Eeth closed the door behind himself, folded his arms across his chest and looked down on Raven. "I am not happy with your attitude, padawan," he informed her.
"I don't have an attitude. I'm just not happy with this situation. Nobody would be," Raven replied. Her arms were folded, too, and she was frowning down at the carpet.
"I am not expecting you to be happy," said Eeth. "However, I expect you to accept this punishment as a learning experience. It is meant to teach you something, namely, to accept my authority and submit to my judgement. The next time you do as much as roll your eyes at me over this, there will be immediate consequences. Is that clear?"
Raven's gaze shot up to meet his, her expression a mix of plea and indignation. Still, Raven wasn't about to test him. "Yes, master, it's clear," she said reluctantly and looked down at her hands. Raven wasn't the sort of padawan to cower. She was autonomous and headstrong which was why this punishment was proving to be so difficult for her.
In Eeth's opinion, however, that was precisely what made it an effective punishment, and he was not planning on relenting. Nor was Raven going to enjoy what would come next.
"Very well," he said. "Given that I am less than happy with the attitude you displayed today, and given that your disobedience would have definitely earned you the cane if we were at the Temple, I found a suitable replacement. Bare your bottom and bend over my chair."
"You did what?" Raven said, trying to hide the alarm in her tone. "But you already belted me, and I did nothing to earn an upgrade." Still, Raven was pulling out his desk chair as she pleaded her case because disobeying him was not an option.
"As I have already told you," Eeth said, "you displayed a poor attitude over your punishment. Even if that had not been the case, I might have resorted to this because you have grown, and so have my expectations. At this stage of your training, the consequences of disobedience may well be fatal, and that is something I do not want to see happen. As always, it is my decision how to punish you and I will not entertain an argument about it. Get into position."
He was perfectly aware that this punishment differed from his usual routine for extended punishments, where the nightly spankings after the initial showdown were with his hand unless Raven had significantly misbehaved during the day. Maybe, he thought, this change of routine would show Raven how seriously he was taking this.
Eeth retrieved one of the reeds from his refresher where he had stored them in a sink full of water. It was thinner than his cane, but wickedly flexible and, judging from his experiment on his thigh where he was still sporting a thin red welt, was going to hurt.
When Eeth entered, Raven was bent over the chair, her shirt pulled up and posture stiff. Eeth hadn't caned her in a very long time, but that didn't mean she had forgotten how much it hurt. Besides, Raven had no idea what he had found. She twisted to face him and frowned. The reed didn't look as menacing as Eeth's cane, but she was sure it was going to be painful. She squared her jaw and gripped the chair arms, but this defiance did not last long as the first few strokes stung something terrible.
Eeth was not sure Raven would be able to hold her position of her own accord, so he used the Force to restrain her. He brought the reed down again and again, laying down welt after thin red welt in regular, evenly-spaced intervals across his padawan's bottom. The welts were thinner than those left by the cane, but probably burned all the more intensely for it. The reed was not as sturdy, though. When Eeth had dealt out the tenth lick, it snapped in two.
Raven made to stand. Her eyes were glassy and she was barely holding back tears. This was hurting a lot, and she didn't think her dignity was going to remain intact for a second longer.
"Do not move," Eeth said. "We are not finished yet."
"But you broke it on me already!" Raven whined, tears finally spilling down her cheeks and a sob escaping.
"I said we are not finished yet," said Eeth firmly. He went to the refresher and received the second reed, then continued where he had left off.
What little was left of Raven's composure and dignity did not take long to crumble after this, and soon she was wailing and crying loudly for him to stop. But Eeth wasn't listening. When the licks finally ended, Raven had not only lost count, but she was sweating, her breathing was ragged and she was sobbing loudly. Whatever that thing was, Raven certainly never wanted to experience it again. Ever!
Eeth released the restraint he had placed on her and dropped the reed, but he made no immediate move to help her up. He assumed that she would probably need a while to come to terms with the pain.
Raven knew there was little relief to be gained from rubbing welts, and so when she finally managed to stop bawling, she stood but did not look at Eeth. Instead, she cried into her shirt sleeves. She was ashamed at being eighteen years old and reduced to such a state, but an equally important reason for her tears was that Eeth had thought such correction was necessary. He had not done so in a very long time, after all.
