AN: Thanks for the reviewer who is fond of Eeth. He cannot take Kaden on as his padawan since he already has one who is nowhere near to being knighted. However, Eeth will return to Kaden's story several times. He will play a big role in the sequel to this story, "The Generation Gap". We have also written dozens of stories involving Eeth and his first two padawans which we will post in due course. We hope you stay with us until we do!
We also want to thank everyone for their reviews, follows, the IMs and encouragement. It's all appreciated.
"Would you care to tell me what that was all about?" Eeth asked coolly, folding his arms across his chest and glaring down at the boy.
Damn, too far to run, he'd catch me for sure, the boy thought and, with a resigned sigh, crossed his arms and tried not to telegraph just how scared he was. "Not really," he replied honestly, making sure to keep eye contact.
"Apparently, it is safer to give you orders than to ask you questions," Eeth said cuttingly. "Tell me what possessed you to disobey Master Zaryth."
"I didn't want to miss out on the class to go sit in a garden and meditate, I can do that all day if I choose to." The boy looked down at his boots. "I don't have many opportunities left to train, I'll be thirteen in six months," he admitted honestly. And that was something for Kaden. He had always kept his feelings carefully guarded, never wore his heart on his sleeve and did not generally talk much at all.
"True, you could do it all day if you chose to," Eeth replied evenly. "I somehow doubt that you choose to do so very often, though. And if a Jedi master tells you that this is what you need to do, you do not get to disagree. You are afraid of not being chosen as a padawan, and you are letting those fears rule you. Which is driving you to display behaviour that will make it even harder for you to be chosen as a padawan. I cannot and will not tolerate such behaviour in my class. The last time we had that discussion, I told you that any further punishment for disobedience during my lessons would be given on the bare. So, bare your bottom and bend over."
Kade stood tall, willing himself not to look away while Eeth spoke. He was right…. Of course he was afraid of not being chosen; how the Force everyone seemed to know this about him, however, remained a mystery! Was he that transparent? He swallowed the lump in his throat that had threatened to choke him at hearing Eeth nail down his emotions so accurately and covered it with false bravado. Fine, if nothing else, he was going to take his smacking like a man. Still, he glanced to Eeth's empty hands briefly, relieved to see he held no paddle. That thing had been bad enough on a fully clothed backside, let alone on his bare ass. There was a lot he wanted to say, really there was, but he rarely showed his emotions, especially those he felt were particularly childish. With a practiced hand he flicked open his saber belt and opened the clasp on his training pants, pulling them and his shorts to his knees in one swift movement. His tunic was plenty long enough to grant him modesty. He hesitated, remembering that Eeth had not messed around last time; it had hurt, a lot. He swallowed again, blew out a breath and bent over, placing both palms on his boots as he had been instructed to do last time. "How many?" he asked, hoping to the Force that he was going to get through this with his dignity intact; not that his dignity was faring so well now, being bare-assed in the middle of a training room and about to have his bare backside walloped into next week.
Eeth pulled the paddle out of his belt; he hardly ever used anything else to punish wayward students in his classes.
"That is an irrelevant question," he replied crisply. "Instead of trying to tough it out, you'd better think about what brought you into this position and how you can avoid landing there again."
He raised the paddle and brought it down onto Kade's bottom smartly; not quite as hard as the last time, when the boy had had his pants up, but hard enough to sting. He waited for about five seconds, then let a second swat follow.
There was nothing at all irrelevant about that question as far as Kade was concerned. In fact, it was critical; if he didn't know how many, he would never know how many more he had to withstand before it was done with. Nevertheless, Kade did not say a word at the man's statements, and he sure as hell was going to do his best to tough it out! That determination lasted until he reached the sixth swat, and Eeth kept going. Fuck. Apparently his apprentice was a girl, how the Force she, "Ahh!" was able to withstand, "AHH!" this he did not, "OUCH!" know! Still, he kept his eyes shut tightly and had a death grip on his boots; he wasn't going to beg off, he wasn't! "OWWw-Fffar-Out!" He buckled at the knees slightly, and had broken out in a sweat, but managed to keep it together until the twelfth which practically lifted him off his feet. He really couldn't handle any more, and he was eternally grateful when Eeth helped him to stand. He bounced around on the spot. That had hurt like nothing else, worse than his crèche master's stick, worse than the time he'd pissed off that Nautolan teaching water manipulation, and worse than his first encounter with Eeth, far, far worse. Quickly swiping a sleeve across his eyes, he clumsily rearranged his clothing and stood straight, his hands clutching and unclutching at fistfuls of his pant leg as he willed them to remain at his sides.
Eeth had always subscribed to the 'tough it out' approach to discipline himself, and he was not about to reprimand Kaden for it. The only person who had consistently managed to make him show some of the emotions under the tough surface had been his master; and he believed Drex would be able to do the same for Kaden. That the two would be a good match, he had no doubt after what little he had seen today; and he thought Drex knew it as well.
"There will be no more disobedience in my class, initiate," he told Kade. Well, he highly doubted that Kade would be an initiate for much longer, but that would be up to Drex and the boy to decide. For now, he limited himself to pronouncing this statement sufficiently sternly to make the extent of his displeasure abundantly clear.
"I'm sorry," Kade managed to get past the lump in his throat which now felt more like a damned boulder, although his voice still sounded small and strained, his fists were white and his eyes were glassy despite his determination to appear stoic. He didn't want Eeth to know how much the paddling had hurt him, and Force, did it hurt! "Can I go now?" He asked politely, although his words still carried a touch of urgency; if he did not make the privacy of his room soon he was going to lose the battle.
It was totally obvious to Eeth how hard the boy was fighting against his tears, and he could sympathise.
"You may," he said calmly, "but before the next lesson, you are going to apologise to Master Zaryth, in person. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." Kade inclined his head in compliance, then took off for the door, somewhat stiffly…. But hell, a pained expression and stiff gait were far preferable to the alternative; he did not want to cry in front of anyone, especially the man who had brought him unstuck!