A/N: This is the final chapter for this story, but we are continuing with Eeth – and his second padawan, Raven. So, keep an eye out for their first story! We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have stuck with us and left reviews, feedback and send IM's. We hope you enjoy the final chapter of Eeth Koth: Jedi Knight and Babysitter.

Eeth was rather surprised to suddenly find himself facing off against three opponents, rather than one. His reflexes were in perfect working order, however, and he was certainly not going to allow them to take him down! He had long ago stopped relying on his vision, peripheral or otherwise, and had therefore sensed the attack through the Force just in time. With a complex move that was so fast he was practically a blur, he countered Brin's attack so powerfully that the boy landed flat on his back. Without a pause, Eeth vaulted out of harm's way, spun around and only now noticed that his attackers were two padawans about Eden's age - probably. One of them was impossibly tall! Eeth immediately realised what was going on. Apparently, Eden and his friends had tried to gang up on him. Alright, he thought; if they wanted a fight, they could have it although he doubted that it would go as they had planned.

He charged at Alec, his saber flashing from left to right and back in a move that tended to distract any but a very experienced opponent, driving him back to where Brin was picking himself up from the floor.

"Fuck," Brin swore when he found himself on his back. He hadn't expected such a powerful counterattack. His ass was screaming at him to get off it. Thus, he was on his feet just in time to see Alec being driven back in a move that he often used himself.

Brin was fast to flank his friend and came in from the side, using the Force to sense weaknesses in Eeth's defence but finding none, yet. As Brin attacked and parried, Alec came at Eeth from the right, and Eden vaulted over the group to land behind Eeth. He lunged at the man, going for a finishing point to his back. He wanted this.

Eeth spun round his own axis, swinging his saber in a wide arc. With an amount of precision that was only possible for someone who was completely in tune with the Force, in one single move, he deflected all three attacks, forced Brin and Alex to jump out of harm's way, and knocked Eden's saber clean out of his hands.

"You neglected your balance again," he informed the boy, meanwhile closing in on Brin and driving him right into Alec.

Okay, so this was maddening. Eden was starting to lose his temper, something that rarely happened to the kid. But then, this was not at all going how he had expected!

Alec and Brin were thinking the same thing! Still, Brin was not that easily intimidated; he also refused to lose any more ground backing up, so he pushed the offensive. He signalled to Alec that he change tactics, and the pair moved in tandem to push Eeth back.

Meanwhile, Eden had regained his saber for the third time this lesson – this was fast approaching his record of four times – and he came charging in again.

"Cool it, Eden," Alec said, frowning. Eden's rash move had forced him to leave Brin's side and flank the boy.

Brin was looking for a point. He was wholly focused on the prize, and he was really enjoying this match; Eeth was beyond good! Alec, too, was kinda impressed; he did not care that much about humbling Eeth although he could see why Eden might want to; Eden was no match for Eeth, not even remotely.

While Brin and Alec were decidedly better than Eden, none of them were, of course, a match for Eeth, not even with their efforts combined; especially since they still lacked the kind of training that would enable them to make the most out of their joined efforts. They clearly had some experience working out with each other, and they were a lot better at it than a bunch of randomly assembled kids would have been, but it was not enough to constitute more than a mild challenge to Eeth and one that he could easily meet.

What had started out as an attempt to flatten the man had, at least in Brin's opinion, turned into one of the best fights he'd had to date. Sure, his master rolled him often enough but Eeth's style was different, and he was picking up new skills that he would most definitely be able to use.

Alec, too, was finding the fight enjoyable. It was a good work out, and it was making him stronger. He was a boy similar to Eeth in that respect: he knew his duties, and he did his best to meet them, although with a far, far more relaxed demeanour.

Eeth closed his eyes, as he preferred to do when sparring against multiple opponents, and deflected all of their attacks so deftly and fast that he had Brin's saber spinning out of his hands, Alex stumbling backwards and Eden… well, Eden landed on his bottom. And it was clear that he was losing his temper, which would not do. "Before we go on, meditate," Eeth told Eden firmly. "You are getting angry, and you have no need for that in a sparring match."

He turned and held up a hand to halt Brin's and Alec's attack. "Wait," he ordered. "We may continue in a minute, but first, Eden needs to get a handle on his temper."

Both boys halted immediately at Eeth's instructions, Brin surprised that he wanted to do as he was told for a change, and Alec complying as a matter of duty.

Eden was still wrestling with his temper. The fact that his two friends seemed to be enjoying this smackdown adding fuel to the fire. "I have a handle on my temper, I don't need to meditate," he scoffed, getting to his feet in a huff and dusting himself off with quick, agitated swipes. Usually he would jump at the opportunity to meditate as it would get him out of the work he didn't want to do. Unfortunately, his superiors had caught on to that rouse rather quickly, and he knew that any time he spent deviating would not be deducted from the work that Eden wanted over with. Yesterday! He glared at his two friends, his FRIENDS who dared to be enjoying themselves here when they were meant to be on his side.

