"Stop sulking," Eeth told Lok firmly over breakfast the next morning.
"I'm not sulking," Lok replied with as much dignity as he could muster. "I told you I'm not ready for this, and yet you make me go. Excuse me for being not happy about that."
Eeth snorted.
"You are not sulking because you are 'not ready for this', you are sulking because you are not getting your way," he said matter-of-factly.
Lok wanted to protest that statement, he really wanted to, but unfortunately Eeth had hit the nail on the head. At some point, this had turned into an attempt to regain some control over his life; to prove that there must be something that Eeth simply could not make him do. Lok knew that Eeth would not buy his denials for a second, therefore he merely scowled into his porridge and said nothing.
"Eat up, or you're going to be late," said Eeth.
"Can you stop giving me orders?" Lok asked in exasperation.
"Only if you stop giving me reason to," said Eeth.
Lok wanted to scream at that, but instead, he breathed in and out deeply and started spooning his porridge.

When he had cleared his things away, Eeth asked him matter-of-factly: "Can I trust you to walk to school and arrive there, or will I have to deliver you to your teacher in person?"
Lok thought he'd rather die than be brought to school by his caretaker like a toddler.
"I'll go alone, of course," he said. "And arrive at my classroom and all."
Eeth gave him a scrutinising look.
"Promise," Lok said, holding up two fingers.
"Alright," said Eeth. "Brush your teeth and get going."

And now, Lok decided as he left Eeth's quarters, it was time to put his plan into action. Eeth had sent him off on time, but he deliberately dawdled and took detours that enabled him to avoid his fellow padawans on their way to school. He managed to arrive at his classroom with no second to spare, just as Knight Mahasiws, his Basic teacher, was about to enter. She gave him a sympathetic smile and pointed him to his seat.

During the first half hour of the lesson, he alternately stared out of the window as if he was totally lost in thought, bowed his head low over his textbook as if he wanted to hide tears or hid his face in his hands as if he could hardly stand being here. He only hoped that Knight Mahasiws was going to be more easily convinced by his dramatic performance than Eeth.

It seemed to work; through his splayed fingers, he noticed the Knight and several of his classmates throwing concerned glances at him as the lesson progressed. Finally, about ten minutes before it was due to end, he started on phase two… and started to retch and gasp for air.
"What is it, Padawan Lok?" asked Knight Mahasiws urgently and hurried over to kneel next to him.
"Can't… breathe…," he choked out, and by now he nearly believed it himself. "Please… I have to get out of here. Please."
"Of course," Knight Mahasiws said gently, helping him stand up. "We'll get you right to the healers. Chella, could you escort –"
"NO!" Lok yelled, clutching his head as if it was about to split open. "I'm not sick, I'm just -"
Alright, now a bold move was called for. He vaulted towards the door, flung it open and ran down the corridor.

What now? If he just went back home, chances were that Eeth would be there. The man was altogether too good at seeing right through him, and if he was unlucky, he would just be sent back to school, or worse. Lok thought he'd better hide somewhere. If he returned home by the time classes were over, he'd have a much easier time convincing Eeth that he had been emotionally distraught and had needed time and space to get over it. A nagging feeling in his stomach told him that this behaviour was a lot more deceitful than he usually felt comfortable with; but there was nothing for it, he had started this and now he needed to carry it through.

He stopped for a brief moment and looked around himself. He was near the healers' wing. Would anybody look for him there? Probably not, but then again, if they found him there, chances were they would release the healers on him. Better not. He briefly pondered sneaking out of the Temple, but that seemed pretty suicidal to him on second thought. Finally, he settled for seeking out a remote meditation garden and hiding in its hindmost corner between a cluster of bushes. And there, he started to cry for real.

What's wrong with me? he thought in despair as he wiped his eyes on a clump of moss. He might have pulled off something like this at the age of ten or so, back in the creche. But his master had effectively put a stop to such behaviour - not only by consistently punishing him for it in ways that left a strong impression, but also because Lok couldn't bear disappointing the man. Sure, he had got into trouble frequently over all kinds of things, but never over deliberate deceit on this scale. So why was he doing it now? He had no idea, but if Eeth got to the bottom of this, he was probably going to kick him out. And Lok realised that that thought pained him more than he would have imagined.
Force, how could I become so attached to that man in such a short time? he wondered in dismay. It felt like he was betraying his master. Rationally, he knew that that was nonsense, but emotionally, he was torn between fear of losing Eeth and fear of becoming too attached to him. Maybe it was all for the better if Eeth solved this dilemma by kicking him out… and maybe, just maybe, that was what had driven him to go ahead with this plan…
He tried to push the thought away, but it was persistent. So what if he lost the safety that staying with Eeth offered because of his own stupidity? That would be a relief of sorts, but it would also be completely unbearable. Lok's life felt like a huge mess, and there was no poin in even trying to start cleaning it up. He started crying again.
Eventually, he fell asleep.

