Bram pulled from Raven's hug with surprising strength; not that he knew it, but deathsticks caused the people who consumed them to lose their inhibitions, sometimes to the point where they might inadvertently hurt others. "What did you call Eeth for?" he asked lazily, trying to push Raven inside his apartment.

Strengthwise, Raven was no match for Bram, and so, given his condition, she did the only thing she could: she put him in a firm hold, courtesy of Master Rool, and then she put her hand on his and sent a strong sleep compulsion. A few seconds later, Bram was on the floor. Raven dragged him down the hallway to a spot where the air was cleaner, sat, laid his head in her lap, stroked his hair and waited for Eeth.

Eeth had taken a speederbike from the Temple garage and swerved through the Coruscant traffic at a speed that he would have frowned upon if it had been Raven piloting. Nevertheless, it took him a good half hour until he arrived at Bram's lodgings. He pressed the doorbell and, as soon as his padawan had let him in, ran upstairs, figuring that this would be faster than taking the lift. He found them in the corridor leading up to Bram's apartment.

"How much did he inhale?" he asked without preamble, kneeling next to Bram and checking his pulse.

"I don't know," Raven admitted, cradling her brother's head in her lap once again. "He said he gave himself the antidote beforehand, and the smell wasn't overly thick in the room. I don't know how bad this is. When I did this years ago, I didn't actually inhale anything directly. Given his state, I'd say he did."

"Search the room for deathsticks," Eeth advised Raven. "Pocket all you can find. Then close the window. I'll take care of him in the meanwhile. If he gave himself the antidote and did not inhale too much, he ought to be fine in a few hours, but we will take him to the healers nonetheless. It will be best if I take him in the speeder you came with and you take my speederbike back to the Temple."

While he spoke, he ran a scanner up and down Bram, checked the readings and then administered a hypospray he had brought to prevent addiction, just to be on the safe side. It was most likely the same that Bram had already used, but applying it twice would do no harm.

Raven nodded. She carefully slid out from under the top half of her brother, leaving him in Eeth's care, and went about doing as Eeth had said.

A minute later, Raven reemerged from Bram's apartment carrying his backpack. It contained a change of clothing, toiletries, his wallet and a deathstick that, much to her relief, had barely been touched. "This is all I found," she said, handing Eeth the deathstick and squatting by Bram's side.

Eeth threw a glance at the deathstick and pocketed it. "He will probably be lucky, then," he said, "provided he does not make this a habit."

Raven put her hand on Bram's forehead. He was resting peacefully and, thanks to Eeth's ministrations, would most likely remain so until they got him to the Temple. "I'll comm the healers, take your bike and meet you at the Temple, then," Raven said, her words as much a question as they had been statement.

Eeth nodded. "Thank you, padawan," he said, slung Bram over his shoulder and rose. "I will meet you at the Temple. Come directly to the healers' wing."


Less than an hour later, Eeth and Raven were standing next to a bed in the healers' wing, looking down on Bram who was still fast asleep. He had been given a sedative by Healer Nezriel – ironically, this was the same person who had performed the mission checkup after their return from Larivan and discovered Raven's use of deathsticks years ago.

Nezriel compared his scanner readings and nodded in satisfaction at what he found.

"I can say with confidence that there will be no physical addiction," he said. "But please bear in mind that there is always the possibility of psychological addiction. That is not something we can prevent."

"Of course not," said Eeth. "Thank you, Healer Nezriel."

Raven thanked Nezriel, too, blushing as she did so because the memory of being escorted from the examination room by an enraged Eeth came flooding back.

They put Bram in a hoverchair and left. Once they had arrived at their quarters, Eeth lowered Bram onto the couch, sat in an armchair and said, "We should leave him to wake up on his own. It should not take too long."

Raven placed a hand on Eeth's shoulder and sat down at his side. "Thank you for dropping everything to come help. It would have been more difficult for me than you to get Bram into the speeder without hurting him," she said, the expression on her face grave.

She removed her hand and began to fiddle with her padawan braid. It was a habit that indicated nervousness. And sure enough, she had a confession to make that was giving her reason to be nervous!

"Bram told me last night that he was thinking of trying deathsticks," she admitted. "Of course I told him not to, I even told him the story of what happened to me and the situation with James and Lakhri. I thought I scared him off the idea and that I wouldn't need to involve you. I should have told you. Maybe it might have had more impact if you had spoken to him about it. I mean, ultimately he is an adult and we can't make decisions for him, but heck, I feel guilty that it came to this."

