Having spent his early childhood in the slums of Nar Shaddaa, Eeth valued good, wholesome food. He also set great store by self-reliance. Due to these personality traits, he had made sure to acquire considerable cooking skills. His abilities had been enhanced by an undercover mission as a young knight during which he had worked as a cook in a Corellian restaurant. The fact that his illness had weakened him to an extent that made it impossible to cook meals for himself and Raven had irked him quite a bit. He was glad to finally be able to resume this part of his ordinary routine.

Today, he prepared Senchi stir-fried vegetables with nuts, a dish that he knew to be among Raven's favourites. Raven was not only a vegetarian, but also a rather fussy eater, which Eeth claimed to have little tolerance for… and yet he found himself quite frequently preparing the exact dishes that Raven enjoyed. She was too thin as it was!

"Padawan," he said as she entered their quarters, giving her a small smile and inclining his head in greeting. "Wash your hands and sit down. Lunch is ready. After lunch, we can have a look at the test results that have come in. I think everything but biology, which you took today, has been graded by now."

If the results were satisfactory, he might just take her out into the city during the weekend…

"Or we could not and say we did?" Raven suggested while washing her hands at their kitchen sink. Eeth had been riding her hard since she had started the remedial maths class, but what if she failed again? Maths really wasn't Raven's strong suit. Would Eeth think she were stupid? WAS she actually stupid if she failed? All these thoughts were tumbling around in her mind and feeding the insecurity that Rayan had planted over a year ago; maybe she really wasn't good enough to be Eeth's apprentice.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "These are simply some mid-term tests, meant to show you where you stand," he said. "I am confident that you did well, after all the studying I made you do. And if you did not, there will still be a lot of time to remedy that during and after this term break. Now sit down and eat."

Raven sat. She was far from placated, but there wasn't a lot she could do about this.

Lunch passed by as it usually did, namely, Raven chatted animatedly while Eeth looked as if he'd like to jump out the window. No, not really, although the girl sometimes imagined that the thought crossed his mind; they were so opposite in that respect. Given that she was doing her best to care for Eeth, Raven started cleaning up after their lunch before Eeth could stand and get the jump on her. This also had the bonus effect of delaying the test results. Both were worthy causes if you asked Raven.

Eeth, however, would never sit around idly while others worked if he could help it. He joined in, and they were done after ten minutes. Before Raven could sidle out, he firmly pointed her towards the comm unit where two messages were flashing, one from Master Vantachi and one from Raven's Basic teacher. There was also a message from the Council administration, but he left that for later.

"Well, padawan," he said, glancing at both messages briefly, "it appears you are capable of achieving a lot more than a D- in maths if you apply yourself. You have scored a B+ in maths and a B in Basic. These are your best results to date. Now maybe you have seen for yourself that it is worthwhile to make an effort with your studies."

"Maybe, but do I want to spend the rest of my life studying all the time? Nu. Besides, you helped a lot, too, and you don't always have that liberty. Thank you," said Raven, her words genuine. She was pretty happy with that B+ in maths.

"You are welcome," said Eeth. "And just for the record, you will spend as much time studying as you need to, not as much as you want to. When you do that, you will have no difficulty achieving satisfactory results, as you have just seen. Could you start washing the dishes? I need to read a personal message from the Council. I will be with you in a moment."

Raven raised her eyebrows at this, her curiosity piqued. A personal message from the Council? That could mean a lot of things, or it could mean nothing at all. Raven didn't say anything, though, and started washing the dishes as instructed. They did own a steriliser, yet Eeth felt that washing the dishes by hand was more thorough and left them cleaner. They only used the steriliser when they were pressed for time.

When Eeth returned some time later, Raven had finished washing and was putting things away.

"Can I go to the padawans' lounge tonight, pleeease? I've been grounded forever, is all."

