The next few days passed by uneventfully, albeit slowly. Despite being allowed to visit the padawans' lounge, by Wednesday Kaden was more than ready to have his lightsaber returned. To his credit, he managed to keep his mouth shut and comments to himself and in fact began to notice that if he returned the occasional admonitory expression with contrition, more often than not he received empathy.
"Kade, get your shit together or we're gonna be late," Ganar said, playfully shoving his friend along with a shoulder.
"Alright, keep your mask on," he told the Kel Dor and reluctantly moved passed the hall where he had been watching an open sparring session with interest. "Can anyone join in those classes, or do you need to be assigned them?" he asked curiously as they entered the turbo lift that would take them to their next classroom.
"What, the open sparring sessions? I don't know. I've never been to one before, why do you ask?" Ganar knew why his friend was walking around without his weapon and was pretty sure he knew what was on his mind.
Kade shot him a grin, but didn't answer; the less his friends knew about his thoughts, the less trouble they would find should he get caught out.
That afternoon Kade detoured past the hall where the sparring session had been, and unsurprisingly it was now empty, he poked his head in the door.
"You're a bit early, the next session doesn't start for another twenty minutes," Finn said, having spotted the dark-haired boy and recognised him as the same kid who had been watching earlier.
Far out! Kade thought as he looked up at what had to be the tallest, awkwardly coltish looking human teen he'd ever seen.
Finn just smirked at the reaction. At sixteen years of age, the teenager stood at an impressive 193cm tall, and apparently, he was still growing.
"Hey, Master? Are the times the same all week?" Finn called over his shoulder when it appeared the younger boy had gone mute.
"Sure are. The itinerary's on the holonet if you're interested," replied a stoughtly built, humanoid female who was busy tossing focus mitts into a bag.
"Thanks, I'll check it out," Kade said and took off for home.
"I'm back," he announced as was now his habit since becoming apprenticed to the blind Hrakian. "Hey, do you think it would be alright if I had lunch in the dining hall with some friends tomorrow?" he asked while casually tossing his cloak over the back of a chair.
"Hello, padawan," Drex said warmly, emerging from the kitchen with a big bowl of noodles. "I don't see why not. Any particular reason for asking? Have you seen enough of me this week?"
"Not really, I just thought you might be a bit concerned when I didn't show up for lunch tomorrow," he said through a grin, although his eyes were locked firmly on the steaming bowl of noodles in Drex's hand.
"Not pleased, would be more like it," Drex commented, setting the bowl down on the dining table. "Come on, wash your hands, sit down and tuck in. And then tell me about your school day."
Kaden did as bade, the noodles looked amazing and he really was starving.
"There isn't much to tell, classes were boring as usual," he confessed, having paused just long enough to swallow. "What did you do?" He wanted to know.
Drex smiled. "I prepared lunch," he said. "Before that, I talked to Master Gawain who is in charge of the junior padawans' training schedule. He put me down as a teacher for levitation and Jedi philosophy for the upcoming cycle since it is clear that I won't be going on missions."
Despite feeling a brief pang of guilt at knowing he was the reason Drex was not going on missions, Kade knew that the man would go if he had to.
"I was pretty good a levitation during crèche, although philosophy kinda sucked," the boy admitted, taking another mouthful of noodles. "This is freakin' amazing, what is it?"
"Just the leftovers from the cooler, stir-fried with some spices," Drex replied. "I'm glad you like it. Truth be told, gourmet cooking is beyond me unless I have help, but I manage simple things. At least in this kitchen, which I know inside out."
That afternoon, he took Kade to the trampolines where they practiced flips. After that, he looked at the boy's level of skill at performing Force pushes. Nothing of this involved a saber, but it was not as boring as it might have been either. With any luck, they would get through Kaden's saber-less period without further incidents…
By the time evening meditation came around Kaden was beginning to have second thoughts over attending that open sparring session. Sure, in the heat of the moment he had wanted nothing more, and he certainly craved the adrenalin of competition, but he just couldn't bring himself to go against Drex. Not only did it fly in the face of his vow of obedience, it would also undoubtedly land him in deep shit if Drex caught him out.
If Kaden harboured doubts about whether or not he was going to attend that open sparring session, they were squashed the next morning when, coincidentally, their meditation was focused on accepting discipline with dignity and learning from it.
He still had lunch with his friends that afternoon but he was uncharacteristically distracted. He was bored with their workouts and sick of being frowned at; it felt like there was no fun in his life right now. Of course that was entirely the point, as Drex had pointed out when he'd complained: it wasn't punishment if he enjoyed it. Still.
"Kade-en!" Ganar spoke in deliberately broken Basic. "What the Force is wrong with you?" he asked when the boy failed to comment on the latest horrors Master Tyler had assigned to them as homework that evening.
"Nothing, I'm just tired," Kade defended himself coolly, then rolled his eyes at receiving a couple of curious expressions.
"I've been a padawan for just over a month, how did you feel after a month?" he elaborated, meeting their group with a raised brow.