Eeth took a look at her tear-streaked face and pulled her into a hug. Usually, he did such things because he knew she might need some reassurance, but right now, it had been spontaneous, a genuine impulse to offer comfort.
"Padawan," he said softly, "I could have lost you there. I know that dangerous situations are part of our job and sometimes your duties will entail risking your life. On Ashpah III, however, the risk of staying in the building for even a second longer than I did was too high. And just for the record, I would have given you the same orders if you had been a full Jedi knight. The building might have collapsed on you, and I did not have the feeling that you fully understand this. That is why I am being so harsh on you. I do not want you to die."
Although his comfort was welcomed, his words had Raven's tears streaming again. Hearing that she had worried him backed up the expression on his face when he had seen her jump atop the fallen rubble, dragging the Ashpan. He had been genuinely shocked and concerned to see there. That wasn't a look Raven had seen on his face many times during her apprenticeship. It was, however, one that reliably earned her the worst punishments, and this was to date by far the worst! "I'm sorry," she managed, but that was all Raven was going to get out lest she start sobbing again, and the eighteen-year-old did not want that.
"Good," said Eeth. "Think of this when you next feel tempted to ignore my orders. You will meditate now. I will tell you when your time is up and will offer healing afterwards."
The only meditation Raven wanted to do right now was a healing trance. Of course, this was not what Eeth had meant, and she knew that. Thus, the padawan slinked off, knelt facing the wall and rested her head against it lightly. It was only one hour, yet one hour could feel like an eternity when one's ass was pounding.
As Raven had expected, this meditation was a particularly difficult one to begin with. Sure, the pain eventually stopped building which was a relief, but it had now entered the prickly itch and dull muscle ache phase, making it almost impossible to resist reaching back to rub. She did so a few times before finally managing to enter a state of meditation where the pain was simply part of the background and not her primary focus.
Eeth set a timer for sixty minutes and sat down at his desk to work on the mission report. When the timer finally went off, he said, "You may stop now, padawan."
Raven was oblivious to the timer but not to Eeth's voice, to which she was acutely attuned. Her eyes cracked open and she got to her feet quite stiffly, her expression pained as she turned to face him.
Eeth gazed down on her, his arms folded across his chest.
"Any insights, padawan?" he asked relentlessly. He had no intention of making this easy on her.
Raven sighed, both hands reaching back to rub before she let them rest by her sides. "As a Jedi it is my duty to obey you, to obey the Council," she said. "I didn't fulfil that duty when I chose to disregard your orders. It's not my place, and" – she winced – "it was arrogant of me to think I knew better than you. I should have obeyed, or at least asked. I didn't because I didn't want to be told no." The latter hadn't been a conscious decision at the time; however, it had become pretty clear during her meditation that this was part of it. Admitting that had been difficult.
Eeth gave a curt nod. "Alright," he said. "Lie on the couch."
While he worked on spreading a thin coat of bacta on Raven's bottom and letting some healing energy flow into her punished skin, he said, "Padawan, you know you are allowed to ask questions about my orders or even to make different proposals. But not in a life-or-death situation where any second might cost lives. I expect you to have that much common sense. In such situations, you will just need to swallow your disagreement and obey instantly. Understood?"
"Yes, master." This wasn't new to her, and by now Raven was really feeling remorse over having disobeyed him. She kept her head in her hands, wincing as the bacta started to take effect, only to relax again at his ministrations. Eeth was a good healer. So was she. She was good at a lot of things and thought herself humble enough. But maybe she wasn't? If Eeth's reaction to her attitude lately was anything to go by, she'd have to say no. Raven inhaled slowly, blew out a measured breath and rose onto her elbows, twisting to face him. Rightly or wrongly, his forgiveness was something she took for granted, but sometimes she needed to hear it. "Will you forgive me?" she asked, her expression sombre.
"Of course I will," Eeth said softly. "From the outset, I was more concerned about you than I was annoyed."
And he was still concerned. He had given her a spectacular punishment, but this was not always enough to cure a padawan of her arrogance, especially one who was as good as Raven was. It made her feel invincible, particularly when dealing with civilians. She probably needed to make an experience that showed her she was not as immune to danger as she felt she was; her master telling her so was not going to be enough.
