Once Eeth was out the door, Jas ran to her bed, snatched the privacy curtains around it and lay on her stomach, her head buried into the pillow. It wasn't typical for her to come unstuck as she had. In fact, before this trip with the two Jedi, the last time she had cried over punishment was when her crèche master had taken his strap to her. That had hurt, but not nearly as badly as this. No, this had been the most painful punishment she had ever endured, hands down. Jas cried. It wasn't just about the pain, which was horrendous, it was also about the fact that her life had been turned upside-down and she could do nothing right, or so it felt to her right now. Thankfully, Eeth had cleaned up her face for her, a kindness that she hadn't cared to thank him for at the time. Thus, all Jas needed to do now was to try using the short amount of time Eeth had allocated for pulling herself together. She had already humiliated herself enough for one day.
Eeth found Raven walking up the sand dunes into the yard, not far from the cabin. She had the front of her tunic pulled out acting as a bag, and it was full of a pale green seaweed with small balls on the ends of each strand.
"I assume you really made that one count," Raven said in way of greeting, offering a sympathetic expression as Eeth came to meet her. It wasn't hard to pick up on Jas' pain across the Force.
"Of course I did," Eeth replied. "She was deliberately disobedient and she endangered her safety. She has no one but herself to blame. And, really, if anyone else had bothered to make her punishments count, she might not be in this much trouble."
He pointed at the seaweed Raven was collecting. "Are these edible?" he asked.
"Yes. You can taste the sea in each bubble as it pops. Really quite interesting," said Raven, proud of her find.
"Let us have some for dinner, then," said Eeth.
Exactly ten minutes after he had left, he reentered the cabin. Jas would not want to sit, he assumed. Therefore, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed.
"I know that this was a harsh punishment," he started without preamble. "Do you have any idea why I made it so harsh?"
It was on the tip of her tongue to reply with "Because you're an asshole!" but she didn't. Firstly, because she didn't believe it was entirely true; Eeth had been kind to her, if unwilling to accept her attitude. Secondly, because such disrespectful comments would not be wise at the moment. Instead, Jas decided to go for what she thought was the truth. "Because you believe that I endangered my safety by doing something that I'm not meant to do yet, and, because you ordered me not to do it, and I did it anyway," she said to the wall. Jas had pulled up her underwear, if only as an act of dignity. Her eyes were still puffy and red-rimmed, despite the fact that he'd cleaned up her face twice, and she wanted to have it together when she found the courage to face him.
"Yes, you disobeyed me and endangered yourself in the process," said Eeth. "Whether you believe that to be the case or not, it is true. The healers' wing receives frequent visits from initiates and junior padawans who had full confidence in their ability to perform aerials without having been properly taught. Leaving aside the fact that we have no healer close by here, I do not want you to get hurt. Look at me when I am talking to you."
Jas used the pillow to swipe at her face one last time and then rolled over. Her backside now burned as well as ached. The one saving grace being that it wasn't getting any worse. Jas was about to tell him to leave her alone, that she neither wanted nor needed to hear what he had to say, yet that wasn't entirely true either so she remained quiet.
"You neither have the experience nor the knowledge that adult Jedi do," Eeth said. "Therefore, you are expected to follow our better judgement. And in order to make sure that you do so, regardless of your personal opinion, you will be punished when you fail to obey. This is one of the lessons you need to learn because your safety is at stake. And your future in the Jedi Order is at stake as well because without trust in the judgement of our superiors, without obedience, the Order will come apart. That is why I was so harsh. And I will not hesitate to be this harsh again if your behaviour warrants it."
His scrutinising gaze never left her eye as he spoke.
Jas didn't look away, which was rather difficult. She agreed, grudgingly, with his words but didn't know what to say and so just gave a curt nod of her head.
"Alright," Eeth said, his tone of voice softening a little. "I think I made myself clear."
He produced a datapad from the pocket of his robe and handed it to her.
"I want you to research the jump you did without permission," he instructed. "Find out about its requirements and its execution. Then write down what you found and indicate which skills you think you have mastered reliably and which skills you still might need to acquire or to perfect. When you have completed the essay to my satisfaction, I will perform some healing on your bottom. Depending on how good a job you do, I might decide to start working with you on some of the skills you need in order to perform the jump without risk."
He rose from the chair.
"I will prepare something to eat and drink for you while you work," he said.
