When they had arrived back at the ship in the early afternoon, Eeth said: "I would like to continue my assessment of the damage now. In an hour or two, I should know what the extent of the necessary repair work will be. We can decide on finding lodgings in town then, and we will have a workout. Until then, please continue with your school work."

Eden did not take issue with his explanation, nor did he care much about the class work. Sure, classwork would suck, but there were worse things he could be doing. 'Worse things' were apparently to come, though, as they would also be doing a workout. Well, there wasn't much he could do about that. He'd learned as much from Jay, after all. Still, he was not thrilled at the prospect.

"Okay," he replied and went to find his datapad. Next up on his list was galactic astronomy, the specific system in question being 'Hert.' Hert had recently discovered that one of its planets, Boras, no longer qualified as a planet. Thus the instructor, who had a sense of humour, requested that her students write a letter to Boras. This letter was to detail what the neighbouring planets might say to Boras should they be asked about its planetary demotion. Eden grinned and set to writing.

Eeth, to his displeasure, discovered that one circuit had blown completely and fried everything in the way. It would take a long time to repair. Most of it was going to be tedious routine work, but what was worse was that this incident had caused a leak in the cryonic acid tank. The ship was old and seriously lacking in safety systems. The leak could easily be mended, but he had no supply of cryonic acid which was needed to cool the power cell and prevent excessive loss of energy. On any spaceport, this would not have been a problem, but here, it might well be. He would have to find out.

Having thus inventoried the damage, he made his way to Eden and was pleased to find out that the boy had just concluded an astronomy project and had apparently done a decent job of it. Eeth secretly found the assignment a little silly but he did not voice his thoughts.

Eden, on the other hand, found the assignment a welcome reprieve from the typical monotony offered by that particular class. He liked that teacher; she seemed to know her stuff and was fun. His reply, too, had made the boy laugh. He'd honestly enjoyed writing it, but wasn't surprised when Eeth simply nodded and laid his pad aside. Eeth seemed to lack a sense of humour, he'd noticed.

"Let us go down the waterfront to an empty area of the beach and have a workout there," Eeth said to Eden. "Did you bring swimming gear?"

Ordinarily, the prospect of a workout would be something Eden tried to get out of, but considering the amount of sitting around and classwork he'd done over the last twelve hours, he was feeling a bit restless. Restlessness was not generally a problem for him, but he was concerned for his master and out of his depth with this part of their mission. He had no idea about starships. This was not simple negotiations as their last couple of missions had been, this was quite hands on. "Temple standard briefs," he announced, his nose wrinkling. The kid didn't care, not really; he would have gone in naked as long as there weren't parasites in the water. That idea made him shudder. "I'm not big on swimming."

"Well, then that is a skill that you need to improve," Eeth remarked dryly. "Pack your briefs and a towel." He had already inquired during lunch whether the sea was safe to swim in, and it was. It was also very inviting. The beaches were totally deserted; given that this planet was on the Outer Rim and these islands were far removed from everywhere else on the planet, they were not a tourist destination. A few local children were playing in the water and there were fishing boats to be seen, but it was fairly easy to find a secluded cove where they were not going to be watched.

"We will work out with our sabers first and then go swimming," Eeth told Eden, shedding his cloak and tunic. "But before we start, we will need to warm up." For this, he made use of their environment. He had Eden and himself run along the sandy beach and climb the palm trees, carefully watching the boy to figure out his strengths and weaknesses.

All right, so Eden had occasionally entertained ways in which he might meet his demise as a Jedi. Usually, it was being taken down by a Sith Lord during some epic battle or saving a fleet of civilians by forfeiting his own life for the greater good. 'Death by workout,' however, had not made his top five. Now it would seem that he had been wrong, oh, so wrong. He struggled up and down the dunes, his dexterity average thanks to his ability to wield the Force, but his cardiovascular fitness strained. Scaling the palm tree was anything but graceful, and by the second time, he barely managed to save his junk from being mashed off as he skidded down the trunk. Fuck. This was not at all something he enjoyed, but thus far he had kept at it. After all, he did not know Eeth that well and what he did know of him had scared the boy into giving at least a bit of an effort before complaining.

