A/N: First and – as always – foremost, thank you to all of you who read, review and follow our stories. It makes our day to learn that other people out there love what we write as much as we do. This chapter is a little longer than most, and we are soon coming to the pointy end of this story – although it might take a tad longer than usual because real life is a bit too much for us right now. We hope that you and yours are all remaining happy, healthy and safe out there!

Livia & Raven

Flynt's head shot up from his wrestling match with Ask because someone had just ignited his lightsaber. He looked towards the sofa where he had seen it last, only to find it missing. Immediately he threw Ask off him, shot to his feet and ran into the kitchen just in time to see Alva's head land a centimetre from his ignited lightsaber blade. The colour drained from his face, his bowels liquified and he broke out into a full body sweat. Yet despite his shock, he summoned the weapon to his outstretched hand, disengaged the blade and ran to her side. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"My arm hurts," Alva sobbed. She was as shocked as Flynt. Another centimetre, and it might have ended badly!

"Your arm is not the only part that's going to be hurting soon," he said in as grave a tone as Flynt had ever used on anyone, ever! And had she not been clutching her arm, he would have dragged her to the couch and whaled the backside clean off her before all and sundry, to heck with the consequences!

At this point, Eeth rushed into the room. He had sensed the disturbance in the Force, too. Taking in the scene, he immediately realised that Alva had somehow managed to hurt her arm. She had also obviously done so in a way that made her feel guilty and Flynt angry, but finding out how that had happened could wait. He helped the crying girl up and made her sit on a kitchen chair and rest her arm on the table.

Flynt remained silent, the frown on his face having deepened if such a thing were possible. He stood behind the chair that was next to Alva's. He had gotten the fright of his life and couldn't sit right now. For the moment, he concentrated on breathing and regaining some of his colour.

Eeth sat down next to Alva and rested his hands on her arm, scanning it through the Force.

"You managed to break it again," he said solemnly.

"Not again," Alva gasped, crying out at the slightest movement. She remembered this sort of pain well and knew that Eeth had to be correct; anything that hurt this much couldn't be good. She looked up at Flynt. He was a lot paler than was typical for him, and it was the first time she'd seen that expression on his face. Was it anger? Fear? Shock? Alva didn't know.

As a matter of fact, it was all of those things and more. However Flynt was beginning to regain his equilibrium – just in time for Eeth to come to the crux of the matter.

"How did this happen?" inquired Eeth.

Alva looked from Flynt to Eeth, trying to keep from sweating and maintain some composure even though the pain was intense. Flynt just glared at her, though, and so she started talking. She wasn't a coward, but neither had she expected to get caught, and if wasn't for that stupid droid, she would have gotten away with it, too, she thought. "How? Um. I didn't see the cleaning droid behind me, I stepped back and it took off to avoid me but my weight was already on it and it sent me backwards. I braced my fall with my broken arm and," she groaned, "broke it again." Alva was under no illusion that Flynt would refrain from tattling on her if she failed to add the part about having his lightsaber, but she gave him a sideways glance just in case. Nope – he now had both arms folded about his chest, a brow raised. "I might have been testing out Flynt's lightsaber, too," was therefore tagged on at the end. By now Alva was sobbing again. Talking meant she had to move her chest. Heck, even breathing hurt right now.

Flynt knew that this confession didn't just seal her fate, but his as well. When Lakhri found out he'd left his weapon lying on the sofa with a group of young children around, he was going to cop the ear-bashing of a lifetime. Force only knew what Eeth would have to say about it. He dragged a hand down his face, which had just begun to regain some colour. "It was a close call," he elaborated. The look on his face would have clued Eeth in to that fact, even if he had not mentioned it, so he didn't go into the exact details, at least not yet.

Eeth gave him a scathing look, but he had more pressing matters to deal with right now, such as easing Alva's pain, which must be significant.

By this point, Ask, Arlee and Anisa had come to see what all the screaming was about. Arlee stood back by the door. She was concerned for her sister, but didn't want to overcrowd the small kitchen area. Ask reached down and picked up Anisa, setting her on his hip. She looked upset that Alva had hurt herself and he wanted to keep her close. "We have a medical kit on board, would you like me to fetch it?" the boy asked.

