Arcturus (Jedi Master Eeth Koth Padawan Raven Trebeck)

by SWFicWriters

"Arcturus" picks up where "Ashpah" left off, focusing on Raven's development under Eeth's guidance. It describes the second in a series of three missions that pose a challenge as much as a learning experience to Raven and in which her overconfidence becomes an increasing concern for Eeth. Also, a very old acquaintance of Eeth's makes an appearance… and there be spanking.

4. Chapter 4

While Indigo was working hard helping Rulla finish the list of chores from Panthea, Padawan Raven Trebeck was pulling their ship from hyperspace and running through the pre-landing checks. "We're good to go," she told Eeth as she piloted them into the atmosphere and the pair got their first glimpse at the frozen ice ball that was the planet of Arcturus. Neither Jedi commented on the overabundance of whiteness. They had both expected this, after all.

Once they were safely in the docking bay, the team collected their things, pulled on thick coats and left the ship. "Thank the Force," Raven said, just loudly enough that Eeth and no one else would hear her. Raven had always hated long space trips, and despite having grown in maturity, she was still relieved to be back out in the open. She stretched up tall, a smile on her face despite the freezing conditions, and followed behind Eeth towards a woman who was coming to greet them.

"Master Koth, Padawan Trebeck, welcome to Calinia," she said. "My name is Vern and I've been assigned by Jenno, Consul Thoar Junayd's personal secretary, to take you to the consulate."

Eeth bowed formally and Raven followed suit. Vern's coat wasn't as thick as her own but Raven figured that if you lived here long enough, you'd probably be used to the freezing cold. Eventually. Yeah, it was fucking freezing!

There were few speeders on Arcturus since the colony was as yet underdeveloped, and those that existed were mostly used for medium and long distances; but the consulate did own a speeder that it used to pick up off-planet guests from the spaceport, among other purposes. It was this vehicle that Vern escorted Eeth and Raven to. She took them to the centre of Calinia, a short trip of a few kilometres.

From above, Calinia was a web of frozen canals lined with narrow, two- or three-storied houses. The canals were crowded with skaters, some with skids, and electric sleds. The Jedi noticed there were also a few sleds drawn by a type of furry, large animal called gurlong, up on the streets, but not many of them.

"Did you import the gurlongs?" Eeth asked Vern with interest. "I know they are in common use on a couple of other cold planets."

"Yes, it was an idea of Thoar's," said Vern. "They are useful, but unfortunately they're proving very hard to breed. Nobody has any idea why. They aren't dying or anything, they just barely reproduce. Thus, we don't have many of them and we might have to give up on using them altogether; we can hardly keep importing them."

"Padawan, do you think you could have a look at the issue?" Eeth asked Raven. "My padawan specialises in working with animals," he explained to Vern. "She has a talent for connecting with them through the Force."

"Yes, master, I will," said Raven, her head inflating just a little at the mention of her skills. Civilians were not very good with animals, she thought, but of course, did not say as much. "I'll need to spend some time with them, though. Gurlongs are Force-sensitive, which is a good start." Not all beings were susceptible to Force suggestions or willing or able to communicate with humans, which made her job a lot harder. For a moment, the memory of her encounter with the snake from hell during their mission to capture Ragan Greyhym flashed to mind. She had almost died that day, and most certainly would have had Eeth not gotten to her in time. That had been a long time ago, and Raven had gained a lot of experience since that time.

Raven smiled over at her master, a grateful expression on her face that would no doubt confuse Eeth as to its cause. He had saved her from the giant snake that day, and quite a few times since then. She owed him a lot and sent a wave of her affection for him across their bond.

Eeth gave her a blank look, not quite sure what he had done to deserve this.

"I am sure we will be able to find an opportunity for you," Vern assured Raven. "It would help all of us tremendously if we could find a way for them to breed. I'm sure that Consul Junayd would be most grateful. Unfortunately, he will not be able to receive you immediately. There was a terrible incident in our southernmost mining outpost. Many lives are at stake, so he had to leave to supervise the evacuation last night. He will try to be back as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the Jedi padawan who is waiting for your arrival is staying at his house, together with the consul's daughter."

Eeth nodded. "Thank you for informing me of this," he said. "If the consul needs any help, the Jedi will, of course, be happy to provide it."

"I will pass that on to his secretary, who will most definitely appreciate your offer," promised Vern. "Needless to say, the consul will do his best to return and welcome you as soon as possible."

