The following morning, Raven woke at her usual time and entered their kitchen to find that Jas was already up. She had a pot on the stove and was pulling things from the food cupboard. Raven scratched at her hair and scrubbed sleep from her eyes. "Eeth say you can do that?" Raven asked, leaning into the door frame.
Jas had been so wrapped up in the creation of her masterpiece that she hadn't noticed Raven's presence. She spun to face her, only just managing to hide her surprise at being caught unaware. "What's it to you?"
"Well," Raven said calmly, ignoring the haughty response and flicking off the stove. "I, for one, would rather not have to explain how the cabin burned down. I would also be unhappy if you burnt yourself or cut off a finger using those knives." Neither her nor Eeth knew the kid's skill levels yet, after all.
Jas frowned at her and placed the armful of ingredients onto the bench. "Look, I'm not stupid. I'll leave the retardation up to the humans."
Raven raised a brow. "For your sake, I hope Eeth still has his head under the shower," she said. She folded her arms. "Another xenophobic remark from you and I might just see fit to tell him. You've been warned."
Jas turned to face the older Jedi, raised her chin and tried to stare her down. The look on her face was one of utmost disgust.
Raven was, of course, accustomed to far more intimidating glares than any ten-year-old initiate could muster, and had it not amused her so much, she might have said so. "Now, if you'd like help, I'd be happy to provide it. But until you're told otherwise, ask before you use the kitchen. Oh, and wipe that look off your face or I will give you something to really scowl at me over."
The threat was wasted on Jas. She rolled her eyes and closed the cupboard door, which gave her an excuse to look away. "You wouldn't dare."
Wordlessly, Raven walked to the bench, picked up a sturdy cooking spoon and turned back to face her. "Are you willing to test that theory?" she asked.
The look Jas shot her now was now mutinous. Her jaw clenched, but, as she had said earlier, she was not stupid. She looked away, hating having to give in.
"Good. Now, tell me what you had in mind and I'll help. You never know, you might even enjoy working with me." Raven put the spoon down, her expression once again cheerful and warm.
By the time Eeth exited the shower, they had started on making a breakfast that would give a Hutt indigestion. Jas was still not happy at having to work with Raven. Then again, there wasn't much she could do about it, and the padawan did seem to know a bit about cooking.
"Master," Raven said, turning to offer Eeth a bow in greeting.
"Padawan. Jas," said Eeth, inclining his head at them. "Thank you for preparing breakfast." He took three plates from the cupboard and started to set the table.
"We will meditate after breakfast, for once," he said. "Padawan, could you take over the morning lessons? I am sorry, but I need to take care of a Council matter. You might help Jas with her Iridonian and biology lessons, and put in a kata and sparring session afterwards."
"Of course," Raven replied with a smile. Simultaneously, she enquired about Eeth's Council duty across their bond. Apparently, it was nothing to be concerned about, and so she went back to breakfast.
"I don't…" Jas started, only to be cut off by Raven.
"…need my help, yes, yes, so you have told me so ad nauseam," Raven finished Jas' sentence for her. "And yet, we both have our orders."
Jas huffed, decidedly displeased about this turn of events.
Eeth gave her a look that clearly told her to desist.
"Raven, I would like you to work on the sixth kata with Jas," he said. "She knows the moves fairly well, but the flow and the connection to the Force need improvement. And when you practise sparring, no aerials, please."
"Yes, master," Raven said, thinking those orders were very easy to comply with. For both of them.
"Yes, master," Jas mocked the padawan's reply under her breath. Talk about a suck-up, she thought. Her expression became cowed, however, as Eeth gave her another very pointed look, and she dropped her gaze.
Raven ignored this interaction entirely. "No aerials, and focus on flow and connection to the Force," she repeated, smiling at Jas. "We can do that, right?"
Jas shoved a forkful of food into her mouth so she did not need to reply.
"You have yet to learn to treat others with courtesy and respect," Eeth told Jas. "I advise you to begin now because I am not feeling particularly tolerant about your attitude. In any case, I will be around. I need to provide the Council with some input on how to deal with Antar, once again, and thus I will be busy writing a report. It should not take me longer than three or four hours."
"What's wrong with Antar?" Jas asked, ignoring his warning and wanting to change the subject.
