"Are you going to stand in the door all night?" Raven asked without taking her eyes off her holographic opponent. Just then a droideka was sent flying into the wall, and two more were rolling in to take its place. She was now jumping around the room animatedly in an effort to dodge and counter the blaster fire raining down on her. This particular game was a fun version of the many training simulations they undertook at the Temple. Raven happened to love them and did her best to force her not so fun-loving master to join her at each and every opportunity. Unfortunately, everyone had been busy when she had asked; Lakhri and Flynt were piloting through the asteroid belt, Eeth was helping Kaden with the state of his ass, and Drex? Well, she wasn't sure if a blind Jedi could actually play this sort of game as he wouldn't be able to sense or see the projections.

Wordlessly, Kaden stepped inside the room. It was dark, but the holographic opponents Raven was fighting gave off a slight blue glow which in turn lit up objects around the room as they moved. He was still feeling decidedly guilty and no less awkward; people skills had never been his strong suit. The boy made to sit on the couch and watch her, only to think better of it and kneel, while his back leaned comfortably into the cushioned settee.

Raven caught Kaden's movement in her peripheral vision but did not comment. She knew Eeth wouldn't have taken all his pain, even if he could, and the bacta would take a short while to fulfil its purpose. She was not entirely unsympathetic. After all, the teen had been in his position more times than she could count over the years.

Kade couldn't join in; not until she'd finished this level, in any case. He watched her play until she was eventually overwhelmed and the game began to reload.

"You want to play? We can switch to duelling mode if you like," Raven suggested, pausing to reset the holoprojector and moving to sit by his side while it loaded.

"Yeah, why not," Kaden replied. The truth was, his ass wasn't up for a lot of jumping around right now, but he was at a loss for what else to do here.

Raven could sense he wanted to talk to her, but was struggling. Well, too bad; she wasn't going to make this easy on him. There had been many times over the years she had almost been sick with the amount of humble pie Eeth had forced her to eat. It was a lesson that Kaden needed to learn, more so than herself.

They played for about forty-five minutes, switching modes twice but avoiding anything too physical.

Raven was busy packing the game chips away when Kaden finally spoke up. "Look, I'm sorry about what I did," he said so quietly that Raven almost didn't hear him.

She didn't say anything for a moment, then stood and turned to face him. "Your master told me you did that on purpose. You're damn lucky I didn't know that when I was dealing with you. I might have decided to feed you to Drex instead."

Kaden gave her a meaningful look; as painful as Raven had made it, a punishment from Drex would have been worse. Still… "I didn't get off lightly. I'm sure the entire ship heard me."

"Heard? No, at least not while you were with Drex. In my experience, most masters soundproof the room," she told him and sat down by his side.

"Did you?" he asked pointedly.

Raven gave him a penetrating look. "No."

"And why the Force not?"

"Because," Raven said a little derisively. "I'm not a master. Besides, I needed to concentrate on what I was doing. Contrary to what you might think, I haven't had to deal out consequences on that level before."

The boy huffed but dropped his gaze when she raised a brow.

"I am, however, apprenticed to the strictest Jedi master in the Temple. You don't make it through an apprenticeship with Eeth Koth without learning a thing or two about meting out meaningful consequences. If you think I was harsh, piss Lakhri off and see what happens to you."

"Lakhri? No way." Kaden wasn't convinced. Lakhri was as easy-going as Jedi got.

Raven smiled, the graveness between them dissipating with their banter. "That's a common misconception. Believe me, I know. He's been known to borrow my master's cane on occasion."

"You're kidding. What the Force did Flynt do to earn that?"

"Not just Flynt. And Force, what didn't Flynt do!" she guffawed. "Flynt was a handful when he was younger. He once told my master that it was not his place to correct him as Lakhri was his master. You can imagine how that when over."

Kaden just blinked. "And he lived, impressive. I'm not feeling so bad now…" After a second to process his words, he winced; if Raven had forgiven him yet, she hadn't said as much.

