Dinner was simple, but very good. A huge grilled fish seasoned with spices was served on a platter for everyone to serve themselves, accompanied by a stack of fresh flat bread loaves and platters of tropical fruit. They sat on cushions and watched the sun set. Seated around them were about fifteen other guests: a few men who looked like sailors and two families, both without fathers. One of the mothers had a baby and two toddlers; the other had a range of children from around age five to older teenagers. Eeth noticed that they were throwing Eden curious looks. "Feel free to talk to them if you like," Eeth said. "If you do, stick to our cover story, though."

In Eden's opinion, dinner was delicious, the fruit dessert even better, but their ocean view as the sun went down was by far the highpoint. His hunger sated and muscles sore, but comfortably so, the boy leant back into his cushion, content to allow the stress from the past few days to fade into the Force. He hadn't noticed anyone taking a particular interest in him, not that he would blame them if they did; what with Eeth's horned head and his own dark skin, silver hair and white eye, they both stood out like bantha balls to the locals. He glanced over at Eeth, nodding once in response. He wasn't a particularly talkative person. That was one thing that he and the knight shared. That said, he was curious about this place and the people who lived here. Not to mention the fact that he needed to use the refresher and a palm tree wouldn't work for this! He threw a glance around. Given that he already had Eeth's permission to wander, the boy made for what he hoped was their amenities. It was. He was not surprised to find a different setup here from what he was used to. He did, however, tilt his head to one side at spotting the hose. Okay, so this was not something he'd come across before; at the Temple, they used sonic cleaners!

Twenty minutes later the boy emerged, feeling none too comfortable but covering it well. How anyone could walk around comfortably with a wet ass crack was honestly beyond him. Besides, his trousers had a tiny wet patch. If there was some local trick to preventing this, Eden did not know about it. So he made his way back to Eeth fast and sat down.

A few minutes later, a boy and a girl about Eden's age made their way over to where he and Eeth were sitting. "Excuse us if we're interrupting," the girl said, "but we're curious. We don't often get visitors from off-world here. Where are you from?"

Eeth looked up at them. "Coruscant," he replied truthfully. He glanced at Eden. "Would you like to tell them about it?" he asked quietly.

No, not really. Eden wasn't the chatty sort. That said, neither did he want to be rude, so he sat up a little straighter and met the two with a slight smile. "It's smoggy," he began. Upon realising that this was probably not enough, he elaborated. "Nothing like here. It's said that the rarest resource on Coruscant is the sky. Everything is built up, 5127 levels up, to be exact. With that many levels, you can imagine that not much sun reaches the bottom. It's uninhabitable. We live in the Galactic City, but most live in the underworld areas."

"5127 levels! How do you get around on the lower levels without crashing into stuff all the time?" the boy asked.

"Mostly public transport," Eden replied. "Speeders are less common the further you travel into the underworld. On the surface, air speeders use sky lanes and have auto-navigation systems so they don't crash."

"Heh, sounds like lots of noise to me. So, what do you two do, and why are you both here?" the girl asked.

Eden just shrugged. He was used to the noise by now, not that he said as much. He glanced at Eeth, wondering if he was going to answer the question or leave it to him.

"I'm running a small courier enterprise, together with a partner," Eeth said. "Eden here is my partner's son. He sometimes comes along on our trips during term breaks. We had been delivering something to Koros and on our way back we had a defect in our power system, forcing us into an emergency landing on this planet. Since there seemed to be armed fights going on in the capital city, we decided to better land as far away from it as possible. Now we are trying to repair the ship, but this could pose a problem since we discovered that our cryonic acid tank has a leak."

"I dunno if you'll have much luck getting your hands on cryonic acid here," the boy said. "But they're building a huge wharf on the island of Taktaw, did you know that? It's where our dad works. You might have more luck there."

"No, we didn't know that. Is it difficult to get to Taktaw if you don't have a ship?" Eden asked, curious to know how they were going to get there. Boat? Speeder? Foot? He wasn't sure, although prayed the latter wasn't the case, especially so if it was going to be a long haul.

"A trading boat leaves for the continent once a week, passing by Taktaw. There will be another leaving, uh?" the boy glanced at his sister.

"Day after tomorrow," the girl supplied. "But it will only stop at B'tik, a small fishing village at the south coast. From there you'll have to hire a tinny to take you to the north where the wharf is built. Shipping connections are bad right now since a lot of passenger ships are staying in ports due to the fighting. But the trading boat is still making its supply trips."

"We should consider this," Eeth told Eden in a low voice. "Tomorrow, both of us try to find out whether any cryonic acid is available on this island. If not, travelling to the building site will be our next best bet. They will have their own supplies and some of their machines will be sure to use cryonic acid."

Eden shrugged. That sounded like a good enough plan to him.

The group talked about the island for a bit longer. Apparently, Taktaw was not as large as Auwago. That said, it was the nearest of Niwago's Islands to the mainlands. Hence, many ocean traders passed it by. This was why they needed the new wharf, according to the two locals. They were hoping to boost their island's fortunes. So far, they had little more than fishing villages to offer.

