Late on Friday afternoon, Eeth was sitting on the couch, recovering from what had been a strenuous workout for Raven while he had mostly been standing around giving instructions. He shouldn't need to recover from that but he did! That made him realise how close he had been to a full relapse. He really did need all the rest he could get.

Unexpectedly, the door chime sounded. Since Raven was currently taking a shower, Eeth stood up with a sigh and opened the door, finding himself looking down on Lakhri.

"Lakhri," he said. "Come in."

"Thanks," said Lakhri, following him inside. "I was hoping I might invite myself for dinner. I've been busy with an advanced mission preparation class all day – well, all week, really – and I'm starving."

"You always are," said Eeth. "You may stay for dinner but we will need to order in. I have not prepared anything."

He sat at the terminal and requested the menu of Lakhri's favourite Careenian delivery service.

"Great," said Lakhri, sitting down at the dining table. "Whatever you're ordering, I'll have two of it."

He took a closer look at Eeth and frowned.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked. "You don't look so well." He had not seen Eeth these past days since both of them had been so busy but the man looked decidedly worse than he had done last weekend.

"I am not," admitted Eeth. While he ordered their food, with a double serving for Lakhri, he told him what Healer Sopan had said.

"Okay, at least Raven would have been happy to get out of the Senate assignment, I bet," said Lakhri. "Weren't you?" That question was directed at Raven who had just emerged into the common room.

"I was," admitted Raven whilst combing out slightly damp hair. She sat into the empty seat opposite him and added in a stage whisper: "Although I'm pretty sure that master would have pushed himself into a full relapse had the healers not intervened, in order to finish the horrid thing."

Eeth was silent for a moment. Then he said, "This is probably true, and I am not proud of it. As a matter of fact, it was Raven who made the healers intervene. I am truly grateful to you, Padawan. Much as I dislike having to abandon an assignment, relapsing would have been worse."

"It would," agreed Raven, pulling her legs up under her to sit cross-legged on the chair. "Are you going to stay for dinner?" Raven asked Lakhri. She hoped he would because having him around always made things more lively.

"Yep," said Lakhri. "So… Are you doing anything fun this weekend, at least? You didn't have much of a break, after all." As he said it, it occurred to him that Eeth was in no state to provide any "fun" for Raven, even in the unlikely event that he desired to do so.

"I haven't had time to plan anything yet," Raven replied, but it got her thinking. A weekend all to herself with no classes, no assignments, no mission prep classes, that virtually never happened.

Lakhri looked from Raven, to Eeth's drawn and pale face, and back to Raven. "How about I take her on a two-day trip so you can rest?" he asked. "We could go to the South Pole zoo. Or Water World. Or even off-planet, to Vandor-3. What do you think?"

Raven's mouth fell open, and she looked from Lakhri to Eeth, eyes wide.

The offer came unexpected to Eeth. He had to admit that the prospect of having two days of peace and quiet seemed appealing right now. Besides, Raven had really not had much of a break, and yet, the occasional complaint notwithstanding, she had done a good job on their assignment.

"Would you like to, Raven?" he asked."

"Are you serious? Force, yes!" Raven said, practically jumping out of her seat. It was then that she looked at Eeth's pale face and drawn features and she felt reluctant to leave him. "But if I go, who will take care of you?"

"Padawan, I can take care of myself," said Eeth mildly. "You heard Healer Sopan. She has no issue with light household chores. And I do not need you to hover over me while I rest. You worked hard for your exams and for this week's assignments. This really deserves a reward. If Lakhri is willing to take you out, by all means go. Thank you, Lakhri." And he really did feel grateful. This was the best thing that could have happened to him at this point.

"You're welcome," said Lakhri, grinning. "Where would you like to go, Raven? Oh. There's our food."

The door chime had sounded and Lakhri went to accept their delivery.

