Having warmed up by performing a joint kata at increasing speed, Eeth and Raven engaged in a freestyle sparring match. Eeth normally established rules that gave Raven a fair chance of winning, and by changing them from session to session, he made sure that she learned to be flexible about her strategy. Today, he was going to refrain from using aerials of any kind and would automatically forfeit a point when he did. This made the match rather challenging because it ruled out most of the counterattack sequences that came naturally to him. But Eeth liked a challenge, and Raven gave him one. She forced him into positions where it was almost impossible to avoid her without using aerials. He was crafty, though, and she really had to work hard to get any points off him. She tumbled and vaulted her way around the garden using anything and everything she could to give her an advantage. By the time they stopped, the padawan was sweating and breathing heavily and even Eeth showed signs of exertion.
It was at that moment that Jas made her presence known. She had been watching for the last few minutes and was fascinated by the spectacle. She stepped forward, the pad tucked under an arm while she flexed and closed the other hand. She was not accustomed to writing lines and it had caused discomfort. "That was pretty good," she said, aiming for nonchalance, but not even she could pretend not to be impressed.
Eeth turned towards Jas and gave a curt nod at her statement. He held out his hand for the datapad, which Jas handed over with a frown at his lack of response to her rare praise. Eeth quickly scanned across the pages of writing and saw immediately that these were significantly less than one hundred lines.
Handing the datapad back to Jas, he said, "Number each line. When you are done, tell me how many you have got."
"Why?" she said, still unsettled at Eeth's dismissal of her praise. "You said I just had to write them, not number them, too. That's just a lot more writing."
"Because," said Eeth sternly, "I think that something is seriously amiss with your counting skills. Do as I told you. You are in no position to argue about your punishment."
Jas was about to protest when she noticed a slight shift in Eeth stance. She quickly turned on her heel, so as to look nonplussed, and strode back to the table where she sat, somewhat gingerly, and numbered the lines. It briefly crossed her mind to start writing some more, but she knew Eeth would be keeping an eye on her even while he was stretching with Raven. Besides, Jas had done seventy-four and didn't want to do any more. It was incredibly boring and her hand hurt. When she was done, Jas dragged her feet to where Eeth was helping stretch Raven's hamstring. "You've been punishing me for hours. This isn't fair, it's inhumane," Jas said, making a point of not handing him the pad.
Raven coughed to hide a chuckle at that closing statement; she just couldn't help it. "Excuse me, Master, Jas, I think I will go wash off," she said. And she did before Eeth could frown at her for laughing at the kid.
Eeth gave her a perfunctory nod and turned his attention back on Jas. "Call it whatever you like," he said, unmoved. "You misbehaved and now you are being punished. The severity of your punishment reflects the severity of your transgression. I told you to write one hundred lines, and I am not willing to accept anything less, however much you might feel disinclined to comply with your instructions."
He took the pad from her hand and checked it. "This," he said sternly, "is twenty-six lines less than I told you to write."
"But," Jas started, intending to argue that she had written all these numbers and surely they were worth several lines. Eeth, however, had no intention to indulge her. He pulled out his paddle, took hold of Jas' ear, bent her forward and clamped her under his left arm.
"Ow, wait!" Jas tried to cover her backside but the hold he had on her made that impossible. Both her arms and most of her torso were trapped behind him, leaving her rear end sticking up.
Eeth promptly made use of this fact and started bringing the paddle down onto her bottom. She kept her trousers, but then, she would have twenty-six swats to endure.
"One swat for every line you failed to write," he informed her. "After which you will complete the set."
He had never been particularly tolerant of efforts to escape a well-deserved punishment, and today was no exception.
Despite the fact that Eeth had taken quite a bit of the pain from the previous punishment, it didn't take long before Jas' ass was on fire once again. Unperturbed, Eeth dealt out twenty-six swats at a measured pace. He did not make them particularly hard; given the traces of her caning and the fact that she would have to sit after this, he trusted that the message was going to be received regardless. And it was! Jas kicked, squirmed and struggled through the last dozen. It hurt!
When Eeth was done, he released his hold on Jas, stuck the paddle back into his belt and said, "Now continue writing. I am not interested in any complaints you might want to utter. Trying to deceive me is never a good idea."
By this point, Jas was crying quietly, both hands rubbing furiously in an effort at relieving the burn. She felt like this punishment was never going to end and she was only on the first day; she would have to endure similar the following days!