Eeth listened to her in silence and pondered her words for a moment.

"Yes, it would probably have been better if you had told me," he said. "That said, we have no way of knowing whether involving me would have changed anything. I do not have authority over Bram. He is legally an adult and he is entitled to his own decisions; nor do I have any desire to act as a disciplinarian for your brother or anyone else who might be in need of guidance. You tried to dissuade him. I could not have done more than that. I might have had more success; but then again, I might just as well have pushed him to defy me. You did what you thought was best; you might make a different decision in the future."

This lightened Raven's heart and she felt less guilty. Unfortunately, Eeth wasn't finished.

"Now, did he in any way try to involve you in this? Did he offer you deathsticks or try to get you to smoke them?" Eeth asked, and Raven groaned.

"Do you really need to know that?" she asked. She knew that if she told the truth, Eeth would probably tear Bram a new one, if only verbally. Still, Eeth had a way of cutting to the core of a person and making them feel as dreadful as possible just with a few words.

"When I ask you a question, I want an answer," said Eeth coolly.

"Yes, yes, I know. The thing is, I don't always want to give it to you," Raven said through a sigh.

Eeth just gave her a pointed look in response, and Raven relented.

"He didn't involve me exactly, but he did offer me some," she said reluctantly. She squinted slightly, knowing how this was going to be received by Eeth.

And sure enough, the expression on Eeth's face darkened.

"Needless to say, I am not happy about this at all," he said, "and I will not fail to make this very clear to him. Either he changes his behaviour or you will have to stop meeting him. Brother or not, you will not be involved with people who consume drugs."

Raven had fully expected Eeth to be mad at Bram over this, but she honestly had not thought he would threaten that they might not be allowed to see each other again.

"Wait, what? No, you can't do that! He's my brother," Raven said urgently. She was entirely aware that despite her words, Eeth could and would do exactly what he had said. She also knew that it was unlikely Bram would try deathsticks again; he wasn't stupid, just curious. Still, Raven didn't like Eeth's threat, and her demeanour made that very clear.

"Padawan, in the unlikely event that your brother is stupid enough to continue inhaling drugs and involving you in it, I can and I will forbid you from seeing him," Eeth replied sternly. "For the moment, though, our goal should be to prevent that from happening, and indignant responses will not help with that."

Raven knew that Eeth was right, of course, and so she inclined her head slightly in response and did not continue to challenge him. "From memory, I felt kinda cloudy for a while afterwards. It's a good thing he has the day off today," she said.

At that moment, Bram started to stir. Groaning, he turned around and nearly fell off the couch.

"Huh?" he said sleepily, stabilising himself with his hand on the floor and sliding back until he was stopped by the backrest of the couch. He opened his eyes and propped himself up on an elbow. "What happened?" he asked in a slurred voice. Then his memory started to return slowly, but hazily.

"Uh-oh," he said, blushing deeply, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back onto the couch.

"Uh-oh is right," said Eeth icily.

Raven had initially shot her brother a frown. Upon hearing the tone of voice Eeth used, her frown softened into something a lot more sympathetic. "Bram, how do you feel?" she asked, moving to his side and placing a hand on his back. "I'm sorry I had to use a Force suggestion on you. I don't like doing that, but you scared me."

"I'm sorry," Bram said weakly, trying hard to remember clearly how he had ended up at what he supposed were Eeth's and Raven's living quarters, but failing miserably. "I… I don't know what happened exactly. I remember trying the deathstick… Yeah, I guess that was stupid. How did I get here?"

"Master carried you to my speeder and then we took you to the healers just to be on the safe side," said Raven. "Stupidity aside, using that antidote was wise as it prevented any physical addiction. We gave you a second one to be sure. Can I get you something to eat or drink? We don't have any beer but we have some kivi flower juice. It's my favourite."

Bram squeezed his eyes together; the light seemed too bright somehow. "Juice would be good," he said gratefully, sitting up slowly and cautiously. He studiously avoided Eeth's gaze but it was hard. The man practically radiated disapproval.

And Eeth was not planning on doing him the favour of leaving him alone.

"Have your drink," he said quietly when Raven had disappeared into the kitchen. "And then we are going to have a serious talk about your attempt to offer my padawan drugs. And I will want to know where you got them from."

Bram blushed an even deeper shade of red. "Did I offer her some?" he asked in a small voice. "I'm so sorry. I hope she did not…?"

"No," said Eeth brusquely. "But that does not mean I am any happier with your behaviour."

