"Now that we have established that you chose to disobey me during a critical stage of our mission," Eeth said, stony-faced, "let us proceed with the matter of punishment. For a start, give me your saber. You behaved irresponsibly, and as a result, it will stay with me for the time being."
He held out his hand.
Raven paled. Losing one's lightsaber while on a mission was mortifying for an apprentice. What was more, it had not happened in years! It also meant that she would have to face the Council as part of their team and give a report sans her weapon. She wanted to protest this, to say that she hadn't behaved irresponsibly with regard to her weapon so why did he have to take it, but they'd had that dance before and it hadn't ended well. Thus, Raven stood, removed her saber and reluctantly put it in his hand. "For how long?" she asked.
"Until we are back at the Temple, and for a week after that," Eeth said calmly and firmly, accepting the saber. "Maybe that will convince you that the duty to obey me is to be taken seriously."
He laid the saber onto his desk and opened the clasp of his belt.
"Bare your bottom and kneel on the bed, head on your hands," he said. "You will receive a solid dose of my belt now. We will discuss the rest of your punishment after you have taken it."
Raven swallowed but obeyed. The position she had to assume was not at all dignified, but more than that, it was going to ensure that Eeth would have a clear shot at all of her bottom, undercurve and thighs. It also gave him a lot of room to swing. None of this boded well for Raven and she knew it. She was an adult now, though, and she was damned well going to try taking this like one! Yeah…
"Owwww!" she gasped out as thick leather bit the fleshiest part of her bottom. Eeth had not done this to her in quite some time and she had almost forgotten how much it hurt. Also, Raven didn't have a lot of ass to go around here, and so it hurt her ten times more than others, or so she would tell you.
Unperturbed, Eeth brought down the next swat, slightly lower than the first, and he did not hold back much. Raven needed to learn a lesson. And this was only the start of it.
"Padawan, obedience to me is not negotiable," he said grimly. "Whether you agree with my orders or not, whether you are eight or eighteen, when I give you an order, you will obey me."
That was a matter of opinion, thought Raven resolutely, only to revise that thought as another lick landed. Raven hissed. No wait, it wasn't a matter of opinion, but perspective, she amended, a gasp of pain validating that thought. The next few strokes, each of which fell a little lower than the one before, saw another layer of that stubborn resolve stripped away, and by the count of eight, when the undercurve of her bottom was nailed, she no longer cared about either, as it was now clear that she was making this far too complicated: this was all about position, namely, hers! And the proximity of Eeth's belt in relation to her ass. Unfortunately, her recent rise to adult status failed to automatically equip her with the stoicism needed to endure a belting from Eeth with her dignity intact, and the wail she let loose at the next smack confirmed this: "AHHHHhhhowCHHhhhhhh!"
Eeth had aimed that stroke right at the crease where her bottom met her thighs. For the tenth stroke, he started again at the top. Raven prided herself on being eighteen years old, and therefore, he decided, she would just have to endure eighteen strokes. If this did not get her to rethink her attitude, at least it would be an effective deterrent.
It had never occurred to Raven that there might be a downside to turning eighteen. That was until he landed the thirteenth whack and she knew it was probably her age in licks. Raven broke out in a sweat although this didn't hamper the effectiveness of her lungs. Her ass felt like it had been set on fire, yet because it happened so fast, her endorphins were still wondering what the hell hit them, literally. Ergo, she felt every excruciating lick. She was crying as the fifteenth landed and could no longer hold still of her own volition; it was every padawan for themselves.
Eeth's hand pressed down onto Raven's back briefly, reminding her to stay in position. This time, he was not going to help her by using the Force to restrain her. This was against his usual habit and Raven didn't know what to make of it, but she did her best to control herself as he brought down the remaining three strokes at the same force as those before, if possibly in slightly quicker succession. It had really hurt her, and her tears were genuine. Still, she tried to gain control over herself as she heard Eeth reattaching the utilities to his belt, including her own lightsaber.
"You may get up now, padawan," said Eeth quietly. His mind was working furiously. She needed more punishment than this, and she needed one that would really get through to her. That much was certain.
Raven took a moment to stumble to her feet and adjust her clothing. Her ass hurt like never before, but at least when she turned to face him, her tears had stopped streaming although she knew that she must look a hot mess.
Eeth handed Raven a handkerchief, as he always did. He had actually made sure to buy some and put one in his pocket.
Since he felt that he needed some time to think things through, he decided on a course of action that would allow for this.
