A/N: Firstly, we'd like to thank you for the kind reviews of our last story, "Skobra", and thanks for sticking with us!
To all who don't know it yet, our stories originated as online role-playing and are situated in our alternative Star Wars universe – well, mainly the universe of Episode One, pretending that the tragedy of the Great Jedi Purge never happened. Ahem. There are approximately twenty-five stories pre-written in this series which focuses on Master Eeth Koth and his padawan learner Raven Trebeck. Although each story can stand alone, it might be a better reading experience to start from the beginning with "Of Padawans Fake and True".
"Teenage Troubles" is the sequel to "Skobra." There is quite a gap between both stories, though; "Teenage Troubles" is set about a year later. Raven is going through adolescence and is struggling with classwork, Eeth's demands and his frequent absence due to his Council duties. She has a hard time keeping her temper… and Eeth is less than happy with that!
Now for the standard disclaimer: As everyone who has read and followed our stories ought to know by now, authority and discipline, including corporal punishment, are central themes. To any newcomers, see the aforementioned statement and take it as your only warning. We don't post content warnings at the beginning of each chapter for this. Also, we realise that our master characters will at times come across as harsh. However, please keep in mind that this is a fictional universe in which teenagers with extraordinary, potentially lethal abilities are raised to do an incredibly hard, dangerous and responsible job. Their masters feel an obligation to keep them in line in order to protect them and others by various types of discipline, including corporal punishment, i.e., spanking with the hand and different implements. And sometimes, they will need to dispense with the cuddling and tell their charges to do their duty. These are teenagers, after all, not small children. There will always be times to offer comfort and moments of closeness between master and padawan, but they might sometimes have to wait. Plus, masters might have their own issues … which is certainly true for Eeth. His journey with Raven is a learning experience for him as much as for his padawan.
Fortunately for our padawans, our master characters have near-magical healing abilities at their disposal, allowing us to indulge our preference for strict discipline – but hopefully not at the expense of character development and progression of the storyline!
If you like our stories (or if you don't like them for reasons other than those of which you have been warned), let us know in a review; we love to hear what you guys think. And that's enough of the preliminaries. Enjoy!
Jedi Master Eeth Koth returned home from a Council session a little before lunchtime to find the comm light flashing. He pulled off his boots, hung up his cloak and went to check.
He found several messages waiting for him, all of which were related to his padawan's classes. There was an important astrophysics exam upcoming next week and a biology exam the week after next; he was routinely informed of such things so that he could make enough room in Raven's schedule for her to study. There was also a day-long excursion to the biggest hospital on Coruscant scheduled for Sunday, as part of Raven's class on humanoid anatomy and first aid. Eeth decided that he would have to postpone the trip into the city that he had promised his padawan for this weekend. With the excursion on Sunday, there would not be enough time for Raven to study if they went out on Saturday. He just hoped she would take the news well. She had been a little volatile recently.
And finally, there was a message from Professor Triz Kogan, one of the non-Jedi teachers employed by the Temple who was teaching Raven's Iridonian Zabrak class, a subject his padawan had only started taking recently. Apparently, there had been an incident in class. While Professor Kogan did not provide details, she asked him to talk to his padawan about it. It seemed as if it was going to be a busy day. Since it was not going to get any better without food, he decided to prepare a meal before anything else. He had had little enough time to cook for the both of them lately, and he had missed it somewhat.
"It is Friday afternoon, finally!" Raven thought, exalted. After her mission preparation class tomorrow morning, Raven would be free for a whole day and a half. There were no lessons, nothing but regular training, some extra homework, and the trip into Coruscant that Eeth had arranged earlier in the week. The notion was blissful, especially as Eeth had constantly been busy with Council duties during the past couple of months and hadn't had time for 'fun' stuff. Thus, the fact that he had made time to go into the city with her now was an added bonus. Raven was on a high. Not even the trouble she'd gotten into with professor Kogan over appropriate and inappropriate content for an oral presentation was going to get her down. Besides, it was possible that the old bat had not thought it necessary to contact Eeth. She was making her redo the assignment, after all.