At the consulate, the Jedi were greeted by Calinia's leading administrators and then bundled into a sled that took them to Thoar Junayd's house.

"They're here," said Rulla, jumping up from where she'd been sitting on the couch with Indigo, as she heard someone knock on the basement door. "Can you walk downstairs or shall I go get it?"

"Please," said Indigo. "I'll stand, but making it down the stairs will take me so long they might just freeze before I've arrived." It was true: he had to take his time with this and didn't think the Jedi team tasked with his care would appreciate waiting for him.

"Alright," said Rulla. She ran downstairs, flung open the basement door and crossed over to the canal door. Before opening, she ran her fingers through her hair and shook it back. Then she turned the handle.

"I'm Rulla Junayd," she said confidently, opening the door wide and bowing slightly with one hand touching her chest. "On behalf of my father, I welcome you to Calinia. I will be very glad to offer you the hospitality of our home and I will, of course, be at your service."

"Thank you," said Eeth, returning the bow, as did Raven. "I am Jedi Master Eeth Koth and this is my padawan learner, Raven Trebeck. I have been told Master Xander's padawan is staying with you as well?"

"He is," said Rulla, "but he hurt his ankle while ice skating. Nothing serious, the doctors checked him out and all. But it would have taken him too long to come downstairs. If you would join me, we can go upstairs where Indigo is waiting for you and I can offer you some hospitality."

"I see you're in capable hands," said Vern, smiling at Rulla. "I'll leave you to get settled, then. I'll be in touch about the gurlongs, Padawan Trebeck."

"Please do," said Raven, returning the smile. The idea of getting to go off on her own mini mission while Eeth babysat was more appealing than she would ever let on.

They hung their coats, pulled off their boots and followed Rulla upstairs where Indigo was waiting for them, a knee cocked and most of his weight on the uninjured side. "Master Eeth, Raven, hi," he said in greeting, offering a slight bow. Eden wasn't huge on formalities but he did insist on respect and politeness, both of which Indigo naturally possessed.

"Padawan Indigo," said Eeth, once again returning the bow. "I am sorry to find that you were hurt. How did this happen?"

"I got my skate wedged in an ice fissure," said Indigo truthfully. "It happens if you aren't careful, and I wasn't being careful, I guess."

"Master is gifted at Force-aided healing, as am I," said Raven, not bothering to hide her pride in their skills. "We can help," she reassured Indigo, knowing that even if it was beyond her skill, Eeth could heal him. Eeth nodded his consent.

"Thanks, I haven't given it much time myself, and i'm not very good at it," said Indigo and then he explained about Panthea's absence and the additional workload he and Rulla had to take on. "We haven't had a lot of time for much else," he said.

"Come in," said Rulla, motioning for them to go into the living room. She had already prepared a tray of glasses and cups and a bowl of nuts and dried fruit. "What would you like to drink?" she asked. "Are cold drinks alright, or would you prefer some tea? Are you hungry?"

"We have had lunch before our arrival," said Eeth. "We can help you prepare dinner later. Some tea would be welcome. The temperatures on this planet take some getting used to. Padawan?"

"Whatever you're having is fine," said Raven. Rulla handed her a bottle of cider and went to the kitchen to make tea. A moment later, Raven was pouring herself a cup of what to her looked a bit like lemonade and took a sip. Was that fizzy apples? It took Raven a moment to swallow it, as it had lodged in her throat. Outwardly she looked impassive and only Eeth, and perhaps Indigo, would have noticed.

"Is this alcoholic?" Eeth asked Indigo, nodding at Raven's cup.

"It is," Indigo replied, "but mildly so." Indigo took in Raven's lithe frame and wondered if she could get plastered off a bottle. Unlikely, he thought, but it could be funny to watch.

"Then do not drink more than one cup of it, padawan," said Eeth, "or share my tea."

"It's coming!" called Rulla from the kitchen. "Sit down, please! I won't be long."

Indigo wanted to ask about Eeth and his experience with his master, but he held his tongue for now. It wasn't exactly polite to ply the Jedi with questions when they had just arrived. Thus, Indigo and Raven took a seat on the couch while Eeth sat in an armchair. A minute later, Rulla came in with a tray of tea. She kept throwing surreptitious glances at Eeth. Suppressing her curiosity, as would be the polite thing to do, was hard. She had never seen a Zabrak before!