By the time Eden was breathing hard and having obvious trouble keeping up, Eeth had not even broken a sweat. "Apparently," Eeth told the boy, "your strength and endurance need improvement. Swimming will be good for that. But saber work first. What form are you working on with your master?"

"Apparently," the boy shot back, "your powers of observation do not." It was a tad on the cheeky side he knew, but then again, he wasn't exactly feeling great right now.

Eeth just raised an eyebrow at the remark, but did not comment. After all, he had been told several times before that he was good at identifying his students' strengths and weaknesses. He had also been told that he had a distinct tendency to focus exclusively on the weaknesses, which some students might find hard to deal with. Eeth did not quite see the point here. What good was there in focussing on things that did not need improvement?

"Soresu," Eden said when his next breath allowed for coherent speech. This, the third form of lightsaber combat, suited him well as it focused on maintaining one's energy and, ultimately, outlasting an opponent. Eden was very good at this. His lack of sight in one eye had forced him into strengthening his Force awareness to compensate, which made him hard to hit, well, at least by droids. His master seemed to nail him often enough. Then again, his master also practiced Soresu.

"I normally use Ataru," Eeth told Eden. "I can teach Soresu if need be, but certainly not as well as your master can. Therefore, what I will do in the following days is to teach you how to use Soresu in order to defend yourself against an opponent who uses Ataru, and how to use this opponent's attacks to your advantage. Do you have any experience with that?"

Figures, Eden thought upon hearing that Eeth practiced Ataru. "I have fought Ataru users in the crèche before. There were lots of kids who chose it, after all." Eden did not want to do this. Ataru was an aggressive, fast-paced form characterised by Force-assisted somersaults, leaping and quick, powerful strikes that seemed to come at you from every direction all at once! The few times Eden had tried Ataru, it had worn him out. The form required far too much energy, in his opinion.

Had Eeth been privy to Eden's thoughts, he would have scoffed at the boy's dislike of fighting Ataru users. Whatever form Eden ended up employing as a Jedi Knight, he would need to become proficient at dealing with various forms of lightsaber combat. Given the limited amount of time that they were going to work together, Eeth thought that it would make sense to teach Eden those things that he himself knew best.

Completely ignoring the boy's open lack of enthusiasm, he told him to take a ready stance. "I will come at you with a basic Ataru attack sequence," he said. "You block, and block only."

Eden met the man with a barely concealed snort as he took up a ready stance and ignited his blade. He remembered all too well what it was like defending himself against his Ataru-using initiate peers and had no delusions that he'd be getting in any attacks against a knight. Still, as the white glow of his weapon lit up before him, he focused on the crystal inside; if he died here, it would be a noble death, he told himself for dramatic effect.

Of course, Eeth had no intention of killing anyone. He did aim at putting Eden through his paces, though. Since he did not know the boy's level of skill and speed, he started with a standard attack sequence at medium speed. If Eden blocked it, which Eeth expected him to be able to do, he would follow up with a different sequence. The goal was to see what Eden had learned so far, but also to test his tenacity

Having a superior grasp on the Force for an eleven-year-old, Eden was able to block the first few attack sequences neatly and without much trouble. It wasn't until these attacks grew far more aggressive and aerial that the boy began to really work. Ten minutes into their match, the boy was frowning deeply, his usual sense of calm slowly being replaced with frustration; he expected Eeth to best him, but not by this much! "Enough already," he demanded, his saber held down and to the side in the universal sign of peace.

So much for tenacity. Eeth gave him a glare so fierce that it would have the average initiate running and snapped: "No, this is not enough already. I doubt that this is how it works with your master, and it certainly does not with me. Try this again, and I will have you climb trees for the rest of this workout. If you are fighting a real-life opponent, he will certainly not back off just because you decide you have had enough. So. Your skill at blocking my attacks is adequate, but you cannot keep doing that indefinitely. Do you have any strategies for gaining the upper hand or ending the fight in other ways?"