"You are going to write an essay on the importance of obedience during missions now," he said sternly. "No less than three pages. You will not receive any healing before the result is to my satisfaction. And I know your bottom hurts. That is rather the point."
Given he'd just whaled her ass into next week, Raven had had hopes that he might cut her some slack. Apparently, this was not to be. She buried her face in his handkerchief and blew her nose. On the upside, at least she had done this before and had some idea of how to structure an essay on the subject. But three pages! That was practically a novel, not an essay, and as the hanky came down, her expression said as much. "It went past 'hurts' about two minutes ago," she pointed out. She wasn't willing to pull up her pants, so she pulled them off and tossed the pile on his desk, where she found the guest datapad.
"If it did, it was well-deserved," said Eeth. "You should not expect anything less for such appalling behaviour, ever. You are getting entirely too full of yourself, and if this does not stop, it is going to get either you or someone else killed at some point."
Raven was well able to brush off the 'you got what you deserved' type of comments. Why? Because mostly, she happened to agree. Mostly. The rest had her straighten up and look at him. This was not the first time he'd commented on her arrogance, but 'full of herself to the point where someone might be killed?' Was she? Raven frowned. Her silence would have told Eeth that she didn't agree but wasn't willing to argue. And Eeth understood as much. But now was not the time or place to address this. He would have to find some other way to make the lesson sink in.
Two and a half hours later, Raven slinked from Eeth's bedroom clad in the hoodie she'd bought and her underwear. Eeth was seated in the common room, a pot of tea sat on a woven coaster on the coffee table and he was looking at a datapad. She waited for him to acknowledge her. As soon as he looked up and his eyes met hers, she handed the pad over.
Eeth studied the contents and nodded.
"Alright," he said. "If you want, I will perform some healing now. While I do, I will tell you about the rest of your punishment."
"The rest? But you've already whaled the ass off of me and taken my saber, forcing me to give the report to the Council without it! That's pretty harsh," she said, while simultaneously lying down on the couch and pulling down her underwear because agree with him she might not, but she really wanted that healing.
"Padawan, what did you expect disobeying me during a mission would earn you?" Eeth snapped.
"What I got already," Raven said imploringly.
"You must be delusional if you think that is all you will receive for such an infraction," said Eeth brusquely. "There will be quite a bit more punishment to come. And that is not 'pretty harsh', it is exactly what you deserve for going against my explicit instructions in a life-threatening situation. Whether you like it or not, you will take what is coming to you. Preferably without further backtalk and complaints."
Raven was silent for a moment. However, she knew that giving Eeth the silent treatment in this situation would not be wise. "Yes, master," she finally said quietly, unwilling to compound her problems.
Eeth unscrewed a small jar of bacta and started to spread it gently across her bottom.
"Now, first of all," he said, "in order to reinforce this lesson, you will be spanked every night for a week and will meditate for an hour afterwards on a topic of my choosing." He was fully aware that Raven had not received an extended punishment for years. Well, thought Eeth, if she had forgotten how effective such punishments could be, she was going to receive a reminder now.
The bacta stung, but Eeth's decree stung more. Raven was shocked, although in hindsight, she probably shouldn't have been. "Master, please. Spanking is so childish and I'm an adult now. Could you consider community service or…" Raven fell silent as the expression on Eeth's face darkened. All along, he had been thinking about imposing an additional punishment that he had not been quite certain about so far, but Raven's complaint had convinced him to follow through with it.
"No, I could not," he snapped. "It is obvious that you are not even beginning to see the severity of your transgression. Very well. Do you remember the restrictions I imposed after our mission to Fenesteer, where you disobeyed me in a similarly egregious manner?"
Raven did, and the blood drained from her face as she twisted to face him. Eeth was unfazed. He was entirely aware that he was hitting below the belt. In his opinion, it was warranted because he felt that Raven needed a wakeup call.
"I will impose them again," he continued, "because I happen to think you need a reminder of your status. Until the end of this mission, you will not leave my sight unless I give you explicit permission. You will not go anywhere or do anything without my explicit permission. Failure to ask for permission and to wait until you receive it will result in immediate punishment. Maybe this will convince you that your duty to obey me is to be taken seriously, if nothing else will."
Raven sat up on her side, taking Eeth's arm. "Please don't. Okay, I see your point now. It was arrogant of me to think that I knew better than your orders. It will never happen again, I promise. Please don't do this to me, not again," she begged. It had been bad enough the first time, and they had been at the Temple then. Now, everyone was going to see, or at least Lakhri and Flynt were bound to notice, not to mention the family they were escorting back.