"Thank you," Eeth said a little absent-mindedly, gently pushing up the sleeve of Alva's sweater in order to check her arm more thoroughly, "but the medical kit will not do. I will have to scan Alva's arm and put it in a splint. We have the necessary equipment in one of the storage cupboards. Can you fetch Raven and Lakhri? Raven can assist me with treating Alva, and Lakhri – well, Lakhri should discuss with his padawan how his lightsaber ended up in the hands of one of the children in our charge."

The look he shot Flynt showed clearly that, however it had happened, he was not pleased. Not pleased at all. But he had an injured child to take care of and that took precedence over his displeasure. He provided Alva with a surge of calming energy and some pain relief as he talked.

For once, Flynt didn't say a word. There was no smart-alec retort, witty quip or excuse. He just lowered his gaze and began releasing the angst he had felt at having seen Alva's head land so close to the blade of his weapon into the Force.

Ask conveyed what he had heard of Alva's condition to Lakhri and Raven. "I'll get the supplies," Raven told Lakhri. After receiving a nod, she left to do just that. This was not going to be a pleasant job, especially if the bone had moved from alignment. It was with that in mind that she took the box of hypos from the storage cupboard and handed it to Arlee who had come to see if she could help. Ask had taken the now crying Anisa to her bedroom to settle her down.

Alva had noticed the look on Eeth's face and the reaction it had drawn from Flynt and suddenly felt a whole lot worse. Had she gotten Flynt into trouble? When Lakhri entered, she decided it was time to speak up. "It wasn't his fault. I took his saber from the sofa when he wasn't looking," she argued in his defence. The pain radiating up her arm was starting to refer into her shoulder and into her neck, causing her to wince at the slightest movement, so she did her best to argue without breathing too heavily or moving.

"Oh, wasn't it?" said Lakhri, unimpressed. "Come, Flynt. We will let Eeth and Raven do their job, and in the meantime, you can tell me why you thought it a good idea to leave your saber lying around with a bunch of children around."

Flynt followed Lakhri silently. He was still coming to terms with what had almost been a disaster of epic proportions, and as a result, he had, quite uncharacteristically, gone quiet; all traces of his typical smart-ass self were gone.

Eeth paid them no mind for now; he was focussing on Alva's treatment. Continuing to use the Force to dull the pain, he accepted the box of hypos from Arlee and pressed one onto the base of Alva's neck. It was going to help relieve both the pain and the shock.

"Padawan, let us move her to the couch and rest her arm on the couch table," he said. "She will become drowsy from the medication soon and I would rather treat her while she is lying down."

Wordlessly, Raven helped settle Alva on the couch, with Eeth doing most of the lifting. Arlee carried the medical supplies and knelt by her sister's feet, removing her shoes. "We'll need to run a scanner to see if the bone has displaced. From the amount of pain she's in, I'd guess it has," Raven said, looking at Eeth.

"Above all, let us hope it is a clean break, without splinters," said Eeth, "because these are notoriously difficult to heal in Gran."

Fortunately, it was indeed a clean break. The bone had displaced, but only a little. Eeth administered a hypospray that numbed Alva's entire arm from the shoulder and then aligned the bone while Raven scanned the bones and gave him instructions. Then they put the arm into a cast. Alva had fallen asleep by now, drowsy from the medication. They covered her with a warm blanket and let her rest. The discussion that Eeth planned on having with her could wait.

Meanwhile, Lakhri took Flynt to his room and pointed him to the bed. He took a seat on the desk chair himself.

"How could this happen?" he demanded to know.

Flynt looked at Lakhri, his face white and expression shocked. "I was roped into being a fourth in a wrestling match with the kids," he said. "My lightsaber was getting in the way and Ask was going to end up with bruises, so I tossed it onto the seat of the sofa. Arlee was with Anisa." Of all the kids Flynt might have expected something like this from, it was Anisa! He dragged his hand through his fringe. "I saw Alva standing by the sofa but the last thing I expected was for her to pick up my lightsaber. I sensed it ignite in the room next door." He winced. "When I entered the kitchen, Alva was crashing to the floor, my lightsaber fell from her hand, and had she not broken her fall with an arm, she would have come close to losing her head." Flynt looked positively stricken at the retelling. "I'm sorry, master. It was really fucking stupid of me. I should have just put the saber in my room."