"Most of our traffic comes in from overhead," the girl, whose name turned out to be Sage, told them. They were about to ask some more questions about Coruscant when their mother came over. She greeted the group, introducing herself, and then politely excused her kids; it was time for them to go home.

Not long after, Eeth and Eden did the same.

"Owchfuckitandshit," Eden hissed, having cracked his shin on the small table. There was no electric lighting in these small huts, just a glow lamp that sat on the table. Not wanting a lecture on being mindful of his surroundings, Eden lit it quickly and sat to pull off his boots.

"No cursing, please," Eeth said evenly. However, he knelt down next to Eden and briefly rested his hand on the boy's shin, letting some healing energy flow into the area and soothe the pain. He was good at healing, for a field knight. "We should perform an evening meditation together," he said. "Let us get ready for bed first."

Eden had the prudence to appear sheepish over the mild rebuke. Jay did not mind if he occasionally cursed, as long as it was situationally appropriate to do so. He guessed that cursing in the presence of a Jedi Knight he barely knew did not qualify as situationally appropriate. Still, he took it on the chin and yanked off his socks. He was surprised at the healing Eeth was able to do. As far as he knew, most field Jedi had rudimentary skills in Force healing at best, this knight seemed capable of doing much more than the basics. "Did you spend time training with the healers or something?" he asked curiously,as he pulled off his trousers and shirt and then yanked a now creased pair of cotton sleep pants from his pack.

"Not in order to become a healer," Eeth replied. "My skills are above the average for a field knight, however; thus, I took some time developing them further." Of course, a major reason for his overdeveloped skills at healing was his childhood as an orphan in the slums of Nar Shaddaa, where he had drawn on the Force instinctively in order to survive. But there was no way he was going to talk about this, least of all to a junior padawan!

"Oh," Eden replied neutrally. He wasn't sure what exactly he had expected to receive as an answer to that question. Thus, he pulled on his pants, grabbed his toothbrush from his pack and hefted the bucket of sweet water by their door which was filled for them each morning. "I'll leave it out for you," he said nonchalant and disappeared outside to clean his teeth and take a leek.

Ten minutes later, the boy entered, tossed his toothbrush in his pack and sat down on what passed as their floor to wait. Bits of stick from the fallen ceiling jabbed into his legs and butt, and so the boy took a moment to shuffle around until he was comfortable, shucking tiny shards of stick and stones that were too small to be noticed but were surely felt when sat upon.

Eeth returned after a few minutes, having spent that time thinking about how to do this. He had been on the receiving end of joint meditations any number of times, but had rarely led them. Besides, he did not share a training bond with the boy.

Having come to a decision, he sat down opposite Eden and said: "I will guide you through a meditation that will enable you to focus on your bond with your master. Depending on your prowess at meditation, you might or might not be able to establish an actual connection with him and gain a sense of how he is faring. Since your skills at Force work seem to be adequate, you might well manage it." The meditation in question was a complex one to guide another person through, but Eeth had excellent mental control; he was confident that he would manage.

"Adequate? I'd say they are more than 'adequate,'" the boy corrected him, a hint of indignation in his tone.

"There is still room for improvement," Eeth replied evenly. "Maybe less so in this area than in others."

Eden's instructors had told him that he had excellent control and ability to wield the Force. Still, he had noticed that Eeth had yet to tell him he had done anything more than 'adequate.' Oh, well, he was not the sort to need much praise, and so he nodded to show he understood, closed his eyes and dropped his shields, completely. Eden had no issues doing this. He was used to masters and teachers guiding his meditations, and it had yet to occur to him that bombarding them with a torrent of his emotions might be uncomfortable for them.

Eeth linked with Eden and was surprised at the sudden onslaught of emotions he received, which he hastily channelled into the Force. Of course, he realised: the boy had been taught to do this in every meditation, and he would have no idea that Eeth had never helped anyone to release their emotions into the Force before. Not betraying anything of the fact that this was new to him, Eeth did his best to help Eden attain a calmer state of mind and was surprised how well this worked, and how downright pleasant it was. It seemed that other people's negative emotions were a lot easier for Eeth to deal with than his own!

He then guided Eden into a meditation pattern that was meant to help him focus intensely on the bond he shared with his master. It required something akin to a spiralling approach that was hard for many youngsters to master, but Eeth thought Eden might manage.

The technique that Eeth was teaching him was new to Eden. Jay had decided that his grasp of the Force was such that it could take a backseat to his physical training which needed immediate improvement. Thus, when Eeth began to guide him through this, Eden followed him eagerly. Force work had always come easily to him. It seemed so natural, as if he were merely extending his arm and grasping a cup. This, however, was not the standard meditation and it was only with some effort that he managed to grasp the concept.