"Thank you," said Eeth and poured a cup for himself and another one for Raven. Fortunately, a fire was roaring in the fireplace and they were already warming up. Being from a desert species, Eeth had never particularly liked the cold although he would certainly not let that deter him from completing this mission.

"Will we be able to borrow skates?" Eeth asked her. "Indigo said that skating is the main mode of transportation here."

"You can borrow some of ours," said Rulla, pouring herself a cup of cider. "We have at least two dozen pairs in all sizes. Father has guests all the time and they come and go by various means. Do you know how to skate, then?"

"As a matter of fact, we do not," Eeth admitted. "But if Indigo has learned it, I am sure we will as well."

Rulla grinned. "Yeah. But be prepared for a few bumps and bruises."

Eeth merely raised his eyebrows. So far, he had been able to master any kind of physical activity and he thought it unlikely that there were going to be many bumps and bruises involved.

"The last ice we encountered on a planet was the frozen regions of Arkuna," said Raven. "We used snowshoes and a snowboard, but didn't actually do any skating on ice. Sounds like it could be fun, though. Perhaps you can show us around later?" Her question was directed at Rulla, but her gaze was moving towards where Eeth sat. Their activities and schedule were ultimately at his discretion, after all. She took another sip of her cider. It was warming her and that felt nice.

"Sure," said Rulla. "I'll show you your room in a moment. After that, I'll have to hang up the last load of laundry for today. Then I'll be free. I'm afraid you'll have to share with Indigo. We only have the one guest room. It's a large room, though, and we put up an additional bed."

When everyone had finished their drinks, Rulla showed Eeth and Raven to the guest bedroom.

Raven thought the home was quaint and rather cosy. The living area was small but practical. It reminded her a little of their Temple quarters, which provided a sense of comfort. She threw her pack on the single bed set aside for her and moved to the window. The view was white, of course. She had never seen a completely frozen world before and was eager to explore it.

"Excuse me for a while," said Rulla. "I have to take care of the laundry."

"I'll give you a hand with that," Raven offered. After receiving silent approval from Eeth, she followed Rulla downstairs where the laundry was hung out to dry in a room that, like the rest of the house, was connected to the geothermal heating network.

Indigo had cleared away the cups while they were upstairs and was just sitting back on the couch when Eeth came inside to join him.

"What kind of work did your master and your teachers assign to you?" asked Eeth, sitting opposite him.

"The usual stuff," Indigo admitted with a little hesitation, doing his best to conceal the fact that he was actually nervous about discussing this topic with Eeth. "I have concentrated on collecting information about the planet as per our mandate."

Eeth caught on to the evasiveness immediately. He thought he'd better get the full story. "I am glad you used your time to study Arcturus," he said. "Have you put your results in writing? This might be a valuable resource for the Council."

"Somewhat," said Indigo honestly. "Most of it is up here," he added, tapping his forehead.

"That is good to hear," said Eeth, "but will be of little use to your master, myself or the Council. Therefore, kindly put it down in writing, as Raven and I will do. Has your master left you with any other tasks for the duration of your stay?" He thought it unlikely that Indigo wouldn't have to do any classwork. All junior padawans did, as a rule.

Indigo sighed. Being evasive and even lies of omission were one thing, but outright lying to a Jedi master was simply not something many could get away with. "Yes, all of my teachers assigned me work to do but," and it pained him to admit this, "I haven't done much of it. I've concentrated my efforts on the ethnographic aspect of our mission." Indigo thought that sounded rather adult, but then, he had no idea what Eeth would make of it.

Unfortunately for him, it did not exactly require a genius to figure out what was going on.

"Is this what your master expected you to do?" asked Eeth in an even tone of voice.

"No, probably not," Indigo was forced to admit.

"Is it just possible," Eeth asked relentlessly, "that you decided to slack off because there was no one here to push you?"

Indigo met Eeth's gaze. Then he heard the sound of footsteps and looked toward the stairs just as the girls emerged onto the landing. Raven was carrying a hamper of laundry and Rulla an arm full of clothes that he suspected didn't fit in the hamper. As they threw the clothing down on the living room floor to fold, Indigo felt relief at the interruption as it gave him a little more time to think. Unfortunately, this did nothing to improve his answer. "It's possible, yes," he was forced to agree with Eeth.

Eeth rose from his armchair and nodded towards the corridor. "We had better take this to our room," he said. "Where you will show me exactly what work you were supposed to do and what work you actually accomplished."