At this point, Raven returned from the kitchen and handed the juice to Bram and a cup of tea to Eeth before disappearing once again. Bram accepted the glass of juice thankfully, both because he was thirsty and because it delayed the talk that Eeth wanted to have with him. Surely Eeth would not want to punish him? Bram could not really imagine that he would; but then, Eeth had always been quite different from everybody else he knew.

Raven returned with a glass of juice for herself, put it on the coffee table and sat onto the floor. Her gaze went from Bram to Eeth and then back again. She could sympathise with her brother, really she could, because if the look on Eeth's face was anything to go by, Bram was in for a scolding the likes of which he probably hadn't had in years. Well, at least that was all he'd be getting, Raven thought, because she was certain that if she had pulled something like this, Eeth would pull out the cane and probably spank her every night for a week. And that would only be the start of it.

Eeth drank his tea and waited until Bram had finished his juice. Then he said, "Padawan, please excuse us for a while. Kindly join me in my room, Bram."

His tone of voice made quite clear that this was not a request. Nevertheless, Bram hesitated for a moment, giving Raven a pleading look.

"Master, please don't be like this. Don't you think Bram has suffered enough?" Raven tried on her brother's behalf, but it was half-hearted because she knew that there was no talking Eeth out of dishing out punishment, even if he was only planning on a verbal ass-kicking.

Eeth rose wordlessly from his armchair, shot Raven a glare that had her immediately drop her gaze and pointed Bram to his room. And there was no way that Bram would have disobeyed the summons. He felt the same way he had three years ago on Chine: the pull of Eeth's authority was irresistible to him. Giving Raven a weak smile, he slowly rose from the couch. Eeth turned abruptly and stalked off to his room, and Bram saw no other option than to follow him. He supposed he should be grateful to his sister and her master for having saved him from worse stupidity. What had he been thinking? It had not seemed so bad at the time, but in hindsight, it had been incredibly foolish.

"Right," said Eeth curtly once they had entered his room, turning on Bram. He pointed the boy at the bed and sat down on the desk chair himself, leaning forward and supporting his elbows on his knees.

"Let me be perfectly clear," he said in a voice that sent shivers down Bram's spine, his eyes practically boring into Bram's face. "You are legally an adult. As such, you are free to fry your brain cells, flunk your training and waste your money on drugs if you have a mind to. But as soon as you start offering drugs to my padawan, or smoking them in her presence, you have crossed a line. Raven will still have need of her brain cells, just as she has no use for substances that destroy her Force awareness. If you want to continue meeting her, you will keep your hands off drugs. Your choice. I will not compromise on this, and it is not open for debate either. Is that clear?"

Bram lowered his head, his eyes suddenly brimming with tears. It seemed that the deathsticks made him more emotionally fragile than usual, or maybe it was his general loneliness and confusion that was coming to the surface, but at this moment, he felt very vulnerable and shaky.

"Yes, Sir," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I really made a mess out of things. It will not happen again."

"It had better not," said Eeth grimly. "You could easily ruin your future if you continue this way."

Bram was glad that Eeth had said this; at least, he did not exclusively think about Raven, but also about him.

"I won't," he said in a slightly steadier voice. "I promise."

"Good," said Eeth, only very slightly mollified. "Where did you get the deathstick from?"

"Friends," said Bram vaguely.

"Not very good friends, apparently," said Eeth coolly. "I do not know whether Raven has ever told you this, but I spent my childhood on Nar Shaddaa among death stick dealers and deathstick addicts. Nobody who tries to sell deathsticks to you can ever be a true friend, that much you may be certain of."

"But it was a gift!" said Bram defensively. "They did not ask for payment."

"Not this time, no," said Eeth. "Do you know that there are a lot of youngsters who make a living out of this? Life on Coruscant can be expensive if you want the right clothes and the best entertainment. So what they do is to find inexperienced, lonely strangers, just like you. They become friendly, they gain their trust and at some point, drugs come into the play. At first as gifts, of course. As soon as the addiction is there, the addict will want more, but of course his friends cannot provide them for free; they have to take risks, supply is scarce and so on and so forth. They ask for more and more payment. It always ends badly. And it is a well-known scheme."

"I did not know that!" said Bram, shocked. Indeed, he had never heard of such a thing on Chine, and while he had dealt with a number of deathstick-related cases at work, their background had never been explained to him.

"But," he added, "they knew I had the hypospray that prevents addiction. So I would not have been a good victim for such a scheme, would I?"

