The six Jedi rose early the next morning, and they were soon glad that they had because it turned out to be hard work getting the goyts into the ship. By ten in the morning, they finally had managed to get sixteen of them into the shuttle, which Eeth, Kaden and Lakhri took back to the ship. Lakhri then took the other shuttle and flew it back into the swamp while Eeth and Kaden had their hands full trying to get the goyts from the shuttle's loading area into the cargo bay.
Kaden wasn't the cursing sort of kid, at least not out loud… However, he was about to unleash a round of fucks the likes of which no one had ever heard if the goyt he was currently wrangling slipped from his grasp one more time. It was a balance between holding them firmly enough to keep them from wriggling free, and not squashing them to death in the process. Getting them from the shuttle to the ship was no easy job as they were quick, agile and, without Raven's influence, erratic!
Eeth was having a little more luck. He was able to use the Force on the goyts in a similar way he would to calm any sentient being, but his skills with animals were much more limited than Raven's. Even with his efforts to target the lead animal, the goyts seem hell-bent on making this as difficult as possible for the two Jedi.
Meanwhile, Raven was busy herding the next group together. She had blanketed the lead animal with as strong a suggestion as she could muster as this lot were proving more problematic. Unfortunately, in her effort she had accidentally sent it to sleep, leaving the others confused and, yep, there they all went. The girl sighed. "This might take longer than I thought," she told Flynt who had picked up the sleeping goyt and cradled it in his human arm.
Flynt sniffed once, then sniffed again, lifting the goyt a little closer to his nose. "Ugh! Have you smelled these things up close?"
"Yes, imagine what it's going to be like after a week in a ship?" Raven replied while busy locating the next dominant goyt. At least that part of the job was relatively easy.
By the time they'd finished for the day, Flynt and Kaden were covered in mud and stunk! Raven was, too, but far less so than the other two. She jumped from the shuttle and guided the last group in, effectively sparing Eeth and Kaden half an hour of fighting them. "Did either of you set up food and water in there?" she asked Eeth and Kaden, hoping they had because she badly wanted to be done with the goyts for today.
"Yes, of course we did," Eeth replied. "We found that they were easier to coax inside with food, too, but it was still fairly difficult. I had to stun one, unfortunately, to keep it from bolting, but it is already recovering. All in all, I have counted one hundred and twenty four. How many do you think are left, roughly?"
"You stunned it?" Raven repeated, the corner of her mouth twitching into a tiny smile as the mental picture whizzed through her mind. "About that again, I'd guess," she answered. "Their collective Force presence is almost equally divided now, half here and half scattered around the swamp in clusters." The girl squinted her eyes shut for a moment and pinched at her brow; her head was starting to ache from all the Force work.
Kaden had been impressed by Eeth's Force stun, and he wondered if it was something he could learn. The boy had felt his skin prickle with electricity, the air go static, and he had even made insects drop from the air around him with his anger before, although he assumed that was something very different from what Eeth had done.
"Padawan, take a shower and get some rest," Eeth said firmly. "All of us are tired, but you did the bulk of the work. And you will need to do more tomorrow."
Even Eeth was feeling the strain, and that was doubly the case with Drex. Lakhri was tired, too. He had to draw on the Force a lot more than people with longer legs in order to navigate the swamp, and it was draining.
"I might take over the job of looking after the goyts on the ship tomorrow," Lakhri said. "Navigating the swamp seems to be somewhat more difficult for me than for anyone else."
He said it quite casually, but Eeth knew that for Lakhri to mention such a thing, the day must have been truly hard on him. "Of course," Eeth said, equally casually. "Maybe Flynt can stay with you and help you tackle the dung problem." His face was quite straight as he said this, but to anyone who knew him well, it was clear that he was teasing Flynt.
"Grandmaster, you made a joke! Do you need to lie down?" Flynt replied cheekily.
Eeth just gave him a deadpan look in return.
Lakhri chuckled. "As if Eeth would ever acknowledge having made a joke," he said. "You must be delusional, Flynt."
"Point taken," Flynt acquiesced, and as always, he was fast to move on. "I'd still like to go out tonight. The town is interesting, and we're learning a bit about the locals in the process," the boy half asked, half stated and looked at his master with a hopeful expression.
