"Lok!" Gareth called out, hurrying up behind him.

"Oh, hi, Gareth," Lok said, turning around and giving his friend a half smile. His heart wasn't really in it, though, and it showed.

"What's up?" asked Gareth. "You've been missing in school all week. Have you been assigned a mission so soon after… uh… you now, having a new master?"

"Well, not exactly," said Lok. "My master has been assigned a mission. I was just allowed to join him and stay on the ship with a babysitter while it lasted. It was a complete disaster, though. He and his grandpadawan Flynt fell into a trap, Flynt was nearly killed, well, and I had the great idea to come to the rescue and ended up having to be rescued myself. All that after having smashed headfirst into a speeder wreck at Force-enhanced speed while a bunch of rebel soldiers were in hot pursuit. I cannot recommend following my example."

"Wow," Gareth said, eyes wide. "I can't even fathom my master taking me into such a situation at this point. I mean…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Lok with a sigh. "I don't think my master will be doing it again either. He was trying to be nice, I guess; you know, after my first master died, it would have been hard for me to be stuck at the Temple fearing for his life. And 'hard' is an understatement. Unfortunately, my master definitely stopped being nice after I went on my unauthorised rescue attempt and nearly got myself killed."

He grimaced and pointed at the place where his saber should have been.

"Ouch," said Gareth sympathetically.

"No, 'ouch' was the hiding he gave me after our return," said Lok grimly.

"Well, he does have a reputation for being strict," Gareth pointed out.

"Yes, and it's deserved, let me tell you that from first-hand experience," Lok replied a tad sullenly, opening the door to their astrophysics classroom.

He had already received two of his every-night-for-a-week spankings because the healers had ordered him to stay home from school for one more day after their return; today was day three. While these spankings had not been the horrifying ordeals he had experienced from Eeth on other occasions, they had hurt plenty, and Eeth had not offered healing either, with the result that he could feel them every time he sat down. It wasn't bad enough to render him unable to sit through a school day; just enough to remind him of the punishment he had received and the five more punishments that were still to come.

And it annoyed him. The feeling of irritation with his master that he had had at the outset of their mission had momentarily been eclipsed by the danger they had been in, his injury and the gravity of his transgression. Now it was back. So far, Lok had more or less been able to keep it in check, knowing that he was treading on thin ice anyway, but he could not help thinking that his master's disciplinary methods were completely exaggerated. Sure, they were effective. So were Jerad's, and Jerad had never deemed it necessary to spank him every night for a week! Lok was vaguely aware that this comparison was a bit unfair because with Jerad he had never been disobedient during a mission on the level that he had now been with Eeth, but he still thought that Jerad would have handled things differently. And whatever he would have decreed would have been more than adequate!

When Lok returned home after class and the door to their quarters swished open, the first thing he noticed was the delicious smell of herbs and fresh bread. For some reason, this annoyed him, too. Why, he wondered, was Eeth always being so perfect? What was wrong with simply going to the dining hall, as Jerad and he had usually done?

He pulled off his boots, hung up his cloak and made his way to his room without even saying hello to Eeth who seemed to be busy in the kitchen. And he was entirely aware that these were bad manners. He simply felt like displaying bad manners right now. He also knew that Eeth did not exactly look kindly upon bad manners, so he was rather surprised that there was no immediate reaction. After a few minutes, he found himself straining his ears. It sounded as if someone was setting the table. Well, if Eeth wanted help, he was welcome to say so!

Lok waited some more time. This was starting to become boring, however, so he finally decided to do his homework. His astrophysics assignment was rather difficult. It was not made any easier by the fact that he was hungry. He had a streak of stubborn pride, though, that he told him he could impossibly go out into the common room and ask for lunch now. After all the time he had spent in his room, this would require some sort of explanation, or worse, an apology. And he did not feel like that. Besides, by all rights, his master was supposed to check on him! Did he not care whether his padawan ate or not?

Thus, Lok plodded through his astrophysics homework and, on an increasingly growling stomach, his Bocce assignment as well. That left him with biology which he did not really feel like doing. He was just pondering whether it wouldn't be a good idea to go and seek out the bread he had smelled earlier when he sensed Eeth's Force presence approach and there was a knock on his door.

He paused for a moment, then called casually: "Yeah?" As the door opened, he made a show of starting on his biology homework.

"I have booked a training room for us in fifteen minutes, padawan," Eeth said in that calm, even, non-committal tone of voice that usually indicated he was entirely not pleased about something, but unwilling to enter an argument about it. "Please get your gym bag and come."

"I haven't had lunch yet!" Lok pointed out. It came out whinier than he would have liked.

"Since you saw no reason to offer help, let alone greet me when you returned home," Eeth replied, still in that deadpan tone of voice, "I, in turn, saw no reason to assume you were interested in lunch. I have no idea whether you expected me to serve you your lunch to your room, but that is certainly not going to happen unless you are seriously ill. Now get your gym bag. Our training room is waiting."