Alec tilted his head slightly. Orders were orders, but it wasn't his place to correct his peers so he offered Eden a comradely shrug at the predicament they'd all found themselves in and remained silent.

Eeth pulled his paddle from his belt.

"Wait! Wait, just wait!" the boy blurted, backing up, his hands raised; after having copped Eeth's paddle a few times already, he was not keen on repeating it while his backside was still getting over the last encounter.

Eeth ignored him. He calmly and firmly bent Eden forward, tucked him under his left arm and brought the paddle down onto his still-sore bottom three times with considerable force. "I told you to meditate," he said sternly. "Will you obey or do you need more incentive?"

Unfortunately, unlike the first time Eden had disobeyed during a saber lesson, Eeth didn't simply produce the paddle as a warning; he used it. "Owah! OOW!" Eden twisted in the man's hold. "AAHhhwah!" Eden was jumping up and down in Eeth's grasp, not that it was getting him far. "No, no! I'll do it, lemme up, please," he rushed to get out and flung his right hand back to shield his ass. He did not want any more.

Brin raised both brows. He had assumed that Eden was exaggerating when he talked about the knight packing a paddle. Apparently, he was not. A hand went back to his backside. After all, given the state of his ass, copping that now might very well bring him to tears. That thought – and his friend's seemingly limited pain tolerance for the three swats he had received – made him wonder if the man had punished Eden for what happened today in Chemistry. He glanced at Alec who, unlike himself, wore an impassive expression.

Alec was, in fact, also surprised to see the young knight pull a proper spanking paddle from his belt. What he was not surprised over was the reason. The kid winced a bit and also noticed that his friend had not taken that very well. Yes, the swats had been hard enough to smart, but he had seen Eden edure worse without carrying on like a pork chop. Like Brin, Alec, too, deduced that Eden might have been taken to task for what happened in class earlier, and it was that, coupled with the irritation he sensed from his friend, that made the boy's expression turn from neutral to sympathetic.

Eeth stowed the paddle away and watched as Eden complied, then turned to Alec and Brin. "While we are waiting for Eden to complete his meditation," he said, "might I ask what induced you to attack me like that?"

A glimpse of apprehension flashed across Brin's face. Eeth might have returned the paddle to his belt, but now that he knew of its presence, he wasn't so sure that doing this had been a good idea, especially given the state of his ass. He reached back and unconsciously rubbed at the welts that had all but faded but felt slightly raised under his thin workout pants. His master had had more than enough of his behaviour, and he had made his displeasure crystal clear. "Eden was telling us about your sparring sessions over the last week. He said that you were really good, so we decided to come and see for ourselves." The boy shrugged once. It wasn't exactly true, but neither was it a lie. Brin simply didn't want to tell Eeth that he had wanted to see him flattened.

Alec, on the other hand, had been observing the knight carefully, and when the man's expression darkened, he elaborated. "From what he told us, we thought it would do you good to lose for once. We offered to come along and, if the situation called for it, see how good you really are." That was a lot closer to the truth without condemning any one of them. It had been them pushing this in the end, after all. Alec did not drop his gaze, nor did he look fazed. Then again, he rarely did, even in the face of severe punishment. He was aware that it was not their place as padawans to take it upon themselves to do such things, but what else could he say? 'You sounded like an arrogant know-it-all and we figured knocking you down a peg would make Eden feel better?'

Eeth more or less caught on to the implied meaning. After all, he had been called an arrogant know-it-all more than once although not by padawans who were more than ten years younger than himself. "It is not your place to decide what would or would not do me good," Eeth informed them. "You may safely leave that to older and more experienced Jedi than yourselves. Besides, you will need to learn quite a bit more about sparring before you have any chance at beating me. For a start, you are too slow, and you rely too much on eyesight. And your knowledge of coordinated attacks could be significantly improved."

Alec had the good grace to incline his head at the slight rebuke; he'd expected as much, after all, and took it in stride.

Brin, for his part, had not appreciated Alec's elaboration. He didn't think it had been wise to divulge that much information, but given Eeth's reaction and the fact that the paddle had not been reproduced, he relaxed somewhat.

Eeth drew his saber and nodded for Brin and Alec to do the same. "If you position yourselves like you did before," he said, "you make it too easy for me to drive both of you back at the same time." He proceeded to teach them a coordinated attack sequence that was not standard fare for junior padawans and that, judging from what he had seen, they had not learned yet; but they seemed to be rather capable, so he saw no reason not to.

All the while, he monitored Eden through the Force, ready to release him from his meditation once he had calmed down.

While the two were taking the lesson with Eeth, Eden was trying to rid himself of his frustration. He simply couldn't believe that what had meant to be an ambush of epic proportions had ended up this way! Well, he had expected Eeth to wipe the floor with the lot of them, but for Alec and Brin to enjoy it, that was just so not in the script! His annoyance and frustration piqued at hearing his friends taking a lesson with the man and fueled his anger before he finally managed to pull himself together. His ass stung, thanks to having the fire reignited. By the time he was suitably calm, he was pouting.