"Master, you're home," the padawan said, surprised. She hadn't expected Eeth to be, as he often hadn't returned until late in the afternoon lately, or sometimes even after dinner.
"Padawan," Eeth said, emerging from the kitchen where he had just checked on the casserole he had prepared. "Lunch is nearly ready. Wash your hands and sit down. We have to talk."
"Great!" said Raven, still on a high, and ran to do as told. It wasn't until she returned and noted the serious expression on Eeth's face that his words actually registered. "So, what do you want to talk about?" she asked cautiously, taking a seat.
"I think the question is rather," Eeth said neutrally while ladling out vegetable casserole, "is there anything that you ought to tell me about?"
"Other than the fact that you make the best vegetable casserole on Coruscant?" Raven tried.
Eeth just gave her a pointed look.
And Raven blew out a resigned sigh. "I got in trouble with Professor Kogan," she admitted. The padawan had a personality clash with this teacher, or at least this was what it felt like to her. "She asked for an oral presentation and told us to be creative, so I was creative and worked in some Huttese slang. It shouldn't really matter if it wasn't entirely Iridonian." Raven threw her hands in the air for emphasis. "Besides, most Zabrak speak half Hutteese on Nar Shaddaa. There are all kinds of modes of expression, and she DID say we were allowed to be creative."
"She probably wanted you to be creative about the topic, not about the kind of slang you decide to use or the kind of curse words you include in it," said Eeth. "What happened then?"
"She told me to redo the assignment using only terms and phrases from the more civilised Iridonian variant. I told her that she should …" The padawan paused, not wanting to repeat what she had said to the woman. "Um, I kinda said some things back and she told me to go wait outside until the class was over," Raven confessed, not wanting to admit that she'd lost her temper yet again. This was the second time this week she'd done her block over one thing or another.
"Could you specify the things you kinda said back, please?" Eeth asked politely.
Raven played with the hem on her tunic. "I could but you're not going to like it." She looked up at him and scrunched her nose. "Can't you just take my word for it?"
"No," Eeth said flatly. "I want to hear it because I want to know the exact extent of my displeasure."
"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Raven grumbled, spooning a mouthful of casserole to buy a few seconds. "I told her that it was unfair that she would make me redo the presentation over semantics when I'd already spent hours on the one I gave. Kogan said that it wasn't up to me, and that she wasn't going to debate it. I might have gotten annoyed at that and," Raven paused, thinking on how best to phrase this, "I might have mumbled something about a hot poker being inserted up her ass at birth, but she heard me. I didn't mean for her to hear me, I was just blowing off some steam." And maybe impress her seatmates, just a little.
"I see," Eeth said woodenly, which signified that he was not pleased. "Did she punish you for it?"
"Yes…" Raven replied, wanting to leave it at that, but when Eeth gave her a pointedly questioning look, she elaborated. "She sent me out of the classroom and I still have to redo the stupid presentation."
Well, that was just one more thing that Raven would have to do during the weekend, thought Eeth.
There was definitely no time for a trip into the city.
"I told you I would not normally add to a teacher's punishment unless the teacher asks me to," he said sternly. "So I will not. This time. But I never again want to hear that you used such deplorable language towards a teacher. If I do, there will be consequences, no matter what the teacher has already imposed. Is that clear?"
"Yes, master, I'll try. It's just that, well…" Raven frowned. "Everyone is out to give me a hard time at the moment."
"Well, if you are already feeling like that now, you are not going to like the schedule for the weekend," Eeth said drily. "You do know that you have an astrophysics and a biology exam coming up, on top of your other school work and the Zabrak presentation you have to revise, don't you?"
Of course Raven knew, but the exams were not until next week and the following week, which was ages away, in her opinion. It was Eeth's leading statement that grabbed her attention, though. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I have only just been informed of those exams which you apparently have not deemed important enough to tell me about," Eeth replied neutrally. "I think they will require some studying, just as revising your presentation will require some work. On top of that, there will be a field trip to the hospital on Sunday that will take up most of the day. There will be no time left for the trip into the city we had planned, I am afraid. We will have to postpone that."