"An easier question to answer would be: 'what is right with Antar?'" Raven answered before Eeth could say anything. "It all started about nine years ago. The Jedi were sent in to help negotiate a peace treaty between the four planets. Antar I, Antar II and Antar IV were all in agreement, but Antar III was displeased with the terms and sent an assassin to wipe out the chief delegate from Antar I. This didn't go over well, so a war broke out." She pointed at Eeth with her fork. "Master barely escaped with his life. It was also the very mission that led me to make the bad decision to sneak aboard the rescue ship in order to help save him. The factions have been warring on and off ever since. Suffice it to say, anything to do with the Antar system is generally convoluted, tedious and reliably troublesome."
"How did you escape?" Jas asked Eeth, the padawan's retelling having garnered her full attention.
"I did not 'barely escape with my life'" Eeth replied with dignity. "My padawan is exaggerating."
Raven snorted but Eeth ignored it.
"The negotiations were held on a space station that was eventually attacked by forces from Antar III," he said. "I helped most of the delegates escape, but before the last ship could make it out, the mercenaries from Antar III were upon us. They took everyone hostage. I saw no point in sharing that fate, and thus I deactivated my comlink and hid on the space station until such time that I could make a getaway. Nobody at the Temple knew where I was and whether I was still alive, and naturally, they were all very worried. But I eventually escaped on a cargo ship and forced the crew to drop me off on Antar IV from where I could contact the Temple, alive and safe. My padawan's sentiments were commendable, but misplaced. As the Council made abundantly clear to her, I think."
"You think?" Raven scoffed. "Apparently, it has been far too long since you have been on the receiving end of such correction," Raven told Eeth.
Jas looked from master to apprentice; it was the first time she had heard Raven sound so familiar with Eeth.
Eeth raised an eyebrow at Raven for telling him off in such a manner and helped himself to some more food.
"They were simply doing their job," he said. "As I did mine."
Raven looked at Jas who for once, seemed genuinely interested in their conversation. "Missions are not always as action-packed, especially to start with. What sort of missions do you hope for?" she asked, hoping to find out a little more about Jas' personality while changing the subject.
Jas shrugged. "I doubt I'll go on any."
Raven just looked at the girl, her expression clearly asking the initiate to elaborate.
"I'm hardly a prime candidate for any master, am I?" Jas said, rolling her eyes.
"And why not?" Raven wanted to know. She had met many problematic Jedi in her time, some with far bigger issues than a bad attitude. Kaden Lightbane came to mind immediately. He had been truly scary. His power in the Force surpassed any she had met with the possible exception of Master Yoda himself.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Jas replied, becoming irritated at having to spell this out to the dumb human.
"Not to me," came an even response from Raven.
Jas frowned, put down her fork and levelled the stupid human with a patronising expression. "I'm here because apparently, the Order doesn't like my attitude or think me able to become a padawan without such attention. So much so that they sent me away from my home and landed me here with you two. It's not exactly comforting."
"That depends on your point of view. Look at it that way and, yes, it does sound rather negative. Instead, you might try thinking of this as a chance to improve yourself, a chance that they wouldn't have bothered to offer," she gestured to Eeth with her fork, "or wasted the time of one of their esteemed, if they thought you incapable of becoming an apprentice or a waste of their time."
Jas hadn't thought of it like that. She picked up her fork and started eating again but Raven's words had set her thinking; maybe there was hope for her? Pff, as if she cared if they wanted her! She didn't!
she firmly told herself.
"My padawan is entirely correct," Eeth said mildly. "I have seen less disciplined children than you who were chosen by a master and better-adjusted ones who were not. As long as you genuinely want to learn what the Jedi Order has to offer you, you will be able to overcome your problems. It requires effort, though. Deciding that nobody likes your attitude anyway, that nobody will want you to become a padawan, and that everybody has it in for you is ultimately the easy – and perhaps even the cowardly – way out. After all, it means that you will not be required to do anything to improve yourself. From what I have seen so far, I think you can do better than that. You have courage and can be tenacious if you have a mind to. Try making the most of these traits for a change."
Up until the last day or so, Jas hadn't cared what the Order wanted to teach her, nor had she been entirely certain that she wanted to become a Jedi. What Jas didn't want to admit was that this covered for a fear of rejection, of not being chosen and of failure. Her brows rose at Eeth's comment on being a coward, and her fork was downed at hearing that he thought she should be doing better. "Look, give me a break here!" Her frown turned from Eeth to Raven. "Both of you," she added, slumping back into her chair. "I'm trying. Nobody needs to make me feel worse than I already do."