Eden snorted at the threat, then sobered. What if Eeth was actually serious? He had no idea how long the man planned to spend on this workout, but spending the rest of that time climbing up and down palm trees was certainly going to be worse. His blade flicked up, the gesture clearly irritated. "Well, you told me to block only," he said. Thinking that a tad petulant, he added: "Mostly I wait for my opponent to tire a bit before I start attacking. That isn't happening with you." It didn't happen with Jay either, but he wasn't sure what else to say.

"Yes, I had told you to block only," Eeth said coolly, "and when I do that, I mean for you to continue until I tell you to stop, not until you feel like it. Of course I would not tire out after ten minutes. There are ways to force an Ataru opponent to tire out faster than you do, though, and as a Soresu user, it is vital to employ them."

Eden's gaze lowered at the slight reprimand, but only for a second. He had not completely lost his shit over this, after all. Well, at least he had gotten to stop for a moment even if it was only going to work once. He blew out a sigh at seeing that he wasn't going to get out of this workout and resigned himself to the fact that he would just have to endure.

Eeth started to explain to Eden how to use defensive moves in order to force his opponent into counterattack sequences that cost a lot of energy. It was a matter of precision, and that was not as easy as it seemed, especially in the sand. Eden's good sense of Force control would help him with it, but it also required a high amount of body control.

What Eeth said made sense. Eden's master had said similar many times but those tactics weren't necessary often amongst his peers as they wore out a lot faster than a knight or master. Still, he guessed he should have said as much when asked. Anyway, he did not mind the break to stop and talk. He wondered: if he kept the man talking, would it shorten their workout? It was worth a try. "So, you expect me to implement all of that without losing focus on my defense or footing AND I need to manage it all with an ass crack full of sand?"

"Yes," said Eeth curtly and resumed his attack. He had recognised the question for what it was: an attempt to keep him talking, instead of fighting, and he was not going to encourage that. He also considerably increased the speed behind his attack now that he had seen that Eden could hold his own, at least where defensive moves were concerned. Only now he started rapping out instructions.

Eden couldn't win a trick here.

Thankfully, his reliance on and trust in the Force kicked in and he was just fast enough to defend when Eeth attacked. At each instruction he gave a curt nod, but he didn't have time for much else; Eeth was coming in hard and fast. He kept his movements succinct and did his best to follow instructions while not being forced into losing too much ground. That was mostly successful as he was actually listening and doing as the man said, except when he was forced to roll which left him with sand in his tunic, pants and just about every conceivable crevice. He looked like a lamington and was not at all comfortable, not that his comfort was something he guessed was important here. More infuriating was that Eeth did not seem to be having nearly as much trouble with this, nor did he look as disheveled.

Eeth had been forced at a very early age to acquire an unusually high amount of mental discipline in order to survive. In fact, his mental discipline was so impressive that it had brought the Jedi Council to accept him into the Order at the age of four, which was normally considered far too old. Ever since, he had worked extremely hard at his sparring skills – and every other area of his training, really – with the result that his physical condition was excellent. No eleven-year-old in the Temple was going to pose a challenge for him, but then, that was hardly the point. Eeth kept up the match, but he was careful not to become faster than Eden could just about handle. He had judged the boy as someone who, in his workouts at least, did not leave his comfort zone willingly, but who begrudgingly did so when forced. And that was what Eeth did.

Eden wanted badly to stop, but each time he considered losing his temper he recalled Eeth's threat and managed to push through. By the time he was finally allowed to stop, the kid was a sweaty, sandy, uncomfortable mess. He wanted nothing more than to go back to their ship, shower, change into fresh clothing and never again set foot on a beach as long as he lived. He was going to have to come up with something. Perhaps if he feigned an illness, or maybe broke a leg? Mmm that latter was probably a little drastic, but it was how he felt right now. Instead, he settled for glaring at the man, trying to will him into saying they could go back to the ship.

"And now," Eeth said in perfect calm, shaking a little sand off his trouser legs, "we go swimming. Change into your briefs, please."

There were no change rooms, of course, but nor was there anywhere near who could see them, in case Eden was on the bashful side.

"Do we have to? I am tired and sore. I really don't think swimming is going to improve on that," he said flatly.