"You ought to feel bad. You could have seriously hurt me, and over what? Your pride? Ego? To be honest, I'm surprised you're not confined to your quarters. Had I dared ever do such a thing…" Raven trailed off because she actually couldn't imagine what Eeth would do had she pulled such a stunt.

All right, so she was still a bit touchy about that. The boy swallowed and carded a hand through his short mop of dark hair. "Raven… I do feel bad. You aren't obligated to forgive me, and I won't hold it against you if you don't. I probably deserve to feel bad for a while."

Those words softened the girl. It had been the humility she had been waiting for, after all. Without hesitation, she pulled him into a one-armed hug like she often did with Flynt. "I forgive you."

"You do?" he questioned, and for the first time in hours, he smiled. "Thanks, I will make it up to you."

"I expect you to. I don't want to deal with this again. I think it goes without saying that if you give me any trouble, I'm not going to let it run on as it did before."

Kaden nodded. He felt both ashamed and humiliated. Then again, he also felt strangely relieved; Raven wasn't going to let him run wild, she was going to be in control, and there was a certain sense of safety in that.

It was at that moment that Drex entered the room. Raven stood and greeted him. "Master Zaryth, I'd have invited you to play with us, but these games are all visual."

Drex smiled. "Thanks. And not to worry. I was just going to fetch Kaden to help me with dinner preparation. It's our turn, padawan."

In the meantime, Eeth had gone to check on Lakhri and Flynt. As it turned out, they had just passed the asteroid belt, and the ship was back to navigating on auto-pilot. Flynt had called up a map of their destination, the Hoamant region on Barslaa, onto the main screen. "See?" he was saying to Lakhri as Eeth entered. "Our landing pad is right next to the town of Tuppset, famous for its nightlife. Says the travel guide. So…"

Lakhri rolled his eyes. "Flynt, you're from Coruscant. You can have all the nightlife you want any time."

"Well, as a matter of fact, 'any time' means 'not very often'," Flynt pointed out. "Besides, this Tuppset place is supposed to be all picturesque. Oldest settlement on the planet."

"How exciting," said Lakhri. "Well, I'm not saying yes or no right now. We don't know what to expect and whether there will be any free time for excursions into Barslaa's thrilling nightlife. If there is, I can consider it. As long as Eeth allows it, being our mission leader and all." He flashed a grin at Eeth.

"I will only allow it if–" Eeth started.

"–if it doesn't interfere with our duties, I know, I know," Lakhri finished the sentence for him, chuckling. "As if I would give Flynt permission to go otherwise. Honestly, Eeth, you're so predictable!"

Seeing the blank look on Eeth's face that told him the man had no idea how to interpret this jibe, he added: "And we love you for it. Come on, let's go and see whether we can help Drex and Kaden with dinner."

As the three apprentices cleaned up after dinner, Flynt filled them in on what they'd discovered about the nightlife. "It's a city in the Hoamant region called Tuppset. Eeth said we might be able to go take a look." He assumed a slightly rigid stance meant to imitate his grandmaster. "As long as it doesn't interfere with our mission."

Kaden's eyes widened as he stacked the steriliser; it sounded fascinating to him. He was only fifteen, though, and was hoping that he wasn't left out of the fun, especially if the others got to go.

"Could be fun. It's been a while since I've been out. You know, the last time I was allowed to visit the nightlife was when my brother, Bram, was studying on Coruscant last year." Raven had returned late, too, which had not gone over well with Eeth. The memory of the forty swats Eeth had given her for the forty minutes she was late had the girl wince. "You're both technically underage; I'm not sure either of you will be allowed in. We'll have to look into the local laws and find out." And that was precisely what they did that night.

They were all seated at the table, data pads in hand and reading about the entertainment and nightlife, when Drex entered. Kaden had hoped that Drex would forget about the extended meditation this evening, but apparently, he was not going to be so lucky. "Night," he told Raven and Flynt dejectedly and left without complaint.