"No, you have not been trying," said Eeth. "Or at least you have not been trying very hard. If you were starting to realise it, that would be a good thing. And if you happen to feel bad about yourself in the process… Well, as long as you learn something from it, I can live with that. None of us have a right to ever stop trying to improve ourselves. Not me, not you, and not my padawan who knows all about struggling with authority, and yet has managed to overcome those issues."
There was a heck of a lot that Jas could say to that, yet she chose to scowl at Eeth instead.
Raven, however, felt for her and decided to break the tension. "I've always had an innate tendency to put my own judgement above that of my superiors," she said. "It just about drove my master insane. Not that he's likely to admit that," she grinned at Eeth. "He would tell you he was simply doing his duty. That's what you need to do now, your duty, and for you that means listening and obeying."
"Then I want better duties," Jas grumbled, but it was half-hearted at best. For someone who prided herself on being the best, Eeth's comments on self-improvement had struck a chord with her; he was right.
"That's not possible, as I'm sure you know. You want to become a Jedi knight, so you will have to suck it up," Raven stated, sounding a lot like Eeth.
"Precisely," said Eeth. "My padawan never liked studying maths, but that did not spare her the duty to make an effort and ultimately pass her exams. When I was made a padawan, I did not like to interact with others my age; I preferred to study or go to the gym or make myself useful. My master forced me to spend time with my peers, though. At the time, I quite resented it, but in hindsight I am very grateful that she did. It would help if you could bring yourself to trust in the judgement of the adults who are in charge of you. You might not like it, but sometimes they do know better than you because they have experience and a long-term perspective that you do not have."
It was at this point that Jas knew she was licked. Both Eeth and Raven had made valid points. Thus, she resisted the urge to counter their statements with more arguments and fell silent.
At this moment, Eeth's comlink went off and he politely excused himself.
"How come he doesn't need permission to leave the table?" Jas complained, pointing at his retreating form.
"Seriously. That was rhetorical, right?" Raven countered.
It hadn't been rhetorical, nor had Jas expected an answer; she had simply wanted to be a smartass.
Raven met the initiate's silence with a knowing expression, but chose not to comment.
As it turned out, Eeth was tied up with the Antar crisis for most of the morning, leaving Raven and Jas to work their way through Iridonian, biology and kata lessons. Their interaction was a little strained but it did not take more than a few stern words from Raven to have the girl straighten up. Apparently, Eeth's presence was having an effect, not that this came as a surprise to Raven.
"You're putting too much weight on your front leg," said Raven, nudging Jas' foot and causing her to stumble, which proved Raven's point. "The purpose of the sixth is to centre your weight. It is neither defensive nor offensive, it's about flow and stability." She demonstrated moving into the stance easily. "Squat lower, you're sturdy like this. Try again."
Jas did so, a scowl on her face at having to take orders from the human. The only reason she was doing so was because she didn't want another paddling from Eeth, let alone from the human, and … well, because she was actually starting to like them. Eeth was Zabrak and someone she was beginning to truly measure herself against, and Raven was really not that bad for a human. The padawan put up with more of her crap than Eeth but she also had some pretty interesting stories about her own trials as a younger apprentice. Jas was beginning to relate to her on some level.
Half an hour later, Raven was satisfied with her stance. "Well done," she said. "Let's finish with some freestyle sparring."
"Finally!" Jas didn't hesitate. A ruby-coloured blade shot to life just as Raven found her stance, and a millisecond later the initiate was on the padawan like white on rice.
Raven decided to stick to defence for the first part. She parried, ducked, darted and tumbled on the ground, avoiding Jas' efforts. Jas was quite good – and strong in the Force, much stronger than she was, actually. Still, she saw a lot of herself in the way the kid sparred. She also remembered how it felt to spar with such ferocity without really knowing what it was truly like to fight for your own or another's life.
Jas, for her part, was oblivious to the harsh realities of life as a Jedi, which invariably turned out to be a sobering experience. Yes, she knew about them in theory, but it was not something initiates could really comprehend while lacking first-hand experience. Jas threw herself into the fight, giving it all she had and then some. When it became obvious that Raven was out of her league, Jas decided to up the ante. As Raven blocked, Jas vaulted over her head to land on the other side and slashed out at her left knee.