Jas made to retort, only to think better of it. She wasn't particularly bothered by writing assignments. They were boring, yet like most things in her life, the choice to do them or not was not hers to make. Well, at least she didn't have to sit down; not that lying here was exactly comfortable while it felt like someone had removed her ass and replaced it with a furnace!
While Jas ate and researched, Raven entered, the sea berries still in her tunic, carrying a basket of dry clothing under her arm. She emptied the sea berries into the sink, dumped their clothing onto the floor and sat to fold it.
An hour passed wherein Eeth and Raven exchanged conversations and went about their day as if nothing were out of place, as if there wasn't a wriggling ten-year-old sprawled out on her bunk, one hand on her backside while the other tapped away at a datapad. Raven had, of course, noticed Jas' unfortunate predicament and winced at seeing that god-awful black paddle sitting on the bench. She picked up the stick and examined it briefly, a puzzled expression on her face. "Where did you get this? I've never seen it before," she asked Eeth.
"It was my master's," Eeth replied. "She procured it for use on me when I was a teenager and started to display streaks of arrogance and overconfidence. It is not designed for use on human skin. Zabrak and a few other species can deal with it, but with humans, it might break the skin and cause bleeding or even scarring. I kept it in my wardrobe in case I might have a use for it some day, but I would not have used it on Lakhri or you."
"You? Arrogance and overconfidence? Surely not," Raven mocked him, a grin on her face.
Eeth just raised his eyebrows at her. He knew that Raven was perfectly aware of what he was talking about.
Raven rolled her eyes at yet another of her jokes going over his head. By now Raven was used to it. "I was teasing you," she explained, knowing full well that he knew that. It was her way of getting even. Raven, too, had gone through a stage where she had felt superior, and Eeth would be entirely justified in maintaining that even at twenty-one, the padawan could be arrogant about her abilities.
Eeth rose from his chair and made his way over to Jas' bunk.
"How are you getting along?" he asked.
Jas scrubbed at her eyes and got to her feet. She had done as he asked because, although she would never admit to this, she wanted that healing. "Done," she said.
Eeth accepted the datapad from Jas. He sat down and took his time studying it. Finally, he nodded.
"We will take that as a starting point," he said, "and talk more about it during our next workout. I will provide some healing now, as promised. Turn onto your tummy and bare your bottom."
This was one instruction Jas had no problem obeying. She rolled onto her stomach and did as asked, curious to know how good he was at healing. Healing was something Jas could not do at all. In fact, the girl would struggle to put a dent in a headache. Her teachers had said that it was a matter of focus, that she was too much of an 'all or nothing' personality and that this was hampering her ability. Jas had just rolled her eyes and told them that there was a reason they had healers!
"So?" she hedged, not sure if he could talk while he was doing that. "Are you gonna start teaching me how?" she wanted to know. After all, she had written the stupid essay.
"You wrote that your control of the Force lacks precision," Eeth replied, resting his hands lightly on the welts and letting some healing energy flow into the damaged skin. "And you are entirely correct. Therefore, we need to work on your control, in all areas of your training. If you make significant progress with that, I will start teaching you how to do the jump properly. It will require a major effort, though, and a lot of focus because your timing needs to improve, and that will only happen if you are completely in tune with the Force. It might help if you worked on controlling your emotions as well. As you saw for yourself today, doing Force work while having a fit of temper makes for fairly unpredictable outcomes. And that outcome will be worse in your case than in many others because you are so strong in the Force."
"I was not having a 'fit of temper'," Jas told him. Her words were not nearly as indignant as they might have been, though. They sounded much subdued, considering her usual personality.
"You hurt your hand having a fit of temper," said Eeth drily. "If you ever want to do that aerial safely, you had better accept that there are things you need to improve at."
"I'll do what you say," Jas conceded. Those words had been like pulling teeth for her. She hated to give in! Still, she added, "I want to do it without getting in trouble." Jas winced a bit at his touch. It wasn't horribly painful, though, and soon she began to feel a lot better.
"Hopefully so," Eeth replied. "I am afraid this will require some patience on your part."
As he talked, he provided significant relief to her bottom, but not as much as he could have. Jas was still going to feel this, especially when sitting down. But then, Zabrak were quick to heal on their own and he knew that the effects would not last long.
Just as he was finishing up, the room suddenly darkened. Eeth glanced outside and saw that huge clouds had piled up outside and a strong wind had come up. It seemed as if they were about to experience one of Borleias' short, but impressive tropical storms. Of course, their cabin was built to withstand it.