Raven looked up as Eeth stood, and then she looked at Indigo, who was still sitting, and widened her eyes at him in warning. This was enough to get Indigo moving and he stumbled to his feet, limping behind Eeth. When the man opened the door for him, he entered the bedroom and sat on the desk chair where Eeth bade, pulling his datapad from the drawer. He took his time to power it up.

Eeth stood beside the desk and folded his arms across his chest ominously, spurring Indigo to get on with it and pull up his list of classwork. "Here," he said, spinning the pad to show Eeth.

What Eeth saw was a long list of assignments and very few checkmarks.

"How many of these assignments have you completed since your master left?" he inquired, clearly unimpressed.

Indigo frowned. "You know, you ask a lot of questions."

"I might ask fewer questions if you were a little more forthcoming with the answers," Eeth snapped. "It is my job to look after you, and I cannot do that job properly without that information, however inconvenient you might find providing it. Now answer my question."

"Four," said Indigo, feeling quite positive that Eeth was not going to let this go. And of course this assumption was entirely correct.

"Four," repeated Eeth in a tone of polite incredulity. "If it were your master standing here, what would he have to say about that?"

"Probably a lot of things," said Indigo. "Look, I don't have any excuse. I just didn't want to do it because there were more interesting and seemingly important things to do on this planet. I planned to tell my master that I didn't get much done because I was putting so much time into my research for our mission report and I really was planning on working on that."

"Funny how such plans have a tendency to be postponed," Eeth remarked evenly, and Indigo frowned.

"Avoiding to do your duty just because nobody is forcing you is unacceptable," said Eeth, which got an even deeper frown from Indigo that was entirely ignored by Eeth. "When your master rejoins us," Eeth continued, "you will tell him about your lack of study, completely and truthfully. You will get to work right away, while my padawan and I try to master the basics of ice skating. I will check your progress tonight. And when I next notice you slacking off even the slightest bit, there will be repercussions and you will not like them. Is that clear?"

"Yes, but…" Indigo wasn't finding this to his liking. "But I might be able to help you with the skating," he proposed hopefully. "I know my ankle is hurt but I could give you tips. I will do my classwork, promise, it's just that it is still light out and it won't be for much longer."

Eeth rose wordlessly, and so did Indigo's trepidation, considerably so. Surely he wasn't going to… Oh no! He yelled as Eeth grabbed his arm, and then… Force! "OooEWWW!" Eeth had smacked his ass with something that felt like a fucking board and the boy practically jumped off his desk.

Eeth's only concession to the recent nature of their acquaintance was that he had not used Indigo's ear, but rather his upper arm to bend him over. His lenience ended there, however. And he was not going to continue spanking over a thick set of winter pants either. Therefore, Eeth pulled down Indigo's pants resolutely. Since they were relatively tight, his underpants were caught up in the process and went the same way, but that was hardly a concern to Eeth.

Unsurprisingly, when Indigo felt cold air on his ass, he really started to panic. "Master Eeth!" he blurted urgently, but with Eeth's hand on his back, he couldn't stand, even if he had been brave enough to attempt it. What followed next were eleven of the hardest smacks the boy had ever felt. He squirmed, kicked, jumped and let out loud yelps with each, but by the last he had stilled and was crying into his shirt sleeve. His ass burned, itched, ached and stung all at once.

Eeth stuck the paddle back into his belt, pulled Indigo up and turned him around. He said very, very sternly, "You have been finding excuses to procrastinate on your work for more than a week. It stops right this moment. When I tell you to get to work now, I mean it. Not later tonight, not tomorrow, nor next week. It is exactly this kind of attitude that got you into this situation, and you had better lose it fast. Now I will ask you again: Is. that. clear? Or do you need more convincing?"

"Yes, master Eeth, it's clear," Indigo said through a sniffle. That had really, really hurt. His face was scrunched and it was clear that he was in pain and doing his best not to jump up and down rubbing his ass. He had no idea what Eeth had used on him. Surreptitiously, Indigo looked at the man's hand to see if it was robotic, anything to explain the pain. Then he recalled what Eden had told him about the paddle in Eeth's belt and groaned.

"Good," Eeth said calmly and firmly. He produced a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Indigo. "Get to work now. I will check on your progress later this afternoon and I will want to see that you have made some. If you have problems with any of the material or your tasks, note them down. I will be happy to help you tonight."