"If you are tired and sore after that workout, you need to improve your physical condition," Eeth said equally flatly. "Swimming is going to help with that. If you are still sore when we are done, we can do something about it afterwards. Now do what I told you. And I would really appreciate it if you dispensed with the backtalk."

"That wasn't backtalk, it was a question," Eden pointed out, unaware of the irony buried in that very statement. Still, he obeyed, shucking his tunic and pants into the sand and pulling a pair of temple issue briefs from the bag. Eden was not the bashful sort, but he was mindful of the fact that nudity offended some beings. Thus, he glanced left, right and behind himself before pulling his underwear off and changing. The briefs he wore were white, making the colour of his skin stand out in contrast, not that he cared what he looked like. All he cared about right now was managing to get through this workout. It was quite possibly the hardest he'd worked physically in a while. Sure, Jay worked him hard when they were at the Temple, especially so given that it was an area in which he needed to improve, but the sand was new, and swimming was not something they did often. He glanced down the beach as Eeth changed, then met the man's eye. He didn't want to do this. Why he wasn't allowed to find his own way back to the Temple was beyond him. Instead, he had been assigned to this man who was busting his balls.

Of course, the Council would never have fathomed leaving an eleven-year-old to his own devices; and Eeth had been specifically instructed to continue the boy's training if and when circumstances allowed it. He was doing this as thoroughly as he did everything, which was probably quite a bit more thorough than most other people would have done it.

Since he did not know the boy's prowess at swimming, nor his physical limits, he took care not to stray too far from the beach. There was an outcrop of rocks about half a kilometre from the beach.

"This is where we will swim," he told Eden, pointing. "Use the style that you feel most comfortable with."

He himself started swimming ahead, then doubling back. He needed a workout himself, after all, and sparring with the boy or swimming at his speed would just not do it.

For someone not used to swimming, half a kilometre was a long way. Eden had to slow every hundred meters or so, occasionally switching from freestyle to side crawl. Having Eeth swim circles around him was not helping his mood any. He stopped at the outcrop, grabbed hold of one and caught his breath. "Show-off," he muttered, utterly unamused.

Eeth had been called a show-off more than once; he was used to it although he still did not quite get it.

"I am merely trying to put in a workout for myself," he said calmly, pulling himself up effortlessly. By now, he was at least a little out of breath, but it took more than a kilometre or so of swimming to seriously bring him anywhere close to his physical limits. "We will try to find lodgings in the city once we are back," he told Eden, resting has back against a rock and surveying the quiet beach and the fishing boats pulling into the harbour. "I am afraid the repairs are going to take us several days to complete at least. Longer if we cannot find cryonic acid in this place."

"I am merely trying to put in a workout for myself," the boy quietly mouthed when Eeth was facing the other way and pulled himself up on to the rock. His arms weren't aching yet, but he knew they would be by the time they got back in. He nodded when Eeth mentioned the repairs. "What will we do if we can't? Surely they would have to send us another ship then," he reasoned.

"Only as a very last resort," Eeth replied. And he would really hate for that to happen. This was his first mission as a Jedi Knight, for the Force's sake, and right now, he was dangerously close to feeling as if he was messing it up. Which he was not, he knew; none of the ship's defects were his fault. But he would have much preferred for things to run smoothly. "The repairs themselves are a little tedious, but not difficult," he explained to Eden. "But the cryonic acid tank leaked, and cryonic acid is hard to come by outside spaceports. However, I will certainly not take you back to the capital, and if I went on my own, I would not have enough reserve energy left to come back here. I will try to find out whether there is any opportunity to find some cryonic acid on these islands – at least enough to see us safely to the next system which has a large space station. It might be possible to order some to this place, or there might be mines or fishing factories large enough to use it for their cooling systems."

Eden lay back on the rock, closed his eyes and enjoyed the sun on his face. The ocean was pleasant. He'd rather not have to swim all the way back to the shore, but that wasn't on the cards now. For a couple of reasons, the idea of the repairs taking a long time did not please him. Firstly, he did not like being away from his master and the Temple both at the same time. Then, there was Eeth; the man was turning out to be far too adept at ordering him around for his liking. He also felt frustrated at not being of any use. He'd been shipped off like a youngling from his last mission, and now he couldn't even assist with repairs to their ship. He blew out a sigh. "I guess we'll have to do the best we can. I have no idea if we are going to find cryonic acid here either. Maybe I can go into town tomorrow and ask around while you're working on the ship." He had not asked for permission per se, but neither had he assumed the opposite.

