"Perhaps this will be the last obstacle and we can speed up once we get closer to the ship. I can't imagine that Knight Talsin landed in the middle of a mountain of cliffs. Then again… " Anyara sighed, not able to see past their latest, and so far most challenging, obstacle.

Raven looked at the scanner and frowned. The complete lack of basin water beneath the surface did not bode well for them. They wouldn't be able to stop anytime soon, and at the rate they were progressing, she didn't like their chances of beating the other team. Naturally, the senior padawan couldn't care less, but it was important to her younger teammates and she felt their frustration at coming across so many obstacles.

"Talk about getting the short end of the stick. This sucks," Bale said, drawing nods of agreement from a few of her teammates as they looked up at the cliff. Sure, it was totally climbable, but it was going to take them a while to get over this, and none of the padawans knew what new obstacle might await them once at the top.

"Right," said Moon. "Complaints will not get us back to the ship. Unless you want to end up being forced to ask Talsin to rescue us, we will need to get across this ridge. Our scanners are already picking up the ship, so it can't be that far any more."

Enteely gathered all her courage and piped up. "You know what?" she said. "We have one advantage over the other group. We have two adults with us, which means that we could split up. That way, we could form two groups who climb the ridge in different places. And then we can see which way forward is the best."

"Excellent idea," said Xin. "One group could climb up over there." He pointed at a place a few hundred meters to their right where the rocks formed something resembling steps, making for an easy ascent.

"Yes, and the other could climb over there," said Enteely, pointing to her left. "We could check out the best further course from up there, comm each other and meet there."

She looked at Moon. "That would be allowed, wouldn't it?" she asked.

"Absolutely," said Moon, nodding in approval.

Raven looked to the team for a reaction. She and Moon were authorised to give orders and to step in if the situation was dangerous, but everything else was left to the padawans.

Bale shrugged. "What difference does it make? We can't win now anyway," she told them dejectedly.

"You don't know that," Tampet piped up, ever the optimist. "For all we know, they're up against the same, if not worse terrain."

"Besides, we've got the ship on our scanner. It's about five miles away. That means that if we walk quickly, we can make it there in under two hours," Anyara said, drawing on Tampet's confident appraisal.

Raven tended to agree and saw an opportunity to add her support. "Which means finding a quick, safe way over this ridge should be your top priority, and will have us arriving well before midday," she pointed out.

Bale sighed, but had to acquiesce. They had a point, and without offering more than a nod, she strode towards the steps Xin had pointed out.

"Stop," Raven called, causing the girl to halt, if not from obedience, then from a conditioned response to the command. "We go together," Raven reminded her. "This isn't like the other ridges we've climbed. It's much steeper and we need to be careful. You can't just go running up this by yourself. Bale, you're the smallest. You go first. Xin, you can come with us and go behind her. I will go last."

"But you just told me to wait, now you're sending me up first? Force, bossy much!" Bale said, miffed at having to take orders from another padawan.

"You are testing my patience," Raven said with a frown. She did not like Bale's attitude and, unbeknownst to her, had taken up the exact stance and air of authority Eeth would have employed had she said such a thing. Thankfully for Bale, Raven did not add the teeth-rattling smack that would have probably accompanied such an attitude had she tried that line on Eeth, but apparently this was enough to get her point across.

"Sorry, but you're not explaining yourself. Why make me go first?" Bale asked, this time in a far less acerbic tone.

"The smaller person should always go first and the heaviest last. That way if you fall, you have the larger bodies to stop you. If it were the other way around…"

"Yeah, okay, okay, I get it, you'd squash me."

"Correct. I can also use the Force to stop a fall if I can see you both. Any more questions or would you like to get a move on?" Raven asked, noticing that Moon had already left with the remaining three padawans.

Bale just shook her head and took off up the ridge at a far less enthusiastic pace than before.

It took them some time to reach the top. It was quite a hike and the ridge was fraught with loose rocks and debris. Raven was able to see the horizon line from her vantage point. However, the sheer drop before them did not look like an option, at least not from this angle. "Both of you wait here," she said. "I need to check what's under us. For all we know, it sweeps back and the slope is not as harsh. Sit tight and don't move away from here while I'm gone." She pulled a thin wire from her belt, wedged the hooked end securely between a crevice and swung herself over the edge. Raven loved this part of her duty. Even at eighteen, such things gave her a thrill.

Bale huffed. "Fine, just hurry up. We've already wasted enough time," she replied tersely.

