't get offended. I have to agree that I do not exactly smell of roses even by human standards."
"It's nothing personal," Conrad said, burying his face in a jacket sleeve. "It's just that pureblood humans smell pretty bad to us. Goliath over there isn't exactly great either, but I have to admit he doesn't smell half as bad as you do."
"Sorry. We studied your species before we arrived on Gelisia IV, so we know it must be uncomfortable for you. Unfortunately, the Council didn't consider the fact that you'd find us gross a deciding factor when choosing us for this mission."
"So, why you?" Conrad asked. "You two have some sort of special magic other than the Force that landed you this job?"
"Eeth and I have experience with Greyhym and his men," Raven answered and closed her eyes. She didn't think it fair to enter a full-on conversation while Eeth was trying to sleep. Besides, how much Conrad knew about the current political climate was up to his parents.
It was quiet in the shelter for ten or so minutes. The only sounds were the occasional slurp on some tea or a gust of wind howling past outside. "Do you talk to each other using the Force? Is that how Eeth knew how to find you?" Conrad asked, effectively breaking the silence.
"Something like that," said Raven, not opening her eyes. "Let's talk about it later. I need to concentrate and," she gestured to Eeth, "he's sleeping."
Conrad didn't appreciate being told what to do by a girl who looked no older than him. A subordinate of the Jedi, no less, while Conrad was practically royalty. "Do you have the same power as him?" he persisted. He was bored and sick and tired of being controlled. It had been almost a week since his captors had taken him to that place, and all he wanted to do was go home.
"Finish your tea and get some rest," said Raven. "Trust me, you'll need it."
"I need no more rest than you do. Also, I outrank you." Conrad puffed himself up as much as a Gelis could manage. "I'm the son of Chancellor Andrag Mitaivar."
Raven opened her eyes, pursed her lips and leant forward as if about to tell him a secret. "And I am the padawan of a Jedi master who, if you are not quiet, is going to wake up and kick your ass. Either sit there quietly or go to sleep." Raven closed her eyes, hoping that if she led by example, he'd follow.
He eyed her for a long moment, and then he looked at Eeth and relented. Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure he could beat the man off if push came to shove.
Eeth slept for about two hours. He woke of his own accord, being able to control the duration of his sleep fairly precisely.
"Is everything alright?" he asked, sitting up and looking at his padawan. "Any changes?"
Raven shook her head. "I haven't sensed a single sentient being since you fell asleep. A small pack of four warbet about two kilometres east of here has been helping with that," she said quietly so as not to wake Conrad. Force knew not even armed men would want to take on four hungry warbet. Raven glanced sideways at the still and sleeping form of Conrad; the boy was dead to the universe.
"Alright, then let us make the most of the remaining hours of daylight," said Eeth and stood up. "I do not think it would be advisable to travel at night. For one thing, we would have a lot more predators to deal with than we have now."
That was a fact they had already established on their trip to the hideout of Conrad's captors. Like on many worlds, most of the Gelisian predators were nocturnal animals. Warbet were the notable exception, but between Raven's talent at communicating with animals and their combined fighting skills, they could deal with those.
"Could you make us some soup?" Eeth told Raven. "We should eat something warm before we leave. I will wake Conrad."
He knelt down and shook Conrad's shoulder gently. "Conrad?" he said softly. "We are ready to eat something and leave here."
"'M awake, I was just resting my eyes," Conrad mumbled, sitting bolt upright despite Eeth's gentle effort. He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose, but the pleasant smell of their soup soon drew his attention from Eeth's far more repulsive one.
Eeth chose to make no comment.
Raven handed both Eeth and Conrad a cup and settled back to drink her own. It was thick and tasty and she couldn't think of anything she'd rather eat in this frozen climate.
Conrad had to agree. Despite the lack of anything meaty to compliment the soup, he didn't complain and quickly finished it. "Is there any more?" he asked, glancing over at Eeth.
"We can make some more," Eeth agreed. "But only one more cup each. Then we really need to get going."
While Raven prepared the soup, he packed up the sleeping bags. Like before, he was going to carry the larger part of their load; after all, he was much taller, stronger and heavier than his apprentice and could take more.
As the last step, after they had eaten their second helping of soup, he packed the heat cell, rolled up the tarpaulin and tied it on top of his backpack.
"Let us go, then," he said. "Raven, you take the lead and focus on predators, especially warbet. Keep them away from us. I will do the rest. Same routine as last week. Come on."
He had thought to ask Conrad's father for some of the boy's winter gear. Thus, they had been able to equip him with thermo boots and a warm outfit, something the boy was grateful for because trudging through the snow in the sneakers he'd been kidnapped in would have been impossible. They walked in silence for what felt like forever to Conrad before he spoke up. "Do you think they're still bothering to look for me?"