"Me too. There is a lot more to the city than the little we got to explore last night," Kaden added.
Raven yawned, stretched and scrubbed at her eyes; she was tired but didn't want to remain behind if the others got to go. "Please?" was all she said.
"Padawan," Eeth replied solemnly, "at nineteen years, you are old enough to make that choice yourself. However, I expect you to make it a responsible choice, or the whole mission will suffer. We depend on you to be able to fulfil your duties tomorrow. I will leave it up to you to decide whether going out tonight will impair that ability significantly."
Raven practically swelled with pride at being given the freedom to choose. Eeth had left a lot up to her this mission, so, not wanting to disappoint him, she inclined her head and went to her room to brush her hair; she would go out but only for a short time.
These days, Eeth was, in fact, making a conscious effort to prepare Raven for knighthood, and that involved trusting her to take responsibility for her decisions. Needless to say, if she failed to live up to that trust, he would make sure to let her know. However, for the most part, she was mature enough to know what was expected of her and act accordingly, and he was quite proud of that.
Kaden felt a pang of jealousy at her lack of restrictions. Raven was only four years older than him, after all. He looked to Drex, wondering if the man was going to let him go or if Eeth's edict counted for all of them.
Flynt, too, was eyeing his unusually weary master with a curious expression. "Can we go, then?" he prompted. He could sense the man was tired. Negotiating the swamp would have been hard for his short-legged master, and he really didn't want to add to his stress.
Lakhri gave a tired nod. "Take a shower and get changed first, though," he said. "And be back by ten thirty, like yesterday. We have another long day coming up."
"You may go as well," Drex told Kaden. "What Lakhri said to Flynt goes for you, too."
All three apprentices did as bade and emerged some fifteen minutes later. Flynt had towelled off his hair. It was longer than the standard spiky padawan's cut that Kaden sported, but he liked to be a bit of an individual. Raven emerged five minutes later, her hair pulled into a tidy ponytail and clothing neat.
"Sheez, take your time much?" Flynt teased as she joined them. Finally!
"Oh quit your whining," Raven shot back, equally playfully, and led the pair out the hatch. "Back soon," she called to Eeth over her shoulder, letting him know that she was leaving. Of course he could tell that for himself, but it was somewhat of a habit.
The three bantered as they walked around the main areas of Tuppset, although they kept a low profile; none of them wanted to draw attention to themselves as it was far easier to observe when you weren't being observed yourself. Raven noticed that the closer to the south side they got, the seedier the establishments became. Now they were beginning to see clubs that hosted prostitutes down the side alleyways, and bars that spilled out into the streets. "Charming," she commented.
Flynt gave her his patent thousand watt smile. "Hey, don't knock seedy, it can be entertaining."
"Coruscant's got enough seedy to last us all a lifetime," added Kaden.
"And how would you know that at just fifteen years old?" Flynt asked, honestly curious as it was not exactly typical for junior padawans to be taken around Coruscant all that often, let alone to the seedier places.
Kaden shrugged. "Drex has been taking me since I first became his apprentice. He says it's important that I know how the city operates, what sort of people occupy it and how to be independent."
It was at that moment Raven pointed to a small corner table that was part of a large eatery. "Let's park here. Any further and we'll be in the midst of the red-light district, and I'd rather not explain why we ended up there," she told them. Here was interesting enough, though. There were a lot of drunk club-goers around the place buying food which would no doubt provide a little entertainment.
Flynt and Kaden looked a little perturbed at having to cut their exploration short, but neither bothered to argue.
They sat there for half an hour or so before moving along. The next place had an outdoor cinema of sorts and was screening what must pass as their version of a romantic comedy. They were sipping a fruit cocktail each and enjoying the nightlife. Flynt had suggested purchasing something with a little more punch, and Kaden had hinted at checking out the clubs, but both suggestions were met with a curt: "No!" from Raven.
"I'll see you both tomorrow," Raven announced when the movie they had caught the tail end of finished, and another began to play.
"It's only nine o'clock, are you really that tired?" Flynt questioned. He was enjoying their group dynamic and if Raven left, it would change that. Not in a bad way, but still.
"Yes. All the Force work is kicking my ass," the teen confessed, and sure enough, dark circles had begun to appear beneath her eyes.