Raven did not respond to that. Bale needed to be bought down a peg or two but that was hardly her responsibility. Well, if she kept up the attitude around Eeth, the girl wouldn't enjoy the trip home. That much was sure.

Meanwhile, Anyara peered over a similar edge. In this place, there was a clear, walkable track leading to the bottom that they might use, or at least that was how it looked to her inexperienced eye. She glanced towards Moon. "We should check that it's safe and then call the others," she said, but waited for confirmation. After all, this was what she considered a dangerous situation. Ergo, it was the knight's call.

Moon nodded. "Yes," he said. "Why don't you and Tampet go and check it out? But be quick about it."

The two were more than capable, he thought, and Enteely could use the rest.

Both padawans appreciated the opportunity to be useful and took off at a moderate, albeit safe pace down the slope. Five minutes later, they were back.

"This path is doable," Anyara told a waiting Moon.

"It's long but not nearly as steep as the surrounding areas. We can clear this in just over an hour if we hurry," Tampet added, pleased at having found a way over and eager to pass this on to Raven's team.

"Alright, then let's call the others," Moon said.

It was a good thing Tampet chose to call Xin and not Raven because Raven was currently dangling before the overhang that did indeed cut in beneath, looking around. The path wasn't exactly people-friendly, but it would do if there was no better option. Still, the padawan wanted to cover all ground here, so she lowered herself some more.

As Xin and Bale waited, they were growing more and more impatient. Xin, especially, felt as if time was running out and that the others, or at least Bale, were going to blame him if they lost. After all, it was him who had given up first last night.

When his comlink beeped, he took the call immediately.

"Our way is good," Tampet said. "Yours?"

"Difficult at best, impossible at worst," said Xin. "We'll come to meet you, then."

"Great. We'll be waiting for you," said Tampet and ended the call.

Xin jumped up. Then he realised they couldn't leave before Raven was back. Here they were losing yet more time!

"You know what?" he told Bale after a moment's hesitation. "I'll go ahead. Tampet said their path is safe. And this way, I won't slow you down. You and Raven can easily catch up with me."

He was entirely aware that this was against Raven's orders. But then, the girl was just a padawan. And by the time she caught up with him, he would most likely already have reached Moon's group safely, no harm done. With this reasoning in mind, he took off, not bothering to wait for Bale's response.

Bale frowned at Xin's back but if she were honest, she had to agree with him; she wanted to get back to the ship and secretly thought that, had it not been for Enteely and Xin, they'd have arrived at the ship long ago. Thus, she simply waved Xin off. It was only the orders of a senior padawan he was disobeying, after all.

Said senior Padawan swung herself back onto the ledge shortly after Xin had left, landing silently by Bale's side. Immediately, Raven noticed they were one down, and it was all she could do not to panic; if anything happened to Xin it would be on her watch, and that did not sit well with her.

"Where is Xin?" she asked Bale sharply while deftly detaching her line and reattaching it to her belt.

Bale shrugged, seeing no reason to lie. "He wanted to get a headstart on us so he wouldn't slow us down. He's heading for Knight Moon's team. They found a good path," she said, although the darkening expression on Raven's face had the girl feeling a little unsettled. "It wasn't like there was any reason both of us should be waiting around," she elaborated.

"Yes, there was an excellent reason, being that I ordered you both to wait for me. These cliffs are dangerous. You should have informed me the moment he left. Come," Raven said, completely oblivious to the fact that she sounded exactly like Eeth. As fast as was sensible in this environment, she led Bale down the cliff face to catch up with Xin. If the kid hurt himself, she was going to wait until he healed and tear him a new one, she vowed.

By now, Bale felt a little guilty for what she'd done. Had she not been so desperate to win, she may have tried to talk Xin out of leaving. "Look, he's probably right, you know," she tried to defend herself. "He really would have only slowed us down."

Raven ignored this, which only increased Bale's anxiety.

For once, Xin was fast, and consequently, he made it to where Moon and his team were waiting a couple of minutes before Raven and Bale arrived.

Moon frowned as he noticed the boy was all by himself.

"Where are Raven and Bale?" he asked sharply.

"Coming," said Xin. "Raven still had to make it back up the cliff so I decided to go ahead because I'm usually slower than them. Look, there they are."

He pointed down the cliffside where Raven and Bale could be seen making their way upwards.

Moon's frown deepened. "Did Raven give you permission to go ahead?" he inquired. He thought that if she had, he'd have to have a serious talk with her about the safety of her charges!