This response seemed to placate the bunch, earning nods and grunts of understanding and a sympathetic clap on the shoulder from Ganar. "Don't worry, it gets easier, trust me," he said sympathetically and started bagging out their history teacher once again.
Kade did a credible job of focusing on the conversation. However, his heart just wasn't in it. "I'm gonna head over and watch the open sparring for a while, I'll see you all tonight," he said, pushing his barely touched lunch aside and standing.
Ganar frowned. "Just to watch, right?"
"Of course. I'm bored, not crazy," Kade said honestly, then, having been waved off by the group, took off for the sparring hall.
Maybe watching the class would help quash his urge to fight. Who knew, it might even turn out to be just as fun as joining in.
… That thought was quickly cut off as he arrived at the door five minutes later to find that Finn and his master had been replaced by none other than Master Jin-Dai Long. He had fought the slender, almond-eyed master in Eeth's initiates saber class and he'd never had more fun in his life; she was truly amazing. It was fate, the Force was cutting him some slack because Drex sure as hell wasn't! Before his conscience had a chance to veto that insanity, he had summoned a training saber from the wall and made his way towards the group.
Jin-Dai raised her eyebrows as she saw Kade approach. She had heard that Drex had taken him on as a padawan and had been pleased to hear it. She was rather surprised, though, that the man was already allowing Kade to take part in open sparring sessions; if there was one area of Kaden's training that she would have thought needed to be closely watched, it was sparring. Besides, most masters allowed for more time to get to know their charges before they gave them permission to spar without their supervision, even if another Jedi was present. On the other hand, she felt that it would be unfair to question the legitimacy of Kaden's presence without any evidence of wrongdoing on his part.
"Hello, Kaden," she said quite pleasantly, her face and voice not betraying any of her doubts. "Would you like to join this session?"
"Well, I sure as hell don't want to weave baskets," he quipped, a cheeky grin on his face as he moved to stand opposite the last student in line.
Jin-Dai felt strongly tempted to ask Kaden whether he actually had his master's permission to be here. Then again, he had done nothing specific to warrant her suspicions, and it was not a question she asked the other students either. It would not be nice, she felt, to single him out in front of all others. She decided to keep a close eye on him and check with Drex later. She needed talk to the man anyway since she was currently preparing a report on a topic that he had expertise on; that way, she might be able to mention his padawan's presence in the sparring session inconspicuously, without making it seem as if she had it in for Kaden.
A group of ten junior padawans, most of them around twelve or thirteen years of age and all of them with practice sabers, had gathered for the session. It was an open sparring session, so all that was required from her was to team them up, monitor them, intervene when someone violated the rules of sparring, and rotate the pairings occasionally.
"Start!" she called, and the sparring began. Jin-Dai walked between the teams, calling out an occasional word of advice; without showing it, she paid particular attention to what Kaden, who was teamed up with a stout Iktotchi boy, was doing.
Kade, for his part, was thrilled to be at the business end of a lightsaber, although as the unfamiliar practice blade, far lighter than his own, hummed to life in his hands, he suddenly wasn't so sure this was a good idea. What was he doing? It briefly crossed his mind to deactivate the weapon and excuse himself, but Jin-Dai knew his master and it might arouse suspicions, especially since the woman already knew how much he loved to fight.
The Iktotchi teamed up with Kaden knew nothing of his inner struggle and attacked with gusto. The second his opponent moved, Kade's demeanour shifted from guilt to absolute focus, and although he was mindful to keep a lid on his aggression it was clear that this boy, as talented as he was, would be no match for him. Nevertheless he went through the motions, all the while praying to the Force that, given he was already up to his neck in this, he'd get a couple of minutes with Jin-Dai.
Jin-Dai did him no such favour, however. This was simply an open sparring session that gave padawans a chance to practice with their peers. She had an even number of padawans, too, so there was no need for her to team up with anyone. She did give suggestions, and once she intervened when a match between two Zabrak padawans turned into more of a hand-to-hand fight, but she did not invite anyone to spar against her. Kaden seemed to make an effort to keep his aggression in check, and it was a much more credible effort than the last time she had met him. Drex had a positive effect on the boy, she mused. After ten minutes, she called the match to a halt, gave the padawans a moment to catch their breath and drink some water, and made them change partners.
Kade fought through two more opponents before he realised that Jin-Dai was not going to fight him, or any of them for that matter. In hindsight he probably should have known; this was a supervised open session, after all, and the Jedi master would need to focus on doing her job, not on him. As this thought came to mind, the boy began to feel guilty again and in his haste to finish his current fight and get the hell out of dodge, he unintentionally began speeding up his attacks. He was still within acceptable levels; however, when Jin-Dai called for their final break, the girl Kade had been fighting was looking a little rattled. "Good fight," he said with a smile, and turned to find the Jedi master. "I have to get back, I've got a mountain of homework to finish," he said politely, offering the woman a bow. They only had another ten minutes of class left, and given the fact that he was not the only one leaving, he didn't think it would look suspicious. He replaced the training saber onto the wall rack and took his time leaving, just in case Jin-Dai decided to step in. She didn't.