When Eeth sensed that Eden had calmed down somewhat, even if he still seemed to be sulking, he called him over. "Now let us assume the three of you want to attack me," he said. "Show me what you would do."

Eden wanted to protest but didn't dare. Thus, and despite the slight pout on his face, he glanced at his two friends and waited to see if they had a plan, as just going for broke had not been very useful so far.

Alec and Brin had both had several minutes with Eeth learning a better way to attack, so they quietly conversed with Eden to bring him up to speed. Then the three turned on Eeth, sabers drawn and determined expressions on their faces. They came at him again, only this time it was more coordinated, and rather than randomly trying to score a point, they were actively trying to manoeuvre him into a position where one or more of them had a chance at taking a point.

Meanwhile, a few padawans had stopped to watch. It wasn't every day that you saw three against one, and they were curious to know what was going on.

Eeth fended off both Alec's and Eden's attack with one low swipe of his saber and simultaneously managed to aim a kick at Brin that had him jump out of harm's way. "If you all attack at the same time from the same distance, you make things a lot easier for me," he commented, driving Alec back, then flipping backwards to disarm Eden and moving onwards to counter Brin who had just been moving into the next attack sequence. "Alec, do not make the mistake of thinking I have no idea where you are just because I have no eyes in the back of my head," he added, diving under Alec's saber and coming round to meet his attack.

Heeding his advice, the padawans started spacing out their attacks and making them more random. Not that this seemed to do much good against Eeth; he still managed to fend them off. Brin was focused on the Force. He knew that to do anything else during a fight was to do himself a discredit, so he wasn't entirely surprised when Eeth spun to block his attempt at taking a point from his back. The kid snorted. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed at being continually thwarted, or impressed at the knights fighting prowess.

Eden's feelings on this were clear; he wore a frown of concentration which deepened as his saber flung from his hand a fourth time that match. No more! he thought fervently. Four times was terrible, but five times? Five times was just taking the piss! For the rest of that match, the kid clung to his saber like it was stitched to his hand.

Alec bobbed and weaved, vaulted and genuinely seemed to be enjoying this. He, too, was in tune with the Force, but was far less aggressive than Brin and possessed far more ability than Eden. All up, they were a good team, but still, twenty minutes later none of them had managed to catch Eeth yet.

By that stage, Eden was starting to wear out. He was tired, his ass hurt, and he wanted to stop. Fortunately, he also knew that trying to get Eeth to stop before he was ready to finish the lesson was futile; consequently, he ploughed on.

Brin was doing his best to get a point out of Eeth; he wanted it badly! While he was busy fending off Alec and Eden, he vaulted over his head and in a lightning-fast move jabbed at his midsection from the side. His ass hurt something fierce now, and it was spurring him on to hurry up and make the point.

Eeth could sense the boys' fatigue, and he thought it better to stop the match. After all, he had no idea what plans their masters had made for Alex and Brin.

He therefore allowed Brin to score his hit and then called the fight to a stop. "Good one," he told Brin. "A bit too hurried, but very fast and precise. I would have been able to dodge it, but at the cost of losing ground. You did quite well, all of you." He consciously included that bit of praise because the creche masters he had worked with had kept telling him he needed to offer more praise. Apparently, children needed that for some reason or other.

Brin took that point with gusto! However, it seemed hollow when he stopped and caught his breath long enough to listen to Eeth's words; he could also sense that it had not been all his own doing. "You let me take that point," he accused, disengaging his weapon and stowing it. Having someone take pity on him was offensive.

"Yes, I did," Eeth replied to Brin, completely unfazed by the boy's tangible indignation. After all, he had learned from teaching younger padawans that not letting his opponent score any points did not tend to win him any favours either.

Brin frowned. "You needn't have; I don't need sympathy from anyone."

"You may leave that up to me to decide," Eeth replied calmly and, for anyone who knew him, predictably. "The match had to end somehow, after all. I thought you would prefer it to end with you scoring a point." Without giving the boy much of a chance to react, he turned and went to fetch his gym bag.

Brin's frown deepened, but there wasn't much he could say to that. Nor did he truly hold a grudge against Eeth; he was just irritated at his lack of skill and didn't like the fact that the only way he was able to score a point was to be given one. He snatched up his bag but otherwise didn't comment. He was going to watch out for the knight, and one day when he least expected it, he was going to have his revenge.

Eden didn't give a damn if Brin took umbrage over Eeth's lesson or not, he was simply glad it was over with.

Eeth nodded at Alec and Brin and told Eden: "Fetch your gym bag. We are going to the mineral baths."

"You want to join us?" Eden asked his two friends. It did not occur to him to ask for Eeth's permission until after he'd offered, so he looked back up at Eeth for confirmation. "If that's okay with you?"

Eeth thought for a moment, then said to Eden: "It is, but only if their masters allow it. I do not want to interfere with any chores, homework or training times."

Turning towards Alec and Brin, he offered: "You may join us in the mineral pools, but comm your masters first and ask for permission."