Indigo nodded mutely. Did he want to spend the rest of the day working on classwork? Absolutely not. Then again, he wanted the repercussions that falling short of Eeth's expectations would surely bring even less. It was with that in mind that Indigo pulled up the clothing that was bunched at his knees and swiped at his face with the handkerchief. He eyed the desk chair warily, but sat regardless. He looked up at Eeth, his eyes still over-bright and offered an apology as he knew would be expected of him. "I'm sorry."

Eeth nodded. "Apology accepted," he said gently. "I know the temptation to postpone your work would have been high without the presence of your master or another adult calling you to task for it. But you know what was expected of you, and now you will just have to live with the consequences of not meeting those expectations, those being a considerably higher amount of work to accomplish per day."

He made sure that Indigo started on his first lesson and left. As he entered the living room, Raven and Rulla had just finished the last of the laundry. Raven looked up at Eeth. "Indigo not coming?" she asked, getting to her feet and stretching.

"Indigo," Eeth said firmly, "is doing school work, for a change."

He turned towards Rulla and asked politely, "Might we borrow some ice skates now? I would like to master the basics of skating as soon as possible. After all, a situation where we might be required to skate might come up any time, and it is always better to be prepared."

There was little, after all, that Eeth hated as much as not being prepared!

"Sure," Rulla said, rising up from the floor and stretching. "You want to come, too, Raven?"

Raven gave the girl an indulgent smile and then she looked at Eeth. "This should be fun," she said, knowing full well that her serious master struggled with the concept of anything being 'fun'.

"More importantly, it will be practical," said Eeth severely.

Rulla shrugged. "It's both," she said, deciding to conveniently neglect to mention the ban on skating that her father had imposed. These were guests, after all, and they needed her help!

She took Eeth and Raven to the basement and helped each of them find a pair of skates that fit over the second pair of thick, woollen socks that she gave them to wear.

"You will soon be warm, once you've started skating," Rulla promised. "It's only your feet that need extra warmth. Oh, and better wear gloves in case you fall and someone runs over your fingers."

Eeth raised his eyebrows, convinced that the likelihood of this happening was not very high, but since it was very cold outside, he donned gloves nonetheless. When all of them were ready, Rulla opened the door to the canal. She stepped outside and glided gracefully across the ice to the other side.

"See?" she asked as she came back. "It's mostly about balance. But be careful. If you lose your balance, you topple over faster than you can react, and the ice is hard. I can give you my hand if you like."

Raven winced at the thought of someone running over her fingers and cutting them off. That scenario had not occurred to her, and the idea of Eeth sewing them back on made the girl cringe all the more. She shook it off. Thinking Rulla's demonstration relatively straightforward, Raven accepted her hand and glided onto the ice without too much trouble. In fact, being so light and agile, this was not difficult for her at all.

Eeth, conversely, was certain that he did not need a teenage girl to hold his hand. How difficult could this be for someone who had been working on his balance for all his life? He took a step onto the ice and let the other foot follow. A millisecond later, his feet had slipped away from underneath him and he had landed on his ass, hard. He blinked in surprise – not to speak of the fact that this had actually hurt!

Raven couldn't help it, she laughed, if not from the fall itself, which had looked pretty funny, then from the expression on Eeth's face. Raven had never seen her graceful master fall quite like that before. She glided over to where he sat and tilted her head to one side. "Master, are you okay?" She coughed to hide the smile on her face. "I'd offer you a hand up, but I'll probably end up down there with you," she added.

Eeth glared at her. "I must have miscalculated my weight distribution," he said curtly and rolled around onto his knees, trying to figure out how to get up.

Raven was doing her best not to keep laughing. Alright, so she really was getting some sort of perverse pleasure out of seeing him struggle with this. Perhaps it was because for once, the tables were turned, and instead of it being her struggling, it was Eeth.

"Well, it would definitely be easier to learn if you were shorter and lighter," Rulla said cheerfully, gliding over and holding out her hand to Eeth. Begrudgingly, he accepted the help and managed to make it into an upright position, from which he tried to push himself forward just a tiny little bit. It worked, although he had to hold out both arms to steady himself. He took another step and another, bending forward slightly so he would not fall on his ass again. This helped, but not as much as he had hoped; when he slipped again, a few seconds later, he fell forward and caught himself on his arms, suddenly very thankful for the gloves.