Unfortunately for Jas, Eeth had not gained the reputation of being the strictest master in the Temple for nothing. Extended punishments were what he meted out when he truly considered the misbehaviour in question spectacular, especially when a repeat offence was involved. He was entirely immune to sulking, pouting, whining, moping, puppy-dog eyes or whatever else the person who was being punished might feel inclined to do.
"Continue writing," he said again. "I am not going to repeat myself another time."
Jas tried unsuccessfully to run back to the bench without looking like she was in pain or, even more embarrassing, crying. It was pretty clear to anyone watching, though, that she was struggling for composure as she knelt and started writing.
When Eeth entered the cabin, Raven was just getting dressed. She could see Jas through the window and noticed she was not looking very comfortable. "You're going to wear your paddle out at this rate," she said. "That kid's ass-to-brain connection might be faulty."
"She is not used to being consistently called to task for her behaviour," Eeth replied, "at least not in a way that leaves an impression on her. I could hardly expect her to change completely within a few days. I suspect that she is used to getting away with deceit or with doing things behind people's backs. Her creche master has to look after many initiates besides her, after all. I think having a master would do her a lot of good."
"Yes, I can remember the shock of coming from creche to you," Raven said, coughing a little at how that sounded. "No offence meant, master. It's just that creche life compared to being under your supervision is quite a contrast. I have no doubt it will do her good."
Eeth merely raised his eyebrows at her and chose not to comment.
When Jas had finally completed her lines, he said, "You would have been wise to obey me the first time, and without needing additional motivation. I told you that the severity of this punishment would partly depend on your cooperation, and I am none too impressed by your level of cooperation over the lines you had to write. You have forfeited your chance of receiving a mere handspanking the day after tomorrow. Your punishment will be with the small paddle. Act up more and I will upgrade the implement."
"Nothing you deal out is 'mere'," Jas said, feeling that this was all the protest she could make right now without making it worse.
"Yes, I try to make sure of that," said Eeth. "Do you get my meaning, though, yes or no?"
"Yes," Jas said, not liking that she had caved in so easily.
"Good," said Eeth. He gave Jas a small smile and rested his hand on her head briefly in a comforting gesture.
"We will have dinner now," he said. "After that, you may have the rest of the evening to yourself."
Jas was particularly quiet at dinner that night. Usually she would add in a comment here and there, but tonight, the kid just squirmed in her seat and sulked. She helped clean up, and then she spent the free time Eeth had given her running around outside until it grew boring to be by herself and she lay down on one of the sand dunes.
As Raven watched her mope, she had an idea. A moment later, the padawan was scrambling through her bag. She pulled out a ball that she and Eeth sometimes used to practise high level Ataru techniques and held it up to Eeth. "I think Jas needs someone to play with. Want to come?" she asked. Raven planned to use a plank as a bat and their trash bin to act as a target. How Jas would feel about this was yet to be seen.
Eeth was not into playing games, as such, but he had come to indulge his padawan occasionally, and he could acknowledge that a ten-year-old might be interested in such activities.
"If you think it helps," he said, laying his data pad aside and rising from his chair. "And if she wants to even see me at this point."
He was entirely aware that Jas was sulking, and he could understand why she would be, although this would certainly not induce him to lessen her punishment.
"I think it is worth a try regardless," said Raven. "Jas is accustomed to being surrounded by kids her age, not just for classes but for play, too. They eat together, play together, study together. I'm thinking that she might appreciate some company that isn't attached to work. Or what do you think?"
"Yes, I agree," said Eeth. "I am just not sure whether she is sulking to an extent where she would not want to see me for a while. I did punish her quite a lot today. Go ahead and ask her. If she wants to play, I will join you."
"True," Raven agreed. "I'll go test the waters." Raven gave him a smile and left to find Jas who was lying on her tummy in the sand, her chin resting in both hands.
Jas sensed Raven's approach and didn't bother to hide her groan. "What did I do now? Sand in the tunic?" she said, turning to look up at the older girl.
Raven's lip twitched into a slight smile at that. "Well, yes, you probably do have sand in your tunic. That tends to happen when you lie in it long enough, but that is not why I am here. I thought you might want to play a game with us?"
"What kind of game?" Jas asked, getting to her feet and dusting the sand off.
"It's something I used to play often when I was in creche," Raven told her and explained the rules.
Jas was interested enough that she put her annoyance with Eeth aside; the game would be a lot more fun with three people. Besides, the truth was that she wasn't really annoyed with Eeth, she just didn't know how to process her emotions over being punished. She wasn't sure how to move past it and act like everything was okay now even though Eeth planned on punishing her again. Putting those thoughts aside, she asked, "Okay, can I defend first?"