Eeth raised his eyebrows. "I see that this is something you will want to avoid at all costs," he said. "Good. That makes the lesson all the more effective. What I said stands. If you continue complaining, the only thing you can hope to accomplish is for me to extend the punishment. I trust you do not want that. Lie back down. I have not finished here."
Raven whined into the pillow as she lay back down.
Eeth knew that in the long run, using punishment as a deterrent to enforce the desired behaviour would not be enough. He would have to find some way to make Raven understand the dangers of her current attitude. This would require some thought. For now, he would settle on anything that would guarantee compliance with his orders, and this particular type of consequence would work well to achieve that.
He finished healing her bottom and said, "Now take a shower and get changed. We will order some dinner then. Lakhri and Flynt called to let me know they will eat in town."
He himself had already changed into one of his new outfits. His formal Jedi robes were currently being cleaned, and a droid was waiting to pick up Raven's robes for cleaning as well. They would want to wear them tomorrow to see the ambassador.
Raven rose, righted her clothing and nodded. She wanted to eat out with Lakhri and Flynt but thought asking as much would be pushing it.
Thirty minutes later, Raven returned, her eyes puffy. She was sore, but it was nothing like it had been before. The food smelled good; the servings were small so Eeth had ordered in a few for them to share between them. One looked like some sort of brown vegetable curry, the other similar except that it had chunks of meat and sported a red warning label on the bowl. They had two side dishes of some local grain topped with brown stuff that looked a bit like spices but it was hard to tell. Two fried puffs of pastry stuffed with spiced fruit and a fast-melting blob of iced confectionery were dessert. Still, Raven was not happy. Eeth's edict had hit her hard and so she chose to eat in silence.
Eeth did not enforce conversation. When dinner had been eaten, he said, "I will start working on the mission report. You may have an hour to yourself now. You may spend it either in the common room or in your room."
Still sulking, Raven decided on self-imposed exile and went to her room. She wanted to hide this mess from Lakhri and Flynt as long as possible. Then again, maybe Eeth had done this to Lakhri at some point, too, and he would sympathise? Raven wasn't sure. In any case, it was quite late when Lakhri and Flynt came home and Raven had slinked from her bedroom and was sitting on the couch going through her notes on the negotiations as Eeth had asked her to do.
Lakhri and Flynt were in a very good mood. "This is a splendid place," said Lakhri. "I don't think I've liked a place this much since the mission to Sogal where we were pretending to be father and son. The beach is only an hour from here. If there's time tomorrow, we should visit. The water is very cold and the waves are strong, but apparently, they offer rides on some type of glider that are supposed to be spectacular."
"If the ambassador does not require our service for more than the morning, we may do that," Eeth agreed.
Lakhri's mood was infectious, and between him and Flynt they managed to make Raven forget about the trouble she was in for the time being. She didn't get a chance to talk to Lakhri. It was a conversation she wanted privacy for and that was going to be hard with them all in the same quarters.
As it turned out, their meeting with the Gran Ambassador was brief, although the request he made had Raven groaning, if only on the inside. Apparently, this diplomatic flight was scheduled to take the Republican Ambassador's children back to school on Malastare after their vacation. To save himself staff and a return fare, he asked that the Jedi mind them.
"Six, ten, eleven and fourteen," Raven repeated once they'd left the office. "Glad there are four of us," she said, hopping into the speeder beside Eeth; she didn't bother asking to fly given her current state of disgrace.
"It might be fun. I have a friend at the temple who's Gran, she's pretty low key," said Flynt as he folded his legs into the back seat.
"This depends on where they are from, though," said Eeth. "Kinyen Gran are very docile. Gran from Malastare, such as these children, are a different matter altogether. I think the Dugs' personality has rubbed off on them. Anyway, four children are certainly no more than we can manage. Especially since the ambassador has given us the right to set rules and ensure they stick to them."
Lakhri laughed. "Yes, that would be your area of expertise," he said. "Come on, let's go to the beach."
The ride took them through a beautiful, if slightly melancholic, windswept countryside of soft hills covered in dry grass. The coast was rocky and stormy, with gigantic waves rolling in. There were hiking paths all along the cliffs, and there was also a station where a local type of hoverglider could be rented that none of the Jedi had encountered before.
"So, hiking or gliding, you two?" Lakhri asked the two padawans as they all got out of the speeder.