This was a question Xin was loath to answer, and it showed on his face. "Well, she wasn't around to ask," he said, "but Bale told her, and it was only for a few minutes. Nothing happened, as you can see."

"That," said Moon sternly, "is beside the point."

At this moment, Raven, a sullen-faced Bale in tow, arrived at the meeting point.

Raven inclined her head to Knight Moon and then she pointed a glare at Xin that would have done Eeth proud. "You had orders to wait for me," she said, crossing her arms. "Why didn't you?" Raven knew his rationale from Bale, but she wanted to hear it from Xin before making any accusations.

"Can't this wait until we're at the ship?" asked Xin. "We're losing time!"

"No, it can't wait," said Moon, calmly and firmly. "Raven asked you a question. Answer it."

"I just didn't want to hold us up," said Xin. "Tampet said they found a good path and I knew Raven and Bale would be there faster if I went ahead. It was only a short way, and it wasn't dangerous."

"You don't get to decide that. Obeying orders is non-negotiable," said Raven, her frown deepening. "What you did was dangerous and you could have wound up with serious injuries, or worse, had you fallen. Your personal discomfort aside, I doubt that you would have sped up your group if they had to carry you back." The latter was a little harsh, but then, it was the truth, and Eeth had never spared her the realities of her actions, good or bad.

"Well, I didn't fall," Xin pointed out. "I'm not entirely useless, you know."

"That's enough," said Moon sharply. "You disobeyed your orders, which were given for good reason, and there's no excuse for that. Bale, did you at least try to hold him up?"

Bale felt even more frustrated now. Not only was this holding them up, but Xin was in trouble and now she'd been dragged into this shit-pile too. "No. I figured it wasn't up to me to police Xin," she said, omitting that she might have agreed with his logic despite knowing it was against their orders. And the fact that she started playing nervously with one of her head tendrils said as much.

As annoyed as Raven was with Xin, she felt that it would be interfering or even overstepping her status to make further comments. Thus, she remained silent, allowing Moon to lead the conversation.

"You and Xin are in the same team," said Moon. "Aren't you supposed to look after each other?"

"Of course," Bale replied a little defensively, "But in this case, Xin's right: we are wasting time. As it is, we probably have no chance of winning this, but what little chance we do have will be gone if we don't get a move on."

Raven did not care if their team lost. What she did care about was that Xin and Bale understood why what they had done was wrong, which was far more important in her opinion. She looked to Moon, willing to follow his lead.

Moon happened to agree with Raven. He also did not think the rest of the team should suffer any more than necessary from Bale's and Xin's lack of judgment.

"Raven," he said, "go ahead with Enteely, Anyara and Tampet at a moderate pace. The three of us will follow shortly."

Raven nodded once and left without question, Enteely, Anyara and Tampet in tow. She wasn't certain what Moon was going to do but she had been a padawan long enough to know what to expect if you disobeyed. Bale might get off a little more lightly than Xin, but that was not up to her.

As soon as the group was out of sight below the edge of the cliff, Moon turned towards Bale and Xin.

"Let's not drag this out any more than necessary," he said tersely. He sat on a conveniently placed rock and beckoned Bale over.

"Bare your bottom and get over my lap," he ordered. "And be quick about it. After all, you don't want us to lose more time than necessary."

"But I didn't do anything," Bale whined even as she moved to his side to do as he said. She liked Xin and didn't want to outright say it had been him who had actually run off.

Moon frowned. "That's precisely why we're having this conversation," he said coolly. "Continue complaining and we'll be having it with my belt. Bend over."

Bale didn't want that! And so she was fast to obey, not bothered by the fact that she dumped her belt and saber in the sand in the process. "Please, Knight Moon, I'm not complaining or anything, I swear it," Bale tried one last time. "But my master won't be happy about this. I'll probably get it again. Can you please consider that?"

"You," said Moon, "are starting to annoy me." And consequently, the first swat he dealt out was harder than he had initially planned, eliciting a yelp of surprise from Bale. She dug her boots into the sand and gripped his leg but it didn't help because Moon continued swatting her bottom deftly at a fast pace. Apparently, he wanted to make a point, and with his large, hard and calloused hand and his muscular arm, he was more than capable of doing so. Two dozen hard and fast spanks left her bottom a glowing red, with a face to match. Bale was sniffling by the time Moon set her upright and ordered, "Xin, you next."