"Of course," replied Raven walking to where Eeth was standing by the door. "Jas says she wants to defend first. What do you want to do, pitch or field?"
"Field," said Eeth, who did not really care but was glad that Jas had accepted Raven's proposal.
Five minutes later Raven was pitching, Jas had the plank in her hand and Eeth was fielding. They had made some more rules to this: nobody was to use the Force, but if Eeth caught the ball Jas hit, Jas had to give up the plank and it was someone else's turn.
"Ready," Raven challenged Jas, tossing the ball into the air and catching it again. If she hit the target behind Jas, she would also be out, but the padawan planned to refrain from trying too hard at first. She suspected Eeth would do the same.
When Raven pitched the ball, Jas belted the thing a solid fifty metres, and for once, she had a smile on her face.
Eeth was easily the strongest and fastest of them all; but he had learned over the years that demonstrating his superiority was not exactly the point of a game. Mostly. he tried to make sure Jas enjoyed herself, and it worked. He purposefully missed the first few catches, using the excuse to work on his fitness and run.
Jas slogged another five into the tree line before she hit one too high and Eeth caught her out with one hand. Then it was his turn to defend and Jas was trying to hit the target. Raven knew there was no way, with or without the Force, that Jas was going to hit it with Eeth standing in front of it, plank or not. So, when after her eleventh pitch, Jas got him out, Raven shot him a smile. He had let her, of course, but Jas didn't need to know that. Apparently, he had learned a thing or two over the many years that she had coerced him into playing Sim Swords with her.
They switched again. This time Eeth was aiming for the target, Raven was defending and Jas was fielding. This was a real challenge for both Raven and Eeth. Eeth was far superior in skill but Raven was fast and there was no need for her to let him win, so she focused on keeping him off and trying to get the ball out to where Jas could catch it. They played at this for another hour before it was finally time to call it a day.
"Good game, squirt, you played that well," Raven told Jas who was now sweating as she had been fielding last and Eeth had been putting some serious effort into slogging it for the last round, hoping that this would tire her out. It worked. Jas was exhausted from chasing after Eeth's ball which, on some more spectacular efforts, had gone a good 130 metres, well into the tree line.
She had enjoyed herself, and the smile on Jas' face said as much. She followed the two older Jedi into the cabin and got into the shower without argument.
"Thank you, master, that was fun. Not as bad as Sim Swords for you, though?" Raven said as she took some grain from the top shelf and started to rinse it off so it would be ready for their breakfast.
"Definitely not," Eeth replied. "At least it gave me an opportunity to exercise. And Jas as well. You might have noticed that I did spare her the customary swim today."
"I did, and I'm sure she is grateful even if she didn't say as much. I could always introduce her to Sim Swords?" Raven was teasing him and enjoying it.
"If she manages to behave for more than a day in a row," Eeth said, completely ignoring the attempt to tease him, "we could obtain a copy. We might also take her into the city and provide other distractions for her. But I am only willing to do so when she stops giving me reasons to punish her."
"Well, yes," Raven replied. "Given what you have in store for her I would assume she would be on her best behaviour."
And Jas was! The next day, she followed Eeth's instructions, and even Raven's, without complaint. Her classwork was completed as were the few chores Eeth had given her. Jas was still sulking, though, that much was clear.
Eeth was quite pleased with Jas's compliance and told her as much after lunch.
"Now if you could just stop acting as if you are being unfairly treated, I would very much appreciate it," he said. "After all, taking my padawan's lightsaber was your misguided decision, not mine. Speaking of lightsabers: we will have a workout now. Do you still want to learn that aerial?"
Jas wanted to protest that she was not doing any such thing, but before she could do so, she caught his question, which effectively silenced her complaint. Did she still want to learn that aerial? Was he serious? One look at the man's expression told her that he was. "Yes!" she said, putting her fork down onto her plate and wanting to do this immediately.
"Alright," said Eeth. "After we have cleaned up here, I will start teaching you the basics of cushioning your fall. You will need this skill in order to land properly. Otherwise you will overbalance and lose valuable time which will give your opponent an advantage. I believe you can do it, but it will require a lot of focus and dedication on your part."
Eeth had not been kidding, as Jas soon discovered: this was taking a lot of focus to get right, or, right enough to gain Eeth's approval. Even after an hour and a half of practice, Jas was not managing it every time. "Seven times out of ten is good enough," she told him, hoping that they could move on.
Eeth raised his eyebrows.
