Tovar was mostly a mining colony, with some farming to sustain the miners. Apparently, the Force-sensitive baby girl whom Eeth and Lok were meant to retrieve lived on a farm. She had been discovered by a travelling Jedi who had had gained her parents' consent to take her to the Temple, but had had no opportunity to take her himself. The information Eeth had received beyond that was rather sketchy. The child's mother was a farm hand, the father a miner who had been present at the time to help with the harvest. The farm was home to a large number of human men, women and children some of whom were related to the owners while others were working for them. Household structures on Tovar were complex. It seemed that the girl's parents were fairly poor and she was their fourth child which had probably made it easier for them to make up their minds and give the Jedi permission to raise her.

"The closest I can take you to the place is Mashoo," Satii said, pointing to a place on the map that was displayed on the cockpit screen. "The distance is at least 200 kilometres. But anything closer is hills, swamps or farmland. We probably wouldn't make ourselves popular if we landed our ship in the middle of their crops."

Eeth smiled a little. "No, probably not," he said. "Well, it should not be too hard to rent a speeder in Mashoo."

Satii nodded. "I'll wait for you there, then," she said.

"Well, at least we'll get to do a little exploring," Lok pointed out, trying not to sound too excited. This might be a backwater colony, but any chance at getting to see something of the planet was still better than just grabbing the baby and returning to Coruscant.

Eeth gave him another small smile. "It seems so," he said. "If there are no complications, we will not spend more than a day on the planet, though, but we will at least get to see some scenery."

The scenery turned out to be quite beautiful. Lok wasn't interested, though.

"I swear you're the coolest master ever," he said enthusiastically, accelerating so fast that the fields on their right and left turned into yellow and green blurs.

"A few days ago, I was the most rigid and inflexible master in the entire Temple, according to you" Eeth remarked drily. "Now, that will be fast enough. I know you have taken a driving class, but you are lacking practice."

Lok did not protest that assessment. He was still exhilarated that Eeth was actually letting him drive. Apparently, this planet did not have any age restrictions in place which made it possible for Eeth to be both rigid about the rules and cool about letting Lok drive. Lok had never before been allowed to do so outside the simulators and he knew what a privilege it was. Therefore, he obligingly stuck to the speed limit Eeth set him and followed all the advice his master gave. Even so, the journey was shorter than he had hoped for. After a little more than an hour, a large expanse of farm buildings came into view in front of them.

"Can I drive on the ride back, too?" he asked eagerly.

"We will see," said Eeth. "It depends on the needs of the child and on how alert you are."

"Awww," Lok said in disappointment. "I'm not tired!"

"Hmm," said Eeth noncommittally. Lok was about to protest, but as he parker the speeder and got out and his exhilaration wore off a little, he realised that driving at high speed and staying focussed all the time had indeed been quite taxing. He even had a bit of a headache.

"Are you feeling alright?" Eeth asked him as they made their way towards the main gate.

'Now how did he know that?' Lok thought in consternation. 'Damn his perceptiveness!' He knew that his chances at getting to drive the speeder back would be decidedly slim if he admitted to having a headache, so he merely shrugged and said casually: "Yeah, why shouldn't I be?"

The politely incredulous look Eeth gave him in return had "Suit yourself" written all over it. This annoyed Lok quite a bit, and it was with a scowl on his face that he followed Eeth through the gate. Just as they were about to enter, Eeth stopped and turned.

"You are getting into one of those moods again, aren't you?" he inquired.

"I don't know what you mean," Lok replied slightly aggressively.

"It is exactly that belligerent tone of voice which I mean," said Eeth. "I do not think I have given you any reason for it. Can you reign it in somehow? We are about to do the one thing we came here for, and that means it would be the worst possible moment for you to start looking for a fight with me."

Lok opened his mouth to deny that he was doing any such thing, but closed it again. He probably was in one of those moods, he realised. Eeth had given him no cause for complaint, he had even allowed him to fly a speeder. And the man was entirely right in saying that Lok needed to reign in his temper.

"Sorry, master," he said in a small voice. "I… I have a slight headache, is all."

"I thought so," said Eeth drily. "The next time, just tell me right away when I ask."

He rested a hand on Lok's head, and after a few moments, the headache died down. Lok had forgotten how Eeth was at healing. He felt rather silly not to have asked for this in the first place.