Eeth pondered this for a moment. "I assume there is always the psychological addiction," he said. "Deathsticks can make you feel good. Many people find that they cannot resist the urge to use them again, even if there is no physiological addiction. Now, I want the names of your so-called friends."

"What for?" asked Bram.

"To report them to the police, of course," said Eeth matter-of-factly. "They are dangerous. Even giving deathsticks away as gifts is illegal on Coruscant. Surely you were aware of that."

Bram bit his lip. "Kind of," he admitted. "I did not think about it like that."

Eeth leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "The names," he said in a tone of voice that suggested he would not back down. Bram hesitated, but finally admitted defeat.

"I can only give you their first names and comm codes, though," he said in a small voice. "I have no idea where they live and I don't think they ever told me their last names either."

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "You have to stop being so careless," he said gently. "Coruscant is a far more dangerous place than Chine."

Bram nodded mutely. He was already feeling close to tears again.

When Eeth had noted down the names, he said, "Go and rejoin your sister. No doubt she is waiting for you."

He turned towards his desk and pulled up his terminal. After a moment, he noticed that Bram had not moved from where he was sitting. He turned back and gave him a questioning look.

"What is it?" asked Eeth.

"Won't you… uh… punish me?" asked Bram, his cheeks flushing.

Eeth shook his head. "Contrary to popular belief, I am not a professional disciplinarian," he said. "You are an adult, and not in my charge. What business would I have punishing you?"

Bram thought about this. "None," he finally said. "But I feel guilty. Really guilty. And I have no idea how to make things right with you and my sister. I feel like the biggest moron on the planet and I don't deserve to get off scot-free. If I… if I asked you to punish me, would you do it?"

Eeth gave him a scrutinising look. "If I really punished you for misbehaviour on this scale," he said coolly, "it would be quite an impressive punishment. I doubt you would want it if you had any idea what to expect."

A flash of mixed anxiety and excitement coursed through Bram, just like the last time he had asked this of Eeth, three years ago. He was sure he wanted this. It felt right. He felt lost without any kind of structure or accountability; he wanted someone to call him to task for what he had done wrong, and then to forgive him, without any shortcuts.

"I do want it," he said quietly, looking Eeth in the face. "Please. I know I am imposing on you, but… please."

Eeth held Bram's gaze for a long moment. Finally, he said, "Alright. Stay here and wait."

He rose and strode into the common room where he headed directly to the cupboard in which he kept his spanking implements.

Meanwhile, Raven was lying on the floor, her backside and one leg up the wall, the other dangling over her head, and a datapad hovering above her face. At eighteen, she still found this position comfortable and would read and watch holo like this if it was just her and Eeth. Flynt had made her promise not to do it around him as it never failed to bring tears to his eyes. How a body could contort like that in the natural world, he did not know but neither did he want to see it.

When the door opened, Raven threw her leg over her head and rolled onto her feet. She was expecting to see a well-chastened Bram looking suitably ashamed of himself. Instead, she was met with the sight of a grim-looking master who headed straight for his cupboard.

Eeth had said he wouldn't punish her brother, which from Raven's perspective could mean only one thing. The padawan stiffened and swallowed, her hands immediately moving to her backside as Eeth turned away from the cupboard, the cane and that god-awful paddle in hand. "Master?" she brought out nervously. And then she realised that, rather than ordering her over the table, he was returning towards his bedroom door.

"You're not going to use those on Bram, right?" she asked hesitantly. Raven was quite sure that her brother had never been given a caning before, not to mention in combination with the paddle from hell. Being spanked with that paddle was an experience in and of itself, let alone having to endure the cane afterwards, which was what she suspected was about to go down.

Eeth paused briefly on his way back to his room. "As I told you, it is not my place to punish him," he said calmly. "However, he asked for this. He seems to think that he deserves it, and I rather agree. Do you not?"

"I do," Raven replied quickly, moving to stand between him and the door. "But, I just think… It's just that… Don't you think that paddle is bad enough on its own?" She really wanted to save her brother from his fate. Eeth was an expert at wielding that cane, and she suspected that by the time he was through with Bram, her brother would be sorely regretting his decision to request punishment.

"If I thought that, would I take the cane?" Eeth asked pointedly. "Step aside, padawan. I know what I am doing."

In fact, Eeth, despite not being in charge of Bram, cared for Raven's brother. Since the boy had asked for this himself, Eeth intended to provide him with a strong incentive never to do something this stupid again. The foolishness of smoking deathsticks was something that Eeth felt strongly about, and in his opinion, it warranted the cane like nothing else would. Besides, Bram was not a child any more, he was a young man and ought to be able to deal with this.