Both padawans did so. After all, some time spent in the mineral baths would not go amiss, especially so for Brin, given the state of his ass.

Unfortunately for Brin, his master vetoed this, ordering him home to complete his homework whereafter he was to have dinner and go to bed.

The conversation was hard not to overhear, but Eden pretended that he was otherwise occupied with packing his towel and drink bottle.

Alec got permission and was happy to follow them to the mineral baths. His ankle was throbbing by now. It wasn't enough to have him noticeably limp, but it was causing him pain, and he would welcome a good soak.

Eeth noticed that Alec was favouring one side as they made their way from the change room to the pool area. "Is something wrong with your foot?" he inquired. "Did you hurt it during our match?" He hoped not. It only now occurred to him to wonder whether the boy's master might be alright with what Eeth had put him through.

Alec looked over at Eeth, a bit surprised. He had done his best to conceal any physical signs of his injury. That said, he had not exactly been diligent with his shields; his master was not around, after all. "I landed off and twisted it," he replied, brushing the question off.

Eeth frowned. "Landed off doing what?" he inquired as he showed the two boys to a medium-sized pool in the back of the area that was currently empty.

Alec looked over at Eeth with a frank expression and told him: "Jumping from the T5." It had, of course, occurred to him to omit where he had jumped from, but Eeth didn't strike him as the sort of man to let such details slide. "Not from the top, from the first marker. I was in a hurry, and I wasn't concentrating on the Force." It had been an honest, albeit, reluctant confession. The T5 was the highest tower in that particular aerials room, and no junior padawan was allowed up there unsupervised. They all knew this, and so did Alec.

"In that case," Eeth said calmly, "I advise you to inform your master of this before he or she hears about it from me."

He pointed at a ledge at the edge of the pool and said: "Sit down and show me your foot. I will assess the damage and see whether I can perform some healing." Since Alec had still been able to spar, despite his injury, Eeth thought it likely that it was no more than a sprain but he wanted to make sure nonetheless.

Alec sat and held out his foot. Eeth's comments on telling his master the details caused a very slight frown, but nothing more.

"Don't be such a tattletale," Eden scolded Eeth and slipped into the pool opposite the two.

Eeth shot him a glare. "I would be a poor excuse for a Jedi knight if I kept this from his master," he informed Eden in a rather severe tone of voice. Then he focussed his attention on Alec's foot. As he had suspected, it was slightly sprained and bruised. The effort of the sparring match had done little to help matters. He cupped the ankle in his hands, closed his eyes and let healing energy flow into the damaged tissue.

Eden snorted, sinking further into the warm water until nothing below his eyes was visible; his backside was stinging now, but he knew this would not last long and the after effects of this pool would help with any bruises and muscular pain.

"There," Eeth said after a while. "It should feel a little better now. The minerals in the pool will help as well. If it still bothers you by tomorrow morning, your master should take you to the healers." It would also help with the state of Eden's bottom, but he felt no need to mention this.

Alec was surprised – for the second time in half an hour – by Eeth's abilities. "Did you train with the healers?" he asked, honestly wanting to know how any field knight had such mastery of healing.

"I took some courses," Eeth replied curtly. "But I had a talent for Force-aided healing even before I came to the Temple. Now lean back and let the water do its work."

"How do you know that, was it mentioned in your file?" Alec asked reasonably; after all, most Jedi were far too young to remember such details

Eeth paused. "I came to the Temple when I was four years old," he finally answered, "and my master was the person who found me on Nar Shaddaa and brought me here. So I am quite aware of what I could and could not do before the Jedi started training me."

He turned towards Eden and said brusquely: "We need to go home soon. I believe you still have homework to do." He was aware that this was a woefully transparent attempt at stopping this conversation short but he had not been able to think of anything else.

Four-years-old? That was quite old for a Jedi to be accepted into the Temple for training, but the boy said nothing. That said, neither was he fooled by Eeth's evasive response; he was quite a perceptive person himself. Thus, he let the topic drop. It was not his intention to make the knight feel uncomfortable but, for whatever reason, Eeth didn't want to talk about it.

Eden was familiar with that sort of reaction from Eeth, so he was unsurprised when Alec's question was fobbed off. He was still submerged in the water up to his eyes, but he rose enough so that his mouth was above the water line. "We only just got here," he told Eeth, sinking to eye level once again.

"I know," Eeth said. "I said 'soon', not 'now.' We will stay here for a quarter of an hour more."

"Good," said Eden, his words a bubbling mess of incomprehension having been spoken underwater.

"Did you start on that chemistry assignment yet?" Alec asked Eden, changing the subject. "We should get together with the others and exchange notes." By this, he meant that between the four of them they might limit the amount of research they had to put into such a boring assignment.

Eden and Alec talked a bit more about their assignment, and when they had a plan for that, they soaked.

True to Eeth's word, it was a quarter of an hour, to the second, before he announced that their time was up.