"I am afraid you may not," said Eeth. "The Council secretary has just informed me that we will be in charge of a Senate committee on weapons taxation, starting tomorrow, and during your break I want you to assist me. Our briefing takes place tonight."

"Weapons taxation," she repeated slowly, unable to keep the dread from her tone or disappointed expression from her face; this was going to suck, it was going to suck all break long! Not that it would even be considered a 'break' now. "Yeah, that's just great…." she managed after a long pause, and unenthusiastically hung the dishcloth on the sink.

"Yes, your enthusiasm is almost tangible," Eeth remarked drily. He had not expected his padawan to be overjoyed at the news. But she needed to learn about politics, law and diplomacy if she ever wanted to become a Jedi, and whether she liked it or not, he was going to make sure that she did.

"Padawan, I know that this is not how you were hoping to spend your break," he told her. "But it is the best option we have to do something useful, since missions that involve any kind of action are out of the question for me right now. Besides, this is an area of expertise that you desperately need to develop. And needless to say, I expect you to give your full attention to the task and make your best effort. Now, I assume that you were not given homework today. We might go to the pools. The healers have actually given me permission to swim. For no more than half an hour, admittedly, but it will be a start."

"Well, personally I think that our best option would be to stay at the Temple." Raven didn't particularly care about what was best for her career at the moment. She had spent the last half cycle studying hard to make up for failing maths and then gotten herself grounded, a grounding from which she had only just been released! The prospect of spending her break sitting around in meetings for hours on end was not being received well at all. Not even the mention of visiting the pools could pull her from the slump this news had caused.

If there was one thing Eeth could not stand, it was self-pity. Well, that was not entirely true; there were a fair number of things that Eeth could not stand, such as rule-breaking, dishonesty and laziness; but self-pity most definitely ranked somewhere near the top of the list. And therefore, Raven's remark was rewarded with a solid swat. That swat was not exactly of the teeth-rattling type that would have been heard three floors further on; Eeth was not yet capable of such things, and even if he had been, Raven's remark would not have warranted that. But the swat was hard enough to get her attention.

"I do not want to hear complaints," he said sternly. "This is part of the career path that you have chosen. Nobody has ever claimed that it was designed for your entertainment. Any more whining, and you will spend the afternoon studying weapons taxation laws instead of going to the pools."

Raven looked at Eeth, the expression on her face a mixture of shock and self-pity. "Sorry, master," she said quietly as a hand moved to cup her right butt cheek. Okay, so that hadn't been the most painful swat but still, it had not been pleasant. "I'll go get ready, then," she told him whilst backing her way out of the kitchen; one could never be too careful.

As they made their way to the pools, Raven was still not her usual self, choosing to exact the maximum amount of sulking she thought she could get away with without being called on it.

Eeth tolerated Raven's sulking until they had reached the pools. When they were there and it had still not stopped, he said, "Padawan, I might just choose to grant you an hour on the waterslides while I recover from my swim. But only if you lose the pout and the brooding silence. If you want to continue sulking, I can have you swim back and forth for an hour and then go home. What is it to be?"

Alright, so Eeth had Raven over a barrel here. She frowned, and then her brow softened because what else could she do? It wasn't like Eeth was giving her much of a choice here. "I'll take the slides, but only if you come with me for one," she said, attempting to 'fake it until she made it'. One slide was less than she usually asked of him, but Eeth had been really sick and she did not want to add to his troubles, at least not on purpose.

"Very well," Eeth conceded. "After we have had a workout."

They swam for the exact half hour that he had been allowed. Then he taught Raven a new jump while sitting on the edge of the pool. Finally, he took her to the slides and, true to his word, went down the second tallest one with Raven once. He was quite exhausted after that and, for probably the first time in his life, rested on a deckchair while sending Raven to amuse herself on the slides with a couple of padawan friends she had met.

"Just tell me when you want us to leave," he said. "I do not have any other plans for this afternoon." He was rarely so indulgent; normally, they were on a strict schedule. But he was still recovering, and Raven needed a reward for her test results, he reasoned.

