The first few days were interesting, as they tried to acclimate themselves to the atmosphere. The change from mostly natural to mostly artificial light was the hardest, as there was obviously no random shining sun for their convenience in space. Mel was of the opinion that they'd soon become very pale from all the florescence, but Katie didn't really care. Its not like that would make any difference.

The classes, as the rough term would go, were interesting for lack of a better word. Meditation was still enough to make them flatline, but Obi-wan was proving to be a rather amusing teacher, as long as he was yelling at someone else.

Mel preferred him, and his classes to Vader's. She also seemed to be taking the Code to heart, as it was similar to the internal one she already had, just a tad more extreme.

Katie, on the other hand, disliked having such a rigid set of rules. Obi-wan had really started to despair of her, when he wasn't worried.

- - -

"So the leader of this dictatorship has your people enslaved. You think you can get them out on your own, but you might lose some. The leader offers to let them go free if you agree to sleep with him. What do you do?" He proposed, sitting on top of a desk in their makeshift 'classroom'.

"It depends. How cruel is he? What is his reputation for dealings? How good looking is he? Master?" Katie asked, fiddling with her pencil absentmindedly.

"How attractive he is or isn't is not part of the question." He replied with a sigh.

"Yes it does. If I actually have a chance of saving my people without bloodshed, then I will. But its easier if he is semi-attractive." Was her own justification.

"But it is against the Code!" He ranted, waving his arms in the air. "You don't go against the Code!"

"I don't get the point of bothering to have a Code. I mean, who checks it? Who makes sure you follow it?" She countered, genuinely confused.

"No one checks it. It's just… a sort of conscience for you. There are two kind of Jedi. The Jedi, which are good and respected throughout the galaxy by all. And then there are the Sith, who are evil and hated throughout said galaxy. Unfortunately, the Sith are in power for now. And yes, Vader is Sith. That's generally what happens when you go about blowing up planets and killing off civilization as we know it." He'd been waiting for quite some time to get this all off his chest, and she'd given him a perfect opening. "And no, you cannot change back and forth as you please. Once a Sith, always a Sith."

Mel sighed to herself, settling into her seat more comfortably. She understood the Code, and thought that it was actually very well thought out as far as following it was concerned. Now they were in for some kind of lecture, and that wasn't cool. She'd much rather get back to saber, but that wasn't until after lunch. And they still had this, and an entire hour of Force to get through. That wasn't cool either…

- - -

"No, no, and no. Try it again." Vader did not look (or sound) very happy; but then again that was nothing new at all. "The point it to get used to controlling something you aren't touching, not to throw dice at the other player."

He was having the two of them play some normal Earth games like chess, and dice games, though with a twist. They weren't allowed to actually touch any of it, and had to try to use mind-power-ness.

Mel sighed, irritated. She was having problems getting the dice to roll properly, and had been resorting to making them fly across the table and roll that way. "But I don't get it! How do you get them to roll independently in the air? I can pick them up, I just don't get how to roll them. Master." She added on the last bit belatedly, as she wasn't actively trying to piss him off. The whole title thing just kept slipping her mind.

"Make a sort of bowl with your mind," Katie offered, trying to help. She had been getting the mental stuff pretty easily, and much more easily then Mel. But then again, she still sucked at saber where Mel could win with her eyes closed. This just meant that Katie was longing for when they got to learn how to jump about and practically fly. Then things would be a bit more even.

"I've been trying… but what do I make the bowl out of?" Mel complained. The Force was so incredibly hard to pin down that it was difficult to make anything out of it. She could shape air, but then the dice just fell through. "I just don't get it."

"It doesn't matter anymore, as its lunch time. But it will tomorrow. And Kathryn would you mind hanging back for a moment?" It was an order, though disguised as an offhand request.

Katie twitched. It felt weird hearing him say her name, as usually he just made eye contact with one or the other. She gave Mel a save-me-a-seat? look, though it didn't really matter that much. Mel nodded back, though sending her a tell-me-all-about-it back.

Once Melissa had left for the dining hall and was out of earshot, he explained his proposition. "You have a free period after lunch, correct?" She nodded, waiting curiously. "Well, I was wondering if you would be interested in extra lessons? I've noticed that you seem to be more advanced than your friend, so if you'd like to learn some of the more interesting things early…? Obi-wan was thinking of doing something similar for your friend with saber, if you're worried about that." For once it was a normal question, not a thinly veiled order. Obi-wan would have been proud of him, though he'd never know.