"No, it is not," he said. "You need to get used to the fact that some skills take more than an afternoon to acquire. And, incidentally, you will not perform this move without supervision and express permission until I allow you to. Now do it again, and concentrate."
Jas' first reaction was to blow him off. She'd just do it when he wasn't watching. But that thought was closely followed by another: what if he caught her? The kid swallowed. She didn't want him to catch her; it always ended painfully. What Jas didn't know was this change in her thought process was the first step towards achieving her goal of becoming a padawan. Later on, she would be expected to obey because she knew it was the right thing to do, not simply out of fear of the consequences, but for now, fear of the consequences was a start.
"I am concentrating," she griped at him, her frustration causing the next attempt to fall flat. Literally.
"You are not concentrating," said Eeth. "You are letting your emotions take over. There are solutions to that. Think before you rush into your next attempt."
Jas frowned but did as he said. And her next effort was a success, as were the next few until again her focus began to wane. They kept at this for another hour. By the time Eeth let her stop, she was tired of thinking about it. This was hard, really hard! Jas hated not being good at things right away. It was frustrating.
"You made good progress," Eeth told Jas. "You will have to keep practising. It will take a while for you to reliably master this move. But that is only to be expected. For some things, there are no shortcuts, however talented you are. Are you up to some freestyle sparring now?"
Jas nodded at his question, pulling her lightsaber from her belt and taking up a ready stance. Raven watched them spar from the window. It made her smile. Eeth was a master swordsman and to see him fight, at any capacity, was always enjoyable. Jas wasn't bad herself. She wasn't an organic fighter like Eeth, but she had some serious potential. She needed a master.
Eeth sent Jas to take a shower after their workout. He then gave her some free time and went for a swim in the meanwhile. He would have taken Raven, but after the saber incident, he had the feeling that it was better not to leave Jas unsupervised.
When he returned, he set Jas to picking some fruit and had her help prepare dinner. The meal consisted of grilled fish, steamed tubers, and roast vegetables.
"We will have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow," he said. "One of us will have to go to the city."
"Me, me! I'll do it," Jas blurted out, almost choking on her food in the process. "I can do it," was tacked on the end to stave off any 'you're not old enough' comments.
"We can talk about going to the city when your punishment is over and there has been no further misbehaviour," said Eeth. "Just like the jungle trip, such things are privileges that you need to earn. If I see an improvement in your attitude after your punishment has been completed, we are going to the city. Both of us. You are not going on your own."
"Since when is buying groceries a privilege?!" Jas complained, her arms folded and food forgotten in lieu of sulking. "All you let me do is get punished and work. It's not fair."
Raven shot the kid a warning expression that clearly said she should desist.
Jas saw it, huffed, and picked up her fork. It still wasn't fair, she thought.
"Are you meaning to imply," asked Eeth in a level tone of voice, "that I am punishing you for nothing?"
"I'm not meaning to imply anything, I'm outright saying that it's not fair that I can't go," Jas said, annoyed and ignoring Raven's previous warning. "I'm already getting spanked, doing extra meditations and have to write lines. Now you're grounding me, too. I took Raven's saber and that was wrong, but you're reacting like I killed a being." Jas didn't look at him, she kept her eyes on her food and kept eating.
Eeth put down his fork and knife and glared at Jas, who looked a little wary when she looked up to notice the expression on his face.
"If you had killed anyone, three days of spankings, lines and meditations would not even begin to sufficiently address the matter." he said coolly, "They are, however, perfectly appropriate to address what you actually did: you disobeyed your orders, endangered yourself in the process and took something that was not yours to take. And you did all that because of the attitude that got you sent here in the first place. Maybe it is your attitude that needs questioning, rather than my methods. And just maybe that is what you should focus on, instead of complaining, because the only thing that complaints will earn you is more punishment. Change your attitude, and I promise you that you will have no cause for complaint."
Jas sulked for the rest of dinner, not saying anything unless asked a direct question. Both Eeth and Raven were inclined to let her sulk and didn't try coercing the kid into conversation.
"I'll go," Raven replied to Eeth's almost buried statement about tomorrow's shopping venture. "I already know where everything is. Unless you want to take a look around the town yourself?" The padawan ignored the scowl Jas gave her at this comment. It was clear that she was none too happy about not being allowed to go.
"No, thank you," said Eeth. "I already know everything that there is to see on Borleias, and my visit to the embassy confirmed that nothing much has changed. I can write you a shopping list tonight."
After dinner, they cleaned up together. Then Eeth returned to the dinner table, pulled out a chair and told Jas, "Fetch me the paddle with the holes."