At this point, Raven was not sure what to feel. She was beside herself with excitement over Lakhri's offer to take her someplace of her choosing, yet Eeth was still sick, and his comment about being deserving of a reward caused a stab of guilt. Yes, she had worked hard during their assignment, but she had also left him with all the work while she went off with Worik. That this lack of responsibility on her behalf might have been responsible for Eeth's decline in health and subsequent removal from their assignment was something Raven had not yet come to terms with. Logically, she knew that having her seated next to Eeth taking the minutes would probably not have prevented the deterioration of his condition. Then again, maybe she might have sensed his fatigue building and not let him get to the point where she was forced to threaten him with intervention!


For once, when Eeth came to wake Raven the next morning, she was already awake. Today Lakhri was coming to pick her up and they were going to spend the weekend at Water World. Ordinarily, she would have jumped at any opportunity to go to Vandor-3, which was off-world, but (and although she had not said as much) Raven felt reluctant to go too far from Eeth while he was still recovering.

"Good morning, padawan," said Eeth. "Lakhri is going to be here in an hour. Please get ready for the day and pack your bag. We will meditate and have breakfast afterwards."

He had gone to bed early and was feeling much better than yesterday. A couple of days of rest and he would be fine, hopefully.

Raven was up and in the shower in a flash today. When she exited twenty-five minutes later carrying a pack with two days worth of supplies, the smile she wore was all teeth. "How are you feeling?" she asked, tossing her pack onto their couch and reaching out with the Force to check for herself.

"Padawan, I am fine," said Eeth. "I have had a night's sleep and I have no work to do today. There is no need to worry about me." He pointed her towards the meditation mat.

Raven gave him a sceptical look but said no more. After all, what she sensed from him through their bond backed up his words.

They were just finishing breakfast when Lakhri arrived.

"Heya," he said. "How are you doing, Eeth? You look a little better."

"I feel better, too," said Eeth. "Have you had breakfast already or would you like some?"

"Ordinarily, I'd say yes to both questions," said Lakhri, "but as it is, I booked tickets on the trans-core shuttle service because it's the fastest way to get to the other side of Coruscant. We should get going."

Raven shovelled the last of her breakfast down, as asking to leave it unfinished had never worked for her before, and then she shot to her feet. "I'm already packed," she told Lakhri, beaming. "Want us to clean up for you before we go?" she asked Eeth. Raven didn't actually know if they had time to do this or not, but neither did she want to leave it all to him, as much as he was feeling better.

"Thank you, but I have all morning to do it," said Eeth. "I would not want you to miss your shuttle. Enjoy yourself, padawan. And thank you, Lakhri, for taking her."

"You're welcome," said Lakhri. "Just use the weekend to get some rest, will you?"

"Yes, I will," said Eeth, and he meant it.

Given that Water World was on the other side of Coruscant, they took the trans-core express, which was a first for Raven. It was much larger, longer and less cluttered than any of the shuttles Eeth had taken her on to get around Coruscant so far. Besides, this one had cabins, not that they had booked one of those. Apparently, private cabins were a luxury that the Jedi could do without, or so Lakhri told her as they passed them by.

When they arrived at Liana's, the resort that hosted Water World, they were ushered to their room by a protocol droid who informed them that they had open access to most of the park, although Raven would need to be supervised if they were visiting any of the areas that served alcohol. He handed them a swipe key each before he left, closing the door behind him. "Nice space," Raven observed, tossing her pack onto the single couch that sat under a window that was too high for Raven to actually see out of. It was pretty much like their Temple quarters; being uncluttered, tidy and containing all the necessities, if nothing more.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry my budget didn't allow for a jungle-themed suite," said Lakhri with a grin. "Anyway, we won't spend much time here. Shall we go diving? They have actual coral reefs. I packed some underwater breathing devices. Eeth taught you how to use them, didn't he?"

Raven gave him a semi-indignant look. "Of course, Eeth taught me on our mission to Borleias," replied Raven while rummaging through her bag for her swimsuit. A moment later, something suitable was pulled from her pack and she paused. "What bedroom do you want?" Because there were two and they'd need to dump their stuff somewhere.

"I don't care," said Lakhri. "None of them have a view because that would have been the expensive category. Just pick one and let's go. We can have lunch at the reef. They have restaurants everywhere in this place."