Raven blinked. Just tell him when she wanted to leave? Was this some kind of trick? She eyed him for a moment. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he was feeling okay. Then she recalled that he actually wasn't, and nodded once. "I won't make it too long," she told him, and this time the smile was genuine.

Just over an hour later, two human prunes and one positively healthy-looking Nautolan approached Eeth's deck chair. He had his eyes closed but Raven knew that their presence had not gone unnoticed. Grinning, she shook her hair, sending droplets of cold water onto him. Spending time with some kids her age had helped with her sullen mood, and her sense of humour was making a comeback.

Eeth did not even flinch. Without opening his eyes, he asked: "Are you ready to leave, then, padawan?"

"Yes, master," Raven replied, as unperturbed by his lack of response as he was over her effort to draw one out of him. By now she knew it was pretty hard to catch him out, especially when it came to things like that.

After saying goodbye to her friends, the two made their way back to their quarters.

Raven showered, changed and exited her bathroom, plaiting her braid as she went. "So, what time is this briefing, then?" she asked, doing her best not to slump back into her previously sullen mood.

Eeth glanced at the chrono.

"Two hours from now," he said. "You may have one hour to yourself. After that, we will have dinner and go to the meeting. I have baked some bread while preparing lunch; we can eat that."

"Okay." She glanced at her wrist and looked back up at Eeth. She wanted to go to the lounge which Eeth had no problem with, so five minutes later, she was immersed in conversation with Orion and a few others. It had been a while since she'd seen him; they'd known each other since crèche, although he had been taken as a padawan a couple of months before she had.

Well before Raven was ready to leave, her wrist alarm warned her that it was time to start for home lest she be late. Eeth hated tardiness, and it usually resulted in some form of painful reminder on the importance of meeting responsibilities. Sighing, Raven rose from her spot on the floor where she had been playing holo checkers and reluctantly began the walk back to their quarters.

"Master," she greeted Eeth in the usual fashion, just as her watch began to buzz urgently. She shut it off, sighed again and took her cloak from the rack. "Would you buy it if I told you I felt feverish?"

Unsurprisingly, that went over like a lead balloon. Eeth did not even dignify it with a response. He merely gave her a look.

Disinclined to pursue her plight – it was not going to get her anywhere she wanted to go anyway – Raven followed Eeth without argument or further comment.

"Councillor Koth, Padawan Raven," a tall, muscular Epicanthix female greeted them as they entered the meeting room. "Let us begin…"

An hour later, Eeth and Raven left the meeting, Eeth looking stoic as usual and Raven positively pained. "So we have to get this committee of Senators to agree on fixed taxation for the acquisition, registration and ownership of weapons on Coruscant? Peachy," she summarised, her tone flat and expression not dissimilar. "How long do you think this is going to take?" Raven hoped it was not going to take up the entire break but wasn't holding her breath.

"I think it is going to be a lengthy process," replied Eeth. "You will not be able to assist me during all of it since your term break only lasts a week but until then, we will have meetings in the mornings nearly every day and spend much of the afternoon preparing them."

He looked positively pleased at the prospect. Being idle did not sit well with him.

If there was one word Raven did not want to hear in reference to their up and coming 'mission', it was 'lengthy'. In fact, anything that implied longevity was to be avoided at all costs. It was with this in mind that a thought occurred to her. "Do you really think you should take this on? I mean, you are still recovering and all." And Raven was genuinely asking because it sounded like it was going to draaaaag out as these things tended to do.

"Of course I am," said Eeth. "The healers explicitly permitted me to resume working as long as said work does not involve interplanetary travel or physical activity. I think a Senate committee meets those conditions. There is no need to worry about me."

Of course Raven was going to worry about him, and her expression said just that. Still, she continued to listen without interruption as he outlined what was, in Raven's opinion, the worst use of her class break possible. She wanted to cry. There was one saving grace: it could only last nine days; then whatever torment this turned out to be would be replaced with what she hoped would be a lesser evil.