"Yes, I could tell," Raven said through a wince. This incident had left an impression, so much so that despite believing herself superior to peers and civilians, she was going to work on not being so arrogant about it. Raven didn't really think she was arrogant, but if Eeth did, then she could acknowledge there was a problem.
When he was done, Raven stood and righted her clothing. "Thank you, master," she told him, still looking sheepish.
"You're welcome," said Eeth.
As she exited his bedroom, both Lakhri and Flynt were seated at the table, Flynt was pointing to something and Lakhri was patiently explaining for what looked like the second or third time if the hint of exasperation in his tone was anything to go by. Apparently, whatever he was trying to understand had Flynt baffled. He looked up as she entered, his annoyance at his Basic assignment forgotten as he took in Raven's stiff gait and puffy eyes. "Okay?" he asked, concerned.
"No," came the predictable answer, but Raven smiled slightly to soften the blow and convey that his concern was appreciated.
When Eeth emerged from his bedroom shortly after her, Raven was making a pot of tea for everyone. "If you've got nothing for me to do, can I go for a walk?" she asked Eeth. It was getting late but she wanted some air.
"I'll chaperone," Flynt threw in quickly and before anyone could respond. Anything to get out of doing more Basic!
"No, you won't," Lakhri said sternly. "Not before you've finished this. You might consider making a proper effort if you don't want to spend the night on it."
Flynt did not, and so reluctantly, he got back to work.
Eeth raised his eyebrows at Flynt. Then he turned his attention back to Raven.
"Yes, you may, but only for half an hour," he said. "I am hoping to receive a message about our travel details soon and we might need to discuss them."
When Raven returned exactly twenty-eight minutes later, her demeanour had improved a bit. She acknowledged Eeth with a curt nod and kicked off her boots, placing them neatly by the door. Flynt was now busy writing and Lakhri looked less inclined to strangle him. "Did you receive the file?" she asked, looking from Lakhri to Eeth.
"Not yet," said Eeth. But just as he said that, the comm unit beeped. Eeth went and loaded the message onto a datapad.
"The ship is leaving tomorrow at ten," he said, scanning through it. "We will be picked up by a speeder at nine. We will meet the children at the spaceport. Apparently, the oldest of them is a boy, the others are girls. They are called Ask, Arlee, Alva and Anisa. Their parents seem to favour the letter A."
He scrolled down a little bit further. "There is a list of bedtimes," he continued. "We are supposed to keep them in line and we have the right to discipline them if they disobey. Corporal punishment should be a last resort, though, it says."
He handed the datapad to Raven and motioned for her to continue.
Raven skimmed through the file briefly. "Ask is the oldest boy," Raven began. "Arlee, Alva and Anisa are ten, eleven and six respectively. Alva has recently broken her arm and had the bone knitter removed, so she's forbidden from doing anything strenuous for obvious reasons. Apparently Anisa can be a bit of a diva." Raven looked up at her fellow Jedi. "But she's six, I'd expect a bit of that. The rest is pretty much standard."
Flynt looked up from his datapad where he had been half listening to Raven and half finishing his last paragraph. "Sounds like fun," he said.
And fun it was, for the first part. The Gran children were all nice, polite kids, and each settled onboard without fuss or carry-on. Even the six-year-old Anisa put her things into her room on the ship without being asked to and did as she was told. The children didn't know the four Jedi, after all, and each had been told to be on their best behaviour.
By the second day of their trip, everyone had already settled into a routine. In the morning, just after breakfast, Raven was playing a game on the big screen in the lounge area with Arlee and Anisa, while Alva was lying on her tummy beside them reading a novel. It looked quite advanced, too, Raven noticed as she caught a glimpse of the title.
Meanwhile, Flynt was in the galley, working on one of his Basic assignments, his head in his hand and scribbling away with his stylus. Ask, who was walking around the ship to see where everyone was, stuck his head through the doorway. "Want help?" he enquired, seeing the pained expression on the giant padawan's face.
"Nah, man, I'm good," Flynt reassured, giving him a smile.
"I'm pretty good at Basic. I've had straight As since first grade," Ask continued as if Flynt had not said anything, sitting down beside him.