"But I have all week to study!" exclaimed Raven, putting down her spoon. "I've been looking forward to that trip for ages. You can't seriously mean to replace it with studying and homework?" Granted, Raven was rather looking forward to the field trip to the hospital, but she had not long ago turned fourteen which qualified a Jedi to begin supervised flying on Coruscant. A trip to the city meant an opportunity to beg Eeth into letting her pilot a speeder, and she didn't want to lose that.
"The astrophysics exam is next Wednesday," Eeth said firmly. "If we went into the city tomorrow afternoon, with the field trip coming up on Sunday, that would not even leave you enough time during the weekend to do your homework and revise the presentation, let alone study for the exam. You hardly have a free hour on weekdays. And we both know that astrophysics is a subject that you will need to study for if you want to pass." Raven had a hard time with anything involving math, and since the one time she had had to take a remedial math class because of failing an exam, Eeth took care to ensure that she applied herself.
"Well I don't care," Raven complained. "I never get to have any fun lately, I'm always working or you're always busy. I've been looking forward to that trip since you said we can go."
"You did not choose this career in order to have fun," Eeth said sharply.
"I'm so sick of hearing that! Why is it that each time I miss out on something fun, have to do more work or whatever, do you have to say, 'You didn't choose this career to have fun'?" She waved her hands around for emphasis as she continued to parrot him. "'We are on a mission, not a vacation, being a Jedi is not about your personal enjoyment, if you don't want to meditate, practice, obey, respect' or whatever else I don't feel like doing at the time, 'then maybe you should rethink your choice in careers!'" Raven ranted.
Eeth leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, which did nothing to stop his padawan from continuing her rant.
"Well, maybe I WILL, maybe I shouldn't be a Jedi, because you know what?" she shouted. "I LIKE going into the city occasionally, I was looking forward to it!"
"Are you quite done?" asked Eeth coolly, earning himself an irate look from Raven. "I am perfectly happy to take you into the city on occasion when it does not interfere with your duties. Unfortunately, this weekend it does. If I had known this earlier, I would not have made promises I cannot keep, but until today, I neither knew about your field trip nor about your exams, let alone the fact that you acted up in class and were therefore asked to rewrite your presentation."
"So now you're backing her up? It was my fault?" Raven stood, incensed, her chair skidding backwards. "That fat old cow WAS born with a hot poker up her ass, and if she didn't already have one up there, I'd be first in line to supply her with ONE!" Raven was through with this conversation. She turned on her heel and stormed into her bedroom.
Eeth did not even give her time for the bedroom door to slide shut. This was a level of disrespect he was simply not prepared to tolerate, not to mention a temper tantrum of epic proportions that Raven had been trained not to indulge in. He stood abruptly and came after her.
Raven's stride became awkwardly stiff as she heard Eeth's chair move. She rarely, if ever, shouted at him, but she was just so sick of everyone riding her lately, sick of having to do nothing but work, and most of all, sick of being punished for her failure to accept all of this in good grace. Those feelings of righteous indignation did not last long. In fact, they quickly morphed into panic, and then dread, as Eeth took hold of her arm, hauled her towards her desk, pulled out the chair, sat down and yanked her forward, making her fall face-down across his lap – all that in about five seconds.
"Wait!" Raven tried, but Eeth wasn't listening
Not bothering to struggle with her pants, he simply pushed up her tunic and pulled his paddle from his belt. "No, don't!" Raven started begging. "Oww! Don't do it!" But it was too little too late. Eeth had already brought down his paddle hard enough to be felt through two layers of clothing.
"The attitude stops here and now," he snapped and swatted her bottom a second time, hard. "There are more constructive ways of dealing with your frustration than shouting at me."
Raven gritted her teeth. She was still angry and frustrated over everything, but she wasn't crazy enough to try arguing from this position. At least, that was until Eeth started talking again.
"You are going to stop the disrespect towards your teacher and me right this moment," Eeth barked, continuing to wield his paddle with grim efficiency. "Petulant behaviour will not help you reach knighthood, nor will it buy you any favours with me."
"Oww! YOU SEE!" Raven bellowed, reaching a hand back in an effort at shielding herself from further swats while making her point. "There you go again! Petulant behaviour will n-not help you reach KNIGHTHOOD!"