"It appears as if we will have to spend the afternoon inside," he told Jas. "We will work on Force control, then. Have you been taught how to cushion falls?"
Jas' gaze followed Eeth's.
"I dunno, I've never really tried beyond the basic stuff they teach us in crèche. Once I snuck into the senior initiates' training room and was playing on the high beam. I slipped but I must have done something because I didn't die when I hit the ground."
Eeth frowned.
"If I give my cane to your creche master and tell him to deal out two dozen strokes on your bare bottom should you ever do something this reckless and stupid again," he said, "will that be a sufficient deterrent? There is nothing that will get you killed prematurely faster and more reliably than overconfidence."
"You wouldn't," Jas said, twisting to meet his gaze. Jas couldn't imagine getting the cane from her crèche master. The worst he had ever done was belt her with the strap. The strap was reserved for older initiates and Jas had only been eight at the time. It had worked, though, and she hadn't left the Temple again.
"I am not known for making empty threats," said Eeth, causing Jas to frown. "Anyway," continued Eeth, ignoring her look. "This afternoon, we will look at what you can do to cushion falls. With inanimate objects, for a start. And preferably without whining about how boring that is."
"I do not whine," said Jas. "Whining is for…." She stopped herself there, a slight hint of panic in her expression. "Is for babies."
The fact that she stopped herself from making a derogatory remark, probably about humans, did not escape Eeth's attention. Good, he thought. She was learning.
"You were definitely whining about boredom when we last practised levitation," he said. "Best lose the habit. It is pointless and will not work."
Jas wanted to argue but, thus far, arguing with Eeth had proved futile and so she just huffed at him. "It would just be nice if it wasn't boring," she said. "I'm sick of being bored. Besides, don't you understand the concept of free time?"
Raven could be heard coughing to hide a chuckle in the background.
"I might have heard of it, but I think it is overrated," Eeth replied, the expression on his face inscrutable.
He rose, having provided as much healing as he was intending to give Jas.
"Pull up your pants and come over here," he said, standing in the middle of their cabin where there was a round and thick, coarse rug. "And lay your saber on the rug."
Jas tried to hide the wince as she pulled up her trousers because, although her ass was no longer unbearably painful, it still hurt. She took her lightsaber from the bench and tossed it onto the rug where Eeth bade.
"Now, I will levitate your saber to the height of your chest and then let it drop," said Eeth. "You focus on sensing it through the Force and see whether you can do anything to prevent it from hitting the floor at full speed. I will not allow it to be damaged, of course; you need not worry about that."
Jas shrugged. "It's only a practice saber," she said. Then something occurred to her and her expression brightened. "Say, if it were to break, it would mean I'd have to borrow Raven's. You can hardly expect me to keep up saber practice without a saber."
"Not a chance, squirt. Nice try, though. Rather creative," Raven mused aloud and without looking up from where she now sat at their kitchen table, eating some fruit and working on her datapad.
Jas actually smiled a little at that. "What, do you expect me to fight unarmed?"
"Do not even think about it," Eeth said severely before Raven even had a chance to reply, "unless you want another painful trip over my knee and your saber lessons to be replaced with swimming for the rest of our stay here. I said I was going to take care not to damage your saber. And you will do the same. Am I understood?"
Jas' mouth pulled into a thin line at the threat. It was more than enough. "Whatever," she muttered
Raven shook her head and popped in a single earphone. She didn't want to disrupt their lesson but Jas' attitude and lack of respect towards Eeth were beginning to annoy her.
Jas noticed the padawan's reaction and she looked up at Eeth. He didn't look pleased. In fact he looked like he was about to smack her, again! No, that wasn't going to happen. "Yes, understood. I understand, I won't do anything like that," she amended hastily. At this point, Jas was exceedingly grateful that none of her crèche mates were around to hear her backpedal.
"Good," said Eeth coolly. As a matter of fact, he had brought enough spare parts to repair any damage that one of their sabers might sustain, but he was not going to volunteer that information. Jas would have to learn to follow instructions even when the reasons were not explained to her in detail.
"Now do as I told you," he ordered. "Focus on your saber and try to prevent it from hitting the floor. And if you do a very good job, we might just find the time to take a trip into the jungle tomorrow." After all, he did realise that Jas was only ten and the promise of a reward might occasionally work better than the threat of punishment.