Thus, Eeth fixed Raven with a stern look, waiting for her to obey his order.

The expression on Raven's face betrayed a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, she was feeling sorry for her brother; on the other, she truly did trust Eeth to do what was best for him, which was why, when he ordered her to step aside, she did so without challenge. "You're right. I'm sorry, master, I didn't mean to imply that you don't know what you are doing," she said.

"Apology accepted," Eeth said gently. "Padawan, your brother needs help, and what is more, he wants this kind of help. He will be fine."

Eeth opened the door to his room and closed it behind himself. He laid the paddle and the cane onto the bed and ordered, "Bare your bottom and bend over the chair."

With his chin, he nodded towards the high-backed desk chair. It would be just right for the tall and lanky Bram.

Bram took an apprehensive look at the implements Eeth had brought. He was far from an expert on corporal punishment and had no way of assessing the relative severity of spanking implements. The only thing he was sure of was that the belting he had received from Eeth on Chine three years ago had hurt plenty. Nor did he think Eeth had lied when he had said he would punish him severely. Nevertheless, he obeyed Eeth's order without hesitation. After all, he had asked for this, and it had been a sincere and serious request.

He began having second thoughts as he received the first swat with the paddle. It literally took his breath away and his hands flew back of their own accord as he let out a pain-filled yelp.

"Put your hands back in front of you," said Eeth mercilessly.

Bram obeyed hastily. "I'm sorry," he brought out, trying to get his breathing back under control. He truly had no idea how much more of this he could stand without breaking position, though.

Eeth could guess his thoughts. He said softly, "I will use the Force to restrain you. Brace yourself."

Suddenly, a strange feeling overtook Bram. He tried to move his hand. It was like trying to break through a rubber wall: Not painful, but completely ineffective. He did not have much time to ponder this, though, because the second swat came down and it hurt even more than the first, if that was at all possible. Eeth dealt out a full dozen swats, and by the time he was done, Bram was sobbing his heart out and was quite certain that he was never, ever going to sit again.

It took him several minutes to calm down a little and realise that Eeth had not yet lifted his restraint.

"P…please, it hurts. M-may I get up?" he stammered tearfully, a little ashamed at wailing like a toddler; but the pain was so fierce he simply had not been able to help it.

"No," said Eeth calmly and very firmly. "I am not finished yet. Any offense that involves deathsticks is worthy of the cane, as far as I am concerned, and this is no exception. You will receive six strokes."

That made for a total of eighteen, which matched Bram's age. Eeth was very methodical that way.

Bram's crying increased in intensity as he heard Eeth's verdict, but he did not argue. He had surrendered himself willingly to Eeth, after all, and he knew that he had been extremely irresponsible. He certainly would survive, he told himself, although it did not feel as if he would right now.

To his surprise, Eeth briefly rested a gentle hand onto his back.

"It will be over in a moment," he said softly. Then he picked up the cane and brought it down onto Bram's bottom smartly. Throughout the following half minute or so, Bram let out one deafening, continuous howl. Every time the pain from one stroke had reached its peak, the next stroke followed; and even when Eeth was done, the pain just seemed to grow and grow and grow. Again, it took Bram several minutes to calm down at least a little, and possibly a bit longer to realise that his restraint had been lifted. He rose from the chair, crying hard, and reached back to clutch his bottom, only to remove his hands quickly with another pain-filled yowl.

Eeth handed him a handkerchief and said quietly, "Clean yourself up and lie down on my bed for a while. You may use my refresher if you like. I will give you a little bit of privacy for now."

Bram nodded weakly, blowing his nose into the handkerchief. He was still crying hard.

Eeth left the room and went to find Raven.

"He will live, padawan," he said mildly. "If you like, prepare some tea and cookies and go to join him. I think he might need some reassurance."

"Tea and cookies? You are rarely so forgiving towards me," Raven grumbled good-naturedly. Typically, Eeth made her suffer through meditation before any such comforts were given. Still, she assumed meditation for Bram wouldn't exactly work

"If that were true," said Eeth woodenly, "there would be no cookies in the kitchen." Eeth was certainly not the type to eat cookies; the occasional visitor aside, he brought them mostly for Raven's benefit.

Raven just tutted at him and went to do as told.

A minute later, the padawan knocked lightly on Eeth's door, tray in hand. "Bram?"