By the time their half hour was up, the boy was smiling. He had not managed to get a clear sense of his master, but he had sensed something and would have sworn blind that he had elt his master's presence. When he opened his eyes, the huge smile was still on his face. "Thanks, that was so cool!" he exclaimed, clearly excited at what they had just achieved.

Eeth was surprised at how gratifying it felt to hear this. "You are welcome," he said solemnly and a little stiffly, never one for showing his emotions. "Now let us go to bed. It might be good if I started mending the leak tomorrow while you go looking for cryonic acid. That way, we will be able to fill the tank immediately in the event that you find some."


The following morning Eden woke feeling tired. He hadn't slept well, and his arms and back were now a bit stiff from the previous day's workout. "Morning," he said tiredly, squinting his good eye to try and see through the insect netting into the bed opposite. Automatically he had reached out with the Force, which meant that well before his eyesight kicked in, he knew Eeth was not there. He threw his legs over the side of his bed and fought with the netting for a moment before finding his feet. He was just about to stick his head out the door when the man entered, startling him briefly. "I have to take a leak," he said in way of greeting, stepping aside to let the man enter and offering a slight bow.

"Good morning, Padawan Eden," Eeth, who had already meditated and got ready for the day, said pointedly. "Yes, go ahead."

After they had performed a brief morning meditation, they had breakfast in the communal tent. The other inhabitants of the camp seemed to be still asleep.

"I think it is too early to check out the stores," Eeth said. "We will go to the ship where you can put in an hour or two of school work. After that, you should go into town and look for cryonic acid. I will try to mend the leak in the meanwhile."

Which was what they did. Eden couldn't say that class work was amongst his favorite of tasks; it wasn't. But he knew it had to be done. Thus, he didn't complain and did as told.

Two hours later, he was bored shitless with his assignments. The boy stood, stretched out his sore muscles, rolled his shoulders and craned his neck. Eeth was still busy in the cable shaft, so he moved towards the door. He wanted some fresh air but did not exit; Eeth had told him not to do this, after all.

At this point, Eeth came out towards the galley. He raised his eyebrows at the fact that Eden had gotten up, but chose not to comment; instead, he checked the boy's progress with his school work and deemed it satisfactory. "Alright, go into town and check for cryonic acid now," he said. "Go to each store at the waterfront and, if they don't have cryonic acid, make sure to ask them if they know where to get some or what other stores to check out. I will continue working on the leak in the meanwhile. It is rather difficult to get at." He handed Eden a comlink. "It is set to contact me when you activate it," he said. "Call me if there are any problems."

"There won't be any problems," Eden said confidently while pulling on his pack and accepting the comlink. Eden hadn't done anything like this before, at least not alone. That said, he was determined to be of some use on this 'mission', and it wasn't like this was a difficult task. After checking the signal, he made towards the hatch and hesitated. Eeth had told him not to open it, but surely he was not going to be as pedantic as all that?

Eeth correctly interpreted Eden's hesitation and said: "Go ahead. I will close behind you and lock. Comm me when you are back. Do not take more than three hours, please. I expect you back at our lodgings by one o'clock. If you are unable to make it for some pressing reason, contact me."

"Gee, instructions much. Sure you didn't leave anything out there?" Eden replied, thinking that the man had covered about every conceivable outcome.

The expression on Eeth's face darkened. "I would appreciate it if you lost the attitude," he said sternly.

Eden eyeballed him for a moment. Upon seeing the expression on the man's face, he wisely refrained from continuing to argue the point. "Yes, Sir," he said instead. He gave a mock salute, turned on his heel and marched off. It was about as much smart-assery as he dared, especially since he did not know Eeth all that well.

Eeth was tempted to come after the boy and swat him, but he refrained from doing so – partly because he remembered the creche instructors he had worked with who had advised him to overlook such small things as long as he was obeyed, and partly because he did not know Eden well and had no idea how Eden's master handled such things. He took his task of looking after Eden seriously, but at the same time, he had no desire to meddle with the way his master raised him. Keeping his comlink handy, he again climbed up the inner hull, continuing to weld the leak shut. This was, unfortunately, a job too tricky for the primitive repair droid this ship was equipped with.

The roads in town were constructed of mainly compressed sand, and in some places, stones, both of which Eden assumed were sourced somewhere locally, given the lack of large machinery around. The street shops and stalls themselves were brightly coloured and decorated with creative signage. Some sold clothing, their long, thin garments, stripy scarves and grass hats hung from the ceilings on wire hangers. They blew around in the breeze, and he guessed that if the wind got too much, they would have to pull all these down lest they be fishing their wares out of the ocean for the next week. The food stalls were all open-fronted, and some were joined together. Each had a variety of foods that ranged from fresh and dried fruits to meats and in some stalls, grain, legumes and animals from the oceans. As they had discovered last night, the shops were bunched into their related genres; food shops were in one area, then clothing, then tools and equipment, and it was to the latter area that he made his way first.