Eeth was under no illusion as to the extent of his padawan's enthusiasm about their assignment, but she would simply have to cope. When she was a knight, nobody would go out of their way to spare her such missions either.

"Was there anything in Knight He'aritim's explanations about the current status of weapons taxation and its loopholes that you did not understand?" he asked Raven. "If there was, you should say it now because if you do not, I will expect you to have full knowledge of the subject matter. And make no mistake, I will want your input during our assignment. You will not just sit there and let it wash over you."

"Not that I'm aware of," came the safe response. Raven had listened, but unsurprisingly, had found the subject as boring as bat shit.

When they reached their quarters, Raven made directly for her room. After she had changed, the padawan exited her bedroom, brushing out her padawan's braid as she went. Okay, so Raven wasn't sulking per se, but neither was she looking forward to spending the rest of her free time going over their latest 'mission'.

Eeth, however, wanted to go through the list of committee members with his padawan, and he did not release her from this until he was confident that she knew their names by heart, at which point it was close to her bedtime. There was just enough time left for an evening meditation which he decided to perform out on their small balcony that offered a rather spectacular view of a large part of Coruscant.


The next morning, Eeth woke Raven at six as usual.

"Get dressed in your formal attire, padawan," he instructed her, completely ignoring her reluctance to leave her bed. "Morning meditation will be in fifteen minutes."

Raven had never been a morning person, and today it was made worse by the fact that she'd woken up to their first day of this hideous assignment.

Despite a distinct lack of enthusiasm, fifteen minutes later she emerged from her bathroom dressed in formal attire, brush in hand and looking none too pleased. Eeth was just beginning to make them breakfast when she had an idea. "So, what are the chances of you letting us eat breakfast on the way?" Raven asked, her tone hopeful. "I won't spill anything on my robes, promise," was tacked on just in case.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Why?" he asked. "Is there something wrong with the porridge I make?"

"No, master, 'course not. It's just something different to do. Besides, it might be fun. You do remember fun, right? That horrible three-lettered word?" Raven was trying to hide a smile, but the corner of her lip twitched in spite of her efforts.

Eeth momentarily looked as if he had bitten into a lemon. Then again, biting into a lemon might not have made him look this sour.

"Not today, padawan," he finally replied. "I have already started making breakfast. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe."

"Alright," sighed Raven, and started setting the table.

Breakfast was quiet as such things went. Raven wasn't her usual chatty self. Sure, she knew that as a Jedi a boring assignment was the least of her worries. Still, at twelve years old, she was struggling to keep this in perspective. When breakfast was finished, they cleaned up and left for the Temple's garage where Eeth had organised a speeder. Raven looked at him, hopeful.

Eeth returned her hopeful look with an impassive one of his own and pointed at the passenger seat. In his opinion, this was not a discussion they needed to have.

Raven sighed – she was doing that a lot today, it would seem – and then vaulted into the passenger side without argument. Instead, the padawan spent their trip there imagining what it would be like if she were piloting herself.

The Senate building was not far. Eeth parked in one of its many garages and, after having passed numerous security checkpoints, they made it to the East Wing that held most meeting rooms.

The committee they were heading was comprised of delegates from fifty planets, which was larger than Eeth liked; this tended to make it difficult to reach an agreement. Still, they hardly had a choice. They had been assigned to an auditorium-style meeting room with a raised desk for Eeth and Raven to sit behind. A stack of datapads had been laid out for them.

"You will take the minutes, padawan," said Eeth. As a matter of fact, all proceedings would be filmed and there would be an automatic transcript, but Raven did not need to know that; he wanted her to make an effort.

"Yay for me, the minutes…" thought Raven, unenthused as ever. Outwardly, however, she gave a nod and the expected "Yes, master" response. This was an assignment, after all, which meant that Eeth's tolerance for fussing went from endangered to positively extinct.