Bram had made his way into the refresher with some effort, for his backside was throbbing intensely. He had washed his face and hands and then shuffled back into the bedroom since his bottom hurt too much to pull up his pants all the way! He had dropped on the bed, backside up. When he heard Raven at the door, he hastily pulled a blanket across said backside, hissing as it touched his bottom.

"Yeah?" he asked, twisting around a bit and giving his sister a weak smile.

Raven said nothing of his attempt at modesty and simply sat the tray on the bedside table. "I know you probably hurt right now, but are you okay?" she asked, sympathy clear in her tone.

"Well, it hurts like a bastard," Bram admitted. "But I feel like I deserved it. If that makes sense. I'm not sure it does myself."

"I understand, you don't need to explain yourself. Unless you want to talk about it, that is. I've asked for punishment before, so I can relate," Raven said. She lay back on the bed, her hand resting on her brother's back affectionately.

"Really?" asked Bram dubiously. "Because your master went postal on my ass and you must think I'm mental to have asked for this. I mean – maybe I am. I'm wondering."

"No, I don't think you're mental. Well…" Raven feigned thought and concluded, "Maybe just a little." She gave him a teasing grin. More seriously, she said. "You messed up, you felt guilty and subsequently, you needed to assuage that guilt. Eeth agreed to help you because ultimately, he cares about you. He doesn't want to see you wind up as some deathstick addict because he knows you are better than that. Incidentally, so do I. Although I can understand why you were curious. Coruscant has so much more to experience than Chine, and you didn't grow up here."

"Still, it was a dumb thing to do," said Bram. "I didn't really plan to do it either. My… for lack of a better word, friends left the deathstick with me and I let temptation get the better of me. I just wish I had more self-control than that, but apparently I don't. And it did feel great." He sighed. "Eeth explained to me that what they did is a popular scheme on Coruscant. How could I be too stupid to realise that? I really was a moron."

"I should have told you. I'm sorry that I didn't think pushing you about your friends was worth making you annoyed at me. It probably was, in hindsight. You aren't a moron. People make mistakes. If you did it again, though, maybe that would make you a moron," Raven said, winking at him. "But I know you won't. For one thing, Eeth won't let us see each other if you do, and for another thing, despite how you feel now, you're not stupid."

Bram shuddered. "I hope I'm not because I do want to keep seeing you again," he said. "Also, I really, really hope he won't tell Mum and Dad because I have absolutely no idea how I would explain this to them. No, I had better not do this again."

"I don't think he will tell them at this point, but if you're concerned, ask him," said Raven.

Bram turned onto his side, propped his head onto an elbow and reached for a cookie.

"Do you think I'll be allowed to do anything about the state of my bottom?" he asked. "I have to work tomorrow and I have no need for anything that will interfere with my performance."

"He will probably heal you. He usually does, but not until you've suffered sufficiently. For me, that's generally after a horribly painful and difficult meditation, and if I'm unlucky enough, an essay or lines of some description. I don't think he's ever brought me cookies and tea right after," Raven said, faking indignation.

"He's probably trying to be hospitable," said Bram. "I'm sorry I ruined the afternoon for both of us."

Raven turned her head and met his eye. "Apology accepted. Now stop beating yourself up. Eeth has already taken care of that part, after all. Besides, you didn't ruin anything. We're still together. Oh, by the way. Eeth mentioned taking us on a trip to Tree World next weekend. If you're free, I'd really love you to come. It is an amazing place. I'm going to invite Lakhri and Flynt along also if they're back in time. You'll like them, I'm sure of it."

"Sounds great," said Bram, and he was sincere. It was a relief, somehow, to plan normal activities with people he felt comfortable with and that even included Eeth, as strange as it might seem.

"Also, and only if you feel up to it, I finally get to show you around the Temple," Raven said through a smile that was all teeth. Raven was also hoping to let Bram know that it didn't matter where they were or what they were doing, as long as they were together and safe.

"You do?" asked Bram, swiping his hands across his face and running his fingers through his messy hair in an effort to make himself look remotely presentable. "I mean… will Eeth be okay with that? Provided I manage to pull my pants up, of course," he added wryly. He did not fancy the idea of exploring the Jedi Temple with a bare bottom.

"Of course. He might even join us if he's not working on something. Speaking of the state of your ass, I'll go and find out how long he intends for you to suffer," said Raven

When she went in search of Eeth, she found him meditating. She suddenly realised that she was in a light mood: Bram was here, safe, and they were going to explore the Temple! Raven knelt in front of Eeth, crossed her legs and entered a meditative trance herself, finding the man easily across their bond. "Hello, are you busy?" she enquired cheekily, as if making a comm call.