Xin tried aiming his most piteous look at Moon but when the knight just returned it with a stoic expression, he did as told, pulled down his pants and lowered himself across the knight's lap gingerly. Moon lost no time in administering another spanking, and he made it considerably more solid than he had with Bale. After all, the boy had disobeyed a clear order. However, there was no point in making it impossible for him to complete the trip. Besides, Moon had no doubt that Xin's master would add to this. Therefore, he stopped after three dozen and allowed Xin to get up. The boy was crying quietly, rubbing his bottom and shifting from foot to foot. Sure, it had not been as bad as a paddling or a belting, but it stung plenty bad enough.

Paying no heed to the padawans' discomfort, Moon rose from his position and said, "Let's go and catch up with the others. And no more misbehaviour from either of you."

Xin nodded, much subdued. "No more," both Xin and Bale chorused, neither padawan willing to put so much as a toe out of line again. "I'm sorry I disobeyed Raven," said Xin, and he meant it. He assumed he had let Bale's competitiveness get to him, and that had been a mistake.

Meanwhile, Raven, Tampet, Anyara and Enteely had climbed another ridge to get updated readings on the ship.

"This way," Tampet encouraged, happy to take the lead. Their track was easier than the one Raven had found, but it was still no walk in the park. Massive stone walls blocked their signal and forced them to go off course to get new readings. "We can probably speed up a little. Bale and Xin are both pretty fast," he added.

"No, we can't," said Raven, not unkindly.

"Why not?" Anyara asked before Tampet could. None of them could think of a valid reason why they should keep walking at the same slow speed.

"Well, firstly, our orders are to set a moderate pace. And secondly, this isn't an easy path to follow," Raven replied. She could remember what it was like to be eager, though, and sympathised. "C'mon, it's not so bad," she said. "Use the opportunity to recover a little after the climb, and we will all finish strong."

Xin, Bale and Moon caught up with them a few minutes later. Both padawans were red-faced but the punishment they had received had not been bad enough to impede their walking speed. That would have been stupid. Moon was just as keen to make it to the ship as everyone else.

By the time they had the ship on their scanners again, they could also identify the other team, who were nearly there while they still had at least an hour or two to walk. None of them were particularly happy about this.

"We had unfair terrain," said Bale, annoyed.

"Well, let's still hurry," Xin commented stoically. "At least they will be out of the showers by the time we arrive. And there will be cool drinks as well."

End of Flashback

"Unlucky?' Unlucky is an understatement, it was a complete disaster. We came up against almost every conceivable time-wasting obstacle possible!" Bale said in response to Pavin's comment. He was so blasé about the fact that they had come in from the East. Bale wasn't happy. "Easy to say for someone who didn't have to endure it," she added.

"Come on, it wasn't all that bad. You all managed to complete the mission and worked together well, for the most part," Raven countered, taking a long drink of her lemon water, which tasted amazing after what they had been drinking over the last few days.

Eeth did not fail to notice the frown on Moon's face at Bale's complaints. It seemed that the other team had their own share of padawans who had a hard time grasping the concept of teamwork. He hoped for Bale's sake that she would stop, or he would have to clue her in.

"Besides," Karn, who happened to pass by on his way from the shower, remarked, "it's not as if we had no obstacles to cope with."

"Obviously you had less than us, or we'd have been here before you," Bale retorted and stood, planning to use the shower now that Karn was finished. Her mood wasn't the best; her master was going to be displeased with her when he found out that she'd gotten herself into trouble, and if that weren't enough, her ass was still a bit sore from the encounter with Moon.

Raven frowned at the girl's back, but apart from that said nothing. "So, tell me how you all went?" she asked.

Pavin was first to speak up and he started retelling their story. It had not gone unnoticed to Raven that both Kaden and Karn were not exactly sitting comfortably and she wondered where in Pavin's retelling was the part where they had managed to piss off Eeth. But she had to conclude that either Pavin was trying to spare them embarrassment or it had happened when he had not been present.

A little while later, everyone had taken a shower and changed. Eeth had asked Talsin and Raven to fly the ship while he and Moon wrote their respective team members' reviews, assessing their performance, their skills and the areas they needed to work on. These would be sent to the padawans in question and to their masters upon arrival.

The ride through the atmosphere was rather rough due to heavy winds. As Xin made his way back from the galley where he had fetched himself a glass of water, the ship suddenly swerved and he nearly fell over Bale before he could steady himself. Some of his water splashed onto her tunic.

"Oops, sorry," he said, giving her a sheepish grin.