Flynt leaned back in his chair and stretched long. "I don't doubt it. This is a narrative essay on my childhood during creche. It's not the fundamentals I lack but the ability to link it all together smoothly."
"Let's see it?" Ask said, holding out a stubby hand.
Flynt looked to Lakhri briefly for instructions. Upon receiving his master's silent consent, he nodded and handed the pad over. "One condition, smartypants, you can't do the work for me."
Ask didn't, and the two fast got stuck into it.
Lakhri, like Alva, was immersed in a novel and enjoying the leisure. So far, the children's company had been pleasurable and the flight was turning out far better than anyone had expected. It was a piloted ship, so none of the Jedi had to busy themselves with navigation. The two Dug pilots kept to their own sector of the ship. The food was quite above the average, as such things went. Diplomats from Malastare were generally not known for their frugal lifestyle. This suited Lakhri just fine.
A few minutes later, Eeth stuck his head into the lounge area. "Padawan, I would like to have a workout with you," he said. "Please join me in the gym when you are done."
That the ship had a gym was a luxury that the Jedi rarely enjoyed during space travel, and Eeth wanted to make use of it.
"Yes, master," Raven replied.
"Can we come watch?" asked Anisa, forgetting about the game for now.
"You may," said Eeth. "But you will sit where I tell you to and not move. I do not want distractions. Besides, weapons are dangerous and the gym is not that big."
"Alva, come too. We're going to watch the Jedi fight!" said Anisa.
"Weapons?" said Alva. "This I have to see." She stood, her book forgotten, and followed the three, and Arlee came with them.
Eeth pointed the girls to a bench he had sat against the wall and beckoned for Raven to join him at the centre of the gym, right next to a set of crates. He led her through a brief, but intense warm-up and then instructed her to start on a joint level-two kata. Given the position of the crates, that would require a bit of focus.
Both girls sat where bade, or at least Alva did. Anisa sat for a second and then sprung up again like a little jack-in-a-box, so Alva pulled her between her legs and swaddled her in her arms. "Be still or Master Eeth will make you leave and then you won't be allowed to watch. Do you want that?"
"NNNOoooo!" Anisa screeched.
"Ah! Shhhh! Don't scream." Alva patted her backside gently in warning. "Sit on your bottom, hurry up." Alva released her younger sister so she could do as she had said, and thankfully, she did.
Raven thought Anisa reminded her much of herself as a child, so full of energy and utterly unable to sit still! She looked to Eeth, hating that her saber was on his belt, but accepted it without more than a frown. So far, Raven had managed to adhere to all her restrictions in mostly good grace, but it was wearing on her patience.
When they were finished with the kata, there were three wide-eyed Gran children on the sidelines. "I want to try, please let me, I can do it, look?" Alva got to her feet and started to make the same moves while her younger sister made the sound effects for her.
Arlee was the quietest of the bunch and it showed in the way she was sitting still, going wide-eyed at her sisters' antics. "Please just sit back down!" she implored them.
"Yes, do," Eeth said sternly. "We are going to start a round of freestyle sparring now and we need the space. If you cannot stay where I told you to, you had better leave now."
Alva frowned, and took her seat, feeling chagrined. "You don't have to be a buttface about it," she told Eeth, crossing her arms.
Raven bit the corner of her mouth. It was not often a child had the courage to call her master a 'buttface' not that she suspected this would bother him. It did, however, amuse her and that much was evident as she and Eeth turned to face each other.
The edges of Eeth's mouth twitched very slightly. His voice remained impassive, however, as he said: "No disrespect, please. Padawan, make use of the crates trying to come at me from above."
He raised his saber and nodded at her to start. The comment was heeded by Alva, if only notionally.
Raven managed to wipe the grin from her face. Just.
What happened next had the Gran girls in awe. Raven used the crates alright; she leapt onto the first, and when a millisecond later Eeth was on her, she was a blur. Her boot hit the wall and she vaulted over his head to land behind him. The move was lightning-fast, but then, so was Eeth and it didn't buy her any time to get a surprise attack on him.
"What? How? Where?!" Anisa exclaimed in amazement, jumping up only to be pulled right back down again by Alva.
"Shhh!" and "enough," both sisters chorused, putting the girl between them and, much to her annoyance, taking a hand each.