"You might," Eeth agreed. "The number of places where it is conceivable to obtain such a substance in this town is very limited anyway. There are only the supply stores at the harbour and the wharf."

Eeth saw no reason not to allow Eden to contribute to the mission – and by now, he considered it a mission to get away from here. On the contrary: how could a padawan be expected to grow and learn if he was not allowed to make his own experiences and provide whatever help he could? Eeth might be strict, but he was certainly not the type to coddle a padawan in his charge, nor did Eden strike him as the type who wanted such a thing.

After a while, he said: "Let us head back now. The sea has tides, and they are about to change. If we wait much longer, the swim back will be a lot more exhausting."

Eden didn't need telling twice and slid from his perch on the rock. It had been comfortable there, pleasant even, but it wasn't worth trying to fight tides on the way back.

Twenty-minutes later, the kid dragged himself from the ocean and made to find his towel. He wasn't big on the sand. It tended to get into everything, but at least the swim had washed most of it off. "If there isn't cryonic acid around here, someone might know where we can find some," he said. He liked the idea of getting to do something other than school work and training.

"Possibly," Eeth said. "I sincerely hope we will manage to find some on these islands because I would rather not risk another take-off with what little reserve power we have left."

He took Eden back to town where they were told that outsiders, which was mostly people from incoming ships, usually stayed in an array of bamboo huts at the beach on the other side of the harbour. It was very basic, but there were toilets and showers, and food could be bought from a number of stalls. A number of families even lived here permanently. Eeth was told that these were the wives and children of sailors who cruised the islands for trade and passenger traffic. "Apparently, rain is an unknown around here," Eeth remarked, observing the sun rays that fell through the gaps in the roof onto the floor of the cabin. "We will stay here and save our ship's energy for the repairs, then. Let us fetch our things and have dinner."

"Or the concept of a king tide," Eden replied quietly after having noticed how close a couple of the huts were to the shoreline. Still, it passed as 'quasi-shelter', and although it was no palace room, it suited him well enough. He glanced around the small space and tossed his pack next to one of the two single beds in the room. He might have tossed his pack onto the bed, but it was swathed in some white netting that he guessed was to keep insects and the like from monstering them in their sleep. Crouching, he fingered at a tear in the base that had been tucked into the mattress and hoped that whatever this was meant to protect them from did not crawl. There wasn't much to the rooms themselves. However, they had passed several large, open huts with colourful pillows and blankets strewn around. There were also tables, so he guessed those huts would serve as a communal place to eat. Eden was hungry, not that this was anything new because, well, he was always hungry.

"I'm sore. do you think I could lie down?" The request had been honest, but it carried an edge of sarcasm. After all, it was Eeth's fault he hurt right now.

"You are not used to that amount of exercise, are you?" Eeth asked quite matter-of-factly. "Lie down. I will give you a massage. It will help your sore muscles."

"My master and I don't swim or run around in sand much, no," Eden replied while trying to figure out how best to move the netting without making more tears in it. In the end, he bundled it up and pushed it over to the far side so he could lie down and the man would be able to sit next to him without being strangled. Unsure how Eeth planned to do this, Eden simply pulled off his shirt and lay down.

"Once you have acquired more muscle power and endurance," Eeth replied, "neither swimming or running in sand will pose problems. And you have to work out somewhere near your limits in order to improve both." He started working on Eden's upper arms. Since he had plenty of experience of working out near, or even beyond, his limits, he also knew a lot about how to deal with sore muscles.

Personally, Eden thought that his master pushed him plenty hard enough as it was, but apparently, the man had been easing him into things, or so it would seem if the workout he'd just endured was anything to go by. Deciding not to comment on that, he merely nodded, his brow furrowing as Eeth found a knot in his upper arm and started mashing it out. It hurt, although was nothing more than he could handle.