Eeth opened his eyes and gave his padawan a stony look.

"You can see that I am," he said with dignity.

"Yes, I can," replied Raven with equal dignity. She was chuckling on the inside, though; she did enjoy teasing him.

"How is your brother doing?" asked Eeth.

"He will live," said Raven. "Although I'd like to show him around the Temple and, well, he can't pull up his pants. Might you take some pity on him and do some healing?"

"I will heal him before we take him home," said Eeth firmly. "Not before."

"Aw c'mon, don't be like that," Raven protested on Bram's behalf. "I don't know how many licks you gave him but he's really hurting. Besides, if I take him to the pools, he'll have to slide on his stomach… and…" Raven was clutching at straws here because there really was no valid reason why Eeth should heal him other than that it was what both teens wanted. She grimaced at this realisation and started gnawing at her lip. "And I guess it's what I want," she admitted. "Bram, too, I'm pretty sure."

"Well, what I want is for the lesson to stick," Eeth replied. "Thus, the answer is still no. Now do you still want to take him to the pools or was that just something you said in order to make me heal him now?"

"We still want to go," said Raven, having given up on protesting for Bram.

"Would you like me to come or would you rather spend some time without me?" Eeth asked.

"Of course I want you to come, why do you always ask that?" said Raven. "I don't dislike your company, just some of your decisions. You should work on those."

Eeth raised his eyebrows at this but did not reply. He merely got up and went to fetch his swim bag.

Raven, too, went to change and collected her swim bag.

Bram was all for going to the pools. He jumped up from the bed and managed to pull up his pants with some difficulty. Luckily, he had not chosen to wear his tightest jeans today, he mused as his bottom protested the contact with fabric. Cold water would be just the thing!

Raven felt for Bram as she saw him wincing when he did up his pants. In most cases, she at least had been able to pull on some comfortable clothes. "Eeth said he'll heal you before you go home this afternoon, but not before," she said. "Sorry, I tried, but he can be a real hardass when it comes to stuff like this."

Bram grimaced. This did not surprise him from what he knew of Eeth, but he still would have welcomed some pain relief. "Oh well," he said in resignation. "I hope that the water in your pools is cool, at least."

"You'll love the pools. They might even be a bit more impressive than the one on Chine. A few slides we have vary in intensity right up to 'restricted to 18 years and over'; makes for a bit of a thrill. It's been ages since we've had time to devote to having any fun. As you know, Eeth does not condone the concept of 'fun.' Still, he'll indulge us for one or two slides before going to do some work," said Raven.

"Great," Bram said enthusiastically. He had always been rather daring and was looking forward to the "18 years and over" slide!

"I'm also glad I finally get to see a bit of the Temple," he told Raven as they went to join Eeth in the common room.

"You will," said Eeth who was waiting for them with his bag. "We will show you some parts of it on our way to the pools and some more after that. I thought we might have dinner in the central dining hall together and take you home after that. Just for your information, I have seen to it that your so-called friends will not bother you again."

"Good," Bram said, relief written on his face. He had felt less and less comfortable in their presence, but they had been very hard to shake off. He had been a little worried about this. But he knew that when Eeth said such a thing with such conviction, he could rely on it.

Consequently, he was quite cheerful as they made their way to the pools, stopping at the room of 1000 fountains, walking through a few gardens and taking a peek at the arboretum. They also crossed the central courtyard from which the Temple's enormous spires rose. It was all very impressive, but also slightly overwhelming for someone who had grown up on a quiet backwater planet. By the time they reached the pool area, Bram was completely and utterly lost and could not have found his way back to Raven's quarters if his life depended on it!

"By the way," he said to Raven and Eeth as he looked for suitable trunks on a shelf that offered swim gear to anyone, "you mentioned that you took me to the healers' wing but obviously I don't remember any of it. Is there any chance we could have a look at that place some time? I'd be interested."

"Of course," said Eeth. "It might be best to arrange it beforehand so we can make sure that we will not be in the way and someone will have time for you. Maybe when you next come to visit."

Raven nodded in agreement. "If you have time next weekend, why not come back to the Temple with us after Tree World, and you can spend the evening in the healers' wing, then have dinner with us?" she suggested, thinking that next weekend was shaping up to be more fun than she had had in a long time.