As it turned out, there was a small amount of cryonic acid available here, but the quantities were so minuscule that it would probably be of no use to them. As Eeth had surmised, these stocks were meant to service small engines of which there were not many on this Island. Still, the boy purchased the single canister he had found, stuffed it in his pack and questioned the man over where he could find more. By the time he was done with this section, Eden had purchased another two small canisters from other vendors. They probably wouldn't be nearly enough to fix their ship, although it might just get them to Taktaw. He didn't know. What he did know was that it was freakin' hot, and everyone he had spoken to so far had told him that for large ship engines he would need to travel to Taktaw. Travelling to Taktaw was to be a mission in and of itself if he did not find enough cryonic acid to allow them to use their ship.

It was about half past eleven when he stopped by a food stall, intent on ordering himself a snack before checking in on the last few shops on his way back to their lodgings. He was squatted down in the shade skimming the menu when a couple of familiar voices caught his attention. It was Sage and her brother, Taram, from the night before. He smiled as they approached him, stood and greeted them politely.

"Hi, Eden!" Sage said enthusiastically, her head tilting to one side as she realised he was about to order food from the shop. "You and Eeth wanna join us for lunch? We're all sitting down at the freshwater pools on the outskirts. It's cooler there this time of day, and we can go for a swim too."

"Yeah, the water's clean, ice cold and not as itchy or sandy as the ocean," her brother added.

Eden thought about this, the menu forgotten for the time being. "Eeth's working on our ship. How far away is it?" Because if it were too far out of the town, it was probably going to get him into trouble – not that shucking his responsibilities to go play with his friends would go over well.

"'Bout ten minutes walk. It's no biggie, we all go there, and there's plenty of parents if you're worried about being unsupervised." Taram didn't think that was why he had asked, though, given that he was apparently in town by himself.

Ten minutes. That hardly qualified as out of the question to Eden. Okay, okay, so technically he wasn't meant to leave the area, he was meant to be checking the rest of the shops, not running off to swim… But the idea sounded positively blissful to the hot, sweaty apprentice. He glanced at his comlink. He still had an hour and a half left, and it would not take him all that long to get back. He contemplated contacting Eeth for a moment when a thought occurred to him: what if Eeth forbid it? He was a brand new knight and didn't know him from a bar of soap. What if he was overly cautious? Then there was the fact that he had been a smartass before he'd left; if this had been Jay, he doubted the man would be keen to allow him privileges after that. He mulled this over in his mind for a while before deciding that it was worth the risk. Besides, Eeth did not have a training bond with him, so he couldn't sense his whereabouts. And what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. The kid winced at his thoughts. It was very unlike him to be deceptive, but Force, he was eleven years old, this was all new and exciting for him and above all, he really, really wanted to go. "Why not? Let's see it, then." And a few minutes later, he was heading for the outskirts to a place called 'The Boulders."

"I see where the place gets its namesake," said Eden upon arriving. The place was picturesque, there was no debating that. What stood out most were the massive rocks and stone sheets strewn about it in no specific order. Some were lodged into the ground while others stuck out from differently sized pools of water. He assumed that volcanic activity caused these giant crevices and that they were filled from an underground bore, given that there were no apparent waterfalls or other sources.

"Go ahead, feel it if you're brave enough," Taram encouraged Eden, kicking off his sandal to dip a bare toe in the nearest pool.

Not to be outdone, Eden sat, pulled off his shoe and followed suit. The water was like freakin' ICE! "Chilly! However does it manage that?"

"It comes from a deep artesian bore. That, coupled with the overhanging canopy, means the water is cool instead of baking hot like most other places," Sage explained.

"Lunchtime, you lot, hurry up," called a woman that Eden recognised from last night as Taram and Sage's mother. He inclined his head in way of greeting, but it seemed to be lost on her as she was immediately busy with a toddler bend on pulling the tablecloth, along with everything on it, off and onto himself.

"Jerome's keeping her busy. I dare you to go first," Taram challenged Eden, whipping off his shirt and tossing it aside.

Not to be outdone, Eden copied the teen, shucking his shirt, pants, pack and comlink until they were standing there in their underwear. "Ladies first," he told the older boy, earning himself a snort from Taram and…. "Argh!" Eden jumped back as freezing cold water splashed his bare skin. Apparently, Sage had not appreciated the comment and decided to wipe them both out. Well, it had worked. The two boys stared at her, water dripping from their hair.

"Hurry up before mum notices! Unless of course, you're both chicken?" Sage shot cheekily and covered her face when the pair entered, bomb style, making a huge splash.

"Holy. Holy! SMOKE! It's. Just. The. COLD-est! Water. I've ever. Felt!" Eden managed to get out, noting that his jaw had involuntarily clenched up and his voice was an octave higher than usual. Theoretically, it probably wasn't as cold as it felt, but his body was just so hot that the effect was practically heart-stopping. He reached down, yep, his balls were not having anything to do with this insanity and were currently lodged in his adenoids. He swallowed to dislodge them. Fuck, this might actually kill an elderly person, he thought. None of them had time to laugh at his reaction, though; all the splashing had drawn their mother's attention, and she came over brandishing what looked like a salad spoon.