"Thank you, master," he said, and he meant it. "I'll pull myself together. Promise."

Eeth gave him a small smile. "Thank you," he said gently. "Let's go, then."

They had not made it four steps past the gate when a pack of barking… animals that Lok had never seen jumped at them. They might have been dogs, only they did not have fur and had six legs. Their teeth looked sharp enough, however. Lok made to pull his saber, but Eeth flung out an arm to stop him.

"Just stand still," he said. "These are Tvonakls. Very popular in farming colonies. They act as a kind of doorbell and keep intruders out. As long as we don't attempt to advance further, they will leave us alone."

"How will we get to the farm, then?" Lok asked disdainfully, fingering the hilt of his saber. "This is silly. Do you really think we can't fend them off?"

"Of course we can," Eeth said impatiently. "But not without killing them, and that will hardly make us popular with the farm folk. We simply wait until someone comes and lets us in. They'll leave us alone then."

"Oh," said Lok with a sigh. "Alright then." The Tvonakl did not keep their eyes off them which made him very uncomfortable. Fortunately, true to Eeth's prediction, a young lad about fifteen years of age came running up to them. Eeth introduced themselves. Fortunately, the boy knew immediately who they were and what they had come for. "We had no idea when you would show up, though," he said apologetically. "Sorry for the unfriendly welcome."

He shooed the Tvonakl off and they left willingly.

"They won't bother you further," the boy assured Eeth and Lok as he led them down a path between orchards towards a jumble of houses, stables and huts. "I'm Bart, by the way. The farmer's youngest son. I'll see where I can find her. And Marla and her baby. It's all a bit busy at the moment, lots of animals are just having their young ones and need looking after."

"I'm sorry if we intruded," Eeth said politely. "I sent a message yesterday and another one this morning, but they might not have reached you."

"Oh, those always take two or three days to deliver and sometimes they don't arrive at all," Bart explained. "This is not exactly Coruscant, as you can see. But never mind. Cheela! Munira!"

They had arrived at a farm yard full of bird-like creatures on two legs that were picking for grains. Two girls came running up to Bart.

"Cheela, go and search my mother," Bart told them. "Munira, find Marla and her baby. They're needed in the farm house."

He led Eeth and Lok along among the birds that lazily fluttered aside, just enough to make them way, into the main building. The door opened right into a huge kitchen where a young man was stirring something that was bubbling in a pot and couple of children were setting a gigantic long table that was easily large enough for thirty people.

Bart led them to an alcove that held a smaller table and offered them seats.

"I'll get you some drinks," he said. "What would you like? Water? Beer? Fresh mawqaert juice?"

Lok gave Eeth a questioning look. He supposed beer was out of the question, but he had no idea what mawqaert juice was and whether it was safe for Zabrak do drink.

"Mawqaert is fine, padawan, if you want to try it," Eeth told him.

"Alright, I'll have one, then," said Lok.

"Just water for me, please," said Eeth.

Bart had just brought them their drinks when a tall, sturdily-built woman marched through the door. Eeth estimated her age somewhere between forty and fifty. It was immediately clear that she was in charge here.

"Mother," said Bart, jumping up respectfully. Eeth rose as well and beckoned for Lok to do the same.

"Greetings," said the woman in a businesslike, but not unfriendly manner. "I'm Channa Kutno, the owner of this farm. So you are the Jedi sent to retrieve Marla's baby? We'd hoped to be informed of your arrival because the child's father is not usually at the farm during this season. He wanted to be there for the occasion, you know."

"I apologise," Eeth said politely. "We did send messages, but not soon enough, it seems. Nobody informed us that we would need to send them sooner. There must have been a miscommunication. Will it be possible to fetch the child's father? We will be glad to be of assistance if that helps."

"No, we can send someone, but the question is, can you wait?" asked Channa. "It'll take a day to fetch him here. Two if he can't swap shifts right away. Sorry for that, but I wouldn't want to deprive him of the opportunity to say goodbye if at all possible."

"No, of course not," said Eeth. "We can wait. Shall we return to our our ship which is stationed in Mashoo in the meanwhile? We don't want to impose on you."

"Oh, we like having guests," Channa said decisively. Behind her, Bart's enthusiastic grin confirmed that she was telling the truth. "We could find a place to sleep for you if you aren't keen on luxury," she continued. "You'd be welcome to stay. We won't be able to wait on you, but there's certainly enough to feed two more."