Alva was really getting into this. She loved this sort of thing; it was how she had broken her arm in the first place. It hadn't been as thrilling as this lightsaber match, though. Instead, the playground at the ambassador's mansion had been a fortress and she was the defender of the king's gold. Just like in her novel, she had played out the scenario, but contrary to the heroine, she lacked the necessary strength to keep hold of the rope as she swung, and instead of disarming the swashbuckler making for the loot, she hit the ground. Hard! AND, just to add insult to injury, rather than being rewarded by the king and made a knight, she had to explain to her father what she was doing playing around on playground equipment that was meant for much older and taller Gran. That wasn't how the story was meant to go. Luckily her father considered her broken arm consequence enough and had not added to it.
Eeth and Raven bounced around the small cargo area, each of them using every millimetre of space in an effort at getting the upper hand on the other. Raven was smaller and more agile than Eeth, but he was superior to her in both skill and experience. Still, it made for one hell of a fight, something that was evident by the nine eyestalks glued to their every move.
Eeth had Raven continue the fight until she was showing strong signs of exertion. In between, he called for short breaks to reposition the crates in order to increase the challenge. When he felt that Raven's focus was starting to waver, he called the fight to a stop. He was showing slight signs of exertion himself at this point, but it was not enough to make him catch his breath.
"Your saber, padawan," he said quietly, holding out his hand.
Raven hesitated, frowning. The expression on Eeth's face darkened. 'I am going to add six strokes of my belt to tonight's punishment,' he informed her through their bond. 'Will you give me your saber or would you prefer me to increase that number?'
Raven sucked in a breath, squared her jaw and thrust her saber into Eeth's outstretched hand. Eeth calmly clipped it to his belt.
Alva noticed this interaction. "Why don't you keep your lightsaber as everyone else does? Are you too young?" she asked Raven.
It was a legitimate question, and one that Raven should have expected. However, hearing the comment about her age when she had just turned eighteen, on top of Eeth's proclamation to add to her punishment, rankled. Her chin came up and she looked at Alva. "I think you said it best before," she said, pointing her chin at Eeth, clearly referring to the comment about him being a buttface.
Eeth's hand shot out and grabbed her by the base of her braid, drawing a gasp of pain and embarrassment from Raven. "I need to have a few words with you in our cabin, padawan," he said icily and proceeded to drag her to the exit. This was something he only did when he was seriously displeased. He certainly had not done it in a long time.
"Hey, you can't do that," said Alva, taken aback.
"Rest assured that I can," snapped Eeth. He did not loosen his grip on Raven's braid until their cabin door had closed behind them, and when he did, it was only to grab her by the ear and bend her over. He held her with his left arm and his right hand came crashing down onto her bottom at full force, drawing a loud gasp from Raven.
"When you are being punished, padawan," he said coldly, "I will not hear any disrespect about it." He let a second almighty swat follow.
"Oww!" Raven gasped, the breath practically knocked out of her. "Master, please. I'm sorry for the disrespect," she rushed to get out, hoping to save herself another swat like the last two.
"That comes a little too late," said Eeth grimly and, much to Raven's horror, proceeded to pull down her pants and push up her tunic. "I had told you I will not tolerate any failure to comply with the terms of this punishment, nor will I stand for complaints. And I meant it." Without further ado, he resumed the spanking, and the force behind his swats had not abated in the least.
"Wait!" Raven squirmed, but Eeth ignored her. She was doing her best to keep some semblance of dignity here and failing. Raven might pride herself on being an adult, but unfortunately, her reaction was no different to the last time Eeth had done this. Granted, these types of attention-grabbing swats didn't typically consist of more than a dozen. That said, it would seem that her newly acquired adult status had only bought her a set of higher standards and expectations from Eeth, or so Raven realised as the thirteenth teeth-rattling swat brought her unstuck and she started sobbing.
Unperturbed, Eeth continued to deal out a full eighteen swats, and they were as hard as he could make them. Only then did he release his hold on Raven. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for her to regain her composure.
Still sobbing, Raven righted her clothing, all the while doing her best to regain composure. It was not easy, but after a moment, her sobs reduced to sniffles and she looked at Eeth with a chastened expression. "Harsh," she said quietly, dragging a sleeve under her nose. Raven was hurting, not only her ass, but also because of the fact that Eeth had once again thought this necessary at her age. It was humiliating, too. She could only imagine what the Gran children must think.