"Do you want to have our skid?" Rulla asked. "Kids sometimes start practising with them. It gives them something to hold on to. Or you might take my hand, after all… I've still got one free." She grinned as she said that. After all, Raven had accepted her help and it had worked for her.

Eeth internally debated which of the two options would be more humiliating. Begrudgingly, he settled for taking Rulla's hand, and she started pulling both Jedi along the canal.

Raven grinned. It really did help to have someone to hang on to, not that Raven needed this for long. It took her an hour or so, and a few tumbles herself, but eventually she was gliding over the ice without assistance. She was not nearly as steady as Rulla, but she was certainly doing a lot better than Eeth. "I can see why you use the ice to get around. If you got good enough at this, it would be far easier than walking," Raven commented as Rulla led them back towards her home.

Indigo was watching them from the bedroom window. He couldn't say he envied them; the ice had been far from kind to him so far. That said, anything would be preferable to the mountain of classwork he was currently doing. Still, the boy persevered. Eeth's persuasion and threat were more than enough to ensure that.

Eeth would never have admitted it, but he knew he was going to seriously suffer from sore muscles despite all his physical prowess. Ice skating was entirely different from any physical activity he had performed so far. He was not sure he was ever going to fall in love with it. By the time they returned, he had stopped relying on Rulla's hand, but he was still very slow and unsteady, every curve entailed a risk of falling (and Eeth had fallen so many times, he had lost count!), and he could not even dream of skating backwards or doing any of the things that looked as if they required no effort whatsoever when Rulla did them. The fact that Raven was a lot more graceful on skates than he was had not escaped his notice either. He was forced to admit to himself that ice skating might be one of the few skills that were not on the long list of things he was good at.

"Padawan, you might have discovered a talent," he told Raven a little stiffly as they pulled off their skates in the basement. "You picked this up quite easily."

"She did," agreed Rulla. "Indigo and his master took longer. Umm, no offence meant, but so do you."

"I know," said Eeth curtly.

"Size and weight have a bit to do with it, too," said Raven, pulling off her skates and hanging them as she had seen Rulla do. "In any case, we both have the Force to rely on so I'm sure it won't take you long. Besides, if we want to use the canals like everyone else does, we'll have to master this. Well, unless of course you want to be carted around in a sled or use a skid to balance?" It wasn't really a question; Raven suspected Eeth would feel entirely humiliated over needing such things.

Other than communicating with animals, Raven had never been better at anything than Eeth. Eeth was always teaching, leading, coaching, demonstrating, correcting. This truly was somewhat of a novelty to the padawan She stretched tall, her own muscles bunching slightly and feeling the strain, but only mildly so; she had hit the ice a few times also, but not nearly as hard as Eeth, if only due to their size and weight. She looked up at him as he walked up the stairs stiffly. "I'll give you a massage," she offered. Eeth had performed this simple act of kindness for her countless times during her apprenticeship, and she thought he might appreciate it.

Eeth made to reject the offer, but reconsidered. A massage might actually be helpful, he had to concede. He would also have to perform some healing on the worst of his bruises or he would not be much use tomorrow for whatever they were going to do.

"Thank you, I would appreciate that," he said. He said it rather curtly, but he was sincere. It was simply that he was entirely unaccustomed to needing or accepting help from his padawan. "I will most certainly not need a sled or skid, in any case," he said with an air of finality. "One or two more practice sessions, and I will be able to move around."

And he meant it. He might not particularly like skating, but he was not going to give up until he had mastered the skill.

When Indigo heard them coming up from the basement, he stood. He'd seen them both hit the ice a few times and knew how they'd probably feel right now. Thus, he left his room and gave Eeth what passed as a sympathetic expression, despite the fact that the man had made his ass feel like he'd hit the ice repeatedly. Then he handed him a tube of something that smelled decidedly mothball-ish. "It will help," he said simply. By now it was almost time to start preparing their evening meal, he knew, so he hoped that some sort of chores would soon be assigned and rescue him from yet more classwork.

Raven noticed that Indigo's eyes were just a little red-rimmed and could guess what had happened but of course, she said nothing of it. She might ask if he was okay and wanted to talk later, she thought.

"Thank you," said Eeth and accepted the tube from Indigo. "Now, please go and continue your work until dinner has been prepared."