Raven didn't need telling twice. She ran for the closest bedroom which happened to be right by their kitchenette. Lakhri's was over by the front door. Less than two minutes later, the padawan appeared in their tiny common room, dressed in the bikini, shorts and sandals that she had worn on Borleias, a towel swaddling her shoulders.

Lakhri was determined to provide Raven with as much fun as she could possibly have during this weekend, even if it meant spending most of his monthly allowance on this. She had worked hard these past months and had got little enough enjoyment. While Eeth had improved considerably since Lakhri's own padawanhood, he was still wary of allowing too much fun unless he could somehow pretend it was educational. Well, despite the "educational" coral reefs, Water World was a vacation resort, built to provide the citizens of Coruscant with an on-planet opportunity to relax. And unlike Eeth, Lakhri thought that both he and Raven were entitled to enjoying such things every once in a while!

So, he took her to the reef where they went diving for a couple of hours. When they were hungry, they found two deck chairs by the reef and ordered a big finger food platter of fried vegetables, dips, bread rolls and tropical fruit, along with two big fruit cocktails.

"There's an 'adolescents only' area, I think," he said as he leaned back in his chair, sipping on his cocktail. "Forbidden for everyone above the age of seventeen, with waterslides and pools and such. Would you like to check it out?"

Raven smiled. "Sure, and maybe you can use that time to check out the 'adult only' area while I'm gone," she suggested, hoping that he would indeed not miss out on what the park had to offer him just because she was here. Raven got to her feet, pulled on her sandals and took her towel.

Lakhri laughed. "No, I'm not getting drunk, nor do I desperately want to hook up with someone," he said. "I gather that's mostly what the 'adults only' section is for. I'll just stay here and read. That's all the entertainment I need. Be back here in two hours. If you want to stay longer, be back here in two hours anyway and tell me. Alright?"

"Yes, Lakhri," replied Raven and left him to his reading. She hadn't given a lot of thought to what would be available to him in the adults-only section of the park but had to concede that if all that awaited him there was sex and alcohol, she didn't blame him for giving it a miss.

Despite being signposted as an 'adult-free' zone, the kids' section was indeed supervised; there were quite a few lifeguards milling around to make sure that nothing crazy happened. Raven had to admit that she couldn't blame the park for taking this precaution, especially so when she saw a bunch of older teenagers trying to climb up the support railing of a slide. Luckily, they were stopped before any of the younger kids watching could replicate that stunt and kill themselves.

It didn't take Raven long to make some friends, and soon the twelve-year-old was sharing an inflatable raft with three other girls all around her age. The raft ride sent them down a river that ran around the kids' area and through different obstacles, including over a waterfall where the journey ended by dumping them all out of the raft and into the pool. It was the best ride in the park so far! Raven thought the only thing that could make this better would be if Lakhri were around to come with them; he seemed to have the same stamina for fun as she did. This made her think of Eeth, her not-so-fun-loving master, and her lip curled into a smile as she recalled his stoic expression as they rode the Temple's slides together. How anyone could not laugh was totally beyond her, yet Eeth managed.

The three girls were all from the same large family group. Two were sisters, and one was a cousin. There were fifteen of them all up, most of whom were kids. Treena, the oldest of them, pointed out other members of their family as they passed them. Raven was surprised to find that when they sat down for snacks sometime later, the boys who had been told off for climbing up the slide supports were part of Treena's family. Two of them pointed at her, smiling and elbowing each other as she sat down.

"Boys are so stupid," said Treena, rolling her eyes at them and swivelling Raven's chair around so that she didn't have to look at her dumb cousins gawking.

Raven honestly couldn't have cared less, yet she pretended to if only to go along with the others.

They hadn't been seated long when Raven's thus far evasive answers about her life on Coruscant were questioned, and she had to admit to being a Jedi. Sure, the padawan might have lied to them about this, but in this instance, there was no reason to.

"Hey, Matti!" called out Ayisha, Treena's cousin, to the older of the two boys who had been gawking at Raven. "Bad luck for you. She's a Jedi!"