Any and all hopes that Eeth had forgotten about this in the course of the day were squashed with that one order. Her face fell and her arms folded tightly about her chest. "I don't want to," she grumbled, but it did not take more than a look from Eeth to get her moving. It was really, really hard for Jas to submit to this. It made her mad that he was forcing her, even if he had explained the rationale behind doing so. She swiped the horrid thing from on top of his cupboard, barely resisting the urge to throw it through the closed window, and stomped back to where he had sat down.
"Why can't you use your hand? I don't want this," Jas complained. The thing looked even bigger in her hands than it did it Eeth's.
"I know you do not want it," Eeth said, unmoved. "That is what makes it an effective punishment. Maybe the next time you will think twice about doing things that will get you punished and we can do more pleasant things instead."
He took the paddle and instructed, "Bare your bottom and get over my lap."
Jas didn't want to do this. It was horrible. Her fingers slid into the waistband of her shorts and she pulled them, along with her underwear, to her knees, taking as long as she possibly could get away with. Jas's face was scrunched and she looked like she had been sucking on a lemon. But she knew that if she didn't bend over soon, he would grab her ear, stand up and smack her. Then she'd have to bend over anyway, which would be even worse. She was still processing these thoughts when she noticed Eeth's body tensing up ever so slightly, as if he was going to get up. Hastily, the kid covered her ear and made a dive for his lap. She was tougher than this, she told herself… yet past experiences of this sort had her doubting the thought.
Eeth saw that Jas was learning. Good. At this point, acceptance was too much to ask for; compliance was already a step forward.
He tilted her forward until her bottom was maximally exposed and said, "This is for endangering your safety. You were fortunate to only burn your pant leg. Serious injuries have been caused by padawans playing with lightsabers. The stronger in the Force they are, the higher the risk. You might think you are immune to accidents, but I assure you that you are not. I care about your safety. And therefore, I do not want this to happen again."
He brought the paddle down in a swat that would have caught anyone's attention, even a Zabrak's, and it was targeted right at Jas' sitspot.
Jas didn't know what was worse, being pushed down further, having to lie there while he lectured with her ass in the air, or the smack that followed it. She sucked in a breath as the pain of the smack registered. Definitely the latter, she amended. That had seriously hurt and forced her to hold her breath to keep from wailing. It was only the first smack, yet her ass felt like the surface of Mustafar! She knew instantly that there was no way she could stand many more like that and keep her shit together.
Which was unfortunate because Eeth did plan on giving her "many more like that". She had really endangered herself, after all, and that was something he was simply not prepared to tolerate. He took his time, too, waiting for a few seconds after each swat before raising the paddle and bringing it down again. He felt that the longer Jas would remember this ordeal, the better for her.
The first few were born in silence, apart from some muted gasps and grunts at each whack. However, Jas soon found that, just as the sting and thud from each smack peaked to become unbearable, Eeth landed another one that brought the pain to an intolerable level fast. "OWW! N-OWch! AHHowww! STOP!" she yelled, really yelled, as the next few smacks landed on already scorched skin. When he didn't stop, but kept paddling her, Jas started crying. It was horrible. She began kicking wildly, twisted and threw back a hand in an effort at forcing him to stop.
Eeth simply grabbed her hand in his left and continued his assault. He thought that two dozen swats would very effectively bring his point across. With Raven, a dozen had usually been enough to make her exceedingly sorry, but then, Jas was a Zabrak and could take more. Even if she did not want to. She simply had to learn that recklessness had serious consequences.
"Let me goooo," Jas wailed but her arm was trapped and she couldn't squirm as much any longer. By the time the smacks counted into the twenties, Jas had stopped wasting her energy on struggling and instead put it all into crying. She lay limp and howled. This had been the worst paddling to date, the slower smacks making it utterly unbearable and a punishment that she would not forget any time soon.
Having completed the two dozen, Eeth laid the paddle onto the table behind himself. By the time Jas realised it was over, which took some time, he helped her up. As had become his custom, Eeth cleaned her face up for her although he realised that it would probably take her a bit to get her sobs under control.
"You may have ten minutes to yourself," he said. "After that, come back here."
Without a word to Eeth, and still bawling, Jas pulled up her pyjama shorts with one hand and ran for her bunk. The second she was there, she pulled the curtain across for the minimal privacy it offered, buried her face in her pillow and sobbed.
Raven glanced up just in time to see a bawling Jas making a dive for her bed. Earphones still in, she noticed Eeth stowing the paddle back to its place in his wardrobe and walking to their kitchen to make tea. His duty was a difficult one at times, she knew. "Are you alright, master?" she asked across their bond. All he would see of her was her head poking around the corner of her own bunk.
