A/N: We'd like to send out a huge thank you to all those who have read, reviewed and sent us IMs. We appreciate the support. It's great to hear what you guys think of our saga so far. This will be the final chapter in this story. Look out for the sequel, 'Trouble with Scorchers', which will be out shortly. Enjoy!

–Livia&Raven

"Knight Bat was right," said Healer Warrash, pointing her eyestalks at Raven disapprovingly. "Your arm is broken. How did you manage to do that?"

Raven opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.

"She got into a fight," said Knight Bat impassively. His comlink buzzed; he threw a look at it. "Your master is on his way," he told Raven.

"Ug! Really?!" Raven wanted to protest this further, really she did! But now that the adrenalin from the impromptu scuffle with Rayan had worn off, the pain in her right arm was so deep and intense that she was struggling to catch her breath. Thankfully, the healer was working on relieving this and the pain would be mercifully short.

"Yes, really," said Knight Bat. He helped the healer transfer Raven onto a broad bed and rest her arm onto a cushion. Healer Warrash gave Raven a hypospray to her neck and another one to her arm. "The pain will recede now," she said. "Lean back and try to relax. I will prepare a bone knitter. You will have to stay for the night."

Oh no. Raven didn't say it, but staying overnight in the healer's wing was almost as bad as having Eeth on his way here. Almost. She did not get a chance to express that as the painkiller started to kick in and she was starting to feel weird. A good kind of weird, though. Raven smiled because everything seemed a bit funny right now. Just a bit.

When Eeth entered, this feeling seemed to wear off. Quickly. Raven tried to sit up but was admonished to be still by the healers' apprentice assisting with the bone knitter. She managed a sheepish look, but no more than that.

"Padawan," Eeth said in concern, standing next to her bed and resting a hand on her head. "Knight Bat wrote me you broke your arm. What happened?"

"Rayan landed on me," she replied honestly.

Knight Bat snorted. "There is rather more to it than that," he said, ignoring the frown Raven pointed at him. "I found the two in a creche garden, having a rather aggressive lightsaber duel."

"That would explain the minor burn I noticed on your wrist, then," Healer Warrash remarked, pointing at the red spot. "But that will go away by itself," she continued as she started adjusting the bone knitter. "Master Koth, your apprentice will need to spend the night," she told Eeth. "Would you like to share the room with her?"

"Yes," said Eeth without hesitation. He was going to get to the bottom of this whole affair but that could wait until Raven was healed.

Raven wasn't happy at being ratted out by knight Bat, nor did she appreciate the healer pointing out her other injuries. She covered her wrist with the blanket and looked to Eeth, surprised but quietly thankful that he was going to stay with her. He had just been called out of an important Senate meeting, after all. She was about to say as much when the healers started giving her instructions as the bone knitter was attached, and Eeth turned to speak with knight Bat.

When Knight Bat had told Eeth everything he knew, he left. Eeth took note of the knight's concern over young Rayan's behaviour. He would bring it up with the Council tomorrow. For now, he had a padawan to look after.

"Padawan," he said, standing next to her bed and again cupping her head in his hand. "You will be transferred to a ward shortly. I will go to our quarters, get changed and pack what we need for the night. I will be with you in half an hour."

Raven hadn't been able to hear what they were talking about, but she could guess. Thus, when Eeth returned to speak with her she half expected him to start asking her for validations, and at the very least, to make her feel guilty for calling him out of the Senate. Eeth did neither. She stared at him for a moment, nodded, and then she let the healers do what they needed to do.

Eeth went to their quarters and changed into a normal set of clothes. Then he packed pajamas, toiletries and a set of spare clothes for each of them and returned to the Healers' Wing where Raven had by this point been transferred to a private ward with a window overlooking a garden. Two beds had been set up in the room. Raven was lying on one of them, her arm in a bone knitter.

"How are you feeling?" Eeth asked her, setting down the bag. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed. "Does your arm still hurt?"

"Not anymore. They were pretty generous with the hypos." Raven looked at the large contraption on her right arm, pulled at it and sighed, her fringe blowing up with the effort. "You look tired. I didn't actually want them to contact you, I did say that."

"They were right to contact me," Eeth said, unsure if he should feel offended that his padawan apparently thought him too tired to deal with her injury. "I would be fairly unhappy if you were hurt and nobody went to the trouble of telling me."

"Well, I thought the Senate was more important." She raised her right arm, causing the bone knitter to bump. "It's just an arm." There was more to that, of course, but she kept that to herself.

"Padawan, some duties take precedence over others," Eeth said patiently. "It is YOUR arm, and therefore, it is important. Try to keep it still. The more you move around, the longer the bones will need to heal. I am sure the healers told you so." After all, Eeth had made his own experiences with bone knitters – plenty of them.

"They did," Raven said through a sigh; sitting still was hard for her as it was, let alone being attached to a bone knitter to boot! She looked over at Eeth. "What's the worst injury you ever had, and how did you do it?" she wanted to know.

"I did not do it, a droideka did," Eeth replied. "That was one year into my knighthood. I had relied on a member of my mission team to give me cover but she was… so preoccupied with the safety of a hostage she had fallen in love with that she neglected her job. The droideka hit my chest with a blade. Fortunately, my heart and lungs remained intact. Now, I would like to ask you the same question, namely: How did you do it?"

Raven listened with rapt attention. When he had finished, she looked at his chest, wanting to ask to see the scar, but sidelining that for a moment to answer his question. "I did not do it, Rayan did," she replied, copying Eeth's reply.