Matti jumped up. "She WHAT?" he asked. And ten seconds later, a dozen teenagers were crowded around Raven, bombarding her with questions about her training and life at the Temple. Even a few of the adults came to listen.

An inquisition was precisely what the padawan had hoped to avoid, although her expression did not say as much as she patiently entertained their queries. That was until the standard school and Temple-life sort of questions ran dry, and they started to ask about her duty and the Order.

"What's the most bad-ass thing you've ever done?" asked Gar, who was half-heartedly clipped around the ear for his choice in language by his mother.

Raven ran her fingers along her padawans' braid. The term 'bad-ass' could mean many things, but she was pretty sure what they wanted to hear. Unfortunately, Raven had not done anything that fit into that category and so she improvised. "Probably the time that I released several hundred chickens on a field trip to Pellebet."

Her audience was stunned into silence. "Chickens? Chickens! But, haven't you chased down bounty hunters or something?" asked Ang, disappointed in her answer.

"Only in simulations," replied Raven, grinning.

"What makes releasing a bunch of chickens so bad? It's just chickens," Ang wanted to know.

Raven contemplated fobbing them off, that was until she saw the honest curiosity in their expressions. "For a start, I was explicitly ordered not to cause any trouble after the last field trip had ended in me bringing home a scorcher." This comment resulted in many questions about scorchers which the padawan answered before continuing with her story. "It was also pretty stupid. I didn't think about what effect my actions would have on the Order, or my teacher for that matter. I just did it because I felt sorry for the chickens. And I really did feel for them, I won't deny that. I could have gone about it a different way, though."

"But can't the Jedi do mind tricks?" asked Ayisha. "Like this?" She waved her hands around and said in as deep and important a voice as she could muster, "You will set your chickens freeeeeeee!"

Raven had to work at hiding her smile. "Sure," she waved the question off, unwilling to admit that she couldn't actually do that yet. She could do it with animals, and so it was a half-truth. "But it takes a lot of effort to do that. Besides, it's entirely unethical and it was easier to mess with the locks."

Matti glanced to his right and left, noticing that several adults were listening in on the conversation.

"Wanna go to the wave pool?" he asked conversationally.

As soon as they were out of earshot, he asked excitedly, "Could you get us into the adults' area? They've got these special cocktails that make you kind of dizzy, and my uncle has been going on about how they made the roller coaster slide extra fun. He won't get us any, though. You could, couldn't you?"

Raven just looked at him as they entered the wave pool and took a surfboard each. Could she get into the adults-only area if she wanted to? Technically, yes.

"Please, we won't tell on you or anything," added Ang upon noticing that the Jedi girl seemed to be giving Matti's idea some serious thought.

Raven was thinking, but it wasn't about how to get them in, it was more about letting them down without losing face. Had this been a year ago, the answer would have been a simple: "of course I'll help you, let's go!" but Raven had learned that giving in to peer pressure to do things that she knew to be against the Jedi's code of ethics did not end well for her. Besides, it wasn't so long ago, during their mission to Borleias, that a similar situation had cropped up and Raven had made the wrong decision. The padawan swallowed at the memory of Eeth's reaction to that particular lapse in judgement and decided then that no matter how unpopular it made her, it was a mistake that would not be repeated.

"I can't." Raven held up a placating hand, the other busy with the surfboard. "Look, I'm sorry but I just can't." The words left her mouth with conviction, yet Raven knew her answer might ultimately lead to her losing face. She stuffed the surfboard under her arm in an effort at concealing the slight unease that thought caused her.

"Can't or won't?" asked Gar. Raven was their only chance at getting into the adult area and actually getting away with it. He couldn't fathom why she wasn't doing this for them.

Raven dragged a hand down her face as they walked towards the wave pool. "It's not the Jedi way," she tried, but upon receiving incredulous looks from all of them, even Treena, she tried another approach. "If I do it and I'm caught, I'll get into a huge amount of trouble."

"Then don't get caught," piped up Fenn, who had thus far remained silent.

"Everyone leave her be. If she doesn't want to help us, that's up to Raven," said Treena, feeling a bit sorry for the girl.