"Yes, you should," Lakhri said wearily, running a hand across his face. That Flynt was not trying to talk his way out of this or belittle the seriousness of what he had done did not escape his attention. This was Flynt's usual reaction to being caught out on misbehaviour, and one that Lakhri was trying hard to cure him of. Well, in this case, that was one thing he would not need to do, it seemed. Good. On the other hand, the reason Flynt was taking this so seriously was because it was serious. Alva could have been killed. And there was nothing good about that.

"I suppose we can count ourselves lucky that Alva just broke her arm, then," said Lakhri. "Which is bad enough but still vastly preferable to anything that might have happened if she had fallen on your saber. This is not something I can let slide. For a start, give me your saber."

Lakhri's order came as a surprise to Flynt. He'd never had his saber taken from him before. After all, Flynt was hardly glued to his weapon like some others and rarely committed offences that typically saw a saber confiscated. In this case, however, Flynt had treated his saber so irresponsibly that Lakhri felt it was warranted to take it from him, and Flynt understood as much. He nodded once, unclipped it from his belt and tossed it to Lakhri without a second thought. It was amongst the most shameful of punishments for a Jedi padawan but he felt he deserved it. Flynt didn't ask for how long; he assumed it would be a while, and he was correct.

"I will give it back to you one week after our return," said Lakhri. That way, the punishment would be noticeable to Flynt's peers and teachers, and that was usually considered much worse than "merely" losing one's saber during a mission.

"Fair," Flynt said quietly. The truth of it was that Flynt had no idea what presenting himself to the Council and life in the Temple would be like sans his lightsaber, but he'd heard accounts from others, Raven in particular, often enough to know that the shame was going to be felt. Well, he deserved as much. His carelessness had almost cost Alva her life and that was something he was struggling with more than his own perceived misery.

Lakhri could tell that Flynt was feeling truly bad for what he had done, and he actually debated whether additional punishment was warranted. After all, Flynt had already understood the gravity of his transgression, and he was not likely to do it again. On the other hand, he was also feeling immensely guilty, and Lakhri knew from experience that that feeling was not exactly alleviated by escaping punishment, for whatever reason.

Coming to a decision, he said, "Go to your room. Bare your bottom and find a suitable position. I will be with you in a moment."

Flynt nodded, stood and placed a hand on Lakhri's shoulder briefly before leaving to do as told. He wasn't looking forward to this. Flynt was notoriously bad at taking physical correction. But then, the guilt was eating him up. Yes, the shock had permanently branded the importance of weapon responsibility into his brain for all eternity but it wasn't going to rid him of the guilt he felt.

As he passed the open door that led to their common room, he noticed Eeth and Raven kneeling by Alva's side. Both had their eyes closed and were providing healing, their hands resting on the now sleeping girl's broken arm. She was going to be just fine, and he took a moment to reassure himself of that before finding his bedroom.

He closed the door behind himself and sat on the bed, his face buried in his hands. He was a Jedi and needed to pull himself together. Lakhri would expect that much of him. Standing, he moved towards the end of his bed, turned to face the rail, pulled his trousers to his knees and folded himself over the end of his bed. It meant that Lakhri wouldn't walk in to the sight of his bare ass, but also left his bottom well up, fully exposing his thighs and undercurve; anything his master used was going to be truly felt.

Lakhri wasn't the type to take spanking implements on missions, and even if he had, they would have been left behind on Ashpah or destroyed along with their ship. He pondered his options for a moment. If they were at the Temple right now, he might have considered borrowing Eeth's cane which he reserved for the rare instances of spectacular misbehaviour on Flynt's part. If they were on a planet, he would probably go looking for a switch or something of the kind. They were on a starship, though, and one that did not offer many options. Lakhri's toiletry bag did not even contain a hairbrush, just a cheap comb he had bought on Kemure. So, he was stuck with his belt. But then, he knew how to wield it and make it count.

He made his way over to Flynt's room and found his padawan already in position.

