"Hiya," Lok said through a yawn as he slouched into the galley, just having woken up from sleep with a growling stomach. "Is there any breakfast, by any chance?"
Eeth, who was sitting at the table studying a data pad, looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, there is," he said, pointing to a pot of porridge. "Starship food, I am afraid. Nourishing, but very bland."
"Better than nothing," Lok, who had already made his own experiences with spaceship travel, said with a shrug and sat down.
"Where are Lakhri and Flynt?" he asked as he ladled himself some porridge into a bowl.
"Flynt is manning the cockpit, and Lakhri is asleep," Eeth replied. "They are going to switch soon, I think."
Lok was glad to hear that he was not the only one who was deemed in need of sleep. On the other hand, how typical of his master to be the only one to stay awake!
It was strange, he thought. Until a short while ago, Lok had practically idolized Eeth, strict though the man could be if the occasion warranted it, but for some reason, he lately found himself constantly annoyed with one thing or another that his master said and did.
Eeth was looking at Lok as the boy shoveled a spoonful of food into his mouth quite forcefully, discontent written across his face.
"I think," he said, "you really need that meditation I promised you. I have no idea why, but your frustration is almost tangible."
That was nothing but the plain truth, but it still annoyed Lok. He scowled and continued eating.
When he was done, Eeth took him to their room where they meditated, as they usually did at least once a day, on helping Lok to release his negative emotions into the Force. It worked, to some extent; but Lok was clinging to his frustration a lot more than he usually did. If Eeth noticed, though – and he almost certainly did –, he did not comment.
"What's happening now?" Lok asked Eeth when they were finished. Spaceship travel was always dull, especially when the ship was so small. He had no idea if there was an opportunity for a workout of any kind.
"Now I will get some rest," Eeth replied calmly. "I had hardly any sleep last night, and the mission will most likely be exhausting. It would be extremely negligent of me not to get as much sleep as possible while I can. "
"Hmm," said Lok sullenly. A while ago, it had irritated him that Eeth seemed to act as if he needed no sleep at all; now it irritated him that his master was just going to leave him to his own devices. "And what do I do while you sleep?"
"It will please you to hear that your teachers have sent you your lessons," Eeth replied drily. "They are available on the terminal in the galley. Lakhri will be up by now; he will be happy to help you."
Lok frowned. Lakhri might be good at explaining things, but he wanted his master! Of course, that was a selfish impulse and one he kept to himself; but it did not help his general feeling of annoyance.
Eeth gave Lok a scrutinizing Lok. "Anything the matter?" he asked.
Damn your perceptiveness! thought Lok. Out loud, he merely said: "No." And that was that.
Lakhri was indeed helpful; Lok had started learning Bocce half a year ago and Lakhri was good at it. Still, Lok was glad when his master reappeared from their room and took charge of lunch. Lok helped readily while Lakhri went to drag Flynt out of bed, and soon they were seated around the table and eating some unidentifiable type of spaceship food that Eeth nevertheless had managed to make taste a little better than it usually did. Nevertheless, Lok was feeling unbalanced. He was bored already, and the prospect of sitting on this spaceship for an indefinite amount of time while Eeth and Flynt were trying to rescue hostages did not sit well with him.
"We will still have to decide who is going to join me in my mission and which one of you is staying with Lok," said Eeth.
Lok scowled. "It's not as if I need a babysitter," he pointed out.
Eeth glared at him.
"You are not staying on this ship alone while the planet is on the brink of civil war," he said brusquely.
"Take Flynt," Lakhri intervened quickly in a rather transparent effort to stop the exchange between Lok and Eeth from escalating. "He is going to undergo his trials soon, and he'll need all the experience he can get."
"Yes, that is what I thought as well," Eeth replied, the edges of his mouth quirking upwards very slightly at the look of relief on Flynt's face. "Even though the negotiations will be in Bocce, and your command of Bocce is better than anyone else's at this table."
Lakhri raised his eyebrows.
"You don't need to pay me compliments, you know," he said drily. "I'm happy to stay on the ship even without the extra effort to make me feel good."
"I am not making any particular effort to make you feel good, I am telling the truth," Eeth replied with a frown. "Your Bocce was better than mine even by the time you were seventeen."
"Sixteen and three quarters," said Lakhri with a deadpan expression on his face.
"Seventeen," said Eeth with an equally deadpan expression.
Flynt laughed at the banter. Under ordinary circumstances, Lok would have laughed as well, but today, he did not find it funny. He just rolled his eyes in an aggravated sort of manner and asked: "So, is Lakhri staying with me or is he going to put his extraordinary language skills to some use?"
Eeth gave him a quelling look.