The idea of a trip to the jungle piqued Jas' interest and as Eeth slowly levitated her saber upwards and then let it drop, she eagerly reached out and connected with the crystals.
Jas always had a connection to the Force, but tempering it and making that control precise was another matter entirely. It was something that required a lot of focus. Her power made it all the harder. At the first attempt, the saber clattered to the ground. At the next attempt, it shot up into the roof. A third effort saw it almost take out Raven, who ducked and wisely decided to take that moment to check that all the windows were secured. The fourth attempt was successful, yet the uncontrolled jerking halt to which she brought her saber would have broken the neck of anything living. Jas scrubbed at her face as the saber was levitated upwards for a fifth time, but before she could try again, a bright flash of light lit up their windows. Seconds later, a deafening crack of thunder had the initiate wide-eyed and a gust of unusually cold air that swept under their front door had her complete attention. "I want to see," she said, turning towards the door. After all, Jas had never in her life witnessed anything like this outside of holos before.
Eeth assumed that this must be quite a spectacular sight for a Temple-raised child and therefore he conceded, "Alright. You may take a five-minute break and watch, but only through the windows. Then we will continue. And the next time, phrase your wish as a polite question and you may well be granted more than five minutes."
For once, Jas didn't bother to argue his comment. She simply ran to the window just in time to see another flash of light. A huge fork of white split the black night, and from her new vantage point she could clearly see that the sky outside was actually a mix of pink and orange. She had never seen anything like it. The air felt different, too; it was prickly and made her skin feel funny.
Raven, being the only one of the three to actually possess any body hair, held out her arm. For a human girl, she had quite a lot of fine, flaxen body hair and right now it was all standing on end. She moved to stand by Jas' side and chuckled at the incredulous expression Jas gave her. "The air goes static during an electrical storm. If you are Force-sensitive, it can sometimes feel a bit odd but it won't do you any harm," Raven explained and rubbed at her forearms. The effect was almost immediate and her body hair started to relax.
"Yeesh. You're freakin' hairy for a girl. Are you sure you're not part whookiee?" Jas questioned, just as a loud rumble of thunder had her almost cover her ears. It had been an honest question, too. She wasn't trying to embarrass the padawan.
"Quite," Raven replied. "People from Chine are generally lithe. Humans who have little body fat grow more body hair to help keep us warm. Why, are you suggesting that I wax?"
Jas' expression went from curious to scrunched, and then to something that Raven guessed was grossed out and it made her laugh. "Don't worry, as a Zabrak you won't grow body hair. As you probably noticed on the beach, master is entirely hairless," she said and shrugged. "He's also a good deal sturdier than I, as are you, so it shouldn't pose a problem for either of you."
"Time is up, Jas," said Eeth, not unkindly. "Let us continue our lesson."
Jas obeyed, reluctantly, but her attention was still fixed on the window. "Please, can I have a bit longer?" she asked in as polite a tone as she had ever used on anyone.
Eeth raised his eyebrows.
"So you do know how to be polite," he said. "Just for that, you may have a little longer."
Jas frowned ever so slightly at his comment on her manners. Of course she knew how to be polite, well, mostly! she thought. However, given that he had just allowed her to have more time she didn't want to lose it again by being a smart ass. Thus, she merely said, "Thank you!" And Jas genuinely meant that as she rushed back to the window just in time to see another sharp fork of lightning split the sky.
Eeth came to join her and Raven.
"The thunderstorm is nearly upon us," he said and explained to Jas how to calculate the distance of the thunderstorm by the length of time that passed between the bolts of lightning and the roll of thunder.
Jas counted the seconds, interested to test out Eeth's method of seeing how far away the storm was. Boom! And the rain started to pour down like Jas had never seen before. There was less lightning now, and the loud, sharp cracks of thunder that felt like they split the air earlier had now taken on a softer rumbling sound.
When the rain began to die down, Raven left Jas glued to the window and retreated to her bunk. It was too early to start making dinner, and since all her duties had been completed and Eeth had yet to assign her anything more, she went back to her reading.
This quasi mission was going to be a welcome calm before the storm, or so Eeth had told her. Sure, they had gone on many missions throughout the years, but given Eeth's position on the Council, they had often needed to return earlier than she would have liked. Eeth said this was going to change. Raven did have to wonder how he was going to do this.
"Back to our practice," Eeth said to Jas. "You will have to master this if you want to be allowed to do aerials in your workouts." He intended to keep her at it for another hour, at least. After which the storm would hopefully have blown over because these things tended to go as quickly as they came; most likely, they would be able to have another swim after dinner.
