"… It's complicated," Flynt said to the dwarf Jedi who was standing in front of him, giving him a penetrating look – and that really required some effort these days, given the difference in height. Flynt glanced at Drex who was managing to avoid people despite the crowd, and then he looked back down at his master hoping that his response was good enough for now.

"Yes, I'm sure it is," Lakhri said rather cuttingly. "I'm equally sure you're able to sum up the basics for me. I sensed you lose control of your ability which hasn't happened in years. Please forgive me for wondering what made you lose control and what made you light a fire in the first place."

"Forgiven," the teen said, offering a slight bow, although one look at the man had him coughing to clear his throat and becoming immediately serious. "I was lighting the fuses on pyrotechnics to show Kaden. I must have lost control." This probably wouldn't cut it; Flynt had not lost control that spectacularly since his first year as an apprentice.

"Can't we talk about this back at the ship?" Kaden interjected before Lakhri could reply. Two reasons: firstly because he wanted to buy Flynt some time to think, and secondly because he didn't want to stand around in the middle of the street talking about this.

"Not before I at least know the basics of what happened," Lakhri said grimly. "And I still don't have them. If Flynt was more forthcoming about this, we wouldn't need to keep standing here, which really makes me think he just might have reason to feel guilty about something. So, Flynt: what made you lose control, in what way did you lose it, and have you been able to contain it or will we need to intervene? I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer all these questions in one go. I don't want to have to drag it out of you."

"No need to intervene, I dealt with it," Flynt answered quickly, thinking this was the most pertinent question to answer. He could tell by the look on the man's face that he wasn't going to get out of this, though; he was busted. Steeling himself, he met his master's eye and answered: "I overlit one of the pyrotechnicians' lighters, and some of my flame was uncontrolled. Nobody was hurt. I lost control because I had consumed a small amount of alcohol earlier." It was a short, choppy explanation, but truthful all the same.

Meanwhile, Kaden moved to stand by his master's side and remained silent. He wasn't entering into this if it was at all possible.

"Thank you so much for that explanation," Lakhri said curtly. "Yes, I think we'd better take this to the ship, then." The look he shot at Flynt conveyed quite clearly that Lakhri was pissed. Flynt had no permission whatsoever to drink alcohol, and moreover, Lakhri had repeatedly explained to him that there was no way of knowing how even a small amount might influence his control of the Force. At the very least, he should have asked for permission; and he certainly had no call to light fires while in this state! During a rather demanding mission, no less, which was probably the part that Lakhri was most furious about right now, besides the obvious danger that Flynt's loss of control had posed.

The curt reply left Flynt feeling dry-mouthed, and he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. He had not felt his master this incensed with him in a very long time, and that worried him.

"And you, Kaden?" Drex asked while making an about-turn and starting to walk towards the ship. "Did you drink alcohol as well?"

Kaden had been hoping for a silent walk to the ship, then bed with no questions asked. Yeah, right… "No," he replied honestly. Since having consumed X'Atlix and being made to endure the after effects (however mild, as Drex had forced him to vomit most of the toxin), Kaden was permanently cured of his curiosity when it came to alcohol. Never again!

"Good," said Drex noncommittally. "Nevertheless, I would prefer us to discuss this together until we have the full story. I want to know for certain how blameless, or otherwise, you are."

"Sure," said Lakhri a tad wearily. He had been rather looking forward to his bed, but it seemed as if he had to postpone his immediate desires.

When they reached the ship, Eeth was nowhere to be seen; he might be looking after the goyts or in his cabin. Lakhri took a seat at the large table and motioned for everyone else to get seated, too. "Alright, I would like a full account," he said. "Who did what when. In detail."

including," Drex added, "your actions, Kaden."

Kaden looked to Flynt, his silent question clear in his eyes; who was doing the talking here?

Flynt returned Kaden's look with a knowing expression of his own. He was the oldest. Therefore, he would be the one to report. "It's not as bad as you might think." As he said that, he kinda wished that he hadn't. "We went into the red light district to check out a club that looked interesting. In order to allow Kaden to stay I had to convince them that I was eighteen, so… I ordered a drink. I wasn't planning to drink it, and I wouldn't have if our bartender had not been giving us the stink eye; it was only meant for show…" He went on to explain how they had not stayed too long, and then they'd moved on to the pyrotechnics display. "It was a simple fuse, something I could usually do without a second thought. But the alcohol must have, well, you know… When I realised that my Force awareness was off, I grabbed Kade, and we split."

"And that's when we ran into you two," Kaden added, hoping that his contribution was going to be enough to keep him out of the spotlight here.

"So," Drex said, quite calmly, but also quite obviously not pleased, "you went into the red-light district, where you had no business going, and into a club that neither of you were old enough to enter. And you probably thought it wouldn't be a problem because we were unlikely to ever find out, right?" His face was pointed in Kaden's direction while he said that, indicating that he expected his padawan to give an answer.

Lakhri, in the meantime, was drumming his fingers on the table, his eyes shooting daggers at Flynt.