Both Alec and Eden left the pools without complaint. They were feeling the effects of the mineral salts by now, and it felt good on their various injuries. Alec put moderate pressure on his ankle, testing it, and then he smiled at Eeth; it was almost entirely healed. In fact, had Eeth not said that he would mention it to his master, there would be no reason to; it was undetectable now, after all. The boy sighed. His master was no tyrant, but nor would he be pleased about hearing he had been fooling around on the T5. Oh well, it was what it was. He gave Eeth a bow, smiled at Eden and parted ways with the two when they reached the junction in the corridor.

When Eden and Eeth arrived home, Eden completed his homework and chores. Then they went to the dining hall for dinner. Eden was given time to visit the lounge after that and was back right on time.

"Evening," he said in way of greeting and tossed his cloak on the couch with a yawn. He plopped onto their couch, turned on the holo-screen and started flicking through channels. "Did you do anything exciting?" he asked as Eeth exited from their joint refresher, looking immaculate as was typical.

"It so happens," Eeth replied wryly, "that I have been called out of my workout for a mission briefing. I will leave tomorrow around noon for a destination so secret that I have been asked not to tell you. In light of this, I went to see my former master and say goodbye to her."

He glanced at the wall chronometre. "Please get ready for bed," he said. "We will meditate together."

"So secret that you can't tell an eleven-year-old padawan? Gee, harsh much," the boy commented. Personally, he took umbrage to that. Did they think him a tattletale blabbermouth? His expression said it all.

"As a matter fact," Eeth said mildly, "I have not been allowed to tell my master either. It has nothing to do with age."

The mission would lead him to Nal Hutta and involve undercover activity against a criminal network that was involved with high-ranking Republican politicians. The less likely it was for any information about Eeth's identity to leak out, the better. And the fact that he was a young knight who had not acquired a reputation yet certainly helped.

Eden huffed, still unimpressed. Oh well, there wasn't much he could do about that, so he went to get ready for bed as instructed.

When he emerged ten minutes later, he was clad in a pair of sleep shorts and a singlet. He noticed that Eeth had turned off the holochannel. He might have flicked it back on had Eeth not stood from the table and beckoned him over.

Eeth guided Eden into a meditation that would allow him to connect with his master, if only superficially. Jay was still light years away, after all. When they resurfaced from their trance, they were silent for a moment. Eeth was just about to send Eden to bed when the boy spoke up.

"Alec and Brin seemed impressed by the fight today. Although I have to be honest: I was hoping they'd wipe the floor with you," Eden said conversationally as he shifted around on his knees in an attempt to find a more comfortable position. "It's annoying to be constantly beaten, you know."

"Is that any different with your master?" Eeth inquired, surprised by this statement. "He would be able to constantly beat you, too. He is bound to be better than you."

Again Eden shrugged. "He is, but it's not as frustrating with Jay." The boy thought about that for a long time, the silence not at all uncomfortable. "I lost my temper with him once, completely did my block," he confided, as if no time had passed at all. A smile crossed his lips briefly at the memory. "He wasn't too happy about that either. Didn't you ever get frustrated as a padawan"' he questioned, curious to know if Eeth had ever had issues as a padawan, well, other than his winning personality.

Eeth paused a little. He was not comfortable with talking about personal issues, but neither did he have any good reason to withhold that information. The question had not been offensive, after all, and his master had told him that most people felt put off when he refused to answer their innocent questions for no good reason.

"Not over sparring with my master," he said. "There were other issues I had difficulties with, of course. Sparring came easy to me, and a few years into my padawanhood, I was as good as my master. Unfortunately, this made me somewhat arrogant. Thus, my master arranged for me to take lessons with the best fighter in the Temple, and that was indeed a rather frustrating experience to me."

"Yeah, I could believe it," Eden said and coughed to hide the fact that this statement had been entirely truthful, albeit utterly untactful. "I never was any good with a lightsaber," he said, wanting to change the subject. "They say I'm gifted when it comes to using the Force. Apparently, that can sometimes happen when you are compensating from a very young age." Eden didn't think it necessary to point out that he was referring to being blind in one eye, nor did he know that Eeth had started life off similarly on Nar Shaddaa, having to use what came naturally to survive. He was silent for a while, wondering if Eeth would say anything if he didn't.

"Yes," Eeth said slowly. "That happens frequently, as a matter of fact."

At the age of four, he had already possessed some skills that Temple-raised Jedi were only taught as teenagers, such as Force-aided healing and Force-enhanced running. He had needed them to survive. He had also drawn on the Force in a way he had later learned was called "meditation" in order to deal with hunger, fatigue and pain. The degree of mental control he had developed in this way had been extraordinary. When he came to the Temple, it had helped him a great deal with those skills he had ben asked to study there, such as wielding a lightsaber or using the Force to conceal himself. On top of that, he had been ambitious and diligent to a degree that had made him rather unpopular with his peers. The only Force-related skill that he had never shown any talent for was the ability to sense animals' emotions and influence them. Maybe that was because he had not exactly been surrounded by animals in the slums of Nar Shaddaa, or maybe he had just not been born with that type of skill. In any case, it was one that not many Jedi possessed.