"Lakhri's feeling the strain, too," Flynt commented.
Kaden nodded in agreement. "Short legs. It must be like a marathon each day for him."
"It sure is. He must be truly feeling it if he decided to stay behind tonight." Flynt turned to his Jedi aunt as she pulled on her cloak. "We'll walk you back," he announced, getting to his feet and gesturing that Kade follow.
Despite her fatigue, Raven actually cracked a smile at that. She put a hand on his shoulder and told him not to waste the short time they had on walking her back; she was more than capable, after all. "Just don't leave Kaden alone or Drex will kick your ass," she warned, and after hugging them both, headed back to their ship for the night.
"Let's move on, I want to find out what all the flashing lights are in aid of," Kaden suggested.
Flynt didn't mind. In fact, he was curious himself and so the pair headed further along into the red-light district. They were mindful to stick to the main road, though, as they had been told not to enter establishments that they were not old enough to enter. Well, apparently they were old enough to enter all of these places, fifteen being the legal drinking age in the Hoamant region on Barslaa. Both boys looked at each other. 'Would it hurt to peek?' Kaden's expression asked while Flynt's was more guarded. No, it wouldn't hurt to peek, at least not unless they got caught, and then it would probably start hurting.
Meanwhile, Raven was making her way back to the ship. She stopped briefly to pick up a rare kind of tea that she thought Eeth and Drex might like and arrived at the ship some twenty minutes later. "Master," she greeted Eeth upon entering the dining area and finding him seated at the round table with Lakhri. "Hey, Lakhri, I'm surprised you're still up. Did Flynt short-sheet your bed?" she joked. The teen yawned and covered it with the back of her hand.
"Actually, I had some dinner and was thinking of going out for a drink," Lakhri replied. "Drex said he'd join me after he's done looking after the goyts. We're both tired, but it's too early for us to go to sleep."
"Not for you, though, padawan," Eeth said. "You look as if you need it." As a matter of fact, he was glad that Raven had been responsible enough to return on her own as early as she had. Her fatigue was almost tangible.
Raven didn't bother arguing that, as her fatigue would have stuck out like bantha balls to Eeth.
At this point, Drex entered the galley, and he and Lakhri left. They weren't intending to go out for long, but being free from the smell of goyt shit for half an hour or so seemed quite an appealing prospect to them.
"Tomorrow night, we'll have to let Eeth go," Lakhri told Drex as they made their way down the main street. "It must be a Saturday night or something. A lot more going on than last night." There were crowds of drunk people around, even youths. Apparently, the legal drinking age was fifteen for the local type of ale, but it was eighteen for hard stuff, and that was only served in some places in the darker side streets. From the look of some of the people around, though, either it was fairly easy to get drunk on local ale, or hard stuff was being served to people who looked a lot younger than eighteen.
Lakhri proposed a rather decent-looking place to Drex, a café that served small snacks. And Lakhri could always do with a snack.
Flynt and Kaden stuck their heads inside the club they'd picked out but deemed it too smoky to bother exploring further. Force, their eyes were practically streaming by the time they were back out in the fresh air! They moved further along the road until they came across a signpost that signalled the entrance to the red-light district. Again, the two exchanged a look. They weren't meant to leave the main street, they knew that, but there was so much going on. People were less reserved, more scantily clad and there was a place barely twenty meters outside their boundary… Kaden's attention was immediately drawn to the dancing girls; they were slender and graceful and, wow, so beautiful. He just wanted to take a look, not touch, or so he told Flynt. Of course, he wouldn't go in alone; he was told to stay with Flynt and so the boy would. However, he did deem this little bending of the rules worth the limited risk of being caught out.
Unlike Kaden, Flynt wasn't so sure about this. Lakhri might be easy-going, but if he found out they'd left the main street and gone in here, he was going to be in more shit than their cargo bay currently hosted. "Alright, but just for a look, and only for half an hour," he finally consented, taking the lead.
The two entered the club and found a table that was well out of the way where they could sit, unhindered, and observe. The girls here were classy, not dirty, and they didn't smell of alcohol or wear blank, drug-induced expressions. They were cheerful and seemed to enjoy the job. When a particularly leggy redheaded woman approached them, clad in nothing but a g-string and carrying a serving tray, Kaden's mouth almost dropped open.