"I thought I told you two that lunch was ready, not to go for a swim. Out." She gave her two children a swat each with the spoon as they rushed past her to find their clothing. She wasn't really upset, but she could hardly let them know that. Eden looked warily at the woman as he leapt from the water, but it hadn't looked like it hurt all that much. He threw on his clothing and immediately felt better for having taken the dip; he was now cool and comfortable.

"Eden's gonna join us for lunch," Sage announced proudly. She was rubbing at a round splotch low on her left butt cheek, yet her expression was far from chastened. In fact, both Taram and Sage looked like they were trying to keep from grinning.

"We'd love to have you, sweetie. Does your dad's friend know where you are?" she asked Eden.

"Yes, Ma'am," Eden told her. It wasn't exactly a lie; Eeth knew he was in the town, after all, and this wasn't that far from the town.

"Alright then, I'll set you a place by us."

Lunch with their family was a lively affair. Different families joined them as they sat and talked. It was enjoyable. Eden had been dutifully checking his watch as they ate but then a whole bunch of them had gone back to the pools, and he had lost track of time. Not by much, though. It was half past twelve when he checked, he'd have time to check the other shops and get back to the ship by one o'clock. He would dry on the way back. But he didn't want to leave!

"Why not tell Eeth that you want more time, what can it hurt?" Sage had suggested when Eden had explained that he needed to get back.

Well, Eeth had told him to contact him if he needed more time, so, maybe he would. At the same time, Eden didn't exactly want to say that he was swimming with friends, nor did he want to admit to anyone here that he didn't have permission to be doing this, especially their mum after he'd told her he did. Frowning at the mess he seemed to have landed himself in here, he grabbed his comlink and stared at it. "Alright, give me a second," he told the others who were now back playing with several kids from other families, and moved out of hearing range. As Eeth had explained, the comlink was set to dial him upon activation, so he activated it and waited. Maybe he would get lucky and the man wouldn't answer? Yes, that would be the ideal scenario.

Eeth had just finished welding the last bit of the leak shut. That left him with fixing the molten cables and replacing a number of parts, which was going to take a day or two. He extracted himself from the inner hull and was just about to head for the shower when Eden contacted him. "What is it, Padawan Eden?" he asked, having accepted the communication.

Okay, so luck was not on his side today...

Eden dragged a hand down his face. After flicking off the last of the water, he cleared his throat. "I'm still in town, but I'd like more time to look around," he said, never one to beat around the bush. It wasn't entirely truthful, but neither was he going to admit that he'd left the town, gone swimming with some kids and neglected to finish his work. If Eeth gave him long enough, he would be able to stay for a while longer as well as finish his duty.

"What do you need it for?" asked Eeth. "Are there more shops than we had noticed?"

"A couple," replied Eden, pausing. "People like to talk, too, you know? Also, I met up with some kids from last night, and they have invited me to go swimming with them now. Can I go, please?" Eden asked, his tone sheepish. Given the attitude he'd had before leaving, he doubted the knight would be in any mood to grant him favours. Still, he figured that a half lie was easier to cover than absolute bullshit. Besides, he had no intention of confessing that he'd already spent an hour swimming with friends.

Eeth was not quite buying this, but he decided to focus on what was important now and ask questions later. "You said yourself that your duties are not yet complete," he said woodenly. "There is no question of going out before that is the case. Finish checking the stores as fast as possible and then meet me at our lodgings. We will have lunch there."

Eden frowned, not that Eeth could see it. His friends were beckoning for him to hurry up which forced him to turn his back on them lest he fuck this up even more. "If I finish my work first, can I go swimming?" he wanted to know. Eden sounded like a whiny kid, he knew, but Force, he couldn't help it.

"Padawan Eden, I need to hear about your findings and I might have questions about them," Eeth said, and his voice was distinctly stern now. "Therefore, you will do as I told you and meet me immediately after you are finished. Is that understood?"

"No," he started, but stopped himself. If this were his master, he'd get in serious trouble for continuing to argue past that point. He sighed and acquiesced. "Yes, Sir." He was not at all happy about this but could see no way out of it. He wasn't comfortable outright disobeying the man after all.

"Remember," Eeth said severely, "our aim is to get away from here as fast as possible. Think of it as a mission. Your enjoyment is not paramount to the success of this mission, but the completion of your task is. Now get to it." He ended the call, frowning. Why did so many padawans have so much trouble with the concept of duty over leisure, he wondered. He was aware that he had his faults, too, but this had never been one of his, and it was one that he had a hard time understanding.

Eden knew what his duty was, but at barely eleven years old, he still had boyish urges. Resigned, he tossed the comlink onto his pack and jumped back into the water, bomb style. Eeth had not given him a time, but he had given him time to visit the shops; another ten minutes would never be noticed.