"I can't work out on an empty stomach," Lok said testily.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "I think you will find that there are many things you can do if you make an effort, and missing a meal will be the least of them. Fortunately so; else you would not last long during most missions. More importantly, if eating lunch is so important to you, maybe you should just have done it instead of closing yourself into your room. It is certainly not my fault that your stomach is empty. Now I am going to say it for the third and last time, and that is already one more time than I will usually repeat the same order: Get your gym bag."

It was obvious to Lok that at this point there were only two choices: Obey or be swatted. Being swatted by Eeth was not something he was keen on, especially since some of that was in his future anyway, so he obeyed with a scowl.

When they had left their quarters and made their way to the turbolift, Eeth asked politely: "Could you enlighten me as to the meaning of your behaviour today, padawan?"

"What behaviour?" asked Lok, rather more aggressively than he had meant it to sound.

"You know perfectly well what behaviour I mean," said Eeth, and this time, he sounded distinctly stern.

"Well, do I always have to have a reason for everything?" Lok asked defensively.

"Don't be absurd," Eeth said brusquely. "Of course you have a reason for everything. Or do you think I am taking you for a mindless idiot? But since you seem incapable of giving a straightforward answer, let me rephrase the question. Have I given you any cause not to mind your manners towards me?"

This was a stupid way to rephrase the question, Lok thought in annoyance. It was a yes-or-no question, which meant that Eeth would expect him to give a yes-or-no answer. And the answer was, embarrassingly enough, a clear "no". Which Lok ground out reluctantly, barely resisting the urge to stomp his feet.

"I see," said Eeth simply. And nothing more. That irked Lok somewhat.

"What do you see?" he asked flippantly.

Eeth gave him a long, thoughtful look as the turbolift made its way to the lower levels.

"I see that you have resumed the same irritable behaviour that I noticed before and during our mission," he finally said quietly. "The one where you seem constantly annoyed by everything I say or do and act as if you are intent on having your bottom spanked multiple times per day. If that is really what you want, I will be happy to oblige, but I highly doubt that is the case. As such, I advise you to contemplate the reasons for your behaviour and talk to your soul healer about it. If you keep testing the limits of my tolerance, you will not be pleased with the result."

Lok snorted. "Tolerance, yeah…" he muttered.

The turbolift door hissed open. Eeth followed Lok outside, calmly and firmly took hold of his arm, bent him forward against the wall of the corridor, pulled out his paddle and swatted him three times, hard.

Releasing his hold, he said curtly: "My point exactly."

Lok had not expected this. He managed to bite back yelps during the swats, but they stung fiercely, even over his pants. Righting himself, he turned and noticed a couple of passers-by throwing him half-amused, half-sympathetic glances. He felt his cheeks redden.

"Do you like punishing me in front of an audience?" he asked hotly.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Whether you find me aggravating or not, I expect you to be respectful," he said coolly. "You know that, and you also know the consequences of disrespect. If you do not want anyone watching, mind your manners."

"For Force's sake, it was a joke!" Lok exclaimed in annoyance.

Eeth just gave him a look of polite disbelief and pointed him to the change rooms.

When Eeth started to lead him through a round of warm-up exercises, Lok realised that he had never had to do this on an empty stomach. Come to think of it, he had never ever had to really miss a meal either. Jerad and he had undertaken several missions and survival exercises, but somehow food had never been a real issue, especially since Lok was not at all picky about what he ate. Of course, at thirteen years of age, he had never been assigned a mission that involved true hardship. He liked to think that he would be able to deal with it when it happened, but right now, he thought in irritation, there was absolutely no reason for him to go hungry other than Eeth's desire to get back at him for not having greeted him properly, which was entirely disproportional and unfair. And it was with that attitude that he went through the exercises.

Eeth did not comment on Lok's lackluster performance. He simply made the warm-up longer and more thorough than usual; at least that was the impression Lok got. Not one to give up easily, he gritted his teeth and made more of an effort. Apparently, Eeth noticed; he ended the warm-up and handed Lok his saber for kata practice.

Being handed his saber by his master, like a creche baby, was degrading, Lok felt. With a mighty scowl on his face, he went through the eighth kata, not particularly caring what he did. Unfortunately, Eeth was not very tolerant of his sloppy performance. He stuck out his foot at precisely the right moment; Lok stumbled, lost his balance and fell clean onto his ass.

"Pay attention to your stance," Eeth said drily. "Start over."

"Are you actively trying to annoy me?" Lok asked in a rather accusatory tone of voice, disigniting his saber and picking himself up from the floor slowly.

Eeth raised his eyebrows.

"I think that is your part today," he replied matter-of-factly. "I am merely trying to teach you. Start over."

"I'm hungry," Lok said angrily, "and you're refusing to let me have lunch for no good reason."

Eeth's mouth tightened into a firm line as he fixed a penetrating glare onto his padawan. He did not say a word, but Lok knew that look: either he obeyed, or there was going to be trouble. And that did it. Lok was suddenly felt a rage the likes of which he had not felt in a long time. He wanted to get back at Eeth for not behaving like a master should; he wanted to make him feel as bad as Lok himself felt. He flung his saber onto the ground and yelled: "You're an insufferable control freak! My real master would have gotten me some lunch instead of standing there and watching me until I make the tiniest mistake and then jumping on it. You're not a master, you're a– a– bully! I HATE YOU!"