"I don't think we need to reiterate what this is for, do we?" he said in a tone of weary determination while detaching both their sabers and his utilities from his belt.

"No," Flynt replied quietly, although the sound of utilities and the like being placed on his desk had him wincing. Flynt knew that Lakhri's belt was going to hurt like heck, and so he grabbed handfuls of his bedcovers in anticipation as the man stepped up behind him. He recalled the first time Lakhri had belted him. It had been for setting Raven's cloak on fire during their chemistry lesson. The memory paled in comparison to this, though. This was no school mischief. This was, to date, the worst thing he had ever done and he realised that he deserved every lick he was going to receive.

"I know you didn't have bad intentions, and at the time, it probably seemed a small thing that you didn't think much about," Lakhri said, stepping up behind Flynt. "But you're a Jedi padawan, and you're not raised to be careless and negligent, especially not about safety issues. You need to think about all your actions, including the small ones, all the time."

If there was any lesson to be learned from this punishment, it was this one because Lakhri doubted that Flynt would feel inclined to make this particular mistake again. He doubled the belt over in his hand and brought it down onto Flynt's bottom with a lot of force, quite a bit more than he had used when he had last done this.

To Flynt, the lecture stung, but it was quickly superceded by something that stung decidedly more. Flynt grunted, his hips pressing into the bed rail. Fuck! he thought. That had hurt more than he remembered, a lot more. His ass clenched as the next stroke scorched a line of fire across his ass that had Flynt yelp. Given how guilt-ridden he was, it did not take many more than that before he started crying, his tears as much a product of the last few hours as they were of the pain that was currently tearing up his ass.

Lakhri's heart was not really in this, given that Flynt was so clearly repentant, but he did not want to confuse him by meting out a token punishment that did not reflect the severity of his offence. So he steeled his heart against Flynt's sobs and continued the belting, meting out one stroke for each year of Flynt's age. Given the vigour at which he laid them down, this made for a truly memorable experience.

By the time Lakhri landed the last smack, Flynt had broken out in a full sweat, collapsed over the bed rail and was crying shamelessly into fistfuls of his coverlet. Lakhri's heart might not have been in it, but Flynt's most definitely was. He turned, knelt to be at eye level and then forced himself to meet the man's gaze despite his shame, snot and tears. He wanted comfort and usually he'd take it, but what he had done was so bad that he wasn't sure Lakhri would allow it yet.

Lakhri, however, was a soft-hearted person. He had not been angry with Flynt from the outset; his padawan had been far too apologetic and guilt-ridden to allow for that. Seeing Flynt's tear-streaked face, he immediately engulfed him in a heartfelt hug, not caring that he was getting snot all over his tunic. That could be washed, after all.

The hug was both accepted and appreciated. Once Flynt felt ready, he released Lakhri and stood, rearranging his clothing with a wince. He'd learned from this, he really had. However, what was foremost on his mind was the pain blazing across his ass. It was hard to ignore when you weren't allowed to use the Force, and after having endured the consequences of doing so once before, he wasn't even contemplating it. He rubbed both hands over his ass. "Are we square?" he asked. What he really wanted to know was two things: had Lakhri forgiven him, and was there more to come? He'd work on forgiving himself later.

Lakhri looked at him for a moment and thought.

"We are," he finally said. "You're going to talk to Eeth and apologise, though. He's the head of this mission team, after all, and the one who had to fix up Alva's arm. More importantly, though, I don't get the impression that you're done forgiving yourself."

Flynt made to sit on his bed so they could be at eye level, only to stop halfway; that wasn't happening since, mattress or not, he simply couldn't fathom sitting anywhere. He lowered his head. For once, despite his giant stature, he looked more like a young boy than the hulking teen he was. He didn't want to face Eeth over this. The man would tear him a new asshole, he was sure of it! Whether or not that would help him forgive himself any more than the guilt and belting he was already dealing with, he didn't know. "Alright," he said quietly, attempting to be brave about this although he was feeling anything but.

"Then go and do it," said Lakhri. "After that, come back here. I want to meditate with you."

"What, right now?" Flynt questioned, both hands still massaging his aching ass.