Okay, so it wasn't all boring. Some of the debates in which Eeth was required to break up their bickering were mildly amusing to Raven. However, when a particularly repetitive argument broke out for the fourth time between Senator's Von and Hastel, the padawan started to lose patience; it was almost time for lunch and here they were delaying everyone's escape! Annoyed, Raven slapped her palm on the table, drawing a mixture of expressions from the group of delegates. "For the Force's sake, Senator Von. Senator Hastel has already addressed that issue, like, three times already. Do we really have to go over it again?"

The delegates' heads unanimously swivelled towards Raven and incredulous stares were pointed at her from various sets of eyes and eyestalks. Eeth immediately took action. He sent Raven a strong surge of disapproval through their bond without showing any sign of this to the roomful of delegates.

"While my padawan is right in pointing out that the matter has repeatedly been addressed," he said calmly and authoritatively, "we will, of course, be happy to go over it again, Senator Von, until an understanding has been reached. I believe the main point of contention is the taxation of batons and comparable weapons which Senator Von is opposed to due to the many ceremonial uses these have on his planet. Is this correct?"

"Errr… yes," Senator Von agreed, the wind taken out of his sails.

"Well, you should have just said so" said Senator Hastel begrudgingly. "We can work in a clause for ceremonial weapons."

This law was going to have a lot of subclauses. Eeth was not happy with that, but it seemed to be the only way to reach an agreement.

It wasn't long after this that Eeth called the proceedings to a close for the day.

Raven followed him quietly, hoping to all hope that they'd get a chance to escape the lunch that was provided, but not liking her chances; she doubted Eeth would be in any mood to grant her favours if the disapproval she had sensed across their bond was anything to go by.

"Padawan." Eeth said quietly as he led the way to a reception room, "During the lunch reception, I will apologise to Senator Von for your rash remark, and you will add your own apology to this. Is that understood?"

"Apologise! No, you can't be serious." Okay, so her remark had been kinda rash, but it also happened to be true, which in Raven's opinion validated her decision.

"I am entirely serious," Eeth said sternly. "And you will comport yourself in a mature fashion, as people would expect from a Jedi padawan. Be glad I have nothing more in mind for you than this apology. If you continue to test me, that may easily change."

Raven chose not to respond to that. Instead, she scowled at the floor while trying to put a lid on her indignation. Apologise, honestly! Eeth was right, of course: it could be made worse. It would seem that these proceedings were going to test her in more ways than one.

Thankfully for Raven, by the time they reached the dining area, the expression on her face had softened a little; the short walk, not to mention Eeth's threat, had helped with this considerably. They spotted Senator Von taking a seat at the far end by some of his neighbouring planets' representatives, and Raven cringed. "Just sit. Pleeeease," she silently implored Eeth.

Ignoring her silent plea, Eeth directly led the way to Senator Von. The seating arrangement was informal: there was a number of low, round tables for species who preferred to sit on the floor, there were several tables with chairs and some bar tables for those who liked to stand. Droids were rolling around the room with trays of food suitable for all kinds of species. It was no problem at all to drag a chair towards Senator Von's table and sit down with his group, and that was what Eeth did.

"Senator," he said politely. "I sincerely hope that the results of the morning's proceedings are to your satisfaction. I apologise for my padawan's impulsiveness. She is still learning that in diplomacy, it is sometimes necessary to revise a matter several times if an agreement shall be reached that all parties are happy with, and that is certainly my intention."

Through their bond, he gave Raven a nudge.

Raven frowned at him, yet immediately dropped the frown upon noticing that his trademark glare was beginning to form. Resigned, the padawan lifted her gaze to meet the Senator's and delivered what she hoped would be an award-winning performance. "I'm sorry if I offended you, Sir. I didn't mean to. I'm still learning."

Senator Von slightly inclined his head in acknowledgement, but did not comment. Nor did Eeth expect him to; his species was not known for being particularly tolerant of such things.