Had this been any other time, Bale might have shrugged it off. As it was, however, she had been sitting there nervously anticipating their arrival at the Temple, knowing that her master was going to be disappointed that she'd gotten herself into trouble. Plus, it had been a tough mission, even if she didn't want to admit it, and she was cranky. All of this worked to further sour her mood, something which Nasheela – who was sitting next to her – noticed and was about to question when Xin had his accident and Bale exploded.

"For the Force's sake!" she yelled, jumping to her feet and swiping at her tunic to no avail. The water had soaked in and she'd have to change it, which was just another annoyance fuelling her frustrations at the moment.

"You okay?" Anyara asked Xin quietly. He hadn't fallen, but neither did he look pleased at having fumbled water all over Bale.

Moon looked up from where he was writing Bale's performance report and frowned. Bale had done a poor job of keeping her negative emotions in check throughout this mission. Coming to a decision, he rose from his seat and approached the girl.

"Please join me in the back room for a moment," he said calmly. Her outburst had not been serious enough to warrant punishment; but he did want to talk to her about handling her frustrations, and some meditation might be in Bale's future as well.

"Why?" Bale asked, annoyed. Sure, Moon was the picture of serenity, but still she was pretty sure he'd scold her for losing her temper. She didn't want to go. What she wanted to do was change her tunic.

"Because I told you so," said Moon, a hint of steel in his voice.

Bale held his gaze for a moment but ultimately acquiesced; she didn't want to risk making things worse for herself. Huffing, she followed him into the back room without fuss. Once inside, she turned on him, arms crossed about a soaked tunic. "I wasn't the one who spilled water all over the place," she told him in the hopes of keeping the discussion away from her own behaviour. Xin was in the clear here, so it was a safe move.

"No, but you are the one who has a very hard time dealing with her frustrations in an appropriate manner," said Moon without heat, but very firmly. "Xin stumbled. That is no reason to yell and curse. As far as I remember, I asked you to lose your attitude. So far, you have not done so."

"I have reason to be frustrated," she said, ignoring his comment on her attitude. "We lost due to bad luck, my master is going to be displeased because of your report, and he'll spank me again because you had to! And then if all of this isn't bad enough, Xin spills his water all over me. Yes, I know it was an accident and I'm sure you're about to lecture me on how things could be worse, but right now, it feels pretty damned bad." Bale's shoulders slumped forward and she sighed; it was good to let this all out.

"If this were Eeth talking to you," said Moon, "I'm pretty sure you already would have earned a few swats for failing to lose the attitude after having been told to. I'm a bit more patient than him but not a lot. So be warned."

Bale looked away but did not reply.

Moon ignored her petulance for now. "Things could be worse," he said. "A few years from now, you might fail in a mission or even lose lives due to 'bad luck'. You will not get the luxury of acting on your frustrations then, and you will not get it now. Change into a dry tunic and meditate for half an hour. I don't blame you for being unhappy, but you will have to get a handle on your negative emotions."

"Alright," Bale replied, and without further comment, she stood, turned on her heels and strode towards the storage rack against the wall by Talsin's bunk where everyone had stored their packs, where she began rifling around for a clean tunic. But she found none. "Fantastic…" she grumbled.

Nasheela was frowning at the barrage of emotions coming from Bale, and to a lesser extent, Xin and Kaden. She rifled through her things and tossed a tunic at Bale. "It will be big on you but it's dry," she said. "Now, please, shut up."

Bale blinked, about to start an argument over Nasheela's snootiness when she suddenly realised that Moon was standing right behind her, giving her a penetrating look.

"Thank you," she said instead, and without further comment, she went to meditate as instructed.

An hour and a half later, Raven piloted their ship into hangar bay 47, and after doing a final check and getting clearance from Knight Talsin, she powered down the engines and stood from the co-pilot's seat to stretch. She was glad to be home.

That feeling was mutual for most of the group, although there were a few members of the class who were distinctly less enthusiastic about being home than the others. Bale, Xin, Karn and Kaden all had talks with their masters to look forward to, as did Nasheela who was looking remarkably calm despite this. Xin wasn't too worried because his disobedience had been dealt with, so the likelihood that his master wanted to add to this was low. She would probably scold him and maybe assign a few extra meditations, he assumed. Karn was distinctly more apprehensive, although it did not show. He had engaged in unsupervised sparring and that was not only against the rules of the class, but also against the rules his master had personally set for him. Therefore, he was under no illusion that he would get away without some memorable punishment.

But the person who had the most reason for apprehension was Kaden, and he knew it. Drex was going to be waiting for him, and he was not going to be happy with his padawan; that much was certain.