"The Jedi padawan could stay in my room," Bart offered excitedly. "Then his master could have the spare bed on the attic."

"Thank you," Eeth said gravely. "We are certainly not seeking luxury. In fact, we are quite willing to make ourselves useful."

Channa made to reply, but was distracted by the arrival of a young woman who was wearing a baby in a sling on her back.

"Marla!" she said. "Come here. These are the two Jedi sent to retrieve your baby. We've just agreed that I'll send someone to fetch Jammal. Bart, can you see to it? But be quick about it, lunch is in ten minutes."

"Sure thing," said Bart cheerfully. "Lok, wanna come? "

Lok gave Eeth a questioning look. Eeth nodded at him to go ahead. "Use your comlink and call Satii," he told him in an undertone. "I will talk to Marla in the meanwhile. I will see you in a moment."

Lok nodded in acknowledgement and followed Bart outside. "To be honest, this is brilliant," he said. "I haven't been off-planet for ages except for one really disastrous trip right into a civil war that I could really have done without."

"Really?" asked Bart. "I thought this farm was about the most boring thing that could happen to you as a Jedi."

"No, it's the complete opposite of Coruscant," said Lok. "I've never even been to an actual farm, I think. I mean, not a farm farm. An agricultural factory, yes. A farm, no. It's great."

It became a little less great when he and Bart returned to the main farmhouse, having found Bart's older sister Enke who agreed to drive to the mines and fetch Jammal, but, unfortunately, having got so caught up in talking and looking around that they arrived a quarter of an hour late and Lok had clean forgotten to call Satii. Bart managed to mollify his mother by explaining that he had showed their guest around a little and that Enke had been hard to find, but Eeth was not as easily mollified. He refrained from scolding Lok in public, but the surge of disapproval that he sent through their bond was scathing. He pointed Lok to a free chair at the long table and told him to serve himself, then went outside to make the call himself. Lok looked after him, grimacing. He was not sure this was the end of it.

"Is he pissed?" Bart whispered, sitting down beside him and taking Lok's bowl to ladle some stew into it.

"I think so," murmured Lok. "He hates it when people are late. More importantly, I was supposed to call our pilot, but I was so busy talking to you that I forgot."

"Oops," said Bart, grimacing. "Yeah, my mum would hate that, too. I hope he doesn't give you a hard time about it."

"Not too sure about that," said Lok. "He wouldn't do it in public, anyway, unless I went out of my way to annoy him. He might just wait until he can have a private word with me."

And indeed, when the table was lifted, Eeth approached Lok and said quietly: "A word with you, padawan. Come."

He led Lok to the alcove where they had sat earlier while Bart, giving Lok a smile of encouragement, went to help some other youngsters clear the table and wash the dishes.

"Padawan, if I cannot rely on you to keep a trivial instruction in mind for more than ten seconds, how will I be able to entrust you with any amount of responsibility during missions?" Eeth scolded. "And you know I have no patience for tardiness."

"Well, I'm not usually late," Lok defended himself, which was true. "Bart wanted to show me around and I though it would have been impolite to refuse. Or to pull out my comlink and interrupt him to make a phone call. Okay, and then I forgot, but I wouldn't have forgotten for long, and it's not as if it was a life-or-death situation or anything. C'mon, I said I'm sorry."

"Yes, and I said I am less than pleased," Eeth retorted, his glare intensifying. "I expect you to take responsibility for your mistakes instead of making feeble excuses."

Lok did not really know what to say to that which annoyed him. "Oh, knock it off," he said, feeling quite irritated. "Do you need to make such a big deal out of everything?"

Eeth's mouth pressed into a thin line. This was probably the point at which Lok should have started back-pedalling fast, but the knowledge that they were barely out of sight of Bart and the others, and definitely out of earshot, spurred him on and also made him feel relatively safe from immediate retribution.

When Eeth simply continued glaring at him without saying a word, Lok finally said loftily: "Okay, I take that as a 'no.' Can I go, then? Hrrrghhh!" He was only just able to suppress a yelp as he suddenly found himself gripped by the ear, pulled downwards and tucked under Eeth's arm. A split-second later, Eeth's hand came down onto the seat of his pants, and the swat was as hard as they could get. Lok was sure that it could be heard all over the kitchen. He pressed his lips together, trying to ensure that this was the only thing that could be heard. Unfortunately, Eeth did not stop after one swat. They kept coming, slowly, but steadily. Lok started breathing heavily and shifting from foot to foot; he realised that this was soon going to become very embarrassing.