"Thank you, padawan," Eeth sent back. "I am fine." He gave her a brief smile and started filling the kettle with water.
Raven pulled the earphones from her ears, which alerted her to Jas's muted wailing, and stepped from her bunk. "Can I do anything for you?" she asked Eeth.
Eeth shook his head. "Leave her be," he said. "I will look after her in a moment."
Raven nodded and took down some cups for their tea. "I assume you didn't go easy on her," she said. It was half question and half statement as Jas' wailing was pretty hard to block out. To the girl's credit, she was starting to pull herself together. Slowly.
"Padawan, she did take your lightsaber, locked you into the shower to prevent you from noticing and hurt her leg trying it out," said Eeth, ladling tea into the teapot.
"She did," Raven agreed, still thinking that – wrong as it was – it was a pretty creative way, on Jas' part, of getting what she wanted.
When the tea was done, Eeth crossed over to Jas' bed and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Your ten minutes are up," he said. "Time for meditation. Would you like to do it on your own or with me?"
By now Jas was mostly recovered from the ordeal. Still, she wasn't happy with Eeth, so she kept her face buried in her arms, "I can't meditate. It hurts," she complained.
"Yes, it hurts, and yet, you can meditate," Eeth said unsympathetically. "Your theme will be the value of life and the integrity of your body. You may either do it with my help or on your own, but you will do it."
Jas started to cry again. An hour of meditation was bad enough, but the lines that were to follow were even worse. The kid was truly sorry and utterly miserable, something that both Eeth and Raven could clearly sense through the Force. Still, she knew enough about the man to know that continuing to lie here and sulk would only make things worse. Thus, she pushed herself up on her elbow and met his gaze with a watery expression. "With you," she said through a sniffle. Because as pissed as she was, meditating with Eeth was preferable to doing it alone.
"Alright," Eeth said gently. "Let us go outside."
He allowed Jas to lie down on the grass on her stomach, sat in a cross-legged position beside her and linked with her. Again, he helped her channel her negative emotions into the Force. There was a lot of frustration and aggression; there were also fears and a kind of sadness that spoke of loneliness. Eeth felt for the girl, he really did. And fortunately for her, it was that sadness that had Jas not only reach out, but accept his help. This sort of one-on-one attention was rare in the creche but apparently, it was what Jas needed if she was going to succeed and become a Jedi knight. This revelation was not easy to accept; she needed a master but to say as much was out of the question – she wouldn't.
Somehow, when the meditation came to an end, her head was resting in Eeth's lap and he was stroking her hair. Her immediate reaction was to slam up her shields because revealing this much of herself was dangerous. What if he rejected her?! She flinched, but when he failed to push her away, Jas relaxed. "Thanks," was all she said, because despite the fact that he was about to put her through more torture, somehow it didn't seem so bad right at this moment.
"You are very welcome," Eeth said gently, cupping her cheek in one hand and putting his free arm around her shoulder. He was in no hurry to send her off; he felt such a strong sense of need from her that his heart went out to her. He was not going to relent on the lines she had to write, of course, but they could wait.
Jas glanced towards their cabin to make sure Raven wasn't watching, and then she let her head fall back onto Eeth's lap. She was more content than she wanted to admit and certainly didn't want anyone else seeing her so vulnerable. She lay there with him for a good ten minutes, accepting his comfort and keeping her shields down. That was something Jas had rarely done voluntarily, not even as a toddler. Only when her backside started to make staying in any one position more of a chore than it was worth did she get to her knees and look at her hands. "Will you do any healing?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, of course I will," Eeth said. "Do you want me to do it right here or would you prefer to go inside?"
The Jedi were raised to be sans inhibitions, especially so amongst themselves. Thus, Jas slid clothing to her knees and lay herself across Eeth's left thigh. The position wasn't uncomfortable, although Jas was beginning to wonder what was harder, his lap or the ground.
Like the day before, Eeth applied just enough healing energy to remove the worst of the pain, but some lingering discomfort would remain. When he was done, Jas pushed herself from his lap and righted her clothing. She sat somewhat tentatively on her heels, testing out how much it hurt. It still did, yet it was nothing like before. Jas kept her eyes downcast as she thanked him, the hope being that if she didn't make eye contact, and looked suitably chastised, Eeth might just consider her punished enough and forgo the rest.
That hope was futile, of course. "And now," Eeth said, completely ignoring her martyred look, "it will be writing lines for you. Preferably without cheating."