"Yes, right now," said Lakhri. It was said only half-sternly, but stern enough to leave Flynt with no choice but to obey.

Flynt's face fell. Nevertheless, as he stepped into the kitchen where he found Eeth preparing lunch, he tried to pull himself together. Flynt wasn't sure where to start, though. He'd never made a mistake on this scale before, let alone on a mission where Eeth was his mission leader.

"Uhhem." Flynt cleared his throat unnecessarily and leant a hip into the bench about as far away from Eeth as would still be considered polite for conversation. He had his orders, but the words seemed lodged in his throat. "Is she okay?" he managed.

Eeth turned to look at Flynt, laying aside the knife with which he had been cutting tubers.

"Her arm is broken, but it will heal," he said, his black eyes not leaving Flynt's face. "It could have ended worse. Thankfully, it did not."

"I know," agreed Flynt, doing his best to keep eye contact with Eeth, which was not easy.

He drew a breath, and – for the second time today – forced himself to man up. "I'm sorry I didn't take better care of my weapon. I was irresponsible and because of that, Alva could have been killed," he admitted, stuffing both hands into his pockets, only to wince as the fabric pulled tight across his ass. He pulled them out again smartly. Flynt was not blaming himself for Alva's decisions, as he knew she was culpable too. He was, however, attempting to accept responsibility for his own.

Eeth could see that, which mollified him more than the apology in itself.

"She could have," he agreed. "And therefore, I sincerely hope that you learn from this."

Flynt just nodded, looking ashamed, and Eeth's gaze shifted to the place where Flynt's saber was supposed to be. "I assume Lakhri has taken your weapon off of you," he said. "Has he? Because if he has not, I will."

"He did, among other things…" replied Flynt, his expression slightly pained. He shifted his weight to the other foot and picked up a tuber, happy for something, anything!, to occupy his hands while he worked up the courage to ask something he didn't want to know the answer to. He cleared his throat, rolled the tuber in his palm and met Eeth's gaze with as frank an expression as he could muster, given his circumstances. "You're not just a Council member or my mission leader, you're my grandmaster," he said. He put down the tuber and dropped his hands to his sides. "Look, I know I'm a smart ass to you most of the time, but that doesn't mean I don't respect you. I do. If you want to add to this, I won't blame you. I won't like you," he added, managing to inject a tiny bit of his typical smart-assery into this, "but I won't blame you."

Eeth raised his eyebrows.

"Rest assured that, if I wanted to punish you, which I am not planning to do, I would not be particularly interested in whether you would blame me for it or not," he said drily.

"No, I don't suppose you would. Although that really wasn't the point," Flynt replied equally dryly.

"I know," said Eeth. "And while I will not punish you in addition to what Lakhri has already meted out, this incident will be included in our mission report, if only as a minor detail because the trip to Malastare is not our main assignment. I doubt that the Council will impose consequences – this time. Endanger others by being negligent again, and they will not nearly be as forgiving."

"What, why?" Flynt asked. "As you said the trip to Malastare isn't our main assignment, it's not even part of our mandate, it's just our ride home. What does that have to do with the Council?" Flynt wasn't keen on having to report a fuck-up on this scale to the Council, especially as he'd be doing it without his lightsaber.

"Of course it is part of our mandate," Eeth replied sternly. "Originally, it was not, but it is now, as per the Council's orders we received on Kemure. Our orders are to assist the Ambassador with the transport of his children and to receive a free ride in return. Malastarian diplomates are good at obtaining favours of this kind. It might be only a minor part of our assignment, but it was a major mistake you made. Knowing that this will appear on your record might cause you to be a little more careful in the future to prevent it from happening again."

Flynt frowned, but did not challenge Eeth; he had fucked up royally and he had expected the man to impose some sort of unpleasant consequence. Well, Eeth didn't disappoint. Flynt wasn't sure what would be worse, though, fronting up to the Council without his lightsaber with this on his record, or taking another licking. He winced upon leaning into the bench. Definitely the latter, he amended. "Yes, grandmaster. If you're done making me feel worse, may I go back to my room, please? Lakhri wants me to meditate."