"If you're really a Jedi," said Matti, ignoring Treena, "it would be easy for you to do this. I've seen it on the holo. They can do this mind control thing. Plus, they're supposed to help people! Maybe you've just made it all up."

Raven thought she had seen that coming and resisted the urge to sigh. It was Borleias all over again, but she would sooner thrust herself upon her saber than endure the consequences of making that mistake a second time. Eeth would kill her, and that was only if there were anything left to murder once Lakhri was done. The padawan wrinkled her nose trying to think of what to do. If this were Eeth, he'd probably continue to say no in some dignified manner, eventually ignoring the questions altogether. If it were Lakhri, he would probably make them feel like complete idiots for suggesting such a thing. Raven contemplated this for a moment before deciding on something in the middle. "Okay, I made it all up," she agreed, paddling out through the break with the others.

"Of course you didn't," said Ayisha, throwing Matti an annoyed look. "I believe you. Nobody could make all this stuff up."

"Look, could you just get one of us in?" asked Fenn. "Matti, for example. He's old enough to be taken for an adult once he's inside. You wouldn't need to go inside with him, and you wouldn't get any cocktails either. There would be no reason to blame you, would there?"

Fenn had a point, Raven couldn't deny that. Still, even as the idea played over in her head for the tenth time, the consequences had her grimacing. Then, quite unexpectedly, another feeling emerged. It was a sense of duty; Raven didn't actually want to do this, nor did she want to disappoint Eeth, she really didn't. She gave them a genuinely sad expression and shook her head. "I just can't. Anyway, I should probably get back," was added on quickly before anyone could ridicule or reject her. It was cowardly, she knew that.

"Raven, wait," called Treena, but it was too little too late. She disappeared so fast that they couldn't even track her movements. She turned a frown on the rest of her family. "Great move, you scared her away!"


Raven made her way back to the surfboard stand. The tip was dug into some fake sand and the leg strap secured it upright. She wanted to get back to their quarters where she could sulk, but Lakhri had told her to meet him back at the deckchairs so that was where she headed. When Raven arrived, Lakhri was still reading. He looked peaceful so she didn't disturb him and flopped into the empty chair, her eyes closed.

"Anything the matter?" asked Lakhri, his eyes not leaving the page.

"Not exactly," she said through a sigh. Raven pulled her legs up into her chest, her chin resting on her knees. She didn't particularly want to burden him with her woes and so said nothing more for the time being.

Lakhri, however, was a sensitive person and he could tell that something was bothering Raven. He finished reading the paragraph, put the datapad aside and sat up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said, disinclined to lump him with this when he'd been so kind in bringing her here in the first place. However, when Lakhri threw his short legs over the deckchair so that he was facing her, she reconsidered that response and straightened a little in her chair. Lying to a Jedi master was never a good idea; lying to one who knew you so well was practically a suicide mission. Sighing, she dropped her gaze and dragged a hand down her face. "I met some kids who wanted me to get them into the adult's lounge. I didn't do it," she said, raising both hands before he could so much as frown.

Lakhri studied her downcast face for a moment. "Yeah, that tends to happen," he said kindly. "In fact, it happens a lot. And I fell for the temptation more than once because I wanted so badly to fit in and to impress them, since my stature certainly did not impress anyone. I'm glad you didn't do it. Do you regret it?"

Raven knew a bit about Lakhris padawanhood and the struggles he'd had. She gave him a knowing look and thought about his question. It was a good one, and something Raven had to think about. Eventually she shook her head and met his gaze. "I regret that they wanted to use me, that kinda hurt. I don't regret not going through with it, it's not the Jedi way, but people don't seem to get that. Besides, can you imagine Eeth's reaction to a repeat of the Borleias debacle?" Raven could, and she cringed.

"Unfortunately, I can," said Lakhri drily. "Going along with their idea certainly wouldn't have been worth the consequences. Nor the guilt trip. You made the right choice. That might not seem like such a big deal, especially when it means you had to let the other kids down, but it really is. It was the right decision, even though it was hard to make, and that's something to be proud of. I'm proud of you, in any case, and I'm sure Eeth will be proud of you as well."