She pulled off her tunic to reveal a very sensible, Temple-issue bathing suit and one hell of a scar on her left leg. It was not as disfiguring as it once had been, but there was still cosmetic work to be done and the dented, white tissue was frightful enough to turn heads. She took a towel from the far shelf which was currently being restocked by a padawan whose pitiful expression told Raven that he was not enjoying the mundane task. The teen shot him a sympathetic expression. After all, Raven had been on the receiving end of such chores more often than she cared to remember.

"C'mon, let's go slide," she told Bram when he had managed to get a pair of shorts up over his ass. "You're going to come, too. Right, master?"

"Since you seem to want me to, I will," Eeth replied with an air of fond resignation.

Bram, in the meantime, was openly staring at the variety of species that were present here. Chine had been colonised by humans exclusively, and nonhuman species were a rarity there. And while he had spent some time on Coruscant already, he never ceased to marvel at the diversity of its population. The section of the hospital he worked at only catered to humans and a small number of humanoid species, though; anything else would have been more than he was equipped to deal with.

Raven led Bram and Eeth to the ladder of the tallest and steepest slide and began climbing. When they reached the top, Raven peered over the edge. It was a long way down, and for those who were not yet skilled enough to jump from the side, it was typically made sitting. "You can always go down face first. Depends. How's your ass holding up?" she asked Bram.

Bram grimaced. "Well, I'm definitely not going to sit," he admitted. "But I suppose cool water will do me some good."

He grinned and boxed her playfully on her good thigh. "Hurry!" he said. "Your master looks as if he's eager to get going."

"You mean he's eager to get the fun part over with so he can go do some work?" Raven replied, looking over her shoulder at Eeth hoping to get a rise out of him.

"Quite so," said Eeth, unfazed.

"Oh, alright," said Bram. He lay on his stomach and started his descent. Unbeknownst to him, Eeth used the Force to make sure nothing happened to him.

"That was fun," said Bram when they climbed out of the pool a minute later, "if slightly scary!"

"I know, right. Remember when I wanted to jump from the top of the waterfall on Chine? Well, this sort of training is how we learn without killing ourselves," Raven explained as they made their way to the ladder once again. "We start using the slide, then progress to a straight jump off the edge. Each of the slides is a different level of skill, this one being the final and most dangerous. That's why it's restricted to 18 years and over without adult supervision." Raven looked over her shoulder. Eeth was following, his face impassive as usual. "You know," Raven said to Bram in a stage whisper, "Flynt and I snuck up there once. We weren't intending to jump, but well, heck, we did. Luckily for us his master, Lakhri, who was in charge that afternoon, sensed a disturbance in the Force, and it really would have been one big disturbance as neither of us had landed a jump from this height yet. Anyway, after making sure we both hit the water without dying, he set about making us wish we had."

"Ouch," Bram said sympathetically. From what Raven had told him, Lakhri sounded more easy-going than Eeth, but if the man had been Eeth's apprentice, he was bound to know a thing or two about disciplining errant apprentices!

Eeth stayed with Raven and Bram on the slides for a quarter of an hour. Then he went to have a swim and left the twins to their own devices.

"Ninety minutes," he told them. "We all have work to do tomorrow, thus we cannot stay indefinitely."

"Yes, master," Raven replied, immediately setting her watch; she wasn't going to risk being late again until well after her knighting, and even that was dicey, she thought.

This was the most fun afternoon Bram had had in quite a while and he was rather reluctant when Raven told him that it was time to meet Eeth in the change rooms. However, he had no desire to get Raven in trouble again, nor did he want to antagonise Eeth. He was actually thankful to the man for having indulged him; while his bottom hurt, his heart felt much lighter than before. He was going to do better from now on than he had those past weeks, he told himself.

That evening, the two Jedi took Bram to dinner at the Temple's dining halls, which Raven thought was far better than some of the food they'd experienced on missions. "It's not like some of the best takeaway Coruscant has to offer, but it's still pretty good," Raven said as the three entered their quarters that evening. She carefully hung her cloak by the door and unclipped her saber and belt. "Are you sure you can't stay? I can make room, and there is always the couch."

"Well, I have to be at the hospital at six tomorrow," said Bram regretfully. "I'd have to leave at five. Not a good idea, all in all. But I can stay next weekend if you like."

"You are welcome to," said Eeth. "If you would join me in my room for a moment, I am willing to provide some healing. I do not want you to be unable to sleep or, worse, unable to focus on your work tomorrow."

"Thanks," said Bram gratefully. And he really was.