"I will take care of that," Rulla said firmly, knowing her duties as a hostess. "Go ahead and work on your muscles or whatever else you feel like doing. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

Indigo sighed but left without comment, and Raven inclined her head to Rulla, a grateful expression on her face.

"Thank you," she said simply and followed Eeth into the living room where he was able to stretch out fully on the couch and allow her to help him. "Did you bully that boy into hours of classwork?" Raven inquired as she started to work on his back and shoulders. The cream had a distinct medical smell to it, but if it worked for them, it couldn't hurt to try.

"I daresay I did him a favour," Eeth said. He paused for a moment, breathing deeply at the pain Raven's ministrations caused to his muscles. "He has not done any school work whatsoever since his master has left," he continued. "I hardly think Eden would be pleased if I allowed this state of affairs to continue."

Raven tended to agree.

"I could keep an eye on him if you like," she suggested. "Maybe he'd benefit from some extra workouts with me or something. He probably hasn't had much of an opportunity to work on his saber skills since his master left," she continued whilst doing her best to work out a knotted muscle in Eeth's lower back. Eeth's body was hard as it was, so working out knots was not exactly easy; she was now using her elbow while sitting on him. Despite the pain this caused, he would feel better for it, she knew.

Once again, Eeth breathed through this and then said, "I am sure he would be happy to have a workout with you, but first his foot needs to heal, of course. I will look at it after dinner."

It was right at this point that Rulla called, "Dinner is ready! Come and eat!"

Raven stopped torturing Eeth and climbed off him, handing him his shirt. "You still have some knots, and a lot of bruising," she told him, "I'm happy to do some more work on it later if it will help you."

"Thank you," said Eeth, giving her a small smile. "Another massage will help, but any healing that might be necessary, I can do myself."

They went to the kitchen where Rulla had set the table and were joined by Indigo who was glad to escape his Basic essay. He sat down beside Eeth as Rulla and Raven took seats opposite them.

After he had eaten for a little while, Indigo looked over at Eeth. "What was my master like when you knew him? On that mission, I mean? He said you…" – Indigo hesitated – "… were pretty uptight for someone just knighted." It was all Indigo could say short of outright calling the man a hard-ass.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Did he?" he asked. "And what else did he tell you?"

Indigo took a bite, using the time to ponder what parts he should tell Eeth about. "He said you were very good at your job, and at keeping him out of trouble," he finally said. Indigo pointed his fork at Eeth. "He also told me that you made him climb up a tree with a backpack full of rocks. Is that true?"

At this Raven chuckled. She could imagine Eeth doing that in retaliation to some sarcastic remark or other. She had once scrubbed their balcony with a toothbrush due to such comments.

Indigo, for his part, wasn't sure. Eden may have just been trying to scare him!

"Yes, it is," said Eeth, unperturbed. "I had been tasked with making him fulfil his duties and that was what I did. For the most part, your master did not make my task overly difficult. We were stranded on an island with a malfunctioning spaceship and had to get it back in working order, and your master was as helpful with that as could be expected."

"What on Hoth could he have done for you to make him do that?" Indigo said, still wondering why Eeth would have tasked his master with such a ridiculous exercise.

Eeth thought for a moment. "This was a long time ago," he said finally, "but as far as I recall, he suggested I could have him climb trees with a backpack full of rocks, and I took him up on his suggestion."

Indigo just stared at him.

"It's not a good idea to use sarcasm on my master," agreed Raven, her tone portraying that she was most definitely speaking from experience. "This is really good, thanks for cooking, Rulla," she added, changing the subject.

"Yes, thank you," said Eeth. "We will, of course, help you with household chores. We do not want to be a burden on you."

After dinner, Eeth asked Indigo to lie on the couch and performed some serious Force-aided healing on his ankle, which was still rather swollen and tender.

"I think you will be able to go back to normal activity the day after tomorrow," he said. "Try to put in as much school work as you can tomorrow. Raven and I will work on improving our skating skills in the meanwhile. That will make us more flexible, in case anything comes up that we might be able to help the colony with."

The idea of spending his day doing classwork didn't thrill Indigo, especially as they were on this amazing frozen world and he would be stuck in a room doing work. He didn't argue, though, not after the last time, and instead, he just sighed and rubbed his foot. Eeth had done a good job, he thought as he tested his weight. "Thanks," he said, honestly grateful for the healing.

"You are welcome," said Eeth, giving him a smile.