An hour and a half later, Jas had made sufficient progress to placate Eeth and he finally allowed her to stop. She had not complained, but she had shown annoyance and exasperation at not being able to succeed every time. The storm clouds had pulled open by now and the sky was mostly clear. It was beautiful, and Jas wanted to see more of it. "I want to go and look around," she said, her gaze still locked on the window which Raven had opened shortly after the rain and wind had stopped. "I mean, please will you let me?" she corrected herself.
"You may go outside for half an hour until dinner," Eeth said. "If you clear the table and wash the dishes afterwards. We will go for a nighttime swim then."
It was not actually late; the sun simply set early here. Eeth let Jas go with strict instructions not to stray out of sight of the cabin. Since the windows were lit up. and it was getting dark, that still left her with a considerable range to explore.
Jas shot out the door in the blink of an eye.
Raven watched her go. She could remember how it felt when everything was new. Jas was lucky because there was no way she would have gotten this experience at just ten years old if she were at the Temple. No way.
For the most part, Jas was oblivious to the privilege the Order had afforded her by assigning her Eeth, and to a lesser extent, Raven. Eeth was a valued member of the Jedi High Council, and he and his twenty-one-year-old apprentice were a formidable team of great worth to the Order. To have them technically 'benched' to take care of Jas had been a decision that had taken a lot of collective thought, especially so because Raven was probably going to take her trials in the next few years.
The reason she was here was the furthest thing from Jas' mind right now, though. She'd found that rolling down sand dunes was an exhilarating feeling. However, having nobody to play with during her free time made the extra excitement of Borleias feel hollow. She realised that she was beginning to miss some of her peers.
"She doesn't have a watch. I'll go call her," Raven said when she noticed Eeth glancing at the chronometre. The half hour he'd given the girl was almost up and Jas was still playing in the sand. Eeth nodded for Raven to go ahead while he finished preparing dinner, which today consisted of a hot broth into which various ingredients could be dunked.
"Jas! Time to come indoors, please," Raven called. She frowned slightly at getting no response. She was only wearing her socks and didn't want to get them wet and sandy running after the kid. Wordlessly, Raven pulled them off and tiptoed to the edge of the yard before the grass turned to sand. From this distance, there was no way Jas could claim she had not heard her.
"Jas! Come on already," Raven shouted and again got no response. Raven watched the girl's back for a long moment, the dwindling light making her difficult to pick out with her beige tunic against the similarly coloured beach. Huffing, Raven strode over to where Jas sat.
"Don't pretend that you didn't hear me," the padawan scolded when she received a fake startled expression. "Remember what I said about lying? Artform, squirt, and you are far from mastery." With that she took the girl by her upper arm, pulled her to her feet and propelled her back to the cabin with a solid swat to the seat of her trousers. "March."
"It didn't hurt," Jas stated because it hadn't! Chin in the air and arms folded tightly across her chest, she preceded the apprentice back to the cabin. Despite the fact that her backside was still sore, the smack Raven dealt out had done little more than sting for a bit. "Wait," Raven called when Jas made to run across the grass. She pointed to a wooden bucket of water that was used to wash the sand off one's feet.
"I doubt it will make much difference, I'm covered in sand anyway." Jas made her point by shaking out her hair and grinning as a shower of sand shook free. "See."
"I see. Well, you'll just have to do your best," said Raven. A couple of minutes later Jas had gotten enough sand off herself to placate the padawan, and the two entered the cabin. Raven had instructed Jas to take off her tunic and boots, leaving her clad in a light singlet and trousers and for the most part sand-free.
Eeth had kept half an ear on what was going on outside. From that, and from the long time it took for the two to make it back to the courtyard, he just about gathered what had happened.
When Jas entered, he rested a hand on her shoulder to stop her and said, "When I told you to obey my padawan just as you would obey me, was there anything unclear about that instruction?"
"No," Jas replied flatly. She wanted to shrug his hand off, but she did not.
"Then do not ignore her again when she gives you an instruction," said Eeth, "because I sincerely hope that you know I would not stand for it if it was me. You will accord her the same courtesy."
He took his hand off her shoulder and said, "Find a tunic and a pair of socks for now. We can all take a shower later, after our swim."
Jas didn't pause to ask how Eeth had known what happened between herself and Raven outside. Instead, she was simply grateful not to be swatted by him – because that did hurt – and ran for her bag. She pulled out a crumpled tunic and a ball of socks and quickly donned both.