Typically, receiving praise like that from Eeth or Lakhri would have Raven grinning. Today, when he told her that she had made the correct decision and done the right thing, a stab of guilt shot through her. Raven looked at her hands briefly as the memory of deceiving Eeth over their Senate assignment, and his near relapse, flashed to mind. Had his decline been her fault? It was possible, yes. And here Lakhri was saying how well she was doing, and how proud Eeth would be. She coughed once and put on a pleased expression. "Thanks." It was all Raven could think of to say.

Lakhri's expression told her that he had noticed her discomfort. "You don't look as if you're proud of yourself," he remarked. "Any particular reason for that?" At this point, he was not actually suspecting that she had done anything wrong; he assumed she was struggling with her relationship to her non-Jedi peers, as most Jedi teenagers did at some point. Still, he might be wrong, which was why he was asking this question.

Raven blew out a sigh. "I'm kinda not. Not really," she confessed.

"Why not?" asked Lakhri. "Does the other kids' reaction bother you?" It had bothered him, a lot, when he had been Raven's age!

"Yes, but that's not the only reason. Hey, can I ask you about something without you telling Eeth about it?"

Lakhri paused for a bit. "That depends a lot on what you're going to ask," he finally said. "I don't want a repeat of the death stick debacle, thank you very much." On their return from a mission to Larivan, he had found Raven in the company of the former crown prince of the planet, whom she had a crush on, and both of them intoxicated with death stick smoke. Raven had been so devastated and desperate that Lakhri had consented to keeping this from Eeth… who, when he had found out, had been angrier than Lakhri had ever seen him. Lakhri knew he had betrayed Eeth's trust, and he did not think it was possible to feel any guiltier than he had then! No, he definitely did not want a repeat of that.

"Force, don't remind me," said Raven, cringing at the memory. "But this is a different kind of trouble, it's nothing that will harm anyone if Eeth never finds out. The problem is that I'm feeling guilty about getting away with it because I feel like I could have been responsible, or partially responsible, for his decline in health. I really feel bad about that, and hearing you praise me over how proud Eeth and you are, well, it kinda dragged it up because I'm not really proud of myself."

Lakhri raised his eyebrows. "I don't really see how you could have caused that," he said. "He might have pushed himself too hard and not asked for help when he needed it, but that's his own fault, not yours. Anyway, what'd you do? And more importantly, how in the Force's name did you manage to get away with it? That's quite an achievement! – Not that I think that's a good thing," he added hastily.

Raven scrunched up her nose, but decided that she had gone this far so she might as well spill. "Worik got bitten by something when we went to the expo. His hand went orange and swelled into a mess. It wasn't painful or even a concern for his health, but because of how bad it looked, we came up with the idea that I might get out of our Senate obligations by telling Eeth that Worik wanted me to stay with him. We were in the healers' wing when I contacted him which meant there really was no way that he could suspect otherwise, so I got away with it. Problem is, the next day he was so exhausted from the previous day that he almost relapsed. I can't help but think that might be because I wasn't there during our assignment to, at the very least, bully him into doing something about his deteriorating condition. Maybe if I had been there, he wouldn't have worn himself out so much. And now?" Raven looked positively pained at the dilemma. "Now I'm stuck because for the first time in my life I actually got away with something, and I can't stand the guilt of having possibly been responsible for his condition."

Lakhri had listened attentively and without judgment. Force knew he had tried to get out of his many duties more than once as a teenager! He also knew all about the guilt; at heart, he was a conscientious person and found it hard to live with the knowledge that he had been in the wrong and not made up for it.

"I don't really think your actions made a big difference to Eeth's health," he told her truthfully. "Eeth wouldn't have pulled out of a Senate committee meeting unless he was actually dying, which he wasn't. You called the healers before his condition became critical, and that was soon enough. That said… Well, what you did was pretty irresponsible. You know what Eeth would think of it if he knew. Force, I know what I would think if a padawan of mine did this! So the question is, what would be worse? Not telling him and living with the guilt, or telling him and living with the inevitable consequences?"