Unimpressed with her response, Eeth brought the paddle down onto her upper thighs twice, effectively bypassing her hand. And he made those swats count which was evidenced by the resulting wail Raven let out. Then he paused.
"Are you ready to see sense and talk to me civilly, or shall I continue?" he asked sternly.
"No, I- I mean, yes, YES!" Raven gasped, close to tears. It wasn't because this was the most excruciating punishment Eeth could have meted out, although it hurt like hell! It was more because of her frustration.
Eeth rested the paddle on the small of her back, for now. However, he did not put it away, nor did he let her up. And least of all did he let the slight insecurity show that he felt over his treatment of her. He was aware of her frustration, but that did not mean he could let the rudeness or temper tantrum slide… or did it? Well, he thought, this was a conundrum he would have to resolve later. For now, he had a padawan to rein in.
"Padawan, I might talk about your goal of reaching knighthood a lot, but that does not make it any less true," he said pointedly.
"I-I'm sick of hearing truths," she sniffled, annoyed at allowing herself to be reduced to tears over this.
"Well, that will not stop me from speaking them out, so I suggest you find more constructive ways of dealing with your feelings than venting them at me," Eeth said sternly. "The realities of your life will not go away just because you are feeling frustrated with them. Even if you chose to quit your career with the Jedi, you would have to reach adulthood at some point. Believe it or not, I am trying to help you. Now, I will give you a choice. You can lose the attitude and meditate with me, or we can continue here. What is it to be?"
That wasn't much of a choice, and given that Eeth had yet to release her, Raven gave the only sane answer. "I will meditate. Lemme up, please!"
"I think," Eeth said, making no move to comply with her demand, "I have yet to hear an apology."
Raven might be frustrated, but there was no way she was going to risk an argument while Eeth had her pinned ass up over his knee. Her feet slipped on the carpet a few times in an effort to gain purchase but she wasn't going anywhere. "I'm sorry that I took my frustration out on you, that I shouted at you. Please, can I get up now?" This time her tone was more plea than demand. It hurt, it really hurt.
"You may," Eeth said calmly, releasing his hold on her and returning the paddle back to its place in his belt. "We will finish our lunch and then meditate for a while. Then we are going to the gym. After that, if you still feel that you have to voice legitimate concerns, you may articulate them politely and respectfully. Is that understood?"
"Yes, master." It hadn't been the worst paddling Eeth could have given her, so she refrained from playing up her discomfort too much during lunch. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to feel guilt over punishing her. Heck, she had pitched a fit at Eeth and survived to tell the tale, that was an accomplishment in and of itself, she thought!
During their meditation, Eeth made sure to convey the extent of his affection and his willingness to provide support to Raven. The meditation also allowed Raven to release her frustrations into the Force, and despite feelings to the contrary, it helped her to see that Eeth really wasn't out to get her.
"Alright, off to the gym," Eeth finally said. He knew that chasing his padawan around for an hour or two usually worked wonders on her attitude. She tended to get restless after long mornings in school.
The lingering burn across her backside notwithstanding, Raven ran, vaulted, sprang, swung and climbed her way around the gym, all the while trying to avoid being caught by Eeth. It was no easy feat, and one that would leave most apprentices begging for rest after ten minutes. Raven lasted an hour before she started to stumble and make mistakes. She was exhausted but she wasn't going to give up; she never did. Thankfully, Eeth called the game (that apparently was not a game at all but "an exercise meant to increase strength and stamina") to a halt. "I was just slowing down to give you a chance to catch me, that's all," Raven said coolly, trying to make it look like she wasn't struggling to catch her breath as badly as she actually was.
"Yes, of course," Eeth said wryly. "Go take a shower. Then we will go home. I will make us some tea while you get started on your presentation."
When Raven was gone to do as he had told her, he called Lakhri, his former padawan, to ask whether he and his padawan, Flynt, were free for the night. If they were, Eeth thought they might go into the city for dinner. He could also use this as an incentive to motivate Raven to do a good job with her school work. After all, she liked going out, she particularly liked going out with Lakhri and Flynt, and she knew that Eeth would not allow her to do so unless she had made a credible effort.