"All good?" Sage asked when Eden surfaced and shook the water from his hair.

Taram raised a hand to stop the water from spraying his face. "Yeah, you staying? Because if you are, we can show you around our place afterwards if you like."

"I can't. Eeth is busting my balls about getting back. He wants the cryonic acid," Eden explained.

Sage snorted. "Talk about the fun police!"

"They don't want to be stuck here forever. They are from Coruscant, this must be boring for them," Taram told his sister as if it should be obvious.

Eden thought Taram's comment amusing, but didn't let on; if they only knew how boring his life could be, he thought. Outwardly, however, he said: "Nah, I like it here, it's peaceful. – Look," he added, changing the subject. "I have a bit of a problem. You see, I did not exactly ask for permission to come here, and I probably should have. Also, I might have told your mum that I did. Just don't mention it to anyone, okay?"

Sage and Taram exchanged a look, smiled, and then they looked back at Eden. "No problem, it's forgotten already," said Sage, speaking for them both.

"Excellent, thanks. I doubt Eeth would care but he's my dad's friend, and I don't want to piss him off. I would hate it if he decided it was too much trouble bringing me along and I miss out next holidays."

"Don't sweat it, man, we're not gonna flap our lips," Taram reassured.

It was enough for Eden, so he spent another five or so minutes playing before deciding he had pushed it far enough, and reluctantly got out. He had no towel, but it didn't matter; nobody here used them as the sun was hot enough to dry your clothing while still wearing it. That, of course, worked in Eden's favour as by the time he arrived at their lodgings, he was bone dry. He did not make eye contact with Eeth immediately. Instead, he spoke into his pack as he started pulling stuff out. "Three small canisters. Do you think that will be enough to get us to Taktaw?" he asked Eeth.

Eeth immediately noticed that the boy was not comfortable looking him into the face, but he put that down to the fact that he had told him off earlier. Glancing at the canisters, he shook his head. "I was afraid that this would be the case," he said. "Unfortunately, cryonic acid is not like fuel. It is needed for cooling the engines and power circuits, and we need a full tank, no matter how short or long our trip is. Taking off puts a particular strain on the ship, so we cannot even start thinking about leaving here before our tank is full. I assume that means we will have to take the boat tomorrow. We can work out the details of the trip after lunch."

Eden knew very little about spaceship mechanics and thus had been unable to provide answers to the questions the vendors had asked. Still, he had deemed the small amount of cryonic acid worth the little expense in case it happened to be of use. He sighed at finding out that it was not going to be and nudged at one with a bare toe. "Great," he commented unenthusiastically as he pulled stuff from his pack. "I've heard that it's not an easy trip to make. Well, I guess we don't have much of a choice. Unless, of course …" He paused briefly to set aside a bottle of nut water that he had picked up on the way back. "… we wait here for my master to be done with his mission." He popped the seal and took a sip. "It's not so bad here, although it is freakin' hot."

"Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how the situation on this planet will develop and whether these islands will become involved," Eeth replied. "Therefore, we will do our utmost to get away from here. Should the Temple order your master back to Coruscant before we have managed, they will ask him to pick us up here, of course. Now, what took you so long with the shops? Did you dawdle?"

Eden shrugged. He didn't mind this place and he had already made some friends. The last thing he wanted to discuss was what took him so long. "A bit. People wanted to talk." He glanced up at the man briefly. Then he stuck his empty pack out the door and shook it free from sand, happy for the distraction. He had sat it on the ground earlier, and, as sand is prone to doing, it was now in everything. "I spoke to all of them. The consensus is that we need to travel to Taktaw. Looks like Taram and his sister were right, after all." Eden was trying to play this cool. Of course, Eeth had no way of finding him out, but for some reason he felt a little edgy and was beginning to wish he had just done as he was ordered.

Eeth was not satisfied with that answer, but since he could not quite put his finger on why that was, he let the matter rest.

After a quick lunch, they went to the harbourmaster and found out the ship's schedule. Eeth inquired twice whether there was no way to find a passage all the way to the building site of the wharf. There was, but that was only five days from now. It would be faster to take tomorrow's ship which would make the trip to Taktwaw island in roughly twenty-four hours and then rent a fishing boat.

"Why are they building a wharf on the island if there is not even a speeder connection?" Eeth asked in disbelief.

The harbourmaster shrugged. "The local politicians say this will help the island develop. Some people think it is just a huge waste of money that helps investors save taxes."

That sounded a lot more plausible than Eeth would have liked. He thanked the man for the information and then took Eden to the same hidden cove as yesterday.

"Time for a workout," he said.

"Joy," came the unenthusiastic response. Eden's arms had burned for hours after last time, and he was not looking forward to reliving it. "So, what's the torture of choice today?" he asked conversationally, tossing his bag on the sand. "Filling my pack with boulders and climbing trees?" The boy folded his arms and waited. He did not want to do this.