"The inevitable consequences!" were Raven's initial thoughts. However, she stopped to consider that question for a long time before eventually giving a more honest answer. "I don't know. Probably living with the guilt in the long term, but in the short term it would definitely be the immediate consequences." She gave him a meaningful look and started counting off the transgressions on her fingers. "Disobeyed my orders, deceived him, LIED about all of it and took days to confess instead of owning up to it right away. You know that's going to be some seriously memorable punishment, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to just leave it and see if it all blows over." What Raven didn't know was if her sense of integrity would allow that, or if Lakhri would feel obliged to tell Eeth if she decided against it.

"Well, you're correct in your assumption that Eeth would be mightily displeased if he heard of this," said Lakhri. "But he won't hear it from me. Whether I tell him or not is not going to make the slightest difference for anyone but you. So, I won't save you the effort of having to make a decision."

In fact, Lakhri was fairly certain that Raven would eventually come clean. If she was feeling guilty enough to confess to him, she would end up feeling guilty enough to confess to Eeth as well. It might take her a while longer but Lakhri thought he wouldn't do her a service if he ratted her out. That would deprive her of the only opportunity that was left to her to make the right decision about all this, and she'd just end up feeling even worse.

"Thanks, Lakhri." Raven wasn't sure if she was grateful for his confirmation that he would not rat her out, or disappointed that she was still stuck with the same problem. Her arms fell to her sides and she let herself fall back into the chair again, deep in thought. Several minutes passed, with Lakhri patiently waiting for her to sort out the things that were going through her mind, before she spoke again. "Lakhri? Did you ever get away with anything?"

"Yep, but rarely," said Lakhri. "Once, I played a prank on a teacher, together with two friends. It was pretty funny and we were never found out. If any of us had owned up, the other two would have been in trouble as well so we all kept our mouths shut. And, well, it wasn't that bad. He ended up having to change his robes because they were quite wet and pink. He wasn't the type to see the humour in it, of course, and neither was Eeth. The other time… I actually owned up later because I felt guilty. I was supposed to study astrophysics with a friend. I didn't really need to study but my friend did, and I knew it. Nevertheless, we goofed off. I still passed the exam with an excellent grade but he nearly failed and his master was really mad. Of course, he didn't tell on me but I felt so bad about having let him down that I confessed it to Eeth."

The prank didn't sound all that bad, although Raven was pretty sure Eeth wouldn't have approved had Lakhri confessed. The exam sounded a bit more serious, though. "When you confessed about the exam, was it worth it?" It was a difficult question to ask, but she thought he would understand it well enough. And Lakhri did.

"Yes, definitely," he said. "I think I actually got some bonus points for owning up of my own accord. I mean, it was still bad, but it could have been worse. And I felt relieved. I'm not very good at dealing with guilt, and I would probably have ended up feeling guilty for a long time. Besides…" He paused for a moment, searching for words that would make sense. "I think that every time you get away with making a wrong decision, it gets easier," he finally said. "I mean, like a morally wrong decision, not just breaking some silly rule. I assume you can get into the habit and then the feeling of guilt wears off. I didn't want that, though. I don't think I thought about it that way then, but I do now."

Raven understood what he was saying, but it was hard to put it into practice. "Apparently, I'm not very good at dealing with guilt either, but I'm just as bad at accepting the consequences," replied Raven, dragging a hand through her hair. What Lakhri said rang true, yet actually working up the courage to go through with it was another matter entirely.

"Yes, this is obviously a dilemma," Lakhri agreed sympathetically, "but it's one I can't and won't solve for you."

Given that Raven had done nothing more than ask for advice, she accepted his comment and closed her eyes. The opportunity to experience Liana's Resort and Water Park with Lakhri for an entire weekend was possibly a once-in-a-padawanhood event, and she wasn't about to waste it wallowing in self-pity. And Raven did not. She made the most of every second, sliding, riding, enjoying the floating outdoor cinemas and even racing Lakhri around on some of the obstacle courses. They were all designed for civilians, of course, so the huge rubber pads and mats just made it all the more fun for them.