Raven crossed her arms and glared at Eeth. "Well?" she said with more attitude than she had employed with him in years. "What's it to be, hiking or gliding?" It was clear that she was none too pleased with having to ask Eeth, but that was the edict he had imposed until the end of their mission. It rankled.
Flynt looked at Raven like she had grown horns. What was going on here, he wondered, deciding it best to keep out of it.
Eeth's mouth tightened into a firm line.
"Excuse us for a moment," he said to Lakhri and Flynt. Without missing a beat, he grabbed Raven's ear and dragged her along to a place that was just out of earshot, completely ignoring her protests.
"Padawan, the attitude stops here, or you will bend over the hood of the speeder and receive a reminder of my expectations," he snapped, letting go of her ear. "Whereupon you may spend the remainder of the day meditating on the respect you owe your master. Is that what you want?"
"No, master," Raven said quickly, rubbing her ear. "But nor am I happy about this treatment." Raven couldn't help it, she couldn't NOT complain about this. It was entirely juvenile and undignified considering that she was an adult.
"You are not supposed to be happy about it," said Eeth coldly. "This is punishment. And there will be a whole lot more punishment in your near future unless you lose the attitude now. Your choice."
Raven knew that this was simply a fight that she was not going to win. Besides, she did understand that Eeth was punishing her, Raven just didn't like it.
"Yes, master. I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time with this. I'll lose the attitude."
It had been hard for her to say that because she was frustrated with her situation, yet it wasn't really fair to take it out on Eeth, as much as she wanted to.
"Apology accepted," said Eeth, but it was clear that he was not quite placated. "I have no issue with allowing you to choose from the activities Lakhri offered but I expect you to ask for permission before you leave. And I think you knew that perfectly well. Now let us go and join the others."
Raven pursed her lips but didn't dare offer more of a protest than this. "Yes, master," she said, and followed him back, trying to look dignified after he'd dragged her off by the ear.
Flynt looked from Eeth to Raven and felt for her. Whatever was going on was probably serious. "Gliders?" he proposed, hoping to take the attention off Raven.
"Gliders, please?" Raven asked Eeth, hating that she had to do this but it was what it was.
"You may," said Eeth. Lakhri raised his eyebrows but refrained from commenting, for now. He took the padawans to the ticket booth and from here they were pointed to the next free guide.
It took a while for the guide to explain. Raven barely refrained from rolling her eyes at what she perceived as unnecessary. Finally, they were allowed to go. Both apprentices strapped themselves in, looked at each other in silent challenge, and took off towards the edge at a speed not possible for any non-Jedi.
"Wahooooo!" and "Eeeeeeeee!" whooped Flynt and Raven respectively as they each launched off the cliff and sailed into the air.
"What's going on with you and Raven?" asked Lakhri quietly, watching the two padawans from the clifftop.
"She risked her life, thinking she knew better than me," said Eeth, equally quietly. "She has a serious attitude problem, and she needs a reminder of who is in charge. Which is why, for the remainder of this mission, I am requiring her to stay by my side and refrain from doing anything without my explicit permission."
Lakhri grimaced. Eeth had come up with many creative punishments in the course of his padawanhood, but never something like this; maybe because Lakhri had never been quite as convinced of his own superiority as Raven was. "That must be hard on her," he said.
"It is," said Eeth. "And I am not happy that I had to impose this type of correction. But Raven needs to lose the attitude or someone will come to harm sooner or later. In the worst case, herself."
Lakhri sighed. "I know," he said. "I can understand why you're doing it. But boy, is she going to be unhappy about it. I just hope she won't take out her mood on us non-stop."
"She had better not," said Eeth grimly.
Lakhri chuckled. "I'm not sure if this type of bad mood can be remedied by yet more punishment," he said. "For now, she seems to be having a blast. You know what? I'm going to have a shot at this myself."
"Go ahead and do that," said Eeth. "If you can look after the two for a while, I will take a walk."
Both Raven and Flynt were thrilled to see Lakhri take to the air and come chasing after them; he was fast, too! They rounded on him, coming in like two bomber pilots focussed on a target, their laughter the only sound this high up. There was no danger as their gliders were equipped with a sensor that pulled them up before crashing into anything, which, of course, Raven thought was entirely unnecessary given their Jedi reflexes. From here Raven caught glimpses of Eeth as he left to seek his solitude. She knew he would enjoy it, having been with people non-stop for almost two weeks now.
And Eeth did. After the past two weeks, an hour of peace and quiet seemed like bliss to him. He enjoyed the strong wind, too; at times, it was so heavy he had to lean in against it.