"Master, please!" he hissed. "Nggh! I'm sorrieeee! I should have - ungh - apologised properly! Ahhhh! I'm SORRYuuuuuh! Please, I know I was wronggggggg!"

This was humiliating, but not as humiliating as it would be to end up wailing like a toddler for all the farm to hear, as he knew was a very likely outcome if he continued being stubborn.

"Very well," said Eeth calmly, releasing his hold on him. "A proper apology, then."

He gave his red-faced, panting padawan an impassive look that clearly told Lok he had better make this apology convincing or there would be a very embarrassing sequel to what had just happened.

"I'm sorry, master," he said in a much-subdued tone of voice. "I shouldn't have allowed myself to get carried away. I shouldn't have forgotten to make that call and I shouldn't have been late for lunch. I know my duty should come first and I neglected that."

The expectant look was still there, and Lok racked his brain for what else to say. "I should have accepted your reprimand instead of giving you an attitude over it," he finally added. "Sorry."

Eeth nodded. "Apology accepted," he said. "Believe it or not, it was not my intention to make a big deal out of this. But when you are the one who clearly made a mistake, I will not have any of your attempts to talk your way out of it or become insolent about it. Am I clear on that?"

Lok suppressed a sigh and nodded. "Yes, master," he said contritely. His bottom was already smarting; there was no way he wanted to risk round two.

"Alright," said Eeth. "You may go and join Bart, but make sure to offer your help. He is bound to be busy at this season."

Bart was drying the dishes when Lok came to join him.

"Can I help?" asked Lok dutifully and was immediately handed a tea towel.

"Did he whale on you?" asked Bart in an undertone.

"What?" Lok asked in consternation.

"Well, unless he took his anger out on a pillow, it sounded a lot like he did," Bart said apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. You needn't be. My mum can be like that, too. We've got loads of work on the farm and she has no patience with people who forget stuff."

"But aren't you, I dunno, a little old for that?" asked Lok.

Bart shrugged. "I don't think my mum thinks so," he said. "I've managed to avoid being on her bad side for a long while now, though. To be fair, for something like this, with no harm done, she probably would merely have scolded and sent me off to do some work."

"Okay, well, actually, I guess my master would have done something like that as well," Lok admitted, "only I became flippant with him and that's a really bad idea, especially when you're already in trouble to begin with. I might have thought I'd be safe 'cause he doesn't usually spank me in front of an audience unless I mouth off to him too badly. So I probably shouldn't have."

He smiled at Bart as he dried the last jug and placed it on a counter from where a younger girl took the dried things to put them away.

"It's alright," he said. "It did hurt, but I guess I deserved it. The Jedi are strict as a rule, and they don't come any stricter than my master. Just my luck."

His grin belied his words, though.

Lok spent quite a happy afternoon following Bart all over the farm and helping him with various tasks. He did not usually mind doing chores, and right now he minded them even less because the chores were all new to him, varied a lot and he could do them in pleasant company. He got to talk to a lot of other people on the farm, too. Once, he caught a glimpse of his master carrying a baby on his back while plucking apples which looked so funny that he had to laugh out loud. Eeth acted as if it was entirely natural, though. He had briefly introduced Lok to Marla and the child which, according to local custom, was still unnamed. Marla was shy, thin and surprisingly young for a woman who had had her fourth child. The baby had been sleeping at the time and Lok, who was supremely disinterested in babies, had done no more than throw a cursory look at her and politely complimented Marla that she was very pretty. Then he had left with Bart to feed the banthas.

Fortunately for him, Bart took care to get them inside in time for dinner. While they washed their hands and faces at a sink, it occurred to Lok that Eeth and he didn't have any spare clothes or toiletries since they had not planned on spending the night. He told Bart who said that this was not going to be a problem.

"There are dozens of people on this farm. We'll find tunics for you or whatever you need," he said. "And we've got a whole cupboard full of soap, toothbrushes and so on. Everybody just serves themselves. I'll show you after dinner."