"Actually," he told Eden, deciding to change the subject before the conversation became too personal, "your skill at using the Force would help you a lot more in combat if you made more of an effort to develop your strength, endurance and agility, and if you had more confidence in yourself. Following the flow of the Force always works better than using your eyes when sparring. You should have an advantage there."

"I do have confidence in myself," protested Eden. "I'm pretty good at Soresu, but I also know my strengths and weaknesses. Defending myself against a master Ataru user sure isn't one of my strengths, Force or no Force. I'm working on the rest. Jay says I have a lot of improvement to make before I'll be ready for more than diplomatic missions."

"Well, nobody has ever claimed it will not take work," Eeth replied drily. "I was just saying that there is no reason why you should not be 'any good with a saber', as you phrased it."

He glanced at his chronometer, finding that it was close to Eden's bedtime by now. "Your master is going to return early tomorrow morning," he said. "You will probably get to see him before you need to leave for school."

This had the boy smile slightly. "I'm hoping Jay lets me stay home for the day," said Eden. "I haven't seen him in over a week, after all. It's worth a try," was added on, and his slight smile turned wry. "You will be free of me tomorrow," he stated, but there was no malice to his tone. Secretly, he was thinking that he'd also be free of Eeth! But again, the thought held no malice. Eden didn't hold a grudge against the man who had been tasked with his care, he had been grateful for the company. Mostly.

"So what will you do when you're not taking on super secret missions that you're forbidden to tell even an eleven-year-old padawan?" he asked. "You wouldn't have classes. Do you teach?"

"It is likely that I will teach classes at some point," Eeth replied. "I have already acquired some experience with that as a senior padawan. But most commonly, newly knighted Jedi are charged with long-term missions that masters who have padawans to take care of or who are not physically in prime condition cannot undertake."

"Makes sense," the boy agreed. "Or maybe the Force will lead you to a padawan instead, you never know." Eden secretly felt for whoever it was. Eeth wasn't exactly the softest, most affectionate of men. Then again, he was a good teacher. Certainly not suited to himself, though.

Finally, Eeth sent Eden off to bed. He spent the rest of the evening reading and memorising his mission briefing. Towards midnight, he went to bed himself, setting his alarm clock to five am. Jay might be home shortly after that.

That evening, Eden slept restlessly. He was excited about his master's return and kept waking up, half expecting to see the man leaning over his bed to check on him. It didn't happen.

All the same, he woke early, but apparently not as early as Eeth. "Do you sleep at all or is that simply another mere mortal weakness you are striving to overcome?" the boy commented with a touch of sarcasm as he exited his bedroom. He scrubbed at his eyes in an attempt to focus the one that functioned on their wall clock. Yep, as he had suspected, it was almost six in the morning, a good hour and a half before he was usually expected to rise.

"I did sleep," Eeth said mildly, not rising to the challenge, "but I do not usually sleep in. Your master might be home any minute, depending on whether the Council wants to speak to him immediately and for how long. Best take a shower and get dressed. I will take care of breakfast."

Not having expected Eeth to rise to his comment, Eden left to do as asked.

When he emerged barely ten minutes later, his hair roughly towel-dried and sticking up in all directions and wearing only his uniform pants, it was to the sight of his master seated at their kitchen table with Eeth. Eden had sensed the man's presence a few minutes after Eeth had ordered him into the shower. Thus, he'd rushed it to get out faster. "Master!" he exclaimed and darted towards him, his arms open for a hug; he'd missed the man.

"Eden!" Jay exclaimed, a huge smile on his face as he rose and pulled his padawan into a strong hug. He just held him for a minute, not speaking. He had really missed the boy, and he had also been worried when his sense of the Force had told him that Eeth and Eden had not made it off the planet as planned. It had taken quite a while until a transmission from the Temple had come through and informed him of the reasons, and he had not been entirely at ease until Eeth and Eden had finally managed to take off.

"How are you doing?" he finally asked, holding Eden at arm's length. "Has everything gone well during my absence?"

The bond between Jay and Eden was strong, considering how new their paring was. Then again, Eden was gifted when it came to most things Force-related, and that helped. "Much better now that you're home. I missed you," the boy whispered into the man's chest. He did not want to make Eeth feel like he had not enjoyed his company or appreciated that he had taken care of him, so when Jay released the hug he turned to face Eeth and smiled. Had everything gone well? He had hoped that this question would not come up for a while, not that he would have lied to his master, but he might have attempted to downplay some things more than he would with Eeth standing there. "Mostly," he decided was safe enough.

Jay grinned. "Mostly?" he asked, glancing at Eeth.

"There were a few instances," said Eeth matter-of-factly, "where I had to call Eden to task for his behaviour. He has, however, for the most part been of great help in repairing our ship and getting off-planet. I have no reason to complain."

"Alright then," Jay said, clapping Eden's shoulder. "I'll take Knight Koth's word for it. Let's have some breakfast before you need to head off for school. You can tell me about the details later."