If Jas' bottom lip had stuck out any further, the kid would have risked tripping over it. "Pleeease, can't you give me a time-out? I'll do extra chores or something, anything but this," she pleaded. It wasn't like Jas to beg for a reprieve, at least not unless it was something truly horrifying. Well, this qualified.
"For your sake, I will assume that was a rhetorical question," Eeth said coolly. "You will write a hundred times 'I will not act recklessly and endanger my safety.' Oh, and, fair warning: you have used up the amount of complaining I am willing to tolerate."
"But," Jas said, exasperated, "you would complain, too, if you had to do it. It's boring and it hurts my hand. Anyone would complain."
"No, they would not," Eeth said sternly. "And anyone who does will earn my displeasure. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to complain about a well-deserved punishment. Of course you do not like it. It would not be a punishment if you did. Thus, you are merely pointing out the obvious."
Jas opened her mouth to retort. On second thought, she closed it again and instead, silently glared at him until it became uncomfortable. Only then did she turn on her heel and stride for their cabin to do as bade.
Raven raised a brow when Jas entered. She was mumbling something indecipherable and sat at the desk with distinct signs of discomfort.
"You know, it could be worse," Raven said knowingly as Jas' brooding silence became palpable.
"You only say that because it's not you who has to do it now," Jas snorted, not bothering to turn and look at Raven.
"Well, you're not meant to like it. Do you think Eeth is being too harsh?" Raven asked. It was a legitimate question, too.
"Do I think he's being too harsh?!" Jas turned and met Raven's gaze with an incredulous expression. "I've been spanked, belted, caned, paddled, given hours of extra meditations, lines to write, grounded and to top it all off, I'm not even allowed to complain about it. So, yes, I think he is being too harsh! Fucking hell, I took your lightsaber, I didn't assassinate the Chancellor."
"Yes, you took my lightsaber, ergo seriously endangering your safety, amongst other things, as has been explained to you ad nauseam," said Raven. "Nothing will earn you a harsher punishment, from any master, not just mine. You're not yet at a stage in your life where you can appreciate how easily life can be taken away from us simply doing our duty, let alone going and doing something stupid like that."
"Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it," Jas grumbled. She bent to start writing, only to groan. In her temper, she had forgotten what Eeth had said to write.
Raven noticed Jas pause as she put her stylus to the pad and guessed what had happened. The kid's expression confirmed it. "Master, what did you want Jas to write?" she enquired across their training bond. A moment later Raven said, "'I will not act recklessly and endanger my safety,' one hundred times, without cheating. For the record, that is a very short line."
Jas scoffed. "As if you ever did anything that would warrant this sort of horrendous treatment." Jas knew that Raven probably had, yet it was cathartic to take her frustration out on her.
Raven understood what Jas was doing, though. "You know," she said, "I once thought my skills were better than Eeth would give me credit for. I thought he was holding me back and that arrogance almost cost me my life." The padawan pulled down her trousers, revealing a scar that ran from her kneecap to the undercurve of her backside.
Jas actually did a double take. She hadn't noticed this before. Then again, she wasn't exactly interested in looking at Raven when they changed. The scar was extensive and had the look of many surgeries.
"How did you do that?" Jas asked, not bothering to hide her shock.
"Stupidity is the short answer," said Raven, and upon seeing Jas' frown, decided to elaborate. "I was eighteen at the time. We had been sent to Shadowfax on a mapping expedition. The terrain was so perilous that it took a team of four to get the job done. The real danger were the animals, eenyai to be precise." Raven went on to explain how she had ignored Eeth's orders and failed to give the creatures a wide enough range. "I thought I could outrun them, using Force-enhanced speed, but I got my foot caught in a burrow and almost broke my leg. The eenyai was upon me before I had time to think. Eeth came just in time to see the eenyai grab me in its claws." Raven expression grew grave. "I'd have been torn apart, ripped to shreds and eaten alive had he arrived ten seconds later. It was the first time I saw true fear on his face."
By now Jas was totally engrossed in the padawans story. "Fear?" she asked. She didn't think Eeth could ever be scared of anything.
"Yes, real fear. He cares for me and does not want to see me throw my life away needlessly. Just as he does for you. That is why that particular incident earned me the worst punishment of my apprenticeship, and why he is being hard on you now."
"What did he do to you?" Jas wanted to know.
"A lot more than he's doing with you now," said Raven. "Consider yourself lucky."
Jas didn't ask for details because she knew that if Raven was giving her this information, it was probably correct. So far, the padawan had yet to lie to her.