Noting that the question wasn't aimed at anyone specifically, Raven continued concentrating on her task, happy to leave Conrad's question to her not so talkative master. She only just managed to conceal her amusement as Eeth answered it, only to be hit with another one. And another. Jjust when Raven thought he'd exhausted his curiosity, he stopped and dropped to the ground.
"What is it?" asked Eeth, frowning.
"Rabbit tracks," Conrad replied, crawling along in the snow on his hands and knees. "They can't be far. Loan me your lightsaber? I can be back in a flash," he said, pointing to the small burrow that he would probably just manage to crawl into.
"I," said Eeth, "will most definitely not hand you my saber. Let us keep moving."
"Why not? Do you particularly enjoy energy bars and dehydrated soup?" Conrad asked, a hint of impatience to his tone.
"That is beside the point," said Eeth severely. "We lack the time to go hunting, and even if we did not, the only persons who would handle lightsabers are my padawan and I. They are weapons, not toys. Get up."
Conrad bristled at this. "Obviously they aren't toys. I know how to use a weapon," he said, getting to his feet and brushing the snow from his knees.
"Good," said Eeth, resuming his pace. "But our lightsabers are still off-limits to you. You would need to be Force-sensitive to control them, which you are not. And even then, controlling them requires extensive training. We do not let nine-year-old Jedi children handle them either."
"I could do it," Conrad muttered, trying to save face.
Raven just snorted, and Conrad jumped on the opportunity to drag her into this. "Can you use each other's lightsabers, then? Or do they only work for the person they are built by?" he wanted to know. And so the interrogation continued until it was almost dusk and light was beginning to fade from the woods. Raven and Eeth could continue, theoretically, by relying on the Force; Conrad couldn't. Besides, it got very cold at night and there were predators everywhere.
"We had better start looking for shelter," Eeth told Raven. "Disguise is not as important as it was the last time; our pursuers will hardly be after us at night, given the general density of warbet in this area."
"True," said Raven. "Several small packs have begun to appear although none of them have picked up on our scent. At least not yet. I've been sending them east where they won't be in danger of being shot by Greyhym's retreating men, nor will they be likely to wipe them out in return."
"Why would you care?" asked Conrad, still a little dark over having been denied Eeth's lightsaber earlier, among other things. "Let Greyhym's scum die, it's not as if they don't deserve it. No offence meant," he added on quickly, not wanting the Jedi girl to assume the only reason he wanted them to suffer was because they were human.
Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Who are you to make such judgments?" he asked. "Who are you to know who deserves to live and who deserves to die, and what purpose the beings you would rather see dead might have to fulfil yet?"
"They took me from my bed in the middle of the night! Dragged me halfway across the planet and stuck me in a cold, dark room where I practically starved for a week. They deserve to die." Conrad countered.
"No sentient being deserves to die," said Eeth. "And even if they did, that would not be your decision to make. Besides, they barely touched you. Do you really think the universe has no worse atrocities to offer than sticking someone in a dark room?"
"They had no right to take me," Conrad stated indignantly, completely ignoring any logic or reason in Eeth's comment.
"No, they did not have any right to take you," Eeth replied, rather sharply. "That is why we rescued you. It does not mean they deserve to die."
Conrad shrugged. He wasn't used to being constantly challenged and it was starting to irk him.
Raven concentrated on keeping them out of harm's way until they came across something that looked like it might just work. It was a small opening in the ground that was barely visible. "It's a warren," Raven said, automatically reaching out to check for life and surprisingly finding none. "I sense nothing inside. Maybe they're just 'out'," she offered. However, given there had been no fresh snowfall and there were no noticeable tracks or markings, she didn't think it likely.
As it turned out, the small opening was easily blocked by the Force-sensitive Jedi once inside, and it soon became apparent that no being would be locked out of their home. Raven groaned sadly upon spotting the remains of what appeared to be seven baby warbet. "Something must have happened to the mother," she guessed while pulling the tarpaulin from the top of Eeth's pack.
"Probably so," said Eeth. "Take care of the heating. I will dispose of their remains in the meanwhile." He felt that this task would be easier on him than on his animal-loving apprentice.
"Warbet are almost a pest on this planet, they won't be missed," Conrad said, although despite his logic, he too felt a little sad at seeing the remains.
"You would never know what the impact on your planet's ecosystem might be," Eeth told Conrad. "For example, the warbet keep down the population of shrarg, who breed excessively and would eat up all the saplings if not kept in check by predators. It might not be convenient for people, but that does not mean the warbet are useless."
Conrad bristled at what he perceived as a persistent challenge from the Zabrak man. For the moment his hunger and discomfort due to the freezing temperatures was winning out, but only just. He made sure to glower at the man for good measure.