He was woken by someone shaking his shoulder.
"Huh?" he asked sleepily, rolling around and coming face-to-face with an unfamiliar Mon Calamari knight. He had no idea for how long he had slept.
"Are you Padawan Lok Dar?" asked the Mon Calamari.
"Uh - yes?" Lok answered. Before he could say anything further, the knight had pulled out her comlink.
"Master Koth?" she said. "I found him. He's in the meditation garden in section 4-78 G."
She listened for a moment, said: "Alright," and switched the comm off.
"Master Koth is coming to get you," he told Lok. "Half the Temple was out looking for you."
"WHAT?" Lok asked, completely flabbergasted. "Why would they?"
"Well," said the knight gently, "they feared you might do something silly. After all, you ran off from your class in distress. Master Koth insisted we do all that is in our power to find you. I was about to turn and leave this garden when nobody responded to my calls, but I registered a Force presence in here and thought I'd better check. Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Lok said listlessly, thinking that he was not very likely to be alright once Eeth caught up with what had happened. He was going to be kicked out, that much was a given. It was only a matter of time.

The knight took Lok to the front of the garden where they waited for Eeth. After several minutes which were filled with serious anxiety in Lok's case, the Zabrak master came striding down the corridor. The expression on his face was unreadable. He came to a stop in front of the two and bowed to the knight.
"Thank you, Knight Awakar," he said.
"You're welcome," said the knight. She clapped Lok on the shoulder and walked off.
"Come," said Eeth abruptly, turned around and walked towards his quarters, obviously expecting Lok to follow. For lack of other options, Lok did so, all the while agonising over how, exactly, he was going to explain this to Eeth. Try to pretend he really had had a meltdown in class? Eeth was likely to look through that and he would only be in worse trouble. On the other hand, it was pretty certain that he was going to be kicked out anyway, so what could be worse than that? If he came clean, he might at least save himself an embarrassing interrogation. But how was he supposed to come clean? "I was mad at you for sending me back to school so I decided to fake a nervous breakdown?" Not good.

He was still mentally debating what to do when they arrived at Eeth's quarters. The door swished shut behind them. Lok chanced a glance at the wall chronometer: It was nearly one, which meant that Eeth must have had people looking for him for more than three hours. Oh no… This was looking bad. Really bad.