"Now that you mention it, this seems like an excellent idea," said Eeth, stony-faced. "Go ahead."

All right, so, apparently one of two things just happened here: either Eeth was so lacking in social intelligence that he failed to detect the sarcasm, or he had noticed and didn't appreciate it. Eden suspected the latter but couldn't rule out the former; after all, Eeth seemed to lack a sense of humour, or so he'd noticed. Well, Eden was not planning to indulge him, and so the boy continued to stare at him, his arms folded and a look of distaste plastered across his face.

Eeth was, of course, entirely aware of the sarcasm. He happened to think, though, that sarcasm was misplaced in conversations with a superior, especially if those conversations involved duty. Since climbing trees with a rock-filled backpack was not really what he had had in mind for today's workout, he was prepared to let Eden off in exchange for an apology. Silent staring, on the other hand, was not going to buy the boy any favors. "Fair warning," he told Eden. "Neither sarcasm nor refusal to comply with an instruction are acceptable for a padawan dealing with a Jedi knight. Either you stop it by yourself, or I will provide motivation, and you will not like that." The creche masters he had worked with had emphasised the importance of giving warnings before punishing children. Well, this was a warning, and it was all the warning that Eden was going to get.

So, Eden's suspicions had been correct on all counts, including the man's supreme lack of humour. Still, he wasn't entirely sure what it was exactly he was meant to be stopping here, and it was that realisation that made his response a little smugger than he'd intended. "If you mean the sarcasm, fine. If you mean why aren't I filling my sack with boulders, well…" He looked around the white beach, his eye immediately locking on one or two large rocks that technically qualified as boulders and would also fit in his pack. "Seriously?" The truth was, he wasn't happy about the prospect of another workout from hell and was being a smartass in order to vent a little of that. Probably not the smartest choice in hindsight.

Eeth pulled aside his civilian shirt and withdrew the paddle from the waistband of his pants. "Seriously," he said ominously.

Eden stood his ground, his gaze remaining locked on Eeth's eye although his peripheral vision had detected the threat. "So, if I don't fulfil my own sarcastically ridiculous suggestion, you are going to punish me for it?" he clarified. "I hardly think that is fair." He squared his stance. "If you force me to do this I will make sure I report it to both my master and the Council as cruel and unusual treatment of a padawan. I will do it, you know." It was a bold move, and he wasn't quite sure if it was wise or if Eeth would be intimidated into backing off.

Eeth's face darkened considerably, and that was saying something. "Yes, by all means report this to the Council," he snapped. "I am sure they will be duly impressed with your witty remark as well as your refusal to accept the consequences and to obey my instructions. Meanwhile, I will give you an incentive to do as I told you. Feel free to report it to the Council as well."

He made a step towards Eden, grabbed the boy's ear, bent him over, tucked him under his arm and brought the paddle down onto his rather thinly clad bottom. "Let me know when you are ready to obey," he told the hapless boy and swatted him again.

Despite desperately wanting to, Eden made no move to avoid Eeth; fighting correction was seriously frowned upon. When he grabbed his ear, the boy winced but went with it, bending forward without struggle and allowing the man to pin him under his arm. When the paddle connected with his ass, he gritted his teeth. However, at the second solid smack he let out a hiss; Eeth was not exactly giving him love pats here, it fucking hurt. Given that the kid wasn't crazy, he immediately acquiesced. "Stop, fine I'll lug your stupid boulders, let me up." He doubted that toughing this out was going to be in his best interest; Eeth was still likely to make him do this, regardless of how many swats he had to give him in order to make him comply after all.

"Good," Eeth said grimly. "You could use to lose the attitude and be a bit more polite about it, though." He emphasised this with a third swat, earning a yelp from the boy, and then let him up. Pointing at the smaller one of the boulders, he said: "That should fit into your backpack." He lifted up the other one himself and packed it into his own. If Eden was going to do this, he was going to learn how to do it properly and Eeth was going to show him. After all, this might become important in real-life situations.

Eden stood stiffly and rubbed at the sting with both hands, his expression mutinous. He said nothing, though; no, he had not been very polite, but then again, Eeth wasn't exactly his favourite person right now. He emptied the contents of his bag onto the sand and stomped off to find the boulder. Eden was seething mad at what he considered unnecessarily harsh treatment, but again he didn't dare voice that. He would simply take it up with the Council and his master. The more he thought about that, though, the more he wasn't sure whose side they would be on. Sure, he had been a smart ass but did it warrant this!? His ass was burning, and pretty soon his muscles would be joining the party.

Eeth calmly and seriously started explaining to Eden how this worked. He meant to teach Eden a lesson not only in the figurative sense. If the boy was doing this, he might as well learn from it. He shouldered his own backpack and started climbing up the palm tree, showing Eden how he had to press his shoulders against the tree trunk so that the weight did not pull him back. Then he slowly made his way back down. "Your turn," he said.