When they entered their room, Kaden got himself changed into a clean pair of sleep pants. He knew that to ask for privileges after his behaviour today was probably not the smartest move, but he wanted to know. "Flynt and Raven were talking about the nightlife in Tuppset. The age restriction is fifteen and over. Would you let me go, too?"

"Maybe," said Drex. "I will not make a decision on that before I have actually seen the place." It was not as if he could literally see it, or any other place, but he sometimes used the expression regardless, as a shortcut that anyone would understand. He was sure none of the other masters would give their consent without having seen the place either. Drex knelt down and pointed for Kaden to do the same opposite him. "We're going to follow a more complex meditation pattern tonight than we've done so far," he told Kaden. "It's particularly effective in controlling your negative emotions and releasing them slowly, one by one. It's also demanding; it will require all your focus." But that, Drex felt, was only fair after what Kaden had subjected Raven to.

The boy let out a sigh but that was the extent of his complaints. He was on thin ice at the moment, and he knew it. Drex had not been kidding: the meditation they shared that evening was both lengthy and taxing. When the man finally allowed him to stop, he was mentally exhausted. He wanted to berate him for punishing him further but knew that Drex would probably say it wasn't punishment to learn a new skill. Kaden begged to differ. "If you're done torturing me, may I go to bed, please?" he asked; it was just on the right side of polite.

"Kaden, we've discussed your liberal use of the word 'torture' before," Drex said calmly and firmly, "especially when it comes to things that you brought upon yourself. And I seem to remember that every single time, we have come to the conclusion that I had good reason to do what I did, as opposed to taking personal enjoyment from 'torturing' you. I'm sure if you make an effort you can come up with other words to describe what happened just now and earlier today. In short, I expect you to rephrase your question."

Kade stood, the look on his face morphing from sullen to wide-eyed in a heartbeat. He took an involuntary step backwards, a hand unconsciously moving to cover his ass. There was just no way he wanted to do any more meditations, or Force help him, wind up over the man's knee. "Thank you for teaching me, master. May I go to bed now, please?" The words came out in a rush, but they were earnest. Earnestly not wanting to endure more, courtesy of his big mouth!

"You may," said Drex. He only allowed himself to smile after Kaden had entered the refresher.

The next morning saw Eeth waking everyone earlier than usual because they were about to leave hyperspace and approach the planet. "Padawan, you are needed in the cockpit," Eeth said, giving Raven's shoulder a firm shake. "Up with you."

"Arghhhalrighhhttt," Raven said through a yawn and tried to focus on her watch. "The cockpit will still be there in …" she finally focussed on the time. "It's five-thirty. Did you soil your bed?" she asked, knowing that he would probably not find anything at all amusing about that statement.

"Padawan!" Eeth snapped. "Shall I ask Lakhri to help me land the ship or are you going to oblige?"

"Ugh, no. You've already woken me, spare Lakhri," she told him melodramatically and flopped out of bed. Still scrubbing at her eyes, the girl threw herself into the shower and twenty minutes later emerged dressed in a clean set of robes. Her boots were polished, hair was pulled back into two neat rolled ponytails, and her newly fixed padawan's braid hung to just below her breast line. She met Eeth in the kitchen on the way to the cockpit. "Master," the padawan greeted him as she had done every morning for the past seven years, only with a bit more dignity than their first conversation that morning. She offered him a formal bow, snagged a piece of cut fruit from the pile he was cutting, wincing slightly as he lightly swatted at her hand, and then she took off into the cockpit.

"G'morning, grandmaster," Flynt greeted, entering the galley. Unlike Raven, Flynt had always been an early riser, as had Kaden who followed the taller teenager out. They were both dressed in clean robes, although Kaden's hair left a bit to be desired. He inclined his head in way of greeting and yawned. It was early, even for him.

"Good morning. Padawan Kaden, comb your hair," Eeth said predictably, drawing a frown from the boy. "Flynt, where is your master?"

Flynt might be an early riser, but Lakhri was not. He was still lying in bed when Eeth rapped sharply on the door.

"Get up, Lakhri!" he ordered. "We are landing soon!"