"This club is no minors unless accompanied by an adult," she informed them, a coy smile on her pretty face.
"I'm eighteen," Flynt lied smoothly. "I'll have an afterburner, and my cousin here will have a soda on the rocks," he ordered. His confidence assured the woman because most of the underaged patrons that tried getting in here looked guilty. Conversely, this teenager looked as if he was here every night of the week. Flynt was a master bullshit artist, something Kaden agreed with when the woman bought them their drinks and left.
"You going to drink that?" Kaden asked. The drink his fellow apprentice had ordered was decidedly alcoholic.
"Nah, I just needed it to play the part," Flynt explained and gestured that Kaden drink up. He wasn't exactly thrilled about being in here, although he had to admit that the 'scenery' was indeed worth a look.
Unfortunately, the woman noticed that he wasn't drinking and started watching them. So, every now and then when she would glance over, Flynt would take a sip, just a sip, nothing that would affect him.
"Hey, go easy on that stuff," Kaden warned upon noticing that his Jedi peer had almost finished his glass. "You know I once drank X'Atlix. If that wasn't enough to kill me, when Drex found out he almost did. You want to hope Lakhri doesn't smell that on you. And stay well away from Drex; he'll smell it from the ship, goyt shit or no goyt shit."
"Not to worry I got that covered," Flynt said, producing a small packet from his pocket. "Super strength mints," he said through a grin. "But yeah, enough is enough, I think we've pushed it far enough for one evening."
Kaden agreed and finished off his soda. "Where to? We've still got just under an hour."
"There is a pyrotechnic display starting in the centre square in ten minutes," Flynt replied, tapping the flyer with his finger and getting to his feet. He tossed a five credit bill on the table which would be enough to cover their drinks and leave a respectable tip.
"Pyrotechnic? That's right, Raven was telling me you've got some ability with fire. What do you do with it, anyway?"
"When I was younger, not much other than wreak havoc in crèche and maim myself," Flynt admitted. His mechanical arm was concealed under his robes; it was something he was still getting used to himself. "I found it very easy to conjure fire. It fascinated me. Sometimes I would just think of fire, and it would appear in my hand, but my control was lacking. Lakhri helped me a lot there, and I'm at a point now where I have adequate control to contain it, channel it and make it do what I want."
"You'll have to show me that sometime,"Kaden said. And he was honestly curious. He'd never heard of anyone with that gift, at least not past the general control all Jedi had over the elements.
In the meantime, Eeth had his hands full with the goyts. They had dimmed the lights and cushioned part of the cargo bay with some type of artificial straw for the goyts to sleep on, which had the huge advantage that it could be rinsed. Unfortunately, the goyts, possibly because of the strange environment, were restless. Eeth kept refilling the water troughs, saving the cleaning droids from being trampled upon, and generally trying to bring order into the chaos. Finally, around ten, more and more goyts were falling asleep and things were getting calmer.
Lakhri and Drex were having a decidedly more relaxed evening, relishing a hot spicy drink. Lakhri was also eating a local type of small sugary dough balls and describing the scenes in the street to Drex who was listening to them and sensing much of the rest of what went on through the Force. All in all, they were quite enjoying themselves; it was a good way to wind down after what had been a rather exhausting day.
Neither Flynt nor Kaden had detected that their masters had left the ship, let alone that they were in Tuppset. They left the club and made their way towards the pyrotechnic display. "Two minutes to spare," Flynt said casually, having gotten them both great seats right up the front to view the show.
Kaden agreed. He was enjoying this although, as was typical for the kid, not really showing it. He was, however, still curious and not at all placated regarding Flynt's gift. "Your fire thing, you can make objects combust?"
Flynt had to smirk at that. "Something like that. Good reason not to piss me off."
"You want scary, piss me off enough and see what happens to you," the boy replied dryly. It wasn't something he was proud of, although it came across that way to Flynt.
Flynt held up his hands in a placating gesture. He wasn't about to get into a pissing contest with the kid. "Probably, although I assume you have that under control more often than not."
"Course. I rarely lose it these days. Drex has helped with that..."