Eden squinted his good eye and held up a hand to shield his view from the glare as he watched Eeth scale the tree. That's all good and well for you, you're twice my size and carrying less weight comparatively, he thought as the man scaled the tree with little effort, but again had the foresight not to voice that; his ass still hurt, and he doubted Eeth would hesitate to add to it if he mouthed off again. I pity his future padawan, he thought when the man landed beside him, looking no worse for the wear.

It took him several attempts, but after dropping his pack once and sliding down the trunk twice, he reached the mark. Coming down was, surprisingly, as much of an ordeal as going up! He managed to land with a little help from the Force, albeit lacking the same grace as Eeth.

"Alright," Eeth said calmly. "And now that you have sufficiently warmed up, we will practice sparring. Drop your backpack, get out your saber."

Eden was happy to oblige and shucked his pack immediately; it weighed a ton, so he was grateful that Eeth did not make him do it again. This wasn't going to be much better, though. Nevertheless, he drew his saber, took up a defensive stance and ignited his blade; he was going to go down with dignity if it killed him, and right now, Eden thought that it just might.

Eeth nodded in approval. He did not expect perfection; he merely expected an effort, rather than an attitude. He picked up where they had left off yesterday, with ways to block an Ataru attack sequence and turn it against the attacker. Hopefully, Eden had committed them to memory.

Eden had, of course, remembered the lesson from yesterday. How could he not? It was practically a flashbulb memory for the kid. Well, perhaps that was being a tad dramatic, but he'd have argued that it wasn't. Of the seven forms, Soresu was the most effective as a defence. That said when you were barely eleven years old and up against a Jedi Knight of exceptional skill in offensive forms, it became somewhat more trying. He kept his movements tight, all the while doing his best to maintain the higher ground and not lose too much of it in the process. It was hard work, really hard, and after twenty minutes he was getting tired of it both literally and figuratively.

Eeth, however, did not consider twenty minutes of sparring a proper workout. Eden was good at his defensive moves and good at drawing on the Force, but he needed to learn more about how to defeat an opponent. Therefore, he went again through the sequences he had taught Eden yesterday and then proceeded to show him a new one. And when that was over, he took the boy swimming once again.


"What was your master like?" Eden asked conversationally. He was currently slumped face down over the same rock they had swum out to yesterday, his arms dangling tiredly down each side. His ass was still burning but only mildly so, although he had frowned at seeing three distinctly square edges branded into his skin when changing. They stuck out from his briefs but out here it was just him and Eeth, so the boy didn't care. After all, Eeth was the person who had put them there in the first place.

Eeth paused briefly, a little surprised at this question. He was not good at personal conversations. But nor did he have a reason to deny Eden an answer. "She is an Iktotchi master of great experience," he said slowly. "Very patient, but also very good at asserting her authority. An extremely skilled diplomat and negotiator."

"Oh," Eden said, a little surprised. Given how strict Eeth was he had fully expected the man to announce that Mace Windu himself had trained him, or some other equally terrifying Jedi. He told Eeth: "Jay is a good man. Kindly, but you do not want to mess with him too much, or he can get prickly." He laid his head on his arm and looked out across the ocean before continuing. "He took my crèche class once when I was about seven. We both knew then that the Force meant for him to guide me. The Council agreed, but I had to wait until I turned ten. They say that school is more important for the first ten years. Jay says it still is." The boy shrugged. "I could take it or leave it. How did you meet your master?"

Eeth paused again, this time a little longer, before answering this. This information was far too close to a part of his past that he did not like thinking about. "She was the one who found me as a youngling," he finally said, "and she looked in on me occasionally ever since. She asked me to become her padawan when I was ten."

Eden turned his head to face Eeth at hearing this, his bad eye now up and subsequently rendering him blind. "You were ten too, Hm." He didn't know why this surprised him, but like the realisation that the man's master was not a tyrant, it did. "Where did she find you? I haven't found out that stuff about myself yet. I can't, or so Jay says."

"Nar Shaddaa," Eeth said curtly. And nothing more. He absolutely did not want to remember the place any more than necessary.

The curt response wasn't lost on the boy; thus, he refrained from asking more questions despite his curiosity. He turned his head to face forward and lowered his chin to rest on a forearm.

Eeth assumed his reply had not exactly been kind, but his childhood was simply something he was not ready to discuss. The unbidden memory of a Zabrak woman lying motionless on the floor of a dingy room, her face and neck bruised, appeared in his mind. He pushed it back and drew a breath, releasing the sudden surge of anxiety that had accompanied it into the Force.

After a moment, he said: "Let us swim back now before the tide goes out. We also need to pack for the trip."

Eden slid his body from the rock and began what he was sure was going to be a painful swim back to the shoreline. It did not disappoint, and the boy practically crawled from the ocean onto the sand. Still, he was trying, which was why he dragged himself upright and made for his pack to begin dressing. This might not be a mission, per se, but it was sure turning into one in his opinion!