"I am not making you feel any worse than you deserve," said Eeth coolly. He did not care for Flynt's tone of voice. At the same time, he knew that the boy was being honest: he really felt bad about what he had done. Now he would need to come to terms with the guilt. Helping him achieve that was Lakhri's job.

Flynt nodded, and when the man dismissed him, he turned and limped off to find Lakhri.

As the door slid shut behind him, Flynt looked at his master and tried to hide how piteous he felt. "I have to include this in our mission file," he told the man who was now seated on the bed. The last thing Flynt wanted to do now was meditate; he'd had the fright of his life thanks to his carelessness, his ass still burned as a consequence, he was without his saber, and if his master's displeasure was not bad enough to endure, he'd just faced off against Eeth and had a mark on his record as a result. He was indulging in quite a bit of self-pity right now, which was unlike him.

In Lakhri's opinion, just as in Eeth's, Flynt deserved to feel bad. There was not much room for self-pity here; Flynt had brought this upon himself. And Lakhri was not particularly surprised about the consequences Eeth had imposed either.

"Then that's what you'll do," he said, unfazed. "Come on. Let's meditate. Lie down or whatever you prefer. You need to come to terms with this, and the longer you wait, the harder it's going to be."

"Alright," said Flynt, not exactly surprised that Lakhri supported Eeth's decision. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling his fringe back behind his ears, and lay on the bed, leaving room for Lakhri to either sit or lie with him if he chose. Lakhri readily took a seat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, and as soon as he was settled, Flynt linked with the man. The first thing that came up was his guilt, and it was formidable despite the fact that he felt he'd paid in droves for his mistake. Like Lakhri, Flynt was a soft-hearted person and the fact that his carelessness had almost cost a life had hit him hard. They spent some time working through that, examining it, feeling it and releasing it into the Force. When Flynt sensed that Lakhri was about to call the meditation to an end, he reached out and sent a burst of gratitude across their link before opening his eyes. He was feeling better now, although he was hungry.

"I think we missed out on lunch," said Lakhri, his stomach grumbling. "Shall I get some for the two of us? I'll leave you some bacta while I do."

"I won't say no," said Flynt, not bothering to hide how badly he wanted both.

Meanwhile, Ask sought out Eeth out. The man was in the gym with Raven so he waited until they had finished their joint kata. "Alva is awake," he said then. "And she wants some sweet tea. Is that okay?"

Eeth nodded. "Go ahead and make her some," he said. "I will check on her in the meanwhile. Raven, please go through the kata two more times. Then you may take a shower."

"Yes, master," Raven replied and started doing as he had said. It was good to have her lightsaber in hand, so she was going to take her time with this.

Eeth passed by the kitchen and left Ask with Lakhri, who was reheating lunch for himself and Flynt. Then he entered the common room, noticing that Alva was still pale but looked decidedly better than she had before her nap.

"How are you feeling?" Eeth asked, taking a seat beside her. "Any pain in your arm?"

Alva pushed herself up into a semi seated position with her good arm and looked up at Eeth. She tried moving her fingers and flexed and bent her wrist and elbow experimentally. "Not really. The deep pain I felt when I first did it is mostly gone." Alva was surprised at this, as when she had first broken her arm, the pain had run bone deep, literally, and hurt so badly that initially she wasn't even able to scream; she'd simply broken out in a sweat and tried to stop from passing out. This time it wasn't nearly that bad.

"Yes, I used both the Force and medication to help with that," Eeth said. "Ask told me you asked for sweet tea. He is currently making you some. You also missed out on lunch. Are you able to eat? Soup or a slice of bread, maybe?"

At this moment, Ask walked in with some tea in a glass decanter. It was still defusing but it was Alva's favourite.

Ask winced at seeing the state of his sister. "Can I get you anything else?" he asked, wanting to comfort her but finding her injury hard to deal with.

"Some ice?"replied Alva, accepting the tea with a grateful nod of her head.

"Maybe something substantial, too?" asked Eeth.

"Lakhri is making something, I'll get you some of that if you can stomach it," said Ask and took off

Alva looked at Eeth. "Ask is not so great with injuries. He turns white having hypos."

"Fortunately, we do not need him to look after your arm," said Eeth. "Would you like to sit up or stand? We can find a sling for your arm if you do."