A little way along the coast, the cliffs were replaced by dunes and there was a backwater behind them, overgrown with reeds. Eeth looked at them pensively for a moment, then climbed down the dune and felt one with his fingers. It was smooth and flexible. He took his knife, cut the reed and tested it on his thigh, flinching at the searing line of fire it left. Coming to a decision, he cut another one, bent both of them and put them into the backpack he had brought. While Raven had already received a dose of his belt, and not lightly, they both knew that back at the Temple, he would have caned her for disobeying a direct order during a mission. Besides Eeth was still rather unhappy with her attitude and not convinced that she had really learned the lesson he meant to teach her.
An hour later Lakhri, Raven and Flynt were enquiring about lunch options when Eeth joined them.
"There's something called The Skytop restaurant not far from here," said Flynt.
"It could be fun," Raven added, and then, finally, she swallowed her pride. "Can we?" she asked Eeth.
"We may," said Eeth. "After that, we might have a workout before heading back to the city. There is a lot of empty countryside around here, and we will spend many days cooped up on a spaceship, starting tomorrow."
"Excellent idea," said Lakhri.
Raven smiled, knowing that anything to do with food would please Lakhri, Flynt and even Eeth. He might not be fond of luxury but he did enjoy good food when it was available.
After a delicious lunch, they took a walk away from the beach and ended up in a broad valley behind the dunes, overgrown with some kind of heather, and completely deserted. Here, they started with joint kata and ended with a fight where everyone turned on Eeth. They were pleasantly exhausted by the time they took a speeder back to the city to have dinner at their quarters.
Raven was spared asking Eeth for anything during dinner, he typically knew what she liked so once they were cleaned up, they sat to eat. Raven was unusually quiet but Flynt soon had her chatting and forgetting about the mess she had gotten herself into.
After dinner, Eeth told Lakhri and Flynt, "I am sorry, but I need to talk to Raven in private."
"Ah," said Lakhri, unsurprised. "Mean-and-evil treatment. I had already been wondering. How many days is this going to go on for?"
"A week," Eeth said, his face and voice impassive. "Come to my room, padawan." He rose from his chair.
"Aw c'mon grandmaster, don't be all prickly," Flynt said. "I'm sure you're making her suffer badly enough without adding salt to the wound."
"You will leave it to me to decide how prickly, or otherwise, I will be," said Eeth, stony-faced. He motioned with his head towards his room, his eyes on Raven and she went with a huff. Eeth nodded at Lakhri and Flynt and left, too, closing the door behind himself.
"Well, on the upside, I'm sure he's going to soundproof the room," said Lakhri laconically.
Flynt looked down at Lakhri and gave him a 'what the heck' kind of look. "What's going on with them?" he asked.
Lakhri sighed. "Well, you were there when Eeth said she disobeyed a direct order while they were under attack on Ashpah, right?" he said. "You can probably imagine how Eeth feels about that. That's what's going on."
"But it seems more than that. What was with the whole being dragged off by the ear over the glider thing? I mean she's crazy and all, but not usually that crazy."
Lakhri pondered whether to tell Flynt what he knew. He finally resolved to do so because it would become obvious before too long, anyway.
"Apparently, Eeth thinks Raven has an attitude problem," he said. "And he's adjusting her attitude by requiring that she ask for permission whenever she leaves his side or does anything else she hasn't explicitly been told to do. I don't think she's taking it in good grace."
Flynt's eyebrows rose so high that they disappeared into his shaggy fringe. "I'm hardly surprised. Did he ever do that to you?" He looked contemplative for a moment. "And… you wouldn't do that to me, right?" Flynt was reminded of the time when Lakhri put him under cabin arrest on the spaceship to Sogal. It has been entirely unpleasant and not even half as serious as what Eeth was doing to Raven.
"No, he's never done it to me," said Lakhri. "But then, I've never acted as superior as Raven is currently doing. Of course, nearly every padawan gets to the point where they think they've learned it all, and so did I, but I didn't have the kind of authority issues that Raven has been constantly struggling with. Nor do you. I think Eeth is actually afraid she'll get herself killed if she doesn't take her down a peg, and I can't blame him."
Flynt wasn't sure what to say to that, and so he did what he always did in such a situation and shrugged it off. "If she survived this long with Eeth, I'm sure she will live through this, too," he said. He didn't envy her, though, and his eyes locked on Eeth's bedroom door for a long moment, trying to send his Jedi aunt some comradely support. He supposed she might need it.