By the time Lakhri dropped her back at her quarters late on Sunday afternoon, Raven was looking pleasantly exhausted. Her hair looked like a bird's nest but the smile on her face was unmistakable.

"Master," she greeted Eeth with a bow, tossing her pack aside. It contained some wet clothing and made a thudding sound as it hit the floor. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," said Eeth, smiling at her and giving Lakhri a brief and only slightly awkward hug. "I slept a lot. Healer Sopan has looked in on me this afternoon and pronounced herself satisfied with my condition. Thank you, Lakhri, for taking Raven out."

"It was a pleasure," said Lakhri with a grin. "We had a lot of – should I use the f-word?"

Raven chuckled, but put a hand over her mouth.

"Well, I am glad to hear it went well," said Eeth, his face unmoved.

"Yeah, it did," said Lakhri. "Apparently, Raven had a run-in with some teenagers who wanted to recruit her for a scheme involving alcohol, but she made the right choice. Maybe she should tell you this herself. I'm going to head back to my quarters. I need to prepare for tomorrow morning's classes."

"Of course," said Eeth. "May the Force be with you."

The mention of that event had Raven's smile dropping a little, yet she pushed it aside to hug and profusely thank her Jedi brother for taking her on what had to be the most fun she had ever had. The hug was for more than that, though, it was also for being there for her, and she knew he would know that. When eventually he pried her arms from around him and left, Raven turned to Eeth. "You do look better, you have more colour now." A hand raked through her hair in an effort at taming the frequently-washed-with-copper-neutralising-shampoo, yet never-conditioned mop. Her fingers snagged and she winced.

"Padawan, go and do something about your hair," Eeth said predictably. "And unpack your bag. After that, we will prepare dinner and you can tell me about your weekend."

Raven was happy to oblige him, and when she emerged some forty minutes later to find the table set and dinner waiting, her hair had been tamed, wet clothes dealt with and she was once again looking acceptable, by what she knew of Eeth's standards.

"So, you ran into some youths who wanted to exploit your skills, like on Borleias?" Eeth asked Raven as he ladled out stew.

Raven hadn't expected him to come out with that right away, and a tiny stab of guilt stuck her as she recalled the conversation with Lakhri that followed that event. She sighed and thanked him for the stew with a polite nod. "They wanted me to mind-whammy the guards so they could get some cocktails, of all things." She rolled her eyes, trying to make out like it hadn't actually hurt her feelings when they became annoyed with her refusal. "I didn't do it, though, so you can stow any ideas about pulling out slippers or the like." Raven gave him a slight smile to convey that she was trying to make light of the whole Borleias bonfire night debacle, and spooned some of her stew.

"I had no such ideas," Eeth said with dignity. "I am genuinely glad you are learning to make the right choices in such situations." She had not exactly fooled him over her feelings on the matter, though, so he gave her a scrutinizing look and asked, "Do you regret it?" He had no idea that Lakhri had asked the exact same thing.

"No, master, of course not. I didn't want to do it the first time either. I certainly wasn't going to make the same mistake again. I can't shrug off rejection like you seem to. It hurts," she confided in him.

Eeth nodded. He was not actually sure if he could shrug off rejection; he had simply never been in a comparable situation. His contacts to civilian teenagers had been extremely superficial and his behaviour had never encouraged anyone to ask for his help outside his mission assignments. In fact, he envied the ease with which Lakhri and Raven made friends. "You should be proud of yourself for learning from your mistakes," he said. "We will meditate on your feelings later. Did you enjoy your trip, apart from this episode?"

Raven's face heated a little at his praise, yet she accepted it with a humble nod and then proceeded to give him a blow-for-blow account of her two days of 'fun'.

That evening during meditation Raven did her best to rid herself of any ill ease that she was harbouring, so by the time Eeth came to tuck her in, she was beginning to think that allowing the whole Worik thing to blow over was probably the best way to go. It would only upset Eeth if he knew, and she would certainly feel upset, amongst other things!