"You were instructed not to do aerials," Raven said calmly, blocking the strike hard enough to send Jas skidding backwards on her ass. "Do that again and I'll do more than land you on your backside, got it?"
Jas opened her mouth to argue that if the human was doing aerials, then she ought to be allowed, too. However, she was forced to close it again when the realisation hit her that Raven had not performed a single aerial since they began. "Whatever, just get on with it already," Jas demanded, leaping to her feet, dusting off the sand and levelling her saber at the padawan, ready to launch another attack.
When that attack came, Raven did not block it. Instead she moved with lightning speed, grabbed Jas by the scruff of her neck and disarmed her. "That is not an acceptable response to an instruction. This was your last warning. Disrespect me again, and not only will I feed you to my master, I will whale your backside myself before I do. Now stow your weapon. We will spend the rest of our morning collecting herbs."
"What? No! I want to spar more, we only did half an hour!" Jas argued, barely managing to keep the whine out of her tone; she detested whining.
"Which is more than enough for now. Remember your duties," Raven reminded her, not unkindly.
Jas kicked a cloud of sand up with her boot and summoned her weapon which came in so hard and fast it actually bruised her palm and she dropped it.
Raven had the girl's weapon in hand and was by her side immediately. "Let me see it."
"No, it's fine. I just dropped it, is all," Jas lied.
Raven rolled her eyes. "Lying is an art form. It takes a very long time to master it with non-Force sensitives, let alone towards senior Jedi. Give it up. Or do I need to remind you of your duties yet again?"
By now, Jas was starting to feel like she could do nothing right. Reluctantly she opened her palm. It was red and looked as if it had been welted with a very thick cane. She would live, of course, but it was painful.
"Doesn't hurt," Jas lied again, but this time it was half-hearted.
"I bet. Come sit with me. I'll see what I can do," Raven said and led the girl up onto the grass where they wouldn't get covered in sand. Raven hated sand. She was about to start healing when Eeth emerged into their yard. He had decided to check on the two and was a little surprised to find Raven and Jas sitting in the grass, with Raven checking what was obviously some kind of injury to Jas' hand.
Raven forbore to stand at Eeth's approach for once and instead exposed Jas' hand so he could see the injury. Eeth nodded for her to go ahead and heal Jas. Much like himself, Raven had a talent for Force-aided healing and she was by now as good as he was. With animals, she was better.
He waited until Raven had finished before asking, "How did that happen?"
Raven remained silent to give Jas a chance to answer for herself. "Jas?" Raven prompted, when the girl said nothing.
Jas looked at Raven and then up at Eeth who suddenly appeared much bigger and more imposing than she remembered. "I summoned my lightsaber to my hand and it came too fast," she told him, hoping this would be enough to placate him. Jas had never been one to skirt around the truth or prevaricate simply to avoid punishment. No, that was entirely too cowardly and a weakness she would openly mock her peers over! However, as she stood up and looked at Eeth, she found her conviction leaving.
Eeth had always been very perceptive, much to the detriment of his padawans and other youngsters in his charge. He knew immediately that there was a lot more to the story.
"It probably came too fast because you were losing your temper," he said. "Losing your temper always means losing control, and your control of objects is not particularly good to start with. Why were you losing your temper?"
"Raven only let us spar for thirty minutes. And then we had to go pick herbs instead and I didn't want to," said Jas.
Raven nodded but gave Eeth a look that told him there was more to this.
"And was there any reason she cut your sparring session short?" Eeth asked relentlessly.
Would confessing to that aerial after Eeth forbid get her in trouble? Jas wasn't sure. Eeth didn't seem to be big on time-outs, and she really didn't want another paddling; it hurt! A hand unconsciously moved to her backside and was quickly pulled away. This was ridiculous, she was not a coward, Jas reminded herself. "We stopped because I did aerials," she told him matter-of-factly, chin in the air.
"I see," said Eeth. He thought for a moment and then turned towards Raven. "Were you planning on telling me or did you think that cutting your sparring session short was punishment enough?" he asked.
"I was planning on having Jas tell you herself," Raven replied evenly.
