Eeth had just returned from a workout, had taken a shower, got dressed and was currently sitting on his bed and combing his hair when he heard the doors to their quarters swish open.

"Padawan?" he called questioningly, wondering why in the Force's name Lakhri was back from school this early, and rose from his bed. Instead of an answer, he just heard the angry banging of a cupboard door. He made for the common room, but had hardly opened the door before he came face-to-face (or, rather, face-to-navel) with a teenager who was holding a cane in his right hand, a data pad in his left and was glaring up at him in a mixture of anger and defiance. It was not that Eeth was unused to seeing such an expression on his padawan's face, per se, but in this particular instance, he truly and honestly had no idea what had caused it. He opted for a neutral opening statement that would hopefully prompt Lakhri to explain.

"You are home early," he said calmly.

"Yes, because I cheated on my astrophysics exam," Lakhri spat out. He held out the data pad to Eeth. "Here. Do you want to read it first or will you get it over with and cane me right away?"

Eeth frowned. Cheating was unlike Lakhri, and besides, he had always had excellent marks in astrophysics. What was more, if he was really guilty of cheating, then why all this anger?

"I will do neither the one nor the other," he replied evenly. "At least not before I have heard from you what happened. First of all, though, put the cane away. I will be the one to decide if and when to use it. Not you."

"What's the bloody point?" Lakhri nearly yelled, his face flushing an angry red. "Knight Chorchin has all the proof, so I've been cheating on an exam, so we both know you are going to cane me anyway. He's a teacher and I'm just a lousy padawan. Even if I tried to make excuses, nobody in their right mind would buy them. Read the damn note already, take the cane and get. it. fucking. OVER! WITH!"

Eeth's face darkened considerably.

"I do not appreciate being yelled at, and you can dispense with the attitude and the curses, too," he said in a low, stern voice. "I gave you an order. Put the cane away, and then tell me what happened."

"It's all in that note. Just read it," Lakhri snapped, throwing the data pad at him. Eeth deliberately refrained from catching it. It bounced off his chest and onto the floor.

"Put the cane away and tell me what happened," he repeated his order in a tone of voice that clearly indicated he was not going to say this a fourth time.

Lakhri pursed his lips.

"No," he ground out, glaring at Eeth and clutching the cane as tightly as he could. Eeth barely resisted the temptation of turning Lakhri over his knee there and then. From the stubborn set of his padawan's jaw, Eeth could see that they were close to entering one of those contests of wills that had a tendency to turn extremely ugly. A few weeks ago, he would almost certainly have spanked Lakhri until he achieved compliance. Unfortunately, Lakhri was extremely stubborn and it took a lot of spanking to force him to comply with an order he did not want to comply with. What was worse, this method reliably caused resentment, more than acceptance, in Lakhri, and that, Eeth assumed, was not going to help matters right now. One of the things his master had recently said to him kept coming back to Eeth: „Setting firm boundaries and enforcing them consistently will prevent many problems, but there are problems such an approach cannot solve, and some will be made even worse." Lakhri tended to put on a tough façade when his feelings were hurt, but that did not necessarily mean that a tough treatment was what he needed.

With this in mind, Eeth knelt down and looked his padawan in the eyes.

"I might not be the most sympathetic and understanding of masters," he said quietly, "and I know I am an exceedingly strict one. But I would never, ever want to punish you for something you did not do. And therefore, I refuse to punish you for any kind of infraction I did not witness with my own eyes unless I have heard your side of the story. As you do not seem to be able to talk to me in a civil way, I want you to put it down in writing. We can continue this discussion when you have finished your task."

He rose, put a hand on Lakhri's shoulder and steered the boy towards his room, momentarily ignoring the fact that his padawan was still clutching the cane he had repeatedly been told to put away. Lakhri was too stunned at having been talked to in such a… well, respectful and outright caring manner by his master, instead of finding himself at the receiving end of a spanking, paddling or caning, to offer much resistance. Eeth put a data pad on Lakhri's desk and said: "I will be waiting for you in the common room. Take as much time as you need. I will not read your teacher's note until I have read yours."

Lakhri was still too perplexed to be able to offer any kind of response, and Eeth did not seem to expect any. He left the room and closed the door behind himself while his padawan was staring after him, wide-eyed. The twelve-year-old was not sure what he had expected, but not this. Well, actually, that was not quite true; he had entirely expected Eeth to mete out the worst possible kind of punishment, and maybe a bit more for the way that Lakhri had vented at him. Instead, Eeth had practically told him he valued his point of view so much that he would not proceed without it! True, a few weeks ago, the man had apologised to him for often having been overly harsh, apparently after Lakhri's grandmaster had had a talk with him, and he had indeed made more of an effort lately to be nice, in his own, awkward kind of way; but broken trust was difficult to repair, and Lakhri would never in a million years have expected Eeth not to immediately seize the opportunity of siding with a teacher against him.

He suddenly realised that Eeth had given him a job to do, and he somehow did not feel like defying is master any longer. With a resigned sigh, he dropped the cane onto the bed and plopped down onto his desk chair. Words came easily to him, and he was soon writing diligently – and truthfully.