His ass was no longer burning as it had earlier, not that the paddling had been particularly harsh. It had hurt him, though, as loath as he was to admit it. Why the Force Eeth had thought it necessary to bring a paddle in the first place was beyond him. What was he expecting? Did Eeth think himself some sort of Jedi vigilante? He mulled these questions around in his mind for a moment until eventually, he decided to ask. "Do you always walk around with a paddle stuck in your belt or am I just lucky?" He also wondered if it had been Eeth's choice or if the Council had told him to bring it. The latter would be worrisome because as far as Eden knew, he did not have a reputation as being a troublemaker. Sure, like most new apprentices, he was catching it often enough, but that was to be expected, or so he had been told.

Eeth pondered briefly how to phrase his answer. It never occurred to him to be evasive, let alone untruthful, though. Like most Jedi, he believed that it was every person's right to ask questions and receive honest answers, child or not. "I carry it when I am teaching," he replied. "Since the Council asked me to continue your training while I am in charge of you, I brought it."

"Oh." Eden wasn't sure what to make of that. Sure, plenty of Jedi used implements to correct misbehaviour. Force, Jay had taken his belt to him more than once, not to mention tagged him with cooking spoons. Once, he'd even used the boy's own shoe. That had fucking hurt. He also knew several teachers who used implements: some preferred canes, others rulers. But for some reason the fact that Eeth kept this on his person and had brought it specifically for him had him wrinkling his nose. "Well, just so you know, I don't need you to discipline me. I am well able to learn from my mistakes without pain," he said confidently. It was worth a shot and Eden was willing to try it on.

"Unfortunately for you," Eeth replied without humour, "it is not up to you to make that decision. I am well within my rights to physically discipline you when you disobey me, lie to me or neglect your safety, and I will not hesitate to do so. And I consider it highly unlikely that this is any different with your master – or is it?"

The thought of outright lying and stating that Jay never physically disciplined him briefly crossed Eden's mind, but that was as far as it went; lying wasn't Eden's style. That said, he was sometimes less than forthcoming with the truth which was not at all a euphemism for lying, or so he had convinced himself. "Unfortunately for me, no," he agreed. "He doesn't deem my behaviour bad enough to warrant carrying a paddle around in his belt, though. Don't you think that's just a bit over the top? What if someone sees it? Besides, it's not like I get into a lot of trouble or anything."

"No, I do not think it is a bit over the top," Eeth replied evenly, starting to work on the other arm. "So what if somebody sees it? It is good to hear that you do not get into a lot of trouble. If that is true, I will end up having carried the paddle around in vain. That is a risk I am willing to take. I do not go around looking for excuses to use the paddle on you, if that is what worries you. I merely like to be prepared."

"You might not care, but I care; how embarrassing," Eden replied to Eeth's 'so what' comment. The man's preparation did not work in his favour here, not that he said as much as it was becoming clear to him that this conversation was probably not going to go the way he wanted.

"If you find it embarrassing," Eeth said, "I will take care that nobody sees. And just for the record, I will do my best not to use it in public unless you absolutely leave me no other choice. If I have to use it at all which, according to you, is unlikely. Now, do you want me to massage your legs as well?"

Eden had been referring to the mere sight of it if someone happened to notice a paddle sticking out of Eeth's belt. That he might use the thing on him in public had not occurred to him. The boy's eyes widened, not that Eeth could see as he had his face mostly buried in the pillow. Had Jay ever whaled on him in public before? He had to think about that. No, he didn't think so. His junior crèche master had, although he had only been five at the time. At five, the last thing you cared about was who was watching; it was all about your ass and getting it away from whatever was smacking it as fast as possible.

The kid was lost in his thoughts for a moment before Eeth's question registered. "No, my legs aren't that bad, it's my arms. As I said, I'm not used to swimming. I am also not used to defending against an adult using Ataru." He sat up and rolled his shoulders. Eeth had not been gentle, but it had helped a lot. "Thanks," he said and gave the man what was probably his first genuine smile since leaving his master; he missed the man. "What now?"

"Now we fetch our things from the ship and eat dinner," said Eeth.