Eeth nodded and turned his attention back to Jas. "Did you honestly think you would get away with disobeying me outright just because I was not around at the moment?" he inquired coolly.
"But I can do it!" Jas said through gritted teeth." She aimed a glare at Raven because she was sure that Eeth was going to be unhappy and she wanted to blame anyone other than herself.
"Your opinion does not give you the right to disregard my clear instructions," said Eeth, and his voice was positively icy now. "Least of all in a matter concerning your safety. I told you quite explicitly not to perform aerials. I even gave you my reasons. If you still felt you knew better, you will just have to live with the consequences. And I doubt that you will enjoy them. Padawan, please excuse us for a while. Jas, join me in the cabin."
He pointed towards the back door, the expression on his face brooking no objection.
Raven inclined her head as they left. She could sympathise with Jas but at the same time, Raven knew that this was what it took for the girl to achieve her goals. Jas needed to learn obedience and Raven would be first in line to tell her how necessary, and how hard, that had been for her, too.
"But I do know better!" Jas told Eeth as she dragged her feet behind him. "I can do it, you've seen me do it!" Much to her horror, that statement had come out as a whine. Jas did not whine! What the heck was happening here? She was turning into one of the whiny, cowardly humans that she strove to be above! Frustrated, she kicked up a cloud of sand with her boot.
"No, you do not know better," Eeth snapped. "Whether you believe me or not, you will accept my better judgement or you will be a very sorry initiate. As you are about to find out."
He beckoned her inside the cabin and made for his travel bag.
Absolutely determined not to further disgrace herself with whining and other human-like feebleness, Jas entered their cabin when bade and stood tall as he rooted through his bag.
It was not Eeth's habit to pack items from his infamous collection of spanking implements when he went on missions, but given the fact that this was not, strictly speaking, a mission and that he had felt he might need to leave a strong impression on Jas at some point, he had packed a few items that he thought might be suitable for a Zabrak. He pulled out two of them now: a black paddle with holes that Raven had come to hate in earlier years, and a cane-like durofibre rod that could be bent to fit into his bag. He had inherited it from his master and had always stored it in the back of his wardrobe, rather than his cupboard of spanking implements, because he would not have dreamed of using it on human skin; it was specifically designed to be used on Zabrak, and he knew from experience that it left a strong impression.
He laid the rod onto the table, pulled out a chair and sat down, paddle in hand. Jas swallowed. She didn't know what those things were but doubtlessly they were both upgrades from his small paddle
"Bare your bottom and get over my lap," Eeth ordered.
Swallowing again, Jas moved to stand by his side and waited. When he failed to pull down her trousers or pull her across his knee, his words actually registered: she had to do that herself? Wait, she thought. This was so much worse! She tucked her thumbs into the elastic waistband of her trousers and pulled them to her knees, then slid her underwear to her undercurve. Jas was a sturdy build, and when she lay her chest across his lap, there was nothing at all comfortable about it.
Eeth pulled her up by the scruff of her neck and set her on her feet again.
"That is not what I meant when I told you to bare your bottom and get over my lap," he said sternly. "Your underpants go down to your knees and you bend all the way over so your bottom sticks up. It should be quite obvious that this is the position I need you in. Now do this properly."
Jas was utterly horrified, It was bad enough getting used to bending over his lap instead of a table! It was still very much a new concept to the initiate that punishment was given for her own good. So far, like most things in crèche, punishment had been forced upon her and certainly was not something she was expected to accept willingly. Eeth was different. He had demanded more and smacked her, hard! when she'd failed to meet his expectations. She didn't want it. It was going to really hurt. Still, her fingers slid into the elastic, her pants were soon bunched at her knees with her trousers and she put herself across his lap. It was awkward, but she managed to wriggle forward enough that her hands were on the floor. This left her feet dangling slightly, but her bottom was sticking up as he had ordered. Jas' face was scrunched into a scowl at being forced to do this and she swiped at the floor with her fist out of frustration.
"If you resent being in this position," Eeth said, "maybe you should consider following your orders. Disobedience is a serious offence. Disobeying an order that was given for your safety will reliably get you into the worst kind of trouble. I want you to be safe, and therefore, I will do my utmost to make you obey my instructions, whether you agree with them or not. When we are done here, you will hopefully think long and hard before you risk receiving such a punishment again."