When we were sitting in the exam room waiting for the teacher, his letter went, one of my classmates, who was sitting across the aisle, told me he was in terrible trouble because he hated the subject, had not studied for the exam and had deceived his master over the fact. He asked whether I could help in some way. I told him that there was no way I was going to risk attracting my master's wrath over cheating in an exam. He said he'd make sure I wouldn't be caught. I said he was delusional. Before we could say any more, our teacher arrived and asked for silence. It all went well for over an hour, and I was concentrating on my exam when suddenly a data pad landed on my table with a clang from across the aisle. Our teacher was at the other side of the room, and I saw him start to turn around. I only had a split-second to make a decision and more out of instinct than anything else, I took the data pad and put it in my pocket, intending to just hand it back to my classmate once the exam was over. However, Knight Chorchin had seen. He ordered me to hand him the data pad. I did. I also tried to explain, but he cut short my explanations and said he had seen enough. Honestly, I don't even have an idea what was on that data pad, but Knight Chorchin escorted me to the front of the room, wrote a note to you, ordered me to give it to you and told me I'd failed my exam and that he trusted my master knew how to deal with such a serious transgression. I tried again to explain, but that only made him angry, and he refused to listen. He just threw me out of the room, threatening that if I did not let the others finish the exam in peace, he was going to personally paddle me before sending me home to you. That is about all I can tell you about the incident.

Lakhri reread what he had written and thought for a moment. Then he wrote a few more lines:

Thank you for asking for my point of view, master. I don't know if you'll believe me, but in any case, I apologise for having yelled at you and disobeyed you. I should not have taken my anger out on you. Sorry.

He assumed that his master would scoff at these lines and ignore them, but he still felt better for having written them. Besides, he wasn't at all sure what to expect any longer. For the first time since having been made Eeth's apprentice, he had, for a moment, actually had the feeling that the man cared about him. He was wary of trusting that feeling, but on the other hand, it felt too good to dismiss it outright.

Given his general confusion, it was a rather apprehensive padawan who made his way to the common room in order to hand Eeth his data pad. Besides, he was suddenly acutely aware that he had behaved quite abominably before being sent to his room and that Eeth had been remarkably lenient with him, which was kind of unsettling in itself. It was with that thought in mind that he decided to take the cane with him. He quietly entered the common room and returned the cane to the cupboard. Then he handed the data pad to his master who was sitting at the dining table and giving him an inscrutable look.

"Here you are, master," Lakhri said in a small voice.

"Thank you, padawan," Eeth said calmly, accepting the data pad. "Sit down."

Lakhri complied and waited for Eeth to finish reading, his apprehension rising with every moment.

Eeth perused the contents of the data pad, then studied Lakhri's anxious face for a few moments. He could sense no trace of deception in his apprentice; not that he had expected anything else. The way Lakhri had acted had quite plainly shown him that the boy felt betrayed, not merely afraid of a well-deserved punishment.

"Padawan," Eeth said softly, "thank you for putting this into writing. Now, first of all, I believe you. Second…"

But before he could continue with his second point, Lakhri blurted incredulously: "You do?"

"Of course I do," Eeth said a tad more sternly. "Do not interrupt me."

Taking in Lakhri's flabbergasted look, he softened his tone of voice a little.

"You are my padawan, Lakhri," he said quietly. "As long as I have no evidence to the contrary, I will always trust you to tell me the truth, just as you can rely on me being honest with you. And you have done nothing to shake that trust so far. Besides, you are neither that good an actor nor are your shields good enough to deceive me over a lie on that scale. So, yes, I believe you. Now may I continue?"

Lakhri blushed, but he could not quite prevent a small smile from creeping onto his face. "Yes, master," he replied as contritely as he was able to, given his near exhilaration about the fact that his master actually trusted him!

"Good," Eeth said evenly. "Second, I am going to talk to Knight Chorchin about this issue and resolve it. Rest assured that you will not receive a fail grade on your exam."

"But he won't believe you," Lakhri said doubtfully. "I mean, he saw me pocket the data pad. That was proof enough to him."

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "When I tell you that you are not going to receive a fail grade for this exam, this is exactly what is going to happen," he replied somewhat severely. "How I am going to achieve this need not concern you. Now, as to my third point: thank you for your apology. I accept it, but, and that is my fourth point, we both know that yelling at me, cursing, pulling an attitude and disobeying my instructions repeatedly is utterly and completely unacceptable. I know that you were upset, but there are more constructive ways of dealing with such feelings than throwing a tantrum and behaving in a manner unworthy of a Jedi padawan. I do not have the slightest intention of punishing you for anything related to the exam, but I will make sure you think twice before next taking your anger out on me or other persons instead of releasing it into the Force or seeking help. What is more, we have talked about this issue before, and you really know better than to behave like this. Come here."

