Having finished teaching his initiates' sparring class, Eeth was free for the rest of the morning. He cleared away the equipment and then made his way home, deep in thought. Something told him that this boy was worth an effort. He would need a lot of guidance, though; maybe more than a crèche master was able to give. In any case, a look at Kaden's file told him that there was less than half a year left until he turned thirteen. He would need to find a master soon. If he did not... Eeth somehow could not see him working with AgriCorps, as a teacher or healer. Most likely, the temptation to use his fighting skills would only grow stronger if Kade did not receive guidance from a Jedi.
He tapped his fingers on the table, a thoughtful frown on his face, and finally dialled the number of Kaden's crèche master.
"Master K'Mi," he said politely. "I hope I am not inconveniencing you? I am calling to talk to you about one of your initiates, one Kaden Lightbane. He was in my advanced sparring class this morning."
Master K'Mi was busy organising a group of her students for a routine visit to the healers when her commlink flashed. "Remain in line and sit on your bottoms, please," she instructed in a tone that was almost a purr. K'Mi loved her students dearly, and their giggles kept the smile on her face even as she answer the call.
"Greetings, Master Koth, how can I be of assistance to you?" she spoke softly, then hearing Kaden's name, sighed; he'd had problems with his weapons teachers before. "I see. Excuse me for one moment, please." The Kushiban paused the communication briefly and instructed one of the senior initiates to begin a game of "name that planet" before entering the privacy of her office; she did not want Kaden to be embarrassed if the others overheard their conversation. "Has Kaden had an accident?" She enquired, tilting her head to one side in a Kushiban gesture of politeness. She did not expect this but had to be certain.
"No," Eeth replied. "He did make the acquaintance of my paddle and I expect his bottom is hurting quite a bit, but that is not the reason for which I am calling. I am well able to deal with disciplinary matters. But with Kaden, it is more than that. He seems to have issues. He is more competitive and ambitious, even outright aggressive, than is healthy in a Jedi initiate. I was wondering whether you had any insights on this issue."
The Kushiban nodded sympathetically, her long ears rocking with the gesture. "Kaden is accustomed to physical discipline, but I will check on him," she assured the man.
Her eyes turned from golden to dark brown, mimicking Eeth's as she thought about his question. "Kaden is a special child, very strong in the Force and talented with a lightsaber. I have had similar reports from his weapons masters over the years, but it would appear my efforts to guide him through this are not enough; he has become more aggressive recently, perhaps due to his pending birthday," she mused aloud. "Yes, I fear the AgriCorps is no place for this youngling. If left without firm guidance he may fall. I feel young Kaden needs more personal attention than I am able to provide, but perhaps the Force will lead him to a master. I would like to see that day."
"Yes, that is my feeling as well," Eeth replied. "When you are saying you have had similar reports from his weapons masters, are you implying that Kaden only has such issues with regard to his lightsaber training? Or is he generally an aggressive child? Does he have difficulties with the concept of obedience?"
"Kaden understands his duty. Nevertheless, he requires more discipline and a firmer approach than most younglings under my care. He is typically a gentle boy," K'Mi said in a whimsical tone. "It is peculiar that lightsaber training and combat cause such a change; one could say that it is almost as if he becomes another child, slipping into an arrogant, aggressive demeanour. Kaden has great potential; however, his abilities are beginning to taint him with arrogance. If he cannot learn to channel such emotions in a positive way, he must learn to release them into the Force. I have spent some time guiding him through such meditations but it would appear this has been ineffective."
"I see," Eeth said thoughtfully. "That was what I thought. Clearly, the boy needs a master, and a capable one. My impression is that this is a boy who has the potential to do great things for the Order – but without proper guidance, he will be just as capable of doing great evil. I would not want that to happen. I will think more about this."
And that was what Eeth spent the rest of his day doing. He sat at his table for a long time, thinking and making notes. He talked to his former padawan, Lakhri. He talked to several of his fellow Council members. He studied his lists, crossed out names and highlighted others. Ultimately, he knew, of course, that this was not up to him to decide; any pairing would only work if it was the will of the Force and if the people involved felt some connection. Nevertheless, it was also a matter of personality, and he thought he had a certain idea of the type of master that someone like Kade would need. Strict, yes, but not in the same way that Eeth was strict; Eeth had a feeling that his own approach would only lead the boy to try and tough it out and to withdraw emotionally. A more empathic person might be needed; someone with a distinctly non-aggressive nature. And preferably someone with experience in handling youngsters.