Eeth handed her a handkerchief. "It was no more than you deserved," he said in a level voice. "You have been warned. Padawan, you will have to learn to accept this punishment with dignity and humility, or there will be consequences every single time. And I do not care who is watching."
Clearly, thought Raven. Aloud, however, she simply inclined her head. "Yes, master. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Raven blew her nose, swiped over her face and eyes with the handkerchief and rubbed over her backside slowly with both hands. Force, did it hurt, but it was nowhere near the worst. He had only used his hand, even if said hand felt like it had been carved from a firethorn tree.
"It had better not," said Eeth. "Now take a shower. I will help the others prepare lunch."
When Eeth entered their kitchen, he was immediately accosted by the three Gran girls who had watched their workout.
"What did you do to her?" asked Alva, a little haughtily.
Anisa, being the youngest and most inquisitive, was more interested in the two sabers that dangled from Eeth's belt. She was standing a little behind him, and so she reached out a finger to touch one, only to have Eeth's hand shoot out and close around hers before she could make a grab at his weapon.
"This is not a toy," he said sternly. "Besides, you will ask before you try to touch something that belongs to me. In this case, the answer would have been no."
All three eye stalks stood straight up, which was the Gran equivalent of a wide-eyed expression, but Anisa did not try to pull her hand free. She was too shocked that he knew what she was doing before she even got to do it!
"Why not? I don't want to play with it, I just want to know how heavy it is," replied Anisa, embarrassed at being told off by the Jedi.
"We do not give our lightsabers to others," Eeth said. "Not even to see how heavy they are. They are dangerous. And, just for the record, they are not very heavy, but become unwieldy for untrained users once they are ignited."
"What if I don't ignite it, can I hold it then?" Anisa asked hopefully.
"No," said Eeth. "As I said, it is a weapon, not a toy."
Anisa frowned thinking that a stupid reason. It was on par with 'because I said so,' an equally stupid and unhelpful response that adults were fond of supplying. She was about to say as much when Alva spoke up, stealing her thunder.
"Wait just a moment here," said Alva. "If you don't give your weapons to others, and it's not too heavy for her, then why did you take Raven's?"
"When a padawan of mine behaves irresponsibly during a mission, I take her saber away for a while," Eeth said. Just as Alva opened her mouth to ask what Raven had done, Eeth cut her short. "And I am not going to give you any more details than that. If you want to know more, ask Raven. It is up to her to decide how much she would like to divulge."
Alva did want to know what the Jedi girl had done, but she didn't think it appropriate to push for an answer right now. She might ask Raven if the opportunity came up, she thought.
The rest of that day went by without issue. The Gran children were well-behaved and eager to help with chores and meals, and each went to bed without complaint. Anisa wanted to be tucked in by her siblings, which nobody had a problem with.
"Please let them be this easy to take care of for the entire trip," Raven said when Ask had gone to bed, leaving the four Jedi seated around the table.
"I told you so. Nothing to worry about, they're just kids," Flynt said. He'd finished the first draft of his essay and was finally free of homework for the evening.
He yawned. Lakhri had put him through his paces just before dinner which had drawn another eager crowd. Well, Flynt didn't mind that at all; he liked to put on a show. As a matter of fact, for this precise reason Lakhri was wondering whether he should exclude visitors from their next workout. Showing off was not encouraged in padawans, not only because it was not a very Jedilike trait, but also because it could become a dangerous habit. Preferring flashy moves to the ones that best fulfilled their purpose could become deadly in any fight. However, Flynt was generally not a particularly conceited person, so Lakhri saw no reason to actually tell him off.
"You had better not assume too much," Eeth told Flynt. "We have not even completed half of the journey. They might have been on their best behaviour because they did not know what to expect from us. This might or might not change."
Flynt shrugged at Eeth's comment, it wouldn't bother him either way as it wasn't his job to mete out correction. It was, however, his job to mind them as much as it was the others', which again he didn't mind. The little one could be a pain in the ass but the others were fun and he got along really well with Ask despite the fact that the kid was a complete nerd.
The following day saw little change. However, by the fourth day of travel, the trip was beginning to take its toll.