Eden was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth! Thus, he ran to his bedroom to get his tunic and boots on and then came back out to help with breakfast. He had just finished setting the table and pouring everyone some tea when the two Jedi joined him. "Do I have to go to classes?" he asked Jay. "You just got back!"

"Oh yes, you do", said Jay. "I will spend most of the morning in my mission debriefing anyway."

"I think," said Eeth who had not yet sat down, "I should leave the two of you alone now."

"No, definitely not," said Jay. "You took care of my padawan for quite a while, after all. There's no need for you to rush off as if you were an unbidden guest. Besides, I want to thank you properly."

"Alright," Eeth, who hated it when people thanked him, said reluctantly and took a seat. "But I will have to leave right after breakfast. I have been assigned a mission and need to depart at noon."

"We will all have to leave after breakfast anyway," Jay said peacefully. "Eden, sit down and tuck in."

As was typical, the boy spent the next five minutes silently stuffing himself and didn't speak until he was filling his bowl for the second time. "Eeth is a pretty good cook," he commented when a pause in their conversation afforded it. "We got to eat some nice food while on the Niwago Islands. The port of Mauwag was by far the best, though." Eden went on to explain what had happened and how they had needed to travel from Mauwag, then into B'tik and finally to the northern wharf of Taktaw. "It was pretty hard going but fun all the same. Knight Koth taught me some new tricks to use on you next time we spar, OH!" the boy practically spat his food. "And the best part was piloting the speedboat!" Naturally, he had left out his shortcomings, but he didn't want to drag down their morning with that, mostly because he had grown fond of Eeth and the idea of not seeing him again was surprisingly unappealing.

"Well, this seems to have turned out more eventful than I had thought it would," Jay said with a grin. "And even educational. I see I will have to get us a mission that involves driving speedboats next. And I'm pleased to hear that your time on Antaeus was culinary satisfying. Mine wasn't; it seemed to go from bad to worse. And food was the least of our concerns. At least we managed to prevent some people from being killed, if not much else." He was quite aware that Eden had left out some bits from his account, and he fully intended to have a talk with the boy about those times at which Eeth had had to call him to task for his behaviour, but that could really wait a little, he thought.

After breakfast, he heartily thanked Eeth for having taken care of his padawan.

Eeth accepted the thanks rather stiffly; he never knew how to react to such things. When he thought he had adequately expressed the fact that Jay really had nothing to thank him for, he turned to Eden. "Well, goodbye, then," he said. "May the Force be with you. I hope you have learned something useful during the time I stayed with you; and I hope you will continue to make good progress with your training."

By now Eden was accustomed to Eeth's stiff demeanour, yet he still wrapped his arms around the man's middle to hug him tightly. "Thank you, Eeth, I did. I am grateful that you took care of me," he said honestly. Then, knowing that this would be making the knight feel uncomfortable, he pulled back and offered a very slight bow. "May the Force be with you." He leaned into his master's side.

Eeth returned the bow, gave both of them a slight smile, and left. He had, to his own surprise, quite enjoyed the time spent with Eden. Now it was time to get ready for his next mission.

"So," said Jay, ruffling Eden's hair, "off to school with you now. I need to leave, too, or I'll be late to see the Council, and that would be very impolite indeed."

"Indeed," the boy intoned, but it would have been clear to Jay that he was not entirely serious. He wrapped himself around the man one last time before snatching his pack and taking off out the door.

School that day was thankfully less eventful than the previous, something Eden was grateful of as he walked out of his final class and started home. As was typical, he tossed his cloak and bag on the couch and headed directly for the cupboards where he procured a handful of chips. Jay was not yet home, but Eden had known this might happen. Sometimes, with a complicated mission such as the one they had been assigned, it took time to record each detail. It was the first time he had been alone in his quarters in a very long time. He looked around and felt a little thrill of excitement at not being watched. Eden sat on the couch and flicked on the holo, only to feel a stab of guilt; Jay would not approve, especially given that he had that chemistry assignment to complete on top of his other work. With this in mind the boy turned off the holo and pulled the datapad from his pack and got to work.

Jay came home a little while later, pleased to see that Eden was dutifully doing his homework. "Hello, my hard-working padawan," he said cheerfully. "I'll order in some lunch for us."

He knew that Eden and he both liked the dining hall's Ba'ren casserole, which happened to be on offer today. Therefore, he ordered two servings, plus a dessert for Eden, and went to set the table while telling Eden to keep doing his work.

When they had finished eating, he leaned back in his chair and said: "So. Those misdeeds Eeth alluded to. What were they about?"

Eden was not Jay's first padawan, thus the man knew a bit about what eleven-year-olds were like. He would have been rather surprised to find Eden making it through two weeks, with an unknown person looking after him, without the slightest bit of trouble. Therefore, he had not been particularly shocked to hear that there had been some. But of course, he needed to know what category of trouble they were talking about here.

Eden fingered at their tablecloth casually. "Oh, you know, just stuff." He wasn't keen to discuss this and hoped that, given that Jay and he had been separated for such a long time, the man would cut him some slack and let this conversation slide, just this once. Eden didn't think that was asking too much.