"Well, we are all glad this issue is resolved," said a Senurian female in an obvious effort to lighten the mood and draw attention away from Raven. "The Hironians are really making this more difficult than it needs to be, what with all their procedural complaints."

"What would be your suggestion for the procedure, then?" Eeth asked smoothly. And with this, they were right in the middle of a debate about procedural rules for Senate committees.

The expression on Raven's face remained impassive. Inwardly, however, the girl was struggling. This was only the first day and already she was begging for some sort of galactic emergency that rendered them unable to continue with these negotiations. Anything would do, anything!


The next few days were no better. In fact, Raven would swear blind that the sessions were actually getting longer. Still, she endured. Eeth had little tolerance for whining so she was riding the line here, getting away with just enough to be cathartic without ticking him off. A ticked-off Eeth was to be avoided at all costs, after all.

Four days into an eight day 'sentence' – and Raven had come to think of this assignment as a sentence – they were seated at the obligatory lunch gathering that had followed each session so far. As if the Gods that be themselves deemed it time to cut Raven some slack, Senators finally began to peel off from the dining room. The padawan had come to recognise the signs: when most of them were gone, it would be proper for them to leave. She was still learning the finer points here because as far as Raven was concerned, there was nothing inappropriate, nothing at all, about running from the room the moment lunch was eaten. Unfortunately Eeth did not share her opinion, which was why it was almost two in the afternoon and they were still there making polite conversation.

"Are we there yet?" Raven whispered to Eeth as a few more people stood up and excused themselves. The question wasn't entirely serious, yet nor was it a joke, which was clear by the realistic tone and pained expression. Apparently tomorrow their session was going to be held in the afternoon which would be a welcome change. Raven was already planning some time with her friends. She had yet to clear this with Eeth, though.

"Not quite, padawan," Eeth said quietly, pointing his chin at a Tomarian Senator who obviously wanted to ask Raven a question. Many of the Senators did not see Raven as a child, but as a Jedi, which was something that she needed to get used to.

When they left the building half an hour later in their speeder, Eeth said: "We need to do some calculations this afternoon. The amendments that the committee has agreed upon so far might cost the Republic too much money. If that is so, we need to think of strategies to counteract this loss of tax revenue."

"Calculations and strategies. Joy," Raven replied flatly. She kicked at the floor with her boot and concentrated on glaring out the window at passing traffic; her patience for their mission today had been depleted.

"Tell me, padawan. Who do you think is paying for your upbringing?" asked Eeth in a voice of deceptive calm. He was quite fed up with his padawan's attitude.

"Taxpayers," she replied equally flatly, knowing where this was going but not caring. "That doesn't mean I have to like dealing with the Senate or spending every second of my time working on it," she continued, her sour mood spiralling; Raven hated this assignment.

"Whether you like it really has no bearing on this," said Eeth acerbically, "nor are you spending every minute of your time working on it. As far as I recall, we had a workout every single day after our return from the Senate, and you spent all your evenings in the padawan lounge. That can easily change if you continue the attitude, though."

Raven threw up her hands in irritation. "Force! Fine, please forgive me if I'm not thrilled about spending the night doing more of this crap. Maybe I had plans, maybe I'm sick of talking about this after having spent all day doing nothing but." Raven folded her arms and continued to glare at the traffic. Logically, she knew that this was her duty but that wasn't helping her current mood any more than Eeth downplaying her right to be displeased over this.

Unfortunately, her reply was not up to Eeth's standards. Raven knew perfectly well that there was only a very limited amount of petulance and whining that Eeth would tolerate, just as she knew that being tired of something was no excuse for anything and that it was not her place to "have plans" before having checked her schedule with her master.