It was hard for Raven to watch Jas eat strips of raw meat, and she was eternally grateful the kid was using her own dipping bowl. Well, it was what it was. After years of exposure to the many cultures and subsequent beliefs this universe had to offer, Raven had hardened her heart; she had a duty to perform and that always took priority.
After dinner, Eeth told Jas to change into a swimsuit. He and Raven changed as well.
"Padawan, would you stay with Jas on our way to the rocks this time?" he asked. "I would like to swim to the far end of the bay and back. I need some exercise."
"Yes, master," Raven replied and took Jas' hand as Eeth leapt into the water and took off at quite a speed.
"I could do that too, you know," Jas stated, shaking off Raven's hand and crossing her arms.
"You could? All the way to the end of the bay and back?" Raven questioned knowingly.
Jas rolled her eyes. "Yes. I'm stronger than you are."
"You think so, huh?"
Jas stuck her nose in the air. "I know so."
Raven went silent for a moment. "Master?" she asked Eeth through their bond.
"What is it, padawan?" Eeth asked back, momentarily slowing down a bit.
"Jas wants to come after you," Raven sent. "She claims to be stronger than me and thinks she can follow you. What do you want me to do?"
Eeth knew that by doing so, Jas would exhaust herself and likely not be able to complete her way back, and he assumed that Raven knew it, too. At the same time, there was an object lesson in this for Jas to learn, and it might be one that was worth learning. All in all, he felt that it had been quite a good idea on Raven's part to check with him, rather than simply say "no."
"Let her," Eeth communicated to Raven across their bond. "But I'll head towards the island, rather than the open sea. I doubt that she will make it further than that."
The small, uninhabited island he was talking about was located about half a kilometre before the end of the bay, a little to the south off his course. Eeth had originally not meant to swim there but given Jas' silly notions, he thought it prudent to do so.
Raven turned back to face Jas, her expression resolute. "Alright, off you go then," she said. "Make sure to keep him in sight." It was dark, after all.
Jas didn't bother to reply and charged into the water. She hated water! But this was a challenge and although she probably wouldn't catch Eeth, she sure as shit was planning on beating the damned human.
When Jas took off, Raven gave her a minute's head start and then waded in, dove and quickly caught up. Not only that, but she easily overtook Jas. She kept just enough lead to reach the initiate in case she ran out of energy, and it looked like she was doing so fast.
Meanwhile, Eeth made for the tiny island and circled it, waiting for the two girls to arrive. He estimated that Jas would just about be able to reach it if she gave it her all. Which she did. She might have been a bit more careful if she had any idea how dangerous her course of action was. But as it was, she was completely unaware that overexerting herself in the middle of the ocean might be deadly. Of course she didn't want to die, but neither was she old enough to understand what dying really meant. She had always been saved before that possibility even came into the picture.
Raven extended a hand to help Jas as the girl eventually crawled up onto the rocky island and was unsurprised to have that offer ignored. Unfortunately for the pigheaded, stubborn initiate, she really did feel like she wanted to die right now. Her arms were trembling so much that she couldn't hide it. She had also swallowed a bit of water; coughing it up was hard to do discreetly as it burned coming out and made her eyes water.
Raven stepped up behind Jas, lifted her to her feet, leant her forward and started thumping her back to help her get the water up which, for once, Jas did not fight. She spat up a few of the gulps she had inhaled. Her throat was raw from the seawater and her lungs burned but once Raven stopped, Jas stood tall and tried not to look as miserable as she felt. Whether from blind ignorance or the fact that she knew they wouldn't let her drown, that had been a commendable effort, thought Raven.
Eeth, having completed his third circle around the island, swam up to the rocks and pulled himself up a boulder next to where the girls were standing.
"And how," he asked pointedly, his intense gaze focused on Jas, "were you planning on making your way back?"
Jas tried to stand tall but it was clear to all that she had reached her limits. Her muscles were trembling and she was unable to stop spitting up tiny amounts of water. "I never saved anything for the swim back," she admitted.
"That," Eeth said frostily, "was stupid and downright dangerous. So, what now? Were you planning to spend the night here?
"I will sleep here if I must," Jas replied boldly.
Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Is spending the night here truly and honestly the best solution you can come up with?" he asked. "Because if it is, I do not think much of your ability to survive in real-life situations."