"I was getting to that," he said. "There is one important factor that settles the issue. The Mahauans all belong to one species, the main variation being that the ruling class has black fur and the rebels, who call themselves Awaré, have reddish-brown one. They are a fairly tall species; an adult Mahauan is a head taller than Flynt or me, on average. The differences in size between individual Mahauans are small, but the Mahauans pay great attention to them. Smaller means less important, especially among the rebels. So, taking Lakhri would simply not be a very good idea."
"That makes sense," Lakhri said readily. "And Flynt's Bocce is really not bad at all. I'll stay with Lok, then."
He smiled at Lok, and Lok returned the smile, albeit rather reluctantly.
Eeth seemed to pick up on his dissatisfaction; when they had finished eating, he gave Lok another one of these scrutinizing looks that seemed to become a habit with him and said: "I think you are in dire need of a workout."
"Yeah, well, is there any space where I could have one?" Lok inquired.
Eeth nodded. "There is a lower deck that contains a small cargo hold. It is not big enough to hold all four of us, though. You may work out with me, or you could do so with Lakhri or Flynt instead. It is always helpful to work with Jedi other than your own master every once in a while."
Lok snorted, feeling hurt by what he considered an attempt, on Eeth's part, to get out of having to spend time with him. "So you're eager to dump me off on someone else before the mission even starts," he said contemptuously. "Don't bother. I don't need a workout all that badly."
There was a moment's silence. Lakhri and Flynt exchanged a knowing look that had "poor kid" written all over it. Eeth glared at Lok and rose.
"Oh, I believe you do," he said quietly. "And I will gladly oblige you. Come."
He beckoned Lok towards the corridor where a door opened to a staircase that led into the cargo hold Eeth had mentioned. Lok entered hesitantly, giving his master a wary look because he knew exactly how unacceptable his outbreak had been and he did not expect Eeth to let it slide. Eeth, however, seemed unperturbed; he shed his robe, dumped it onto a crate and made his way to a small closet that held a few basic training implements. He picked a couple of ropes and tossed one to Lok.
"Start skipping," he ordered. Lok groaned. He could see where this was going. Eeth had never before used workouts as punishment, but apparently, that was going to change now.
"Master, I'm sorry," he said hastily. "Can't we talk about this?"
"No, we cannot," Eeth said forbiddingly. "You wanted my attention, I am giving it to you. I am even going to join you in your workout. You have no reason to complain - unless you don't start skipping within the next seconds, in which case you will have ample reason for complaint."
That set Lok going. Unenthusiastically, he started skipping. He was not at all in bad shape and he usually enjoyed his workouts with Eeth, even when they were strenuous, but none of the things that Eeth made him do today were remotely among his favorite activities, and Eeth drove him on relentlessly. This was made worse by the fact that, although Eeth did exactly the same things as he did, by the time Lok felt about ready to collapse, Eeth was hardly breaking a sweat. Normally, Lok was perseverant and followed Eeth's instructions without much whining or protest, but today, after about forty minutes of relentless drills, he simply did not want to go on.
"I need a break," he told Eeth, lying starfished on the floor.
"I will be the judge of that," said Eeth, stony-faced. "Get up."
"No," said Lok fiercely. Of course, he knew exactly that you did not tell your master "no". Jerad would not have stood for it, and Eeth would stand for it even less. But Lok was feeling so annoyed by now that he was past caring.
Eeth glared at him for a moment. Then he bent down, grabbed the front of Lok's tunic and pulled him up, forcing him to look his master in the face.
"WHAT," asked Eeth (and to Lok's surprise, he sounded more exasperated than angry), "is the matter with you? I understand that you are unhappy about your situation, not being able to assist me in this mission, but we both know that cannot be helped. Why are you being so defiant? Whatever I do, whatever I decide, seems to irritate you and make you behave in a manner that is entirely unacceptable. Do you you want to test how often you can manage to be spanked in one day? Is that what you are aiming for? Because if it is, you are going about it the right way."
Lok gulped. Put like that, yes, he was pushing it, and he had no clue why he had ever thought this would be a good idea.
"I don't know why I'm so angry," he said in frustration. "A lot of the things you say and do annoy me lately, but I have no idea why."
Eeth let go of his shirt, but the look he gave him showed clearly that Lok was not off the hook.
"From my experience," Eeth said quietly, "when humanoids enter adolescence, their hormones run wild. And there might be other issues involved as well; once we are back, you will have to talk to Ngka about it. For now, though, you had better pull yourself together because I am not going to tolerate any further insolence."
He pointed with his chin towards the middle of the room.
"Push-ups," he said. "Now. Your workout ends when I say so, not when you feel that you have had enough."
Lok gritted his teeth, but he had no real desire to be subjected to one of Eeth's spanking because they freakin' hurt, and he knew realistically that this was exactly what was going to go down if he refused. So he complied – with bad grace, but he complied. That was quite an accomplishment. More specifically, what it accomplished was postponing the second spanking of the day until dinnertime…