"When I tell you to lose the attitude, I mean it," Eeth snapped. "The minute we arrive at the Temple, you will bend over the hood of the speeder for a reminder. Our freestyle sparring session is cancelled; you may spend an hour in the weights room instead. And tonight you are staying home. Any more whining and protesting, and I will add to this." He pulled the speeder downwards to a lower lane that led right towards the Temple's main speeder bay, hoping for his padawan's sake that she would manage to keep her mouth shut because he would have absolutely no qualms about increasing the punishment.

The expression on Raven's face went from petulant to outrage, then settled on horrified as Eeth spoke. Okay, so going to the weights room was not something Raven particularly despised; it was hard to find anything physical, at least at this stage of her apprenticeship, that she didn't enjoy. It was, however, right at the bottom of the list preferencewise, and Eeth knew that. But bending over the hood? Heck, no, not again. Raven wanted to scream but if she did that it would end up in a full-blown tantrum. Raven needed an outlet for her frustration; screaming, kicking and throwing a fit was one way to get that release, but there was another way that she knew of, another way of dealing with her emotions that did not ultimately end up adding to them. Closing her eyes, the padawan started to release her anger and frustration into the Force. This was not always successful. Sometimes Raven needed help, which Eeth would supply; other times she had chosen to take the easy route and indulged her emotions. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on whose perspective was being considered and at what time, Eeth had always been diligent with her training so she made the correct decision and was successful at quashing her temper this time.

By the time they reached the Temple, Raven was starting to seriously regret having mouthed off. She was still a little annoyed, but it was no longer blinding her to the consequences. As they flew into the main hangar Raven started talking in an effort to save her ass. "Okay, okay, you made your point. I'm sorry. I won't complain any more, I'll do the weights room and stay home all night, I promise. I don't need any reminders."

"When I tell you that you need a reminder," Eeth said coolly, steering the speeder towards its designated bay, "then you need a reminder. You will obey my orders unless you want to make this worse on yourself."

Squirming at his reply, the padawan fell silent. She remembered the last time she'd been a smart-ass during a speeder trip. It had been during Raven's first few months as Eeth's apprentice. They had gone into the city to conduct investigations; not that there was much she could do at this stage of her training except watch. She had become bored, wandered off and, in short, gotten caught up in a dice game where she'd been outed as a Jedi, almost lost her lightsaber and come close to being captured and sold off. Thankfully, Eeth had noticed and helped her get out of that. He was, however, exceedingly pissed off when she had started trying to talk her way out of it on their journey home after having been ordered silent.

Raven cringed at the memory. To say that she was not looking forward to this was a gross understatement.

The speeder touched down gently and Eeth shut off the engines. He got out and nodded his chin towards the hood. Fortunately for Raven, there was no one around at the moment; not that he would have cared if there was!

Raven looked from their speeder to Eeth and then back again, her expression pained. Maybe there would be some sort of intervention? As she walked to the front of their speeder, her imagination started to race with possibilities: freak meteor shower? Invasion/ hostile takeover! No, no, those were probably worse than a few swats with Eeth's paddle. Not by much, though. Raven continued thinking as she stopped where he'd gestured and put her hands on the hood of their speeder. Temple maintenance FAIL, perfect! She looked at the sprinkler systems, to the blast doors, and finally, when none of this was visibly failing, looked over at Eeth and groaned. Apparently nothing was going to save her today. Thus, she bent forward so that, had her left hand not been unconsciously spread out protecting her backside, Eeth would have had a clear shot.

"Take your hand away," Eeth said brusquely, drawing a groan from Raven.

Having achieved compliance, Eeth pulled out his paddle. He had, in fact, not failed to notice that Raven had made an effort to release her emotions into the Force instead of indulging a temper tantrum as she would doubtlessly have done a few months earlier. He wanted to reward that, but at the same time, he needed to make clear that obedience was not negotiable.

Thus, he gave Raven no more than four measured swats – hard enough to be felt, but not hard enough to be excruciatingly painful. Then he stuck the paddle back into his belt and said, "You may get up."