With this, he raised the paddle and brought it down onto the centre of Jas' bottom smartly. He had not used this on Raven until she had been much older, but Jas was a Zabrak and a lot sturdier than Raven as well. Still, this was bound to hurt her quite a bit more than the small paddle that Eeth carried in his belt.
Jas gave a defiant kick at that first smack, but her boot met nothing but air. The effect of the paddle with the holes was evident by the fact that she was not nearly as stoic as she usually was during punishment. Her face scrunched in pain, backside clenched and fists balled with each whack, and as he lay down the sixth, Jas let out a gasped "Ow!"
Eeth happened to think that it would do Jas a world of good if she was forced to lose her pretence of being in control. She had built up thick shields around herself and her emotions, and they needed to fall if she was to make any progress. That, and she had been way out of line and deserved to feel the consequences.
Therefore, Eeth continued the paddling, moving the swats gradually lower down Jas' bottom and increasing the force behind them. With Raven, a dozen swats or a little more had usually been sufficient to make her exceedingly sorry, but with Jas, more might be needed. He was definitely not going to stop before there were genuine tears, and he knew that Jas did not shed these willingly.
Jas was shocked at just how much this hurt! What started as mere grunts of pain morphed into something far more animated and vocal by the tenth smack. Jas didn't think he'd give her more than twelve, and thus she gritted her teeth through the next two. Despite the fact that they were harder than the rest and brought tears to her eyes, she maintained her composure. Well, aside from the kicking of her feet and fists that were balled so tightly that they were white from her efforts.
Unfortunately for Jas, when Eeth punished someone for a serious transgression, he certainly did not allow them to tough it out. He had not thought he would achieve the reaction he was looking for with a mere dozen swats anyway. Thus, he calmly and firmly dealt out swats number thirteen and fourteen at the same rhythm as before, but they were aimed at the tops of Jas' thighs. For number fifteen and sixteen, he focussed on the crease where Jas' bottom met her thighs.
Jas she let out a pained howl at feeling that horrid implement land on her thighs. "OWWw!" Another volley of smacks garnered similar vocals, but there was only so much a ten-year-old could stand, and as he landed the sixteenth and seventeenth, the kid's tough facade rapidly crumbled. The eighteenth drew sobs, the nineteen a keening howl, and by twenty she was crying loudly, her arms and legs flailing around in an effort to free herself from his lap.
Eeth merely tightened his grip around Jas' waist and continued, deciding to mete out a full two dozen. After all, he was extremely unhappy with her behaviour and wanted to make that abundantly clear.
In response to this, Jas began to struggle with renewed gusto. How he was managing to hold her down was beyond her. Not that Jas was focussing on that, she was simply putting everything she had into escaping from Eeth's lap.
Unperturbed by her struggles, Eeth delivered the last four to the lower part of her bottom; even after some healing, she was going to feel this for a while when sitting down.
When he had reached twenty-four, he laid the paddle on the table and waited for Jas to calm down a little. They were not done yet.
Jas continued fighting to get up until she eventually resigned herself to the fact that it wasn't going to happen, and her cries turned into sporadic sniffling. "Lemme up," Jas sniffled. "Please," was added as an afterthought. She wanted her bed so she could cry without shame; it was weak and cowardly yet Jas didn't care at this point.
Eeth wordlessly hoisted Jas up from his lap. Since she had refused the handkerchief the last time, this time he simply gripped her chin with his left hand and cleaned up the worst of her snot and tears himself.
When that was done, he said, "We are not finished yet. As long as you are in my care, any serious case of disobedience will earn you the cane."
He nodded towards the chair and instructed, "Bend over and place your elbows on the seat."
She had only just managed to stop the breaths from catching in her chest by holding her breath! When the handkerchief was placed aside and Eeth informed her that this wasn't over, Jas' gaze flitted from Eeth, to the stick sitting on the table, to the chair, and finally down at her trousers. The result of all this? No movement. She froze like a bantha in headlights, too dignified to beg or admit fear.
Eeth waited for a few seconds. When no reaction was forthcoming, he took the paddle from the table, calmly and firmly gripped Jas' ear, bent her forward, and tucked her under his arm. Jas made to pull away; it was cowardly of her, she knew, but her backside hurt so much! However, it was futile. Eeth brought the paddle down smartly onto her bottom, twice. "OW! OWW!" she wailed. Eeth released his hold on her and said again, "Bend over and place your elbows on the seat."