Drex Zaryth was the first person on Eeth's list, precisely because he had that experience. And the man was adamant in claiming that he was too old to handle another padawan.
"Eeth, I will be eighty at least by the time the child is knighted," he said calmly, his silver eyes staring past Eeth as they talked on the comm. "Who knows whether I would ever be able to take him or her on missions?"
"You know there are solutions for that," Eeth replied. "It has happened before. A younger Jedi could help. You and your padawan could be part of bigger teams. If a match is Force-willed, who are we to decide that it is impossible?"
"But we don't know it is Force-willed," Drex replied with a slight smile. "I'm not saying no, Eeth. But before you draw me into this, explore other options. Please."
There was not much that Eeth could say to counter that, so, after some thought, the next person he called was Knight Mal Shekkaf. The man was comparatively young although a few years had passed since Eeth had worked with him on a mission to Sindal; but he seemed to have the right type of personality, he had acquired quite some mission experience, had done a lot of teaching lately, and Eeth knew he was actively looking for a padawan.
Two days later, the initiates were gathered for their next sparring class. This time, Eeth did not enter the gym alone, but with Shekkaf at his side.
"Good morning, initiates," he said crisply. "I have recruited some assistance. You will learn to defend yourselves against multiple opponents today, and Knight Shekkaf has thankfully agreed to help me work with you on this. Now, let us start our warm-up."
He was just as thorough as the last time with the sole difference that this time around, nobody dared utter a single complaint.
When they were done, Eeth broke the group into two teams of three and one of two. Mal was added to the third team. Eeth, however, did purposefully not team up Mal with Kaden in the first round. First of all, he did not want to be too obvious, and secondly, giving Mal a chance to work with a few other youngsters would give him a better idea of who he was dealing with when it came to Kaden. Mal, incidentally, had no idea which of the initiates in the group was the one Eeth had talked to him about; Eeth had been very careful not even to reveal the child's gender. He thought the whole thing would work better that way.
"Two out of each group attack, the third person defends themselves," he said. "We will switch every few minutes so every person gets a chance at blocking. Now, two important things before we start. Make it serious attacks, but not aggressive ones, and leave your opponent a chance to dodge or block. The point of this exercise is not for the attackers to win, but for everyone to find out how it is to have to defend themselves against multiple opponents and to analyse their weaknesses. Which is my second point - while you defend yourself, pay attention to the things that go wrong and to the difficulties you experience. We will work on strategies to deal with them afterwards. Now start."
Lily grinned as she faced off against Lyle and the knight. She liked the man; he had a peaceful nature that matched her own, and she almost didn't want to attack him, almost! "Harhhhh!" she bellowed, her smile matching Mal's as she sidestepped Lyle to take on the knight.
Meanwhile Drebin and Rezek were not nearly as exuberant when they faced off against Kaden. "DEEE-FENCE, Kade, no A-TACK-KING," Rezek teased, earning himself a menacing grin from the boy that neither initiate found comforting.
Kade, on the other hand, recalled all too well what had happened the last time he'd disobeyed in Eeth's class, and since he had also given his crèche master a promise that he would be mindful of his emotions, the boy was already taking deep breaths in an effort to control his urge to win.
Rezek could sense Kade's struggle, and as a result he held back, allowing Drebin to attack as he pretended to go through the motions. Kade frowned at the boy as he flicked Drebin's attack aside, "Come on, you can do better than that," he hissed quietly, meeting Rezek's gaze and darting forward to force a reaction from the Ishi Tib. Kade did not attack, but his advance was almost as intimidating and sent the boy stumbling backwards several meters.
Eeth had taken in the scene immediately and stepped up to the group.
"If you do not feel sufficiently challenged by your peers, I will be glad to help," he said calmly. He ignited his saber and lunged at Kade. When the boy dodged, he ordered Rezek to come at him from behind and Drebin to come to Rezek's aid. He was trying to make the attack intense enough to force Kade to actually focus on his defence, and defence only; whenever Kade moved into a counterattack or an aggressive-defensive move designed to drive his opponent back or knock them down, Eeth was there and drove Kade back, giving the two others brief, pointed instructions in the meanwhile. The problem with his approach was that he could not continue giving the boy this kind of one-on-one attention for more than a few minutes at most; after all, he had five other initiates in this class who needed his input. Kade needed a master fast, that much was obvious.