Okay, thought Raven, so that had not exactly been pleasant, yet neither had the swats taken her breath away or reverberated around the hangar as they had the last time. Still, it had stung enough to have her rubbing and bouncing around a little when she turned to face him. Gaze down, the padawan folded her arms to keep from rubbing and replaced her bouncing with a slight shift of weight from foot to foot. After all, they were standing in the middle of the freakin' hangar bay, for the Force's sake!

Eeth pulled her into a hug. "Padawan," he said softly, "you dealt with your frustration very well. Had you decided to indulge your temper and throw a tantrum, as you would have been likely to do at the time I first met you, your pants would have come down and I would have dealt out a full dozen swats. As it is, you did the right thing and kept a handle on your emotions, and I wanted to reward that. I am proud of you." Coming from Eeth, this was high praise indeed.

When he released her from the hug, Raven looked up, met his gaze and managed a smile despite the fact that he'd just paddled her. "Good, so I got one thing right. Thank you, master." It had been heartfelt, too, even if her ass was still not ready to forgive him. The fact that he had gone easier on her this time was additional incentive to continue working on controlling her emotions. Of course, she knew that indulging in such emotions led to the Dark Side, and as a Temple-raised Jedi, Raven had no desire to fall.

Needless to say, Raven was still not getting out of the rest of the punishment, nor was Eeth going to spare her the calculations they needed to perform. Thus, he took her to the weights room where he, too, spent an hour rebuilding his muscles, very slowly and carefully as per his physiotherapist's advice.

After that, they went home where Eeth made tea, produced a plate of cookies (more for Raven's benefit than his own) and then projected a large spreadsheet with numbers into the room.

Raven sat, took a cookie, looked at the spreadsheet and dropped her head into her palm. "Here we go," she thought.

"This is the list of current revenues from taxes on weapons trade," said Eeth. He pressed a button, and a second set of numbers appeared next to the first. "This is how revenues are going to change if the current results of our negotiations were implemented," he continued. The difference was substantial. "These," he said, highlighting a number of rows, "have not been negotiated yet. Either we manage to convince the Senators to change some of them in a way that will allow us to increase revenue, or we need to take up again some of those that have already been negotiated and make them less expensive. Any suggestions?"

By this stage Raven had dragged her hand down her face and was looking up at the screen unenthusiastically. "Negotiate already negotiated taxes, or modify what hasn't been negotiated yet. Are those our only two options?"

"More or less," said Eeth. "The alternative would be to go ahead with the negotiations, produce a very expensive proposal and risk its rejection in the plenary vote, meaning that the negotiations would ultimately have failed. Needless to say, failure is not among my objectives. Do you have any suggestions concerning items that would be particularly promising to modify in order to increase revenue?"

"Point three are expensive weapons, and point seven is an item usually sold in bulk. Collectively, they make up billions. If we could modify those two somehow it would make a substantial difference, and we're only having to mess around with two, instead of lots of smaller ones." When Eeth nodded his agreement, Raven met him with a curious expression. "Do you think they'll go for it?" Raven had limited experience with the Senate, and even less so with weapons taxation, but she was giving this her full attention.

"That will partly depend on us," said Eeth. "Both of these points have already been negotiated. If we want to propose changes, we have to provide good arguments. In other words, we have to sell them. Of course, the real reason for which we want these changes is the cost to the Republic, but the Senators tend to be guided by their particular interests, or the interests of their constituencies, more than the common good; we have to bear that in mind."

Together, he and Raven came up with a list of proposals they would make – or which Eeth would try to convince some of the Senators of so they could propose them as their own. It was unlikely that all of them were going to be accepted, but if even half of them were, the costs of the legislative changes would be significantly lowered.

The concept of having to sell an idea that was for the greater good to the Senate, who was supposedly in place to work for the greater good, had Raven disliking politics even more. The fact that she herself struggled with this very concept, as recent as this afternoon, did not dawn on her.