During dinner, Lok got the strong impression that Eeth had made himself extremely popular with the farm folk, and he had to grin as he observed his master's attempt to hide how uncomfortable that made him feel. Apparently, Eeth had not only carried Marla's baby around for a couple of hours to give her mother some rest, plucking apples in the meanwhile, he had also helped Bart's older brother Conn repair a tractor and then put his considerable strength to use by helping the farm hands move a wall constructed of large boulders. As a result, Eeth ended up being the focus of attention during dinner. By the time the main course was served, he was holding Marla's baby on his lap; Channa presented him with extra dessert; and while Lok and Bart helped clear the table, Eeth was dragged off to join a large group of farm workers in their card game, all the while having to answer questions about life as a Jedi. It was priceless. Lok dearly wished he could have filmed it and showed it to his padawan siblings; they would have had a blast.

After dinner seemed to be the time when everyone had free time and socialised. Lok was dragged into a ball game with a group of boys around Bart's age who were duly impressed with his reflexes while Eeth played cards for a while. When darkness began to fall and Lok came inside, however, Eeth was not there any longer.

"He's with Marla," said Channa. "Bart can show you."

Lok suddenly felt guilty. After all, it was their task to retrieve the baby and bring it to Coruscant, but he had not done more than throw a cursory look at the child whereas Eeth definitely took the whole thing seriously. Maybe that was because it was actually serious, Lok realised. It was a real baby and she would really be taken away from her mother. Eeth knew that and tried to make the transition easier on both while Lok had spent the day having fun.

Bart showed him to a jumble of huts that hosted the families of farm workers. He knocked at one of the doors, and after a brief moment, a female voice called: "Come in!"

Lok sidled inside and found Eeth sitting on a chair next to what seemed to be the only bed in here. Granted, it was a very large bed. Marla was sitting in the middle, with three children snuggling up to her. None of them could be older than four or so. Eeth was holding the baby to his shoulder, rocking her gently and telling the children a story while he did so. This was so unexpected that Lok simply stood still and stared. Eeth acknowledged him with his eyes and nudged him through their bond to take a seat. Hesitantly, Lok pulled out a chair from the table and sat next to Eeth. The baby, who was wide awake, looked at him curiously, and he smiled at her. Without interrupting his story - something about sand monsters - Eeth lifted her from his shoulder and handed her to Lok who, for the first time in his life, found himself with a baby on his lap.

Twenty minutes later, they walked back to the farm house.

"Look, master, I – I'm sorry," Lok said a little hesitantly. "I should have cared more about our mission and made an effort to look after the baby, like you did. I realised tonight that I was rather egoistic."

Eeth looked down on him, his eyes crinkling a little. "Thank you, padawan," he said calmly. "If I had absolutely required your help, I would have told you. I do not begrudge you the time you spend with your peers, and from what I heard, you made yourself useful. Nevertheless, I am glad you have been thinking about your priorities."

"I had no idea you were so good with children," Lok said honestly. "It's not like you at all somehow. Where did you learn it?"

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "It is not as hard as you make it sound, padawan," he said with dignity. "I have had numerous occasions in my life that allowed me to interact with children, starting with the creche duty that my master imposed on me. I have retrieved a number of Force-sensitive children over the years. I also got to spend some time with Raven's birth family when she was fifteen. Her youngest sister, who was four at the time, took a liking to me."

Lok grinned. "I expect you were overjoyed."

Eeth was silent for a moment. Then he said: "I admit it made me uncomfortable at first. But I grew accustomed to it. It did require an effort, but since when is that a reason to refrain from doing something?"

Lok laughed. "Spoken like a true Jedi," he said. "Or rather, spoken like my master. Say, do you know anything about my birth family? My creche master and Jerad always told me to wait until I'm older. Not that I asked very often. I'm just curious."

Eeth gave him a scrutinising look. Finally, he said: "That part of a padawan's file has to be specifically requested from the archives. Until now, I have not done so. However, I would be willing to look at it with you. I think you are at a stage of your development where you will be able to handle it. You are aware that it might or might not be pleasant?"

Lok shrugged. "Yeah. I know some Jedi were abandoned by their families because of their unusual abilities. And, of course, we come from all kinds of backgrounds, some loving, some less so. If it turns out my parents are unknown or they kicked me out or something, I can deal with it. I'd just be interested to know."

"Alright," said Eeth. "When we are back, we will find out."