"Well, I'd love to, but I can't bring Flynt," Lakhri told Eeth. "He's been hijacked by a Jedi knight specialised in working with fire. She's just passing through and she took a group of initiates and padawans with that particular gift on a three-day workshop to Hesperidium, of all places. So I'm suddenly all on my own. I could invite myself for tea and help Raven with her school work. I haven't done that for ages."
"I think she would love that," Eeth replied. "She has been feeling very unfairly treated by life lately."
Lakhri laughed. "Yes, I remember feeling like that at fourteen," he replied. "And you were oh-so-sympathetic. I'll drop by in half an hour, then."
"I can't believe Flynt gets to go to a Hesperidium for three whole days, although I have to admit it would be hard pressed to beat Borleias. That place was amazing," Raven told Lakhri when he arrived that evening. Lakhri refused to enter a discussion about the best beaches in the galaxy before Raven's work was done, though, and so Raven's attention was reluctantly redirected from thoughts of vossball games on the beach and crude fireworks displays to the datapad before her as her padawan brother pointed out several errors in her latest solution on her astrophysics study guide. "Not that I wouldn't mind a trade," she added with a sigh and slumped her head into her hands as he erased the page. She was going to have to do it over.
"Yeah, wouldn't we all," Lakhri said with a sympathetic smile. "C'mon, pull yourself together. If you fail your astrophysics exam, Eeth will have your hide AND he might decide you need to take remedial astrophysics next cycle. We've been through that with remedial math. Not again, please."
Raven peered over at him through splayed fingers. His comment needed no response because there was no way in Hoth that she was going to endure another remedial anything! Besides, Eeth would have a heart attack, she was sure of that.
The page was redone twice more before it passed Lakhri's scrutiny, but it was another two hours before they were finished for the night. Raven closed the lid on her datapad and stood, glad to be off her ass. "I'll do the units you highlighted tomorrow," she agreed, knowing that Lakhri really was good at this stuff, and if he said to study specific sections, then it was going to be in her best interest to do it.
"I am planning to take the two of you out for dinner," Eeth told her, raising his head momentarily from the report he was reading.
Raven's face lit up.
"But only if you make a good start on the revision of your Iridonian Zabrak presentation now," Eeth added.
… And Raven's face fell. She slumped, shooting Lakhri a weary 'you see what I mean' kind of look.
"Before you start complaining," said Eeth implacably, "you would do well to remember that it is your own fault you need to revise the presentation."
Lakhri started hunting in Raven's datapads for the Iridonian Zabrak files. "Why is it your own fault?" he asked.
"It wasn't," Raven whispered so that only Lakhri could hear. "Professor Kogan is a difficult teacher," she said a bit louder, and for Eeth's benefit.
Eeth pointed a stern look at her. "And you, apparently, were being a difficult student," he said.
"Oh, so this is some kind of punishment?" said Lakhri. "Right. Let's not go into the details, then. I can help. Eeth's Iridonian is better than mine, obviously, but mine is good enough, I suppose."
"Lakhri's Iridonian," said Eeth, "is nearly flawless. He is exceptionally gifted with languages."
"Alright, stop embarrassing me," said Lakhri who could not quite keep himself from blushing. "Raven, is this the first version of your presentation?" He skimmed through it and grinned. "Yeah, I see why it would need revision," he said, handing the datapad to her. "Let's get started."
It was another hour before Raven had made a good enough start on her presentation to pass for the time being. "Thank the Force," she said upon being released from the table "imprisonment." "Where are we going?"
"You pick something," Lakhri replied with a smile.
"But do not pick anything too far away from the Temple," Eeth added. "You have your healing class tomorrow, so we will not be able to stay out late."
Raven rolled her eyes at the caveat, but was placated by getting to choose where they went. "We could go to that Careenian place that we order takeout from sometimes. It's not the best Careenian restaurant around, but it is close enough to prevent master from having a conniption." She knew Lakhri and Eeth liked Careenian food, and they offered some good vegetarian options.
Ten minutes later they reached the speeder garage. Raven ran for a convertible speeder. The night air had a chill to it this evening but it wasn't cold enough to render a convertible out of the question. Besides, she loved the feel of the wind rushing past, it was a huge part of the thrill and not something you could feel when using flight simulations.