"Here, help me with this," said Raven, distracting Conrad before he could say anything stupid and piss off Eeth. She tossed him the igniter for their heater and started pulling packets of tea and soup from her pack.
By the time Eeth returned from disposing of the baby warbet, Raven and Conrad had the temperature rising and food was being prepared. "Here," she said, tossing a sleeping bag over to Conrad, "wrap this around you. It will be warmer in here soon."
Eeth ladled out soup and poured tea while Raven handed out energy bars.
"We should take turns keeping watch tonight," he told Raven. "If we have no one on our trail by tomorrow night, we can dispense with nightly watches, I think, but it would be careless to do so while we are still this close to the anarchists' camp. Are you very tired?"
"Not so much now," she said, "but I will be in a few hours. Can I take the first watch?"
"Of course," said Eeth. "Give me three hours' sleep or so, then wake me."
"But it's only seven-thirty," Conrad interrupted. "What are we supposed to do down here for eleven hours?" He was already getting restless. Sure, he was tired enough from all the walking, but that didn't help the fact that he was bored.
"We will be on our feet throughout the day tomorrow," said Eeth. "You should take advantage of any opportunity to rest."
Conrad rolled his eyes. As far as he was concerned, eleven hours of rest was ridiculous regardless of the hike ahead. He opened his mouth to disagree, only to close it again; he had yet to win a disagreement with the bossy Zabrak and doubted this time would be an exception.
His reaction did not go unnoticed and Raven found that she was once again working to conceal amusement; less than twelve hours under Eeth's control and the boy was already beginning to straighten up, she thought.
When they'd eaten as much as their rations would allow, Raven gathered some bowls and spoons into her jacket and paused to scan the outside area for life forms. "I don't sense anything within a kilometre," she said and looked at Eeth. "I need to pee before you sleep, so I may as well wash these while I'm out there?" she suggested.
"Me also," Conrad said, jumping to his feet in the small space. Unlike the two humanoid species, the Gelis stood no more than 130cm when fully grown, their limbs thick, muscular and proportionate to their stocky bodies. Considering that Conrad was a child, he was smaller still, not by much, but it was enough to give him a significant advantage in the cramped shelters they had stayed in so far. He crawled towards the exit only to realise that he wouldn't be able to remove the log, and huffed impatiently. "Come on already."
"Yes, you may go," Eeth said calmly. "But stay next to the shelter and come back in immediately." He used the Force to lift the log, then settled down to sleep.
Raven inclined her head in compliance and followed Conrad through the crawlspace. It was freezing out here. She quickly tipped their dishes into the snow and pulled on her jacket.
"You've got no meat on your bones. That's why you're so cold, you know," Conrad observed whilst turning to take care of business.
Raven looked the Gelis boy up and down briefly, but said nothing about his short stature, long ears and pointy nose. "Most humans from Chine are fine-featured and lithe, which, curiously, is almost the exact antithesis of the Gelis. Maybe there is something in that."
Raven knelt to grab a fist full of dirt from beneath the snow and began roughly smudging it around the inside of the small pot.
"What in the name of Great Galia are you doing? You're meant to be cleaning those, not making them worse," Conrad said incredulously upon spotting the mud-slathered pot.
"Here, watch." Raven pulled him down to sit by her side and proceeded to scrub the dirt around the bowl. Then she tipped a small amount of melted snow from a bottle she'd tucked into her belt into the bowl. "The gritty texture of the dirt works to scour off the bits of food that are stuck to the bowl, see? Good as new," Raven said as she sloshed the mix around and tipped it into the hole she'd dug.
"That's a pretty neat trick," Conrad had to admit. He had always been interested in survival. In fact, he'd taken a number of classes dedicated to just that. What he lacked was a scratch of practical experience.
"Will you take these inside and start melting some snow in the device, please?" asked Raven. "I need to pee and unfortunately for me, girls don't have it as easy as you do."
Conrad nodded and picked up the dishes from the snow. He paused at the entrance for a long moment, trying to make the most of the fresh air and freedom before having to re-enter what was fast beginning to feel like a tomb.
"Hey, I thought I told you to go back inside. Go on," Raven said when she approached the entrance several minutes later to find him still standing there, gazing up at the clear night sky.
"Keep your knickers on, I was just making the most of it. You know, we could always come sit out here a bit later, once Goliath has crashed of course," he suggested, a conspiring expression on his face.
"Conrad, have you met my master?" said Raven. "He told us to stay inside and rest, and as much as I agree that it would be nice to sit out here, we are going to do as he says. Come on, whining about it won't make it any easier on anyone, least of all yourself." She paused and groaned. Force, she was starting to sound just like Eeth!
Conrad, on the other hand, was not so quick to give up. He had a plan.