"Yes," Kaden replied, trying to ignore the look Lakhri was giving Flynt. "I just wanted to look, though, I wasn't planning on doing anything else. It's not like I drank, smoked death sticks or used a prostitute," Kaden attempted to defend himself, then realised that stating this was probably only going to highlight Flynt's troubles. The boy shot his Jedi peer a horrified glance, which was saying something for him. Fuck. He hadn't meant to frame the fact that Flynt had consumed alcohol, especially given the only reason he'd done so was to allow him to remain in the club. Not sure what to do, Kaden looked to his master and admitted: "I asked Flynt to take me into the club, it was my idea. I wanted to see the… Uh," the boy flushed pink. "The dancing girls."

Flynt dragged a hand down his face. Kaden's faux pas notwithstanding, Lakhri looked positively pissed, his drumming fingers on the table causing the teenager to become uncharacteristically nervous. He had yet to confess to what extent his fire had gone uncontrolled, but was planning to do so, he just needed a chance to work up his courage. Yeah…. He looked over at his master, only managing to meet the man's adam's apple this time, and focused on his drumming fingers.

"Alright, so you drank alcohol so Kaden could see the dancing girls," Lakhri said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Apparently not enough to get drunk, but enough to impair your ability to control the fires you lit for no particularly good reason. To what extent, exactly, did you lose control? Did you miss the fuse? Lay fire to the market square? Or what?"

"Not quite, and I dare say you'd have noticed had I done the latter." Flynt bolstered his courage, took a breath and let it out. "I can't explain how it happened, it has not happened since I was a youngling. I lost control of the fire." He looked into the man's eyes. "It shot straight up, quite a distance. It was lucky the man was not injured. He wasn't. No harm done."

"He might have been injured, but 'no harm done'?" Lakhri shot back. "I can't believe you." He ran a hand through his curls. "Great. Just great," he muttered. "Apart from everything else, you might have shown some freakin' plain common sense."

The look on Flynt's face was all-telling. A lack of common sense was something he had not been scolded over in quite some time. He remained silent, as did Kaden.

Lakhri sighed in resignation. "Drex, have you heard everything you need to know?" he asked the older Jedi master. "Because if you have, I'd rather take this to our cabin."

"Yes, go ahead," said Drex. "We're going to withdraw to ours as well. Come on, Kaden."

He led the way to their cabin, headed for the closet and, from beneath a stack of clothes, retrieved the paddle that Eeth had given him. Turning around, he pulled out the chair and sat down. It seemed as if he was doing this rather a lot lately, he realised. But this time, he did not really see what else to do. "I don't think we need to discuss why you're going to be punished," he said calmly. "Or do we?"

"What the–?" Kade spluttered as he turned from their door to see Drex pulling a paddle from beneath a stack of clothing. He recognised it as Eeth's, and his eyes widened even more. "Master, why?" he practically squeaked, his tone sounding desperate; sure, it wasn't as bad as that bat Drex tried passing off as a hairbrush, but well, hell, he was pretty sure that was Eeth's and knew it hurt.

"Why?" asked Drex. "Because I'm no longer physically able to provide you with the correction you occasionally deserve. I realised that quite plainly the last time I gave you a handspanking. I thought you might prefer this paddle to the hairbrush. And the only thing that saves you from that one is the fact that you at least had the sense not to drink alcohol yourself. Now bare your bottom and get over my lap."

All Drex had wanted when he had left the café with Lakhri was to go to bed and get some sleep, and that was still basically true. Thus, he did not feel particularly patient with Kaden right now. He had been plain disobedient, there was no excuse for that, and he was going to be punished, preferably without stalling. It was as simple as that.

Kaden blinked. He stood there, stunned, for the longest of moments. He wasn't sure what to make of this. Thankfully, for both Drex's wish to get some sleep and Kaden's ass, his fingers started working to remove his belt. It was an unconscious effort, that was for sure. A moment later, he found himself standing before the man, undershorts and trousers at his knees. As it usually did, it took Kaden a moment to work up the courage to put himself across his master's lap; he truly hated this position, it made him feel like a child having to do it! "I hate this," he grunted while wriggling around to angle himself so that his ass was where Drex could easily smack it. Intrinsically, he knew why this position was required. Still, he wondered what was going to happen when he was much older. Would Drex put him over his knee when he was full grown? The mental picture sent the kid into a spin, so he squinted his eyes shut and tried to think about something else.

Drex had generally preferred to take his padawans over his knees when spanking them because that position made it easiest for him to hit the target despite not being able to see it. Nevertheless, when they had grown up, he had allowed them to assume less awkward positions, such as bent over a table, in the rare instances in which they still required correction. Whether he followed that policy in Kaden's case would depend on whether the boy managed to lose his pridefulness. There was no place in a Jedi's life for pride, and for as long as Kaden stubbornly clung to it, Drex would make him go over his knee in order to drive that point home.