Without speaking Eeth pulled off his boots and hung up his cloak. Lok imitated him and then made for his room, having no desire to have a conversation of any type with Eeth.
"Stop," said Eeth firmly. When Lok turned to glance at him, Eeth pointed him to the common room. Lok sighed and unenthusiastically dragged his feet over to one of the armchairs. Eeth pulled out a chair from the table and sat down opposite him.
"I'm going to ask you one question now, and I expect a truthful answer," he said in a low, clear voice. "Had you planned any of this in advance?"
Lok gaped at him. That was the one question he decidedly did not want to answer, and Eeth had to start the entire conversation with it? No way.
"I'm waiting," said Eeth coolly. "It was a simple yes-or-no question. It should not be too hard to answer."
Whatever Lok's faults were, he did not have it in himself to lie to Eeth's face.
"Yes," he whispered, feeling his face burning with shame.
"I suspected so," said Eeth darkly. "So I had half the Temple looking for you because you decided to put on an act. So far, so bad. Now, tell me the details. And don't make me drag them out of you."
"What do you need details for?" Lok inquired belligerently. "We both know you're going to kick me out anyway. Just do it and save us the trouble."
Eeth gave him a bewildered look.
"Don't be absurd," he said brusquely. "Whyever should I 'kick you out', as you phrase it?"
Lok stared at him in surprise. He honestly had thought Eeth would jump at the opportunity to get rid of him.
"I deliberately deceived you," he explained. "I had planned this all along. You had half the Temple looking for me, like you said. Sure, I had hoped to get away with it, but I didn't, so - don't you, I dunno, think I'm more trouble than I'm worth?"
Eeth snorted.
"First," he said with an air of absolute finality, "you are quite obviously worth more than the trouble you created. I grant you that it was a lot of trouble, but, and that is my second point, it is certainly no more than I feel capable of managing. Third, I promised to take you in until you have found a new master, and I do not usually break my promises. So, your little act is most definitely not going to get you kicked out. It will, however, get you intimately acquainted with one of the implements in my cupboard. I am going to decide which one that will be after you have told me the details. Refuse to do so, and I will err on the side of caution and just go for the cane. So?"
Lok did not quite know what was stronger, the relief at hearing that Eeth did not intend to kick him out or the dread at the realisation that some pretty serious punishment was in his near future. The threat of the cane was a good incentive for him to give Eeth an exhaustive and truthful account of what had been going on, though. Eeth seemed to be satisfied by it, in any case, or at least he did not ask further questions.
He looked at Lok thoughtfully for a long while, and Lok squirmed under that inscrutable gaze.
"To your credit," Eeth finally said, "you are at least feeling guilty."
"Well… yes, I am," said Lok a little defensively. "Does that make a difference?"
"Not in the sense that you are going to receive a lighter punishment for it," Eeth replied, the expression on his face inscrutable. "I do not take kindly to deceitfulness and to attempts at manipulating me. Or your teachers, for that matter. Not to speak of the fact that a considerable number of people were wasting several hours searching for you."
Lok just had to ask.
"Why, though?" he asked. "I mean - why did you have them look for me if you knew I was just putting it on?"
Eeth raised his eyebrows.
"I did not know you were putting it on," he said pointedly, "I was suspecting it. There is a difference. Until I knew for certain, I had to take the possibility into account that you were genuinely distressed and in need of help. And since we do not share even a semblance of a bond, I had no way of knowing where you were or what state you were in."
"Oh, so now it's my fault for not jumping at the chance of creating a bond with you?" Lok retorted before thinking. Before he even had a chance to retract that rash question, Eeth had pulled him up by his ear.
"You asked me a question, I gave you an answer," Eeth snapped. "And I think you are in no position to become insolent about this."
"Ouch!" Lok yelled. "Okay, okay, sorry!"
Without releasing his hold on Lok's ear, Eeth said quietly and sternly: "Now you are going to march yourself to my cupboard and get me the bigger one of the straps. They are hanging on the inside of the door. Understood?"
He set Lok going with a swat to his behind, and Lok hurried to obey, rubbing his ear.
The bigger strap was not hard to find. The trouble was that it was actually - well, big. It was broad, thick, long and looked altogether too sinister for Lok's liking. While he was still trying to work up the courage to take the evil-looking thing off its hook and bring it to Eeth, he heard Eeth's voice say: "The only reason I did not ask for the cane was because you gave me a complete and truthful account of what you did. I can still change that decision, though."
That got Lok to pick up the strap instantly because, sinister as it looked, the cane looked more sinister.
'Come on, be a man', he coached himself as he carried the thing over to Eeth unenthusiastically. 'Your master used his belt on you… how much worse can this be?'
He looked at the strap as he handed it over to Eeth and did not like his chances.

"Thank you," said Eeth curtly, putting the strap onto the table behind himself. "Now bare your bottom and get over my lap."
Lok stared at Eeth. He had been swatted by the man before, but always over the seat of his pants. Come to think of it, none of these spankings had required his cooperation either. Granted, none of them had been for deliberate deception… But still, the prospect of being spanked on the bare by anyone but his master did not sit well with Lok! It was plain humiliating, especially as he had no doubts that Eeth was capable of making a spanking over his underpants hurt just as much.
"Can't we talk about this?" he asked weakly, trying to stall for time. "I mean, I know I deserve it and all, but –"
Eeth pulled his paddle out of this belt.
"Alright, your warm-up spanking will be with the paddle instead of my hand," he said coolly. "Enough talking. I gave you an order, and I assure you that you do not want to compound your troubles by adding disobedience to the list of your transgressions."
Oh great. Just great.

Seeing as he had already been upgraded to the paddle, Lok thought it wise not to argue any further. Scowling, he pulled down his pants and underpants and awkwardly bent over the Jedi master's lap. It wasn't a perfect fit since Lok was fairly tall for his age, but Eeth was not exactly small either, and he did not seem to mind the awkwardness. He simply clamped his left arm around Lok's waist, and less than two seconds later, Lok experienced the first explosion of pain on his bottom.

He tried to bear it stoically, he really did, but it was futile. Eeth seemed hell-bent to make the experience as unpleasant as humanly possible, and in Lok's opinion, he was succeeding.
Lok squirmed, kicked and wriggled around on Eeth's lap, anything to get his bottom out of the line of fire, but it did not seem to make the slightest difference. The swats just kept coming, without a break, and Eeth was certainly not holding back.
Despite all his desire to take it like a man, Lok eventually started yelping, then shouting, then wailing and finally crying. And yet Eeth was continuing the spanking with no end in sight, and he had not even started on the strap yet. How he could ever have thought that running off from school was a good idea, Lok could not fathom; he seriously started questioning his sanity as Eeth was busy kicking his ass into next week.