For the first time since he had got to know Eeth, the man looked actually shocked, if only for a brief moment, and that gave Lok a feeling of satisfaction. However, it was also disturbing; Eeth had never, ever given him the impression that he had no idea what to do or say. Until now. Lok took in the outright flabbergasted look on the man's face and then did the only thing he could think of, which was to turn and run. He fleetingly heard an order to stop, but paid that no mind; and surprisingly, nobody came after him to snatch his collar. That's how important I am to him, he thought bitterly as he weaved through the crowds in the gym's main hallway. It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea where he was going to. And he was not going to hide in a meditation garden again. That had not worked particularly well the last time he had tried it either. He needed a different strategy.

He ran his hand through his hair as he hurried along a random corridor and thought. He did not want to meet Gareth or any of his other friends. They were leading happy, healthy lives; they would not understand. Then inspiration struck him. Gwened! She had been Jerad's padawan as well; she had been affected by losing him just as much. Gwened might be able to advise him.

"Gwened, you have to help me," he said in despair, plopping down onto her carpet. "I made a huge mistake."

"What, have you been smoking death sticks or got involved with a girl?" asked Gwened, sitting down next to him and putting an arm around her shoulder.

"No, I accepted a new master and found out I can't stand him," Lok said morosely.

Gwened gave him an incredulous look. "You must be joking," she said. "I've seen the two of you. You seemed to get along with him just fine. And he clearly cares about you, a lot!"

"Obviously not enough to come after me," Lok pointed out. "Or to let me eat lunch before he drags me to the gym. I'm starving."

Gwened frowned. "This makes no sense to me," she admitted. "How about I find something to eat for you and you tell me the whole story?"

"Okay," Lok agreed. Things looked bleak, but food sounded like a good idea.

Five minutes later, he was tucking into a sandwich and starting to feel a little silly. Still, Gwened was there and willing to listen, and he felt like he owed her an explanation. She knew the basics of the disastrous trip to Mahau, so he started by telling her the details. The more he talked, the easier it seemed. He told her all about his irritation with his master; his annoyance at Eeth's strictness, which seemed totally over the top; and the events that had led him to Gwened's quarters. Gwened listened quietly and intently, without interruptions and without any kind of judgment in her facial expression, which made it a lot easier for Lok to pour his heart out.

"I don't know what got over me," he said in despair. "I was just so angry! I yelled at him the most hurtful stuff I could think of at the moment, calling him a control freak and a bully, and, well…" He blushed. "I screamed at him that I hate him. And I know that hit home because I've never seen him look at me like this before."

"Do you still feel that you hate him?" asked Gwened softly.

Lok paused. "No," he said finally, "and I don't think I felt like that even when I yelled it. The control freak thing… okay, maybe a little. I was angry with him, for whatever reason. But I don't hate him. I'm just afraid he might hate me after all this."

Gwened solemnly shook her head. Lok remembered that at times he had thought she lacked a sense of humour, but right now he found that fact comforting. She would never laugh about him. "You don't really believe that," she said. "He's not an insecure teenager, after all. Do you really think he would give up on you that easily?"

Lok suddenly remembered the last time when he had believed Eeth would kick him out. It hadn't happened. He had received quite a punishment, though; the memory made him flinch. "Probably not," he admitted. "But I assume he's quite mad at me."

"If I were him," Gwened said quietly, "I wouldn't be mad, I'd be worried."

Lok thought about this. Yes, Eeth tended to worry, especially about his safety. On the other hand, why had he not come after him? In contrast to the last time Lok had run away, he was not making any particular effort to raise his shields, so Eeth could easily have found him by now.

"Well, why isn't he ringing your doorbell, then?" he asked Gwened. "We have a training bond and all."

"I dunno, maybe he wants to give you some space," Gwened suggested. "Or he might expect you to yell at him again? Maybe he simply doesn't know what to do. Or he did the same thing you did, and found someone to talk to?"

Lok was simply not used to thinking of Eeth in such terms. So far, Eeth had always seemed to know what to do, without having talked to someone first! But it was true that the look on his face when Lok had screamed at him had been unprecedented.

"So you think I should be the one to seek him out?" he asked Gwened uncertainly. Gwened was silent for a while. Then she said: "Before you do that, you might want to think about just why he annoys you so much. You said yourself you have no idea what got into you. A lot of what you said sounded a lot like… no, forget it."

"What did it sound like?" pressed Lok. He had been wondering the same thing himself, and he had found no answer so far.

Gwened hesitated. "It might be totally stupid," she hedged. "It was just an impression. I don't know if it would be fair to sell it to you as if I was some kind of soul healer."

"I know you aren't," said Lok. "But I still want to know what it sounded like to you. Please."

Gwened sighed. "Alright," she said. "It sounded to me as if you are angry with Eeth for… well, for not being Jerad."

Lok just looked at her, at a loss for words. At this moment, the doorbell rang.