In a way, Lakhri felt a little relieved. What he had just witnessed was a different, and much improved, version of the master he had known, but it was obvious that some things had not changed. Unfortunately, he suspected that the same was true for the level of discomfort Eeth's punishments tended to cause; his master did not subscribe to the concept of "mild spankings". Nevertheless, his gratefulness and relief currently outweighed his apprehension, even as he undid his pants, dropped them to his ankles, bared his bottom and awkwardly climbed over Eeth's lap. The first swat, however, made all feelings of relief evaporate instantly. It was delivered by Eeth's hand, without the use of an implement, which was a first; but that did not mean it was any less painful.

"Ouch!" he yelped, trying futilely to twist out of harm's way, but the only reward for his efforts was a second swat.

"You do not throw a fit of temper if you feel unjustly treated," Eeth said sternly, meting out a third swat.

"No, master," Lakhri hastened to assure him. This was a first, too; up to now, Eeth's spankings had made him defiant and resentful more often than not. His compliance did not seem to buy him any favors, though; Eeth only provided him with more of those hefty swats, scolding while he spanked: "You do not curse or yell at me, you do not disobey my instructions, and you do not tell me what to do and not to do."

"No, master!" Lakhri yelped. "Ouch! I won't! Oww! I gottit! Owwww!"

His yelps became ever more enthusiastic, and his legs started kicking of their own accord; but Eeth was thorough, and Lakhri was sobbing long before he was finished.

When he had dealt out the last swat and Lakhri's backside was painted an angry red, Eeth let him cry for a moment, then did something he had never done before: He pulled Lakhri up into a kneeling position and allowed him to rest his head against his chest. This did not quite amount to a hug, but it came closer to one than anything he had allowed to happen previously. Lakhri found the position oddly comforting and enjoyed it for a minute or so. However, he assumed it must be awkward for Eeth and therefore tried to pull himself together as fast as he could, given the state of his burning backside.

Finally, having wiped his eyes and blown his nose into a handkerchief that Eeth had handed him, Lakhri slid off his master's lap.

"I'm sorry," he said again in a small, contrite voice.

"As I said before, I accept your apology," Eeth replied surprisingly gently. "And now, if you will excuse me, I will seek out your teacher and talk to him."

Lakhri pondered whether he should ask his master to take him, but on second thought, he had no desire to see Knight Chorchin again in a hurry. He was just going to risk losing his temper again, and his backside was sore enough already.

"Good luck, master," he said instead, and there was just a hint of cheekiness in his voice. He had always been a resilient person.

Eeth smiled a little at Lakhri's response. "Luck has little to do with it," he replied. "You say you did not cheat, and I believe you. That will have to be good enough for Knight Chorchin."

And it must have been because the man sought Lakhri out that same afternoon to apologise for accusing him of cheating without having heard him out. It appeared that Lakhri's fellow student, angry at having his request for help refused, had tried to set him up – and had nearly succeeded. Lakhri, Knight Chorchin said, could take the exam again the following day. That was good, but it was not the important thing to Lakhri. The important thing was that his master trusted him. For the first time in his padawanhood, he had well and truly felt that his master had been on his side. And that made him happier than he could express, despite his smarting bottom. Well, he assumed that Eeth did not care for expressions of happiness anyway; at the very least, they would make the man feel awkward. Still, he felt as if he owed his master something, and he thought hard about how to convey this feeling without sounding as if he wanted a cuddle.

When a few hours later, Eeth and he knelt down to do their evening meditation, he asked shyly: "Master? Would you mind terribly if I set the theme for tonight's meditation?"

Eeth look at him in surprise for a moment. So far, he had always been the one to determine the type and theme of their joint meditations; it had never occurred to him that Lakhri might want to have a say in this. Suddenly, he painfully realised that this had been rather selfish of him.

"I would not mind at all, padawan," he said gently. "What would you like to meditate on?"

Lakhri gulped and lowered his gaze. "Gratitude," he whispered, his ears burning with embarrassment.

Eeth was silent for a moment; he felt unaccountably touched, even if it did not show in his impassive face. Then he nodded, almost imperceptibly, closed his eyes and opened his shields, inviting Lakhri to link with him.

Meditating with Eeth had always been the most satisfying experience his padawanship had to offer to Lakhri, but tonight's meditation was special in ways he could not really explain. Contrary to what he had expected, Eeth did not limit himself to creating a space in which Lakhri could reflect his own feelings of gratitude, be it towards his master or others. He took the matter much more seriously than that, making this meditation's theme his own, not just Lakhri's. It turned out that there seemed to be much he felt grateful for, which surprised Lakhri who had always considered the man rather self-sufficient, even haughty. And Eeth shared these feelings with Lakhri more readily than his padawan would ever have expected him to. He had never felt so close to the man and so much at peace with his padawanhood.

When they finally resurfaced from their trance, there was a brief silence; both were wrapped up in their own thoughts.

"Thank you, master," Lakhri finally said, looking up at his master's face. Suddenly, and perhaps for the first time, it looked like a real person's face to him, not like a mask. Maybe his master was a real person after all, not just some distant, formidable and slightly terrifying authority figure. Maybe, just maybe his master even cared for him a little.

"You are welcome, padawan," Eeth replied softly, reading at least part of his thoughts. "You are very welcome."