Only when Lok had gone limp and was lying bonelessly over Eeth's knee, sobbing his heart out, did Eeth lay the paddle aside.
It took quite a while for Lok to be able to pull himself together and quiet down, though. His bottom felt as if it had been roasted right off him. He tried to rub it as Eeth pulled him into an upright position, but withdrew his hand quickly; it simply hurt too much.

Without giving him much of a chance to recover, Eeth ordered: "Now go and bend over the armrest of the couch."
Lok felt his stomach drop to his feet. He could not even begin to fathom receiving the strap on top of the world-class ass kicking he had just received.
"Please," he cried pitifully, "I'm sorry. I won't ever do this again. You don't need to do this!"
"Oh, I believe I do," said Eeth, his face impassive. "You made a very bad decision, and now you are paying the price. And that price is going to rise if I do not find you in position in ten seconds."
That got Lok moving, which was made a little easier, though no less humiliating, by the fact that he had kicked his pants and underpants clean across the room at some point. Sobbing quietly, he took the position that Eeth had ordered him to take; a position that he was not entirely unfamiliar with since his master, much like Eeth, had been fairly unyielding about certain types of misbehaviour. His master had not used to carry a paddle in his belt, though, nor had he owned a strap that could rival Eeth's.

The first lick hurt like nothing else. Lok howled, and out of their own accord, his hands snapped back. Eeth merely grabbed them with his left, pinned them against Lok's back and wielded the strap again. Lok was forced to endure a full dozen strokes, and with Eeth pinning him down, there was nothing he could do to escape them. They fell exactly where Eeth wanted them to, when Eeth wanted them to, despite Lok's urgent and incomprehensible pleas for mercy.
When it was finally over, it took him at least a minute to realise it. His voice was hoarse with yelling and the couch was soaked with tears and - yuck - snot. The pain in his bottom was so fierce that he was simply reduced to helpless sobbing.

Eeth had released his hands, but the man's left hand was still on Lok's back, patting it softly. This felt strangely comforting, and Lok unconsciously arched his back into the touch. After a while, Eeth helped him into a standing position and handed him a large handkerchief. Lok buried his face in it and fell against Eeth's shoulder. He found himself embraced by two strong arms. Clinging to Eeth for all he was worth, he cried and cried. He cried out the frustration and embarrassment about his own stupidity, the fear of being kicked out and the guilt at deceiving the man who was making such an effort to take care of him.

An eternity later, he had no tears left to cry. Eeth unobtrusively handed him another handkerchief. Lok blew his nose, wiped his face clean and, flushing pink with embarrassment, released his death grip on Eeth's rather moist robes.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Apology accepted," Eeth said surprisingly gently. "Now I want you to meditate for half an hour on how to make better choices in the future."
Lok stared at him. "You want me to meditate?" he asked incredulously. "You do realise that this freaking HURTS, right?"
"Yes, that is rather the point," Eeth replied calmly. "And you deserved everything you got, so I am not going to enter a debate about this. Meditate. Stand or kneel, whatever you prefer, but meditate. I will tell you when your time is up."

It was probably the hardest bit of meditation Lok had ever completed, but by the time it was over, he noticed in surprise that his heart felt lighter and his feelings of guilt were all but gone. He realised that, as hard as the punishment had been, he had needed this in order to come to terms with what he had done.

Eeth had made use of the half hour to procure some lunch and put the paddle and the strap away.
"Lie down on the couch," he instructed Lok. "I will provide some healing for your bottom before we eat."
"You will?" Lok asked in relief. "Thank you."

While Eeth carefully spread a think layer of bacta over Lok's bottom and let some healing energy flow into the damaged area, he said: "Now, can I trust you to go to class and stay there tomorrow? All of your classes? Because if I cannot, I will have no qualms about personally walking you there, waiting in front of your classroom while the lesson goes on and delivering you to your next teacher when it is over."
"No, Sir, that won't be necessary," Lok said quickly. "I'll go on my own, to all of my classes. Promise. Really."
He hardly had a choice; it was entirely conceivable that Eeth would make good on his threat, and that would be immensely embarrassing.
"Good," said Eeth pointedly. "Of course, if you are really and honestly in need of help, tell your teacher; or excuse yourself from the classroom and call me on my comlink. I will be sure come right away."
"I know," Lok said quietly. "Thank you."
And he really meant it.