"A sling? It can't be worse than a bone knitter," said Alva and slowly stood. She wobbled on her feet for a moment, only to be gently steadied by Eeth's hand. "I got this," she lied smoothly, but didn't try to push him away.

At this moment, Raven entered the room.

"Padawan, could you find something to make a sling for Alva's arm?" Eeth asked her.

"Yes, master," she replied and disappeared to look.

A short time later, Alva had her arm positioned against her chest. Moving it around too much caused her pain, so Eeth used the Force to help while Raven quickly secured her arm into the sling. "Good as new," she said. "That should keep you from bumping or moving it around for the time being."

"Thanks," Alva replied.

Just as she sat at the table, Ask came in. "Lakhri says this will help," he said, handing her a cup of soup. "And Flynt says you've done enough damage to yourself for one day." Which explained the cup.

Alva aimed a glare at the kitchen door, but accepted it; she was hungry.

Eeth noticed the glare. If Alva thought she could display an attitude over all this, she had another thing coming. Eeth knew by now that both their parents and their school held the children to rather high standards. Alva should have known better than to take Flynt's saber and handle it after she had been told in no unclear terms that it was off-limits to her.

"When you are done eating your soup, we need to have a serious discussion about how you sustained this injury," he said sternly. "I am sure you are aware that you had no call taking Flynt's saber."

Alva's expression hardened. That was the last thing she wanted to discuss!

She took her time sipping the soup because if there was one thing Alva hated, it was throwing up.

Her arm didn't hurt at all, though, which surprised her. "I wish you guys were around when I first did this," she said. "I could have used the pain relief then."

"How long was it before someone found you?" Raven asked, wondering how she had gotten help.

"They didn't. I smashed my comlink falling so I had to walk to a store. From there they called my parents."

"I see. Well, you're all good now. Do you want some more soup?" Raven asked.

"No, thanks. I'm just sick of being stuck in a spaceship."

"Now, there I can relate." Raven gave the girl a conspiratory look and said in a stage whisper, "Although saying as much around my master usually ends up in that boredom being replaced by some sort of work."

Alva chuckled. "But that just adds tedium to the boredom. How does that help?"

"It doesn't, but it does make you think twice before complaining too much about being bored," Raven said.

"Yes, I do tend to discourage whining," said Eeth, raising his eyebrows. "If you are finished with your soup, now would be an excellent time to start explaining what possessed you to play around with Flynt's saber."

"Curiosity," Alva replied honestly and without hesitation. "Why, do you think I'm crazy enough to have foreseen the outcome and done it anyway?"

"No, but you are apparently crazy enough not to heed my warnings," Eeth replied sternly. "And crazy enough to handle a potentially fatal weapon without permission. The outcome was not altogether surprising. You should count yourself lucky that you are still alive."

There was a lot Alva wanted to say to that but given her circumstances, as well as the fact that the two Jedi had just helped with her arm, she decided to avoid comments that might get her into more trouble. Instead, she just shrugged. "I wasn't expecting to fall over a cleaning droid and get caught, now was I?" she remarked coolly.

Raven frowned. Before Eeth could reply, she silently excused herself across their bond and went to find something to do. Alva would live. Well, for now, anyway.

Eeth pointed his trademark glare at Alva. He did not care for her attempt to brush off his reprimand and it showed.

"Nobody who does such things ever expects them to go wrong or anticipates being caught," he snapped. "That does not change anything about the fact that you have been given clear instructions and chose to defy them. We are not discussing whether you are smart or stupid. We are discussing your actions, which were disobedient, disrespectful and, above all, dangerous. The sooner you are able to acknowledge that, the better for you."

"Yes, well, I paid for all of that, didn't I," Alva reminded him, gesturing to her newly broken arm. She was doing her best not to appear intimidated here, and for the most part, successfully, but the truth was that her insides were a mess and her stomach knotted.

"Yes, you did," Eeth said coolly. "Let me ask you a question. If it was your father sitting here now, would that be all of it? Would he consider you punished enough?"

Alva gave Eeth a meaningful look, not sure what to make of that question but seeing a way to spare herself punishment. "Yes," she told him with as much conviction as she could muster. She added, "He did the first time I did it."