Rolling his eyes, Lakhri feigned a snore.

Eeth was not fooled. "I expect you for breakfast in ten minutes!" he called sternly. "Else, I will feed it to your padawan!"

"That's hitting below the belt, and you know it!" Lakhri called back, dropping his pretence to be asleep.

"Leave him be, Eeth," said Drex, who was just coming out of his room to see what the noise was. "He's a Jedi master, and a fairly competent one. You can trust him to get out of bed in time. I'm sure he manages when you're not around."

Eeth paused for a moment, honestly surprised. He had not thought that his behaviour might come across as a lack of trust. He tried to find something to counter Drex's statement but failed.

"You are probably right," he said, fully aware that this was a rather lame reply.

At this moment, the door came open and a sleep-tousled Lakhri peered out. "What stopped you from bullying me, a sarlacc?" he asked. "Oh. It's you, Drex. Well, thanks. But I'm up now. You can go and bother someone else, Eeth."

Eeth raised his hands in defeat. "I apologise, Lakhri," he said solemnly. "I did not exactly mean to boss you around, but I assume I did. Anyway. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. Raven is taking care of the landing."

"Alright, I'm coming," said Lakhri, giving both of them a brief smile and disappearing into the refresher. Eeth returned to the galley, not quite sure whether he was supposed to be aggravated or grateful.

Kaden passed Drex in the hall and huffed. "Messy hair," he said in way of explanation, his tone resigned.

Flynt had contemplated making a start on eating breakfast but knew that this was considered rude. So, he found Raven in the cockpit and slumped into the co-pilot's chair. "Can I help?" he asked, wishing it were him in the pilot's seat.

"Not really. It's a one-person job, a very straightforward landing. This platform even has tractor beams for those who still have their trainer wheels."

"Can I do it, then?" Flynt pressed.

"Flynttt," she said exasperatedly. "You know I'm not cleared to supervise yet. Lakhri would skin you alive if he found out."

Flynt opened his mouth only to have it closed again as Raven raised a finger to silence him.

"He will find out," she told him. "And I for one am not going to endure the wrath of my own master because you want to fly."

The dejected look on Flynt's face had Raven feeling sorry for him; she remembered all too well how it felt to be in his shoes. "Here." She tossed him the microphone clipped to her right lapel. "Get us clearance and guide me in." It was probably still going to be frowned upon, but at least it wasn't dangerous.

At this point, Lakhri came to check on them, a bowl of porridge in hand. "You might have asked," he told Raven when he realised that she was letting Flynt assist. "But it's alright. When we leave, you can do the take-off and I'll supervise, Flynt – I rather think Raven will be busy with the goyts then."

Raven gave Flynt an 'I told you so', look, but it had no bite to it.

Flynt was too caught up in the opportunity to do their take-off to look sheepish. "Thanks!" he told the man, twisting from his seat and eyeing his porridge hungrily. Well, he'd have to wait until later now, unless Lakhri ordered him out.

Lakhri dropped into a chair behind them and yawned. "Apparently, Drex told Eeth off for being a drill-sergeant," he told the two padawans. "I think Eeth is still not sure whether to be miffed or impressed. Could be interesting to watch. Unfortunately he only told him off AFTER he'd woken me, not before."

The man's comments on Eeth had Flynt raising both brows, but it was Raven who spoke up.

"I did try to save you, but alas, he can be… Well, you know what he's like," she smirked, flicking on a few switches and rising a panel of buttons for landing. "Maybe Drex will mellow him out a bit?" she added, as the clouds thinned out and land came into view.

"Diverse," Flynt commented, noticing a mixture of blues, greens and cities as their view cleared. "According to the file, the colonists drained most of the natural water resources to tend their fields. The small section of fertile swamp land left is where our goyts live now."

A grinding noise was heard, causing Flynt to straighten in his seat; that was not a noise he usually associated with any landing.

Raven smiled. "Relax, it's just the tractor beam. Told you this was going to be easy."

An hour later, they had landed.