Ten minutes passed wherein there had been some delay with the fireworks show, leaving everyone waiting.
"So, I'm curious about this fire thing." Kaden pointed towards a man who was crouched down and struggling to ignite his device. He was flicking at it but only a shower of sparks sprayed towards the fuse; It was not going to be enough. "For instance, could you?"
Again Flynt smirked. Without hesitation, he reached out with the Force and a second later, the man's device lit up in a tiny controlled flame. "Yeah."
Kaden was surprised to see the small flame ignite and, as the rest of the crowd did, he looked skyward to see a fiery bloom of colour explode above them.
Over the next fifteen minutes, this became somewhat of a challenge for the two. Flynt would wait until the last second before a fuse was lit, then light the device himself, causing all sorts of bewildered reactions from the pyrotechnicians who didn't know what was going on. It was harmless fun, Flynt knew. What he didn't realise, was that the alcohol he'd consumed earlier was eventually going to maturate in his system and throw off his Force ability…
He reached out to light a fuse as he had done ten times already, only this time his flame was uncontrolled, and it burst from the fuse vertically. A wall of fire launched about five meters into the air causing the pyrotechnician to jump back to avoid having his eyebrows blown clean off.
"Fuck!" Flynt said under his breath, immediately reaching out to withdraw oxygen from his flame as Lakhri had taught him. He stood up to check that the man was uninjured.
"He's okay," Kaden supplied, having gotten to his feet at the same time. He'd felt the huge surge of Force energy and was shocked that Flynt's ability was so potent. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Flynt answered honestly and rubbed at his forehead. "Could be the alcohol… Lakhri once told me that it can affect one's ability to wield the Force, especially so in the young. I – well, I didn't think that small amount would affect me; I'm seventeen, not six!"
"No harm no foul, right?" Kaden tried, but it fell flat upon seeing and sensing the teen's apprehension. "I won't tattle," he said resolutely.
Had that not been so irrelevant, Flynt might have chuckled. As it was, he met the younger boy with a pained expression. "I know you wouldn't. Lakhri can sense when I'm uncontrolled, just as Drex can with you. I'd be shocked if I am not questioned over this. Unless maybe he's asleep. I don't want to check!" It was true, Lakhri had been able to sense Flynt with glaring clarity from their very first meeting, so much so that Lakhri had noticed him lighting fires from across the Temple. Had the memory not caused a flinch, the boy would have smiled. As it was, however, he took Kaden by the arm and started leading him out of the crowd. If his Force awareness was inhibited, he could not properly look after Kaden. They needed to get back to the ship.
Kaden shook himself free from the slightly older boy's grasp although continued to follow him. "Where's the fire?" he asked, knowing full well that this was probably a poor choice in wording…
"I'll light one on your ass if you don't stay by my side and keep up," Flynt told the boy, not unkindly and with a hint of humour in his tone.
This comment earned a snort from Kaden, although after recent events, he wasn't as quick to believe that this could never happen.
Lakhri and Drex had just paid for their drinks and were walking out the door, intending to return to the ship, when Lakhri suddenly sensed a surge of Force energy from Flynt that felt rather uncontrolled. It would have to be; normally, Flynt's shields were good enough to keep Lakhri from sensing every single thing he was doing, despite the fact that Lakhri's Force awareness was extremely high.
He stiffened. "I'm sorry, Drex," he said, "but my padawan just did… something. I have to check. He's not far. Do you want to go ahead or are you coming?"
"I'm coming," said Drex. It was not that he would have had trouble finding his way back to the ship; his sense of direction was good and the Force mostly replaced his eyesight. But Kaden was with Flynt, and if Lakhri thought he had to check, Drex considered it better to be on the safe side and check as well.
Flynt and Kaden were just rounding the final bend before leaving the main street when Flynt pulled up short, causing Kaden to reach for his lightsaber. Was there some danger that he hadn't sensed? A moment later it was clear to him what was going on; there was danger alright, just not the sort they'd need lightsabers to fight off…
"Flynt," Lakhri said, stepping into his padawan's path. "What happened?" His tone of voice was neutral. So far, he had no cause to suspect that his padawan had done anything he had not been supposed to do. However, for Flynt to lose control like this was extremely rare these days, and Lakhri really wanted to know the reason why…