Meanwhile, Mal was enjoying himself. Lyle was a good partner, but he felt himself particularly drawn to Lily. His initial brief hope that this was the initiate Eeth had been talking about had faded quickly; the girl was nimble and deft with her saber, but entirely unaggressive. She was cheerful, though, and took her failings in stride. Mal warmed to her more and more with every minute that passed.
Rezek sensed Eeth's approach as he dusted himself off and flinched at what he felt. "Great move, Darth," he hissed at Kade, drawing the boy's attention to the approaching storm that was Eeth Koth. Drebin backed up as the man entered their sparring circle, hoping to all hopes that the encounter had gone unnoticed; however, if the look on Rezek's face was anything to go by they weren't going to be so lucky. Kade, for his part, remained calm and focused on the encounter. He wanted this; he had wanted this from the first lesson. Mindful of recent lessons on releasing his emotions into the Force, Kade tried to use the techniques K'Mi had taught him, but as usual it wasn't enough.
Eeth alone was far too much for Kade, and the fact that he was not given any chance to come up with an attack frustrated him. That said, as Rezek and Drebin joined in, the boy was forced to focus on his defence, and focus hard, lest he be pummelled.
"Good," Eeth said after a few minutes. "Now switch. Rezek, you block. Kaden, do NOT overdo it. And do not do it all alone either; I want to see you working with Drebin."
With this, he moved on to the next group where Thiska and Ruben were currently sparring against Bale who was holding his own quite well.
Kade gave a curt nod, and turned his weapon on Rezek who was looking at him with a quizzical expression. "Something has changed," he said, unsure of what that meant exactly, but there was something different about Kade's future, something that had been set in motion. Not that either boy was keen on giving the strange Ishi Tib a chance to elaborate as they both attacked, smiles on their faces. "Oh yeah, something changed, the fact that I can finally sit down again that's what's changed," Kade quipped, coming in hard with a sweeping strike that left his right open for Drebin.
Kade was working hard to keep his aggression in check, it was not easy, but thankfully, no one tried goading him into retaliating. Thanks to Eeth's demonstration, not to mention Kade's account of what went down afterwards, everyone was on their best behaviour.
Eeth kept monitoring Kaden through the Force, even when his back was turned. He was pleased to see that Kade was able to keep his aggression in check if given the proper motivation. He was even more pleased to see that the boy was making an honest effort at doing so. After a few minutes, he rearranged the groups so that Mal was working with Kade and Thiska now; and it did not escape his notice that Mal seemed to be a little disappointed to be parted from Lily. He used the opportunity to briefly put his hand on Kade's shoulder and softly say "Well done" before ushering him off to his new group.
The boy allowed himself a little smile at receiving Eeth's praise, although was quick to school his features again so as not to look like a baby getting a pat on the head for using the potty correctly.
In the next round, Eeth started going from group to group and giving strategic hints on how to move into a more favourable position when faced with multiple opponents. They practiced that for a while. Then he split up the class into two groups of four, whereupon he and Mal started teaching them how to slash their weapons in a wide swinging arc that would force anyone behind them to back off fast; a technique that none of them, including Kaden, had been taught so far. Both Kaden and Lily were in Mal's group. Eeth could not help but notice the radiant smile Mal tended to give the girl when she had done something right. He thought he recognised the signs. Oh well, he thought; all the better for Lily. We might be one initiate short in this class very soon.
The new move was like a red flag to a bull for Kade and he soaked up every detail as Eeth and Mal demonstrated.
Meanwhile Lily was having the best class she had ever had. Not only had she avoided garnering the councillors wrath, but she realised she really liked being around Mal; there was something about the way he felt in the Force.
"Well, that's a nice group of initiates you are teaching," Mal told Eeth when they made their way out of the gym a while later, trailing behind the chattering initiates. "I assume it's not Lily you have been talking about, though. I do feel a strong connection to her, but she somehow doesn't fit your description."
"No, it's not Lily I have been talking about," Eeth agreed with a slight smile. "But don't worry about that. You and she would be a good match."
"Yeah, she's a great kid," Mal said. "I think I'll ask her to meet me this afternoon. Sorry I couldn't help you about the other kid. It's probably Kaden, isn't it? He was by far the best of the bunch. He didn't strike me as all that unruly, though."
"Well, yes, he was making a big effort," Eeth replied. "After he received a thorough paddling the last time and spent half the lesson standing in a corner, he would have been motivated to do so. In any case, I do not think he is a bad child at all. He just needs someone to take him firmly in hand and guide him. That someone simply does not seem to be you."