"He is harsh because he cares. Believe it or not he doesn't want to see you cut off your arm because you disobeyed him and decided to play around with my weapon," Raven continued.
Eeth chose that moment to enter, raising his eyebrows at seeing the two girls talking.
Raven stood to face Eeth immediately. "Jas is just getting started," she told him, and across their bond, she added, "I was speaking with her, she's not procrastinating."
Eeth nodded. "Go ahead, Jas," he said. "It is getting late."
He poured himself some tea and offered a cup to Raven as well.
"Thank you." Raven accepted the cup and sat at the table. There was nothing much to do; all the chores were up to date and she had no work pending.
Meanwhile, Jas got to work. Raven's story had helped put this into perspective for her, but that didn't take away the tedium of the horribly mundane task that Eeth had set her. She let out a groan of displeasure and huffed occasionally to make sure they knew how much she was hating this.
It took Jas just over an hour to finish. When she did, she pushed the pad aside, rubbed her aching hand and threw her legs over her bunk to give the work to Eeth.
"Thank you, initiate," Eeth said quite kindly after having checked the pad. "I know it seems endless, but this will be over twenty-four hours from now." He hesitated for a second and then said, "We have half an hour before you need to get ready for bed. Would you like to play a game? Uh... exploding starships?"
Lakhri had taught that one to him during the later years of his padawanhood when Eeth had loosened up a tiny little bit. Eeth much preferred it to Corellian strip poker.
Jas looked from Eeth to Raven, the cramp in her hand forgotten. "Exploding starships? I absolutely want to play," she said. And they did. Since this was a two-player game, Raven left them to it, although she did listen to what was going on.
Jas wasn't as tactical as Eeth, and as neither of them were allowed to draw on the Force, she knew it was going to be hard for her to win. Still, Eeth made it fun for her. She lost the first game, won the second and then played Raven who had made it a close call, right down to the last ship which she allowed the kid to sink. Just. "Well done," Raven praised her.
"Now go brush your teeth and change into sleep clothes," said Eeth. "We will meditate together and then it is bedtime for you."
"Yes, Master Eeth," said Jas, rising from her chair without argument. Raven raised a brow. This was the first time that Jas had used Eeth's title. She gave the kid a smile but did nothing more. Eeth had not expected the sudden use of his title either. It was not an honour that Jas had ever granted him, after all.
Three minutes later, she emerged, scrubbing at her eyes with a fist. She sneezed and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her pyjama top.
"Use a handkerchief," Eeth said sternly, because manners were manners. "I do not want to see you wipe your nose on your sleeve again. And then let us meditate."
"I didn't bring one. Besides, it was just brain juice, no boogers or anything," Jas replied, scrubbing the fabric together so that the wetness evened out and would dry.
"Then take a tissue, for the Force's sake," said Eeth, pointing to a box on the kitchen counter. "Raven can bring you some handkerchiefs when she does her shopping tomorrow."
Jas huffed but took a tissue. Her nose was stuffed up and it was annoying.
When they had finished meditating, Jas looked as if she was asleep on her feet.
"Go to bed, initiate," said Eeth quite gently.
Jas stood, her head lowered. She was feeling oddly vulnerable and a bit off. "Would you…" Jas stopped and folded her arms, embarrassed for wanting this. "… tuck me in?" she finally whispered.
Eeth did not show it, but he was touched by this request. Jas had really come a long way.
"Of course I will," he said softly. He nodded at Raven, who signalled that she was going for a walk, and followed Jas to her bunk where he sat with her until she fell asleep.
Once she was breathing evenly, Eeth went to the front of the hut. He felt like meditating some more, and he chose to do it while moving. Closing his eyes, he started the sequence of a slow kata, gradually freeing his mind and following the flow of the Force. He had always found solace in the Force, even as a small child in the slums of Nar Shaddaa, and today was no exception.
When Raven returned half an hour later, she sensed that Jas was sleeping, and found Eeth deep in a moving meditation. She recognised the kata; it was one they both favoured, and she moved into step beside him. It was effortless to link with Eeth as their training bond was so familiar to them both that it had become second nature. Eeth did not interrupt the flow of his moves but he wordlessly linked with Raven, granting master and padawan a sense of intimacy that they had been sorely lacking these past days.
The next day was peacefully void of troubles. Jas did her work and although there were some complaints when Eeth called her to him for a paddling, she bore it as well as could be expected for a ten-year-old. They meditated together, she wrote her lines with minor complaints and fell asleep early. It had been an exhausting three days for her, after all.