She thought about it for a second, then looked up, making rare eye contact. "Yes, I'd like to." There was a short pause. "Master."

"Brilliant. Starting tomorrow. You can head off to lunch now." He turned away, waving the gloved hand airily towards the door.

Halfway down the grey metal stairs to the whiter main level, Katie froze. She'd been going over the meeting her in her mind, when she realized something. Why hadn't she noticed that his eyes were so weird? Patterned gold and black was a highly unusual combination…

"So what was that all about?" Mel inquired in an offhand manner, though she was really eaten up by curiosity.

"Nothing really. He just wanted to know if I was interested in doing extra lessons… you know, more advanced stuff." Katie heaped a layer of cheese on to her salad. Lunches were usually simple, with various vegetables (some known, some not) and meats for the use in salads or wraps. And of course, large quantities of cheese.

"Lucky! So you're going to get all ahead of me?" Mel asked, ladling a small pile of brown tuber-looking things on to her wrap. They were actually quite good, despite looking like they were found under a very dirty rock.

"Yeah, but apparently Obi-wan's gonna do the same for you, only with saber. Or that's what he told me." Katie took a few of Mel's tuber-things, though she hid them under a stack of pinkish squiggly twigs.

"Hey!" Mel stole on of Katie's twigs. "So we're going to have private lessons. Interesting." She bit into her multicolored concoction, and chewed thoughtfully.

"I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to it. I mean, you say all the cool jumping-stuff they did… Besides, didn't Obi-wan mention something about spontaneous combustion yesterday? When he was going over what can go wrong?" It was a typical Katie statement, in that it involved the gratuitous burning of things.

"You're bad enough with matches…" Mel commented, thinking over a time when they had experimented with dropping a load of bacon grease onto a roaring fire. That had been interesting, all right. But not interesting enough to deserve the grounding. "I don't envy you though. Extra hours with him? Voluntarily? I think not." It was easy to refer to Obi-wan in casual conversation, as you simply used his name. Vader was a bit different, as he seemed to have way too many titles and variations. Katie knew what she meant, after all.

"Its better than more time with Obi-wan. He drives me insane!" Whether or not she already was, was under debate.

"But at least he's all honorable and stuff." Mel contended. It was much easier to have a private conversation at lunch, as most of those who shared their table preferred to have more elegant fare sent to their rooms. "You know, all with the Code."

"Screw the Code. And it's not that he's dishonorable, he just bends to fit the situation." Katie retorted.

"You're just brainwashed because you think he's hot." Mel countered, though without the venom it could have had.

"I do not think he's hot! I just agree with him." Can we spell touchy? Katie would have been ready to breathe fire if she as able.

"Ha ha… Katie likes someone." Mel chanted, grinning at her friend. Though she found the idea of crushing on a dictator repellent, it was much more fun to annoy her friend about it. Especially since she seemed to having an effect.

"I do not!" Katie protested, though she seemed more subdued. "That'd be… ewww. He's way too old for me." She twitched.

"See? You've actually put some thought into this…"

"Mel! Stoppit!" Katie threw a roll at her devilishly grinning friend, and missed. "Its just… he's… you know…"

"Charming? Handsome? Attractive? Dreamy?" Mel made puppy-dog eyes at the least one, as she gestured expressively.

"Dreamy?" Katie looked confused. "I mean, I can see the rest but..."

"Ha! Caught you there." Mel settled back down to finish her meal. It was nice to know that she still had the ability to get her friend to admit to the obvious.

- - -

"O Romeo, Romeo." Mel quoted dramatically, standing on her bed. "Wherefore art thou-" She ducked a missile thrown by her friend.

"Shut up will you? I'm trying to write that stupid paper for Obi-wan. I swear, if he yells 'the Code' at me one more time, I'm gonna…"

"Go pine after your dark love?"

"Kill you!" She finished a tad violently. "Will you shut up already? I'm barely half way through." She shot her over excitable friend a sideways glare. "I don't see you doing yours."

"I already did. You know, during the other hour of free time we had? While you were off with him." Mel dropped down to her knees, when hung upside down off of her bed. She couldn't help being a little hyper, the earth food (complete with root beer) served at dinner had had that effect.

"He was explaining something I was confused about in your precious Obi-wan's lecture on the Republic." She sniffed, a bit haughtily. "Besides, he mentioned that he wants to take me on as his own apprentice."

"Oh well. That leaves me with Obi-wan. Works for me." Me shrugged. She didn't see what the big fuss was all about; after all they'd still be taking classes with both people. Besides, she got along well with him. They had similar philosophies.