That evening, after helping to clean up the dinner dishes, and once Indigo had disappeared to do some more classwork, Eeth and Raven sat to talk with Rulla. It was then that Raven asked her about schooling and was surprised to discover she didn't go.

"Not at all?" Raven queried only to be interrupted by Indigo. "My kind of planet," he said, having overheard Rulla on his way to the kitchen for some water.

Rulla shrugged. "How much schooling you get depends a bit on what you're going to do later," she said. "Many of us learn their parents' profession. That's a bit difficult, in my case. After all, the consul is an elected official. My father was an engineer before he started working in the administration and he could always go back to building roads, I guess. He learned it from his mother who was a first-generation immigrant and received her education on Corellia. When my father finds the time, he teaches me stuff. And I help around the house, of course. Still, I admittedly have more free time than many others. Farmers' children are busy in the greenhouses most of the time, for example."

Now that she said it, she wondered whether her father had ever thought about her future. She usually tried to push these thoughts away. The colonists on Arcturus mostly relied on families to teach their children what they needed, and in Rulla's case, there wasn't much of a family. Her mother had been an immigrant with no relations on the planet and her father was an only child.

Eeth picked up on some of Rulla's unspoken thoughts. He was starting to suspect that the girl needed her father more than she let on; but it was hardly his place to give this family advice. He had not even met Thoar Junayd, after all.

Rulla seemed curious about the Jedi and the kind of life they lived, so Eeth and Raven spent much of the evening telling her about their missions and the planets they had been to.

After an hour or so, Eeth examined Indigo's work and found it sufficient. He, therefore, allowed the boy to join them until bedtime. When Indigo went to bed, Rulla turned in as well. Raven and Eeth wrote down what little had happened so far, performed their evening meditation together and went to sleep, too, very quietly so as not to disturb Indigo.

They needn't have bothered sneaking around, Indigo slept like a log and would not wake unless they actually started shouting and tipping stuff over, or the Force alerted his silent watchman that something was wrong. Given that none of those things happened, he slept through until the early morning.

Indigo often woke early, unlike many of his peers. He was quiet as he crept out of the room because it was half past five in the morning and Raven was still fast asleep. Eeth was missing from his bed, though. Indigo found the man meditating on the floor by the living room window which had a nice view of the frozen canal outside. He approached the man silently and sat opposite, not wanting to interrupt. He did, however, want Eeth's help and hoped the Jedi master would acknowledge him.

"Good morning," said Eeth quietly, without opening his eyes. "Would you like to meditate with me?"

Indigo bowed his head in greeting from the seated position he had chosen. His ass had stopped hurting by the time he'd gone to bed last night and so sitting was not going to be a chore today. "I would. I've been trying to reach my master through our bond," he explained.

"That will be quite an achievement for someone your age;" said Eeth. "But it can be done if your ability to focus is sufficient, and if you persevere. Link with me. I will guide you."

Indigo closed his eyes and did as instructed without hesitation. He was well used to meditating with the adults in his life. Unfortunately for Eeth, this meant that as Indigo's shields came down, all of his emotions came flooding out with it. It took some time to learn how to withhold certain things from a person you linked with. Indigo could do it to some extent, but not when he was looking for guidance.

Eeth reacted instantly without flinching. After all, he was raising his second padawan and was used to this. He shielded from the onslaught of emotions and helped Indigo channel them and release them into the Force. This took some time; it was evident that Eden had been absent for a while. When Indigo had finally reached the level of calm and focus that he would need, Eeth guided him through a pattern that would eventually enable him to connect with Eden's Force presence – if he was sufficiently tenacious and able to maintain his focus for a lengthy period of time. Raven had managed to find Eeth that way once, early in her padawanhood, with Lakhri's support, but it had been hard on her and might only have been possible because she had been motivated by fear for Eeth's life. Then again, meditation had not been among her greatest strengths; from what Eeth had learned about Indigo in his file, the boy might be different in this regard.

Despite having excellent focus, Indigo was unable to find the trail that led to the link he shared with Eden that morning. It was going to take him some practice. Still, when he opened his eyes, he was smiling. "Thanks," he said. "Can you please help me again tonight?" Indigo was eager to get another attempt at this because he knew that it was something that he could work at. Besides, Eeth might be a bit uptight, but he was very calming to meditate with and Indigo had enjoyed it.

"Of course," said Eeth. "You did… quite well for a padawan your age. I think that with a few days' practice, you will be successful."