Ask snorted at hearing that. He'd heard Alva do some impressive talking to get herself out of punishment before, so he wasn't surprised. "Anisa's asleep. I thought to come check on you, but I see you're up and okay. That's really good." He looked at Eeth and, not wanting to interrupt their conversation any longer, smiled and went to find the others.

Eeth nodded at him, but his gaze was on Alva. He was not buying her reply at all but arguing about it was not how he envisaged spending his evening. Therefore, he said, "Since your father is not here to prove you wrong, I will accept this for the time being. As such, I will consider you punished enough for carelessly endangering your safety. I do not, however, consider you punished enough for taking Flynt's saber without his knowledge and against my explicit instructions. I do not allow anyone to disregard my orders and escape the consequences."

He stood and beckoned for Alva to stand up as well. "We will take this to your room," he said. "Come."

"No way," she told him, her uninjured hand gripping onto the arm of their sofa. Alva shook her head warily. She had seen Lakhri smack her little sister and it had looked as if the man knew what he was doing. Alva assumed the same must be true for Eeth and right now, she was pretty sure that he was planning on spanking her.

"You are in no position to tell me no," Eeth said, an edge of steel to his voice. "You know as well as I do that your father gave me full authority over you. You know just as well that what you did was utterly unacceptable, and I suspect you have known it all along. Therefore, you will just have to bear the consequences."

Alva paled slightly at his tone. "My father wouldn't punish me for this," she repeated, not caring that this time it wasn't even a convincing lie. She was planning to hang on to the couch for dear life. Eeth would have to pry her fingers from the seat and physically carry her!

That resolve lasted about as long as it took for him to grab her ear and pull her up. Gran ears were convenient that way. They were also rather sensitive. Eeth was sure that Alva would think twice before pulling against his grip. And indeed, she shot to her feet, desperately trying to lessen the burn. "Ouch! No! ASKKK, HELP!" she bellowed, her eyes squinting in pain as she crab-walked beside him.

Ask had been in their kitchen with Lakhri and Flynt when he heard his sister cry out for help. The teen was protective of his sisters, although he doubted that she needed protecting from a Jedi. Still, it pained him to ignore her, and Eeth was a large and strong man. It was hard for Ask to trust.

"Don't worry, he won't eat her. He doesn't have the teeth for it," Flynt reassured the boy, seeing his expression.

Ask blew out a sigh as the sound of his sister's complaints were muffled behind the sharp click of her bedroom door sliding closed. "She deserves it," he said. "She's my sister, though, and it's hard for me to hear her upset." He felt for the giant padawan, too. Flynt had one hip leaning casually into their pantry door, yet Ask could tell by the way he shifted that he had not chosen to eat standing for no reason. He also noticed the missing lightsaber and was able to deduce what had probably happened to Flynt. He was about to apologise on his sister's behalf when Anisa came in, rubbing at her eyes with a balled fist. Alva's racket had woken her up. "Better now?" Ask enquired, reaching down to pick her up and cuddling her close, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Ahuh. But why's Alva yelling for you?"

Ask patted her back gently and started swaying, knowing that very soon she would be too big for him to do this. "She's in trouble for taking Flynt's lightsaber and doesn't want to be."

Understanding dawned, and she glanced at the small Jedi master seated at the table eating. He'd smacked her for misbehaving, just like her father would have. Alva was probably going to get the same. "Oh." She buried her head in Ask's shirt.

"She'll be fine. Eeth won't hurt her," Ask consoled.

Raven caught the tail end of that exchange and begged to differ. Alva was going to hurt alright but Raven kept those thoughts to herself. The kitchen was crowded, so she grabbed a drink and went to their common room where Arlee was now sitting alone looking like she had something on her mind, thought Raven..

As it so happened, Arlee did have something on her mind: guilt. Raven got the reason out of her quickly, since Arlee wore her heart on her sleeve. She confessed to the padawan about having known what Alva was up to and not saying anything about it. Talking about it worked to quash her guilt. It also distracted her from wondering what was happening to Alva. If the look on Eeth's face had been anything to go by, he was far from happy with her.