She looked from the speeder to Lakhri then finally to Eeth. "Pleeeeeeease?"
"Alright," Eeth said. "Lakhri, do you want to coach her?"
Raven was only allowed supervised flying, after all. And she got to spend little enough time with Lakhri these days because Lakhri was, of course, busy with Flynt. When they met, Flynt was usually there as well. Raven and Flynt got along well enough, but Eeth knew that Raven liked to have Lakhri to herself every once in a while.
She met the small man with a shit-eating grin that was all teeth. "Will you? I'll behave I promise, no flying upside down or loops. Of course, loops are Flynt's specialty. You should have seen him on our first flight class with Knight Allenchia. Force, the only one who actually flew straight that day was Endal," she said, her grin not faltering at the memory.
"I bet that made Flynt popular with the teacher," Lakhri replied, grinning. He hopped into the speeder, sat on the passenger seat and unlocked the controls for Raven.
"Needless to say, if you try any loops on a Coruscant traffic lane, Eeth will probably ban you from driving speeders until you're knighted," he added.
"If, after pulling such a stunt, you ever make it that far," Eeth said darkly, which had Lakhri chuckle.
The next couple of evenings took the pressure off Raven, and not just with study. It was fun having Lakhri around. His sense of humour helped cheer her up as much, if not more, than his expertise with classwork. By the time he left her on Sunday afternoon to pick up Flynt, Raven had gotten through all but one unit of revision, which she could complete in plenty of time.
Lakhri had plenty of time left until Flynt's arrival, too. This was a bit unusual for him and it was mostly due to Eeth having shooed him off in time. He made his way towards the hangar at a leisurely pace and found a young Twi'lek master waiting already at the observation window. A little later, they were joined by a crèche master who had come to pick up his three senior initiates. An elderly Zabrak came in right behind him. The four Jedi waited patiently on the observation platform until the hangar gates opened to admit a small spaceship. When the ship had landed and the gates had closed, a lift took them down into the hangar where they arrived just as the spaceship's ramp was lowered.
Three senior initiates of different species stormed out first, running to greet their crèche master. The three junior padawans – Flynt, a Kel Dor and a Zabrak – followed them at a slower pace, looking slightly uncomfortable. The expression on Knight Phara's face as she flanked the three padawans down the ramp was none too pleased either.
"Looks like they landed themselves in trouble of some kind," Lakhri said with a sigh. "Yeah," said the young female Twi'lek master standing beside him. "I'm afraid Teeko nearly always does. I'm just wondering what he got up to this time." The third master, an elderly female Zabrak, said nothing. She merely looked at her padawan, the Kel Dor girl, who visibly squirmed under that look.
Knight Phara smiled at the creche master, offering a polite bow to the man, and gave each initiate a cheerful hug of goodbye. A second later, they were jumping circles around the man as he guided them towards the lifts, each eager to tell him about their adventures, and yes, the HUGE STARSHIP!
Phara turned to the three padawans, gave a slightly sympathetic look and then bowed to their masters collectively. "Apart from an incident of disobedience last night, your padawans behaved impeccably and worked hard," she said diplomatically
Flynt gave a shallow, curt bow in response. It wasn't disrespectful, but then again, he wasn't exactly big on formalities. "Thanks for taking us," he replied smoothly, and his expression said that he really had meant that.
The others said their goodbyes, and the knight left her details and the promise of a report by the end of today. Once everyone was leaving, Flynt looked down at Lakhri, squinted and scratched at the back of his head. "I guess you want the lowdown." It wasn't really a question.
"Well," said Lakhri, "if you mean, do I want to know what incident of disobedience she was referring to: I'm not sure I want to, but I definitely need to. C'mon. Spill the beans."
They were slowly making their way towards the exit while he spoke.
"Those beans are best kept in a sealed can, rusting on the bottom of some ocean on Glee Anselm," replied Flynt as the man called the lift to their level. When this gained no more than an exasperated look, he blew out a breath that made his unruly fringe fly up and decided to start at the very beginning. It would look better for him that way, he reasoned…