Right now, he lost no time in bringing the paddle down with quite some force. He might not be using the hairbrush, but still, Kaden's transgression had not been a light one and Drex wanted to make that clear. "Padawan, I trusted you to go into the city without supervision," he said and swung the paddle again. "You exploited that trust." A third swat came down, this time onto Kaden' sit spot. "You disobeyed me on several counts and brought Flynt into a situation where he felt he had to drink." Two swats to the part where Kaden's bottom met his thighs underlined his displeasure with that fact. "I don't want to witness such behaviour again. None of it," he concluded his lecture and then focussed on paddling Kaden's bottom soundly, with lighter swats than before but at a rapid pace.

Prideful was the last thing Kaden felt at the moment. It was impossible to feel anything other than shame, self-pity, pain and humiliation from being in this position, more so when he was forced to place himself there willingly. He hated it. The first smack might have taken him by surprise had he not felt this paddle before. As it was, he clenched up his ass cheeks, squared his jaw and prayed to any deity willing to take pity on him that Drex was not going to have a swing like Eeth.

"Ah!" He hissed. Yep, so much for divine intervention; that had fucking hurt! Unsurprisingly, so did the next couple, the two landing on his undercurve garnering a hiss that morphed into a yelp. The lecture, too, hurt the boy; he hadn't meant to exploit his master's trust, but he guessed that this was exactly what disobeying him boiled down to. He had just wanted to see. 'What harm could that possibly do?' He thought piteously as another few smacks had him kicking out of reflex. Of course, he knew that this wasn't the point. Still! "OWch!' he hissed through gritted teeth. Kaden had been with Drex long enough to know that he didn't want to hear apologies now, especially so as it was clear that he had been hoping to get away with it and had the two masters not caught them out, he would not have confessed.

The "I was hoping not to get caught" explanation never did much to impress Drex, but since it was behind most instances of misbehaviour, he saw no need to go into this. Kaden knew perfectly well that it was not winning him any favours. Nor did his pleas have any impact on the speed or force of the smacks that Drex dealt out. Wielding a paddle made it considerably easier for him to achieve the effect he was aiming at, which was for Kaden to have an experience he would not want to repeat. The effect, unsurprisingly, seemed to particularly strong when Kaden's upper thighs were targeted, even at moderate force, and since Drex really did not want this to last all night, that was where he aimed a good part of the swats at.

"Ow! Oww! OWw! OUCH! Stop-please! Ah!" the boy yelped with each smack. His thighs were sensitive and being paddled there for more than a few swats was enough to animate him. He yelled, begged and when neither seemed to sway the man into letting him up, he dropped his head – subsequently, most of his weight landed on Drex's lap – and started to cry. "Owahhh!" he cried, but it was more like one continuous wail now as his legs kicked and toes drummed on the floor.

When Kaden had reached this point, Drex dealt out another dozen swats to the centre of the boy's bottom in order to drive the lesson home. Only when that was done did he lay the paddle aside. "Up you get," he said, not unkindly. He was not angry with Kaden. Nearly all padawans got into this type of trouble at some point; there was no malice in it, but it still had to be discouraged. And Drex hoped to have achieved that purpose.

Those words were like music to his ears. Kaden awkwardly clambered off the man's lap and immediately started trying to rub out the sting. Unlike that dreaded brush, this paddle didn't leave him with deep muscular pain. It was mostly an uncomfortable burn and horrible stinging that continued to increase even after the fact. He hopped around a bit, glad that his master was blind and couldn't see his childish antics. "Ow," he complained morosely, eyeing the paddle sitting on the desk with a look of complete disfavour. It briefly crossed his mind to be rid of the thing, and then he recalled what had happened the last time he had such a bright idea. Yeah… Drex now owned a tawse and a paddle with a bunch of holes drilled in it, and both hurt like a bastard. No, meddling with the man's implements was not an option. Cowed, he pulled up his undershorts with a hiss, picked up his trousers and placed them over the end of his bunk.

"Padawan, dancing girls are no reason to disobey your instructions," Drex said solemnly. "I hope I made that clear. If I didn't, and if anything remotely like this happens again, we will be having this conversation with my hairbrush. If it happens during a mission, my belt will provide some additional emphasis. So consider yourself warned. And now get ready for bed, please."

The look on Kaden's face went from embarrassed and ashamed at having disobeyed his master over a couple of dancing girls, to sombre at hearing his threat. Kaden wasn't sure which was worse, the belt or that Force-awful hairbrush! Although the mere mention of either had the boy immediately straighten up, regardless of the situation. Still sniffling, he dragged himself into their private refresher and got himself ready for bed as instructed.

Five minutes later he emerged, teeth brushed, hair combed and clad in a thin pair of sleep pants. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you." He paused, then moved to go to his bed only to hesitate once again; Kaden wanted comfort but found it difficult to seek it out. The boy settled on sitting next to Drex and leant into his side. Girls were going to be a weak point for him, they always had been…

Drex recognised Kaden's need and pulled him into a hug. "Apology accepted," he said gently. "Come on, let's meditate and then get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another long day."