Jay, on the other hand, thought it was. "Eden, you know better than that," he said calmly and firmly. "If I didn't want to know what kind of stuff it was that happened, I wouldn't have asked in the first place. Out with it."

Eden wrinkled his nose at that, but had the wisdom to stop stalling and started talking. "Mostly I got into trouble because I disobeyed Eeth, was deceptive or in the worst cases, both," Eden admitted and went on to explain what had happened the day he'd gone swimming at the boulders with Sage and Taram instead of doing his duty. "Me and another boy might have tried to drive the speedboat," he continued, "when Eeth had told us not to. That was particularly memorable, too. I don't know if you know this, but he showed up packing heat!" Eden accused, doing his best to shift the focus from himself and back on to Eeth. "He had a spanking paddle tucked into the back of his belt the whole time, really the WHOLE time! It was so humiliating." It hadn't really been, not really, but Eden was going for the sympathy card here.

"Hmm," Jay replied, unimpressed with Eden's behaviour, but also a little surprised that a newly knighted Jedi would go to such lengths. However, if Eeth had merely used the paddle for punishing Eden for the two things the boy had told him about, that had clearly been deserved. "Anything else I ought to know about?" he asked neutrally.

Eden tried not to shift under his gaze. "Probably, although I don't particularly want to tell you." Before Jay could reprimand him for that, however, he continued: "But I guess I have to. There were a few instances where I didn't want to train and might have mouthed off a bit. Force, the man almost killed me with workouts. He paddled me, and then he forced me to climb a tree with a boulder in my pack! I threatened to report him to the Council for that. I didn't, though. I wasn't brave enough." Naturally, Eden neglected to include why that particular task had been assigned.

"And if you had reported him to the Council," Jay asked, making a valiant effort at hiding his amusement, "and they had asked you what you did to make him assign this to you, what would you have told them?"

"I'd tell them that I was being sarcastic and suggested it because he had been really hard on me in our workouts. I didn't expect him to take me up on it! Bully."

"I assume the Council would have told you to consider it a learning experience," Jay replied, his eyes twinkling. "As a matter of fact, I'm quite glad that Eeth worked you hard. You really need to improve your physical condition, you know. And I've told you that before." There would also be more demanding workouts in Eden's future than the boy would be happy with. That was partly because Jay had planned that to happen anyway and partly because Eeth had written him a report about his time with Eden that Jay had only skimmed briefly so far but that had told him the boy was capable of more than he was used to, in his training, if given sufficient motivation.

"Now," Jay said, his face showing nothing of his thoughts, "was that all or was there more trouble?"

Eden screwed up his face, but that was the extent of it; he wasn't about to take on his master AND the Council, after all... "When we returned to the Temple, I got into trouble in class," Eden said in resignation. "You know I never get in trouble in school," he placated, holding up his hands. "But Alec, Brin and I, we kinda got carried away in labs yesterday. I have to write this massive essay and Eeth walloped me good." He paused for a moment and then added. "I don't know why I behaved like that. I guess at first I was trying to test him. I thought maybe I could get away with more than I can with you because he was new. I couldn't. He was worse!" Eden huffed, feeling a little indignation at his confession.

Jay raised his eyebrows. "You know I would have expected you to behave for him like you do for me," he said rather sternly. "Whether he turns out to be stricter or softer than myself. There is no need to test your limits just because I'm not around, and if that happens again, I'm going to be seriously displeased. Am I clear on that?"

The tone was noted and Eden straightened a little. "Yes, Master," he replied quietly, his head down as he played with the hem on the table cloth. He was starting to feel a little guilty about having put Eeth through that, although he also knew he had paid for his efforts. There was a pregnant pause, and the boy squirmed a bit. "I'm sorry that I didn't meet your expectations, I'll do better," he apologised, and it was sincere.

"I hope so," Jay said solemnly. "I really hope so because I'm not particularly fond of taking my belt to you, but I definitely will if I ever find you exploit a situation just as shamelessly again in order to get away with things that you shouldn't get away with. As for your misbehaviour in school, I'm glad that Eeth walloped you because if he hadn't done so, I certainly would. Now. Tell me honestly - and I mean honestly - whether you feel that you have been sufficiently punished for your behaviour."

The expression on Eden's face went from downcast and ashamed to pained. "Why do you have to ask me questions like that?" he mumbled through his fingers as he dragged a hand down his face. The question had been rhetorical, though, and so he continued. "Yes. Eeth really nailed me for the things I did. I think it was more than enough. But, I guess I feel a bit bad that I disobeyed you and tried to take advantage of Eeth, too." It had been an honest answer; Jay expected nothing less of him, he knew.

"Alright," said Jay, a lot more gently. "Thank you for the honest answer. Since I believe you that Eeth punished you enough, I will not add to it. But I stand by what I said about a repeat occurrence, so you had better keep that in mind."

He smiled at Eden. "Let's clear the table and go to the gym," he said. "I want to see what Eeth taught you."