Jas was sniffling again now. Wordlessly, because she wasn't about to risk blubbering, Jas put her elbows on the seat. She was desperate to beg for a reprieve, really! But she simply couldn't bring herself to get the words out.
"Should you be unable to maintain your position," said Eeth, picking up the cane, "tell me and I will use the Force to restrain you."
He was speaking from experience here. His master had obtained this cane – which was not really a cane, but she had called it that – when he had been about thirteen years old and had started displaying adolescent overconfidence. She had taken a very dim view on anything that jeopardised her padawan's safety and had thus obtained an implement that was designed for use on Zabrak and absolutely guaranteed to leave an impression. And it did. Eeth had always prided himself on his ability to stoically bear most punishments, but with this implement, he had found it impossible. Which was precisely why he had chosen to use it on Jas.
He stood to Jas' left, raised the cane and brought it down across her bottom smartly; not nearly at full force, but that was hardly necessary. It was going to be painful enough as it was.
Again, Jas didn't reply to that and for once, it wasn't out of stubbornness; she was consumed with regaining a semblance of control. That 'control' lasted about five seconds, because when Eeth welted her backside with that cane, it took all her willpower not to jump up and try grabbing it off him. "OWWW!" she wailed. Her fingers dug into the chair and her back arched. The next two garnered a similar response, that being very vocal, pained and emotive! She was crying loudly now, and squirming in an effort to move the more tender spots out of the line of fire.
Eeth, however, was planning on leaving a very strong impression because in his opinion, Jas' behaviour warranted it. He did not want a repeat occurrence, and a dozen strokes of the cane would drive that point home. Therefore, he dealt out another three, taking care to avoid overlaps. When he had thus painted six widely spaced horizontal welts across Jas' bottom, he switched sides and continued, aiming for the spaces between the welts now.
Jas was no crybaby, not by a long shot, but this just hurt too much and any hopes at stoicism were lost as that sixth welt landed. She wailed, really wailed, at the seventh. By the tenth, Jas shot up like a spring, covered her throbbing backside and did her best to stop wailing with little success. "Ple-ease," she managed to get out although it was probably inaudible to Eeth due to her hitching breaths and bawling. It was disgustingly cowardly, something one of her peers at the Temple might do, but at this moment, Jas didn't care.
Eeth had not planned to give her more than a dozen, but less than that would not do either. Besides, she had her orders.
"We are not done yet," he said sternly. "Bend back over. I told you to ask me to restrain you if you are unable to maintain your position. Do you need me to?"
Jas just cried louder, if such a thing were possible. Bend back over? Was Eeth fucking crazy? But the look on his face told her that this could possibly escalate if she didn't obey. Still bawling, Jas gave a jerky nod, indicating that she needed his help, and very reluctantly, and equally slowly, leant over the chair.
Eeth drew on the Force to restrain Jas. He moved back to her left side, rested his left hand on her back and brought the cane down twice more, but with little force behind the strokes; it was more a matter of principle. Then he laid the cane onto the table, beside the paddle, and released his Force hold on Jas.
The moment she could move, Jas turned her backside away from Eeth. Why, she didn't know, because if he wanted to smack her more, turning the target away wouldn't stop him. Remarkably, even though Eeth was standing motionless and she could see the stick on the table, the pain was continuing to build if such a thing were at all conceivable! How was that possible? thought Jas. Apparently, it was, and so the kid did the only thing she could, namely, she continued crying and hopped from foot to foot, neither of which did anything to alleviate the incredible cutting pain, which was now morphing into a desperate deep ache. She was doing her best to hold it together, with mixed success.
Eeth could recognise much of himself in Jas' reaction to chastisement. He wondered if he, too, had been so prickly. As a matter of fact, he had probably been worse, he had to admit. Whenever he had been punished in a way that had made him lose his composure, he had wanted to regain it as fast as possible, preferably on his own.
Just like before, he cleaned up the girl's face for her and then said, "I will give you ten minutes to yourself. When I am back, we will talk about whether you learned anything from this. I will be in the yard if you need me."
He squeezed her shoulder briefly, pocketed the handkerchief and left through the back door, intending to look for his padawan.