Of course, he was entirely unwilling to let Jas spend the night on the rocks. The question was, was she able to ask for help? If she was, it would be a huge step forward. If she was not, Eeth was going to force her to accept it anyway.
Jas stood there, arms folded and silent. This rocky island wouldn't be a comfortable place to sleep, she had to concede, but would it be preferable to swimming back? Heck yes! she thought.
"I could wait until my arms have rested and go back myself," Jas said despite the fact that she was utterly spent. That she had been unable to even come close to doing as she had boasted, even though she had given it her all, was adding insult to injury. As was the fact that when she turned to look at Raven, the padawan seemed to be fully recovered and did not look like she was any worse for wear.
"That would be by tomorrow morning," Eeth said cuttingly. "And spending the night on the rocks without food or fresh water would not help. The obvious solution would be to ask for help. You seem to be unable to do so but you would do well to accept it nevertheless. I am going to carry you back. And once we are back at the cabin, you will explain to me what you thought you were doing."
"Carry me back? Carry me back! You must be out of your mind. You do realise I probably weigh more than your apprentice." Jas guffawed. Then, upon taking another look at the petite shivering human, she amended, "I am heavier than your apprentice." Jas wasn't that much shorter than Raven either, she noted, and not for the first time thanked her lucky stars that she was a Zabrak. Strong and sturdy. She would grow a lot taller, too, maybe even as tall as Eeth. Anyway, it would be totally humiliating to be carried back like a toddler.
"In contrast to you," Eeth said sharply, "I know my own strength. I am well able to carry you back. And so far, you have failed to come up with better ideas. Are you intending to raise a fuss about it? You need only say so. It will not change anything about what is going to happen, but it will add a sore bottom to your predicament."
"Best not to continue down this path," Raven warned Jas quietly, hoping to spare the kid her master's wrath. He was a patient man when he was teaching or working to accomplish a mission goal, but not when it came to obedience.
Jas just scoffed at her, if only to save face, because truth be told, there was no way she wanted her ass to start hurting again. It had just gotten to the point where it only hurt when she sat, and the salt water was doing a lot of good. Granted, he didn't have anything to smack her with out here. Then again, Jas had learned that Eeth could make any punishment count. While all this was racing through her mind, she was also trying to come up with an alternative plan of how to get back. "Maybe you can swim back and bring a boat?" the initiate suggested. She felt that this was a really good idea.
"If you think that I am going to waste half the night just to spare you from being carried," said Eeth, "think again. The argument ends here."
He slid down the rock, landing waist-deep in water, and ordered, "Wrap your arms around my neck. If you grip your left forearm with your right hand, you will run no risk of strangling me."
Jas stomped her foot in frustration. She didn't want to do this! It was humiliating. But nor did it appear he was giving her a choice.
Raven shook her head in warning. Thus, Jas reluctantly slid down the rock, stopped to pull her bathers out of her ass and did as he had said. She was surprised at how warm he was. Raven had felt like an icicle in comparison. And sure enough, as the padawan jumped into the water beside them, her teeth were starting to chatter. It wasn't cold here, but there was a cool breeze and she had been standing on the rocks long enough to cool down. She looked to Eeth for orders.
"Go ahead and swim back at your own pace," Eeth told her. He knew that Raven would have no difficulties finding her way back. There was a lantern next to their hut which they had left lit. Besides, the stars and moons were bright.
As Raven took off, it made Jas feel even worse; the human could do it, and she couldn't! Still, she did as Eeth had instructed and hung on as the man started swimming with slow, measured strokes. He was certain of his ability to take Jas back, but he would have to take care not to overexert himself too fast – something that Jas would be well-advised to learn as well.
The trip back was actually pretty fun, not that Jas would ever admit that. "I can make it the rest of the way," she told him when the shore was in sight. It was only about 500 metres and it would make her feel better if she managed to at least finish on her own. Besides, she actually didn't want to kill the man and although he was barely showing it, his slow speed indicated that it must be hard work towing her back. That had her feeling somewhat guilty for being so reckless in the first place.
"No," said Eeth. "Hang on."
He might have said more, but he did not actually have any breath to waste by this point and he sincerely hoped that Jas would not force him to because that would be seriously annoying.
Jas wanted to argue, yet there was something in his tone that said it was best to just be quiet. She remained silent until they reached the shore. Once she could touch the bottom, she let go of his neck and waded towards the beach where Raven was waiting for them with a couple of towels.