"I know," replied Eeth sternly. "I also know that this happened after you were sparring against him in a creche garden. Obviously, there is more to this than him pouncing on you and breaking your arm for no particular reason. I want to hear the full story."

Ug! That was the last thing Raven wanted to talk about right then. The padawan sighed and leant back into her pillow. "Master, you're tired. I don't want to stress you out anymore. Can't we talk about this tomorrow?" It was true. However, there were also other reasons why Raven was eager to put off talking about this.

"Padawan, thank you for being so considerate, but it requires more than an afternoon with a bunch of senators to make me feel too drained to be able to deal with you," Eeth said drily. "We will most certainly talk more about this tomorrow. But I would like to know now what, exactly, happened. Tell me." He really felt he needed to know how much reason he had to be displeased with Raven. Even more importantly, if the Council were to look into Rayan's issues tomorrow, they would need to know what had happened.

The look Raven shot him was piteous. "But what if I'm too drained to deal with you? Doesn't that count?"

"No," said Eeth, giving her a look that clearly said she had better start talking.

Well, that had gone over like a lead balloon. Similarly, so did Raven's hopes at getting out of this discussion. Resigned, she started talking. "I was on my way back from the gym when I decided to stop by the creche garden. I like going there; it feels familiar." She thought it necessary to explain this as that detour had not been part of Eeth's list of instructions. "Rayan just happened to be there, too. I don't know why, as it's not even his side of creche! He wasn't supposed to be there. He started saying stuff about how you are going to realise that I'm a crappy padawan and send me back to the creche." A flash of hurt was noticeable on her face as she said that, but it was quickly gone. She didn't want to tell him to what extent Rayan's words had hit home, so instead Raven simply repeated what she recalled of their shit-slinging match. "I know I should have walked away, but I felt him go for his saber, so I drew mine too. We fought for a while, and then knight Bat came along. He probably told you the rest."

"He told me you fought aggressively," Eeth said, his face impassive. "You even received a minor burn. Why was that? Did Rayan threaten you? Was that why you decided to fight back? Out of self-defense?" He suspected it was not but he wanted to make sure. Eeth might be strict but he also tried to be fair.

There was a pregnant pause while Raven contemplated lying to him. She looked up at Eeth and wrinkled her nose at the expressionless mask that was typical of the man. He was impossible to read! When the silence had drawn out too long to make anything but the truth believable, Raven groaned. "I fought him because he challenged me. He said I was too scared, and that I wasn't good enough. I wanted to prove him wrong. I wasn't planning to hurt him or anything! And, when he jumped me the second time I was fighting out of self-defence, I swear," Raven hastened to add.

"Hmm," said Eeth neutrally. "He jumped at you in front of two grown-up Jedi. Did you honestly think they would let you come to harm?"

"Well, they did," Raven countered and gave the ridiculous contraption she was attached a pointed look.

"You know what I mean," said Eeth sternly.

"Masssterrr, c'mon, cut me some slack here. I'm injured. It's Rayan's ass you should be busting anyway. This is all his fault." That wasn't exactly true; Raven knew it took 'two to tango' but she was having a supremely shitty day, and being dragged over the coals by Eeth was just going to top that off.

"We are not talking about Rayan, we are talking about you," Eeth snapped. "Rest assured that Rayan will be dealt with. But that is no reason not to deal with you. As for cutting you some slack: I am. I will not punish you while you are in this state. But I do expect honesty from you and if you are unwilling to provide it, that will just make me add to the punishment you are eventually going to receive. Now, I have two questions and you will answer them truthfully. First, when he drew his saber, did you feel you could have walked away without being harmed? And second, when he jumped you and broke your arm, did you seriously believe you had to fight back in order to prevent more serious harm to yourself?"

Having to answer those questions would surely seal her fate, but maybe Eeth would understand? She doubted it. He did not seem like the type of person to be goaded into anything, and it was that realisation that had her dragging a hand down her face. She shouldn't have let Rayan push her into fighting, but she had, and it was adding to her growing fear that maybe he was right and she wasn't good enough to be Eeth's padawan. "He said I could 'run away' if I wanted to." She looked up at him, her eyes narrowing. "I might suck at this whole padawan thing, but I'm no coward. The second time I was defending myself at first, and then…" Raven squirmed. "I might have wanted to scratch his eyeballs out… Just a bit." She raised two fingers about a centimetre apart in order to demonstrate how much 'just a bit' was.

Eeth did not know how often he had heard the line 'I am no coward' from Lakhri but it must have been dozens of times. He had never considered this to be a valid motivation for aggression and he was not going to start now. Why Raven thought she 'sucked at this whole padawan thing', he had no idea. Maybe because she was bad at maths. Well, she was going to come to a more realistic assessment of her strengths and weaknesses, given enough time. This was not Eeth's main concern right now.

"If you really were no coward," he said," you would not have been afraid of walking away. Which was obviously what you should have done. Ideally, you should have informed his creche master or me. I know it is highly unpopular to tell on other padawans, but when a child who is strong in the Force is bent on misusing his lightsaber, that is a serious matter. It can be dangerous, not only for you but also for others. Imagine for a moment that Knight Bat had not come along and you would not have been found out. In the best case, you would have won the fight. Rayan would most likely have found other victims instead."

"I wasn't afraid of walking away," Raven defended herself. But as Eeth continued speaking, she felt less and less inclined to argue. He was right, she probably wouldn't have said anything about the fight and maybe Rayan would have hurt somebody else. "Well, I didn't think about it like that at the time," was about all the padawan could think of to say to all of that.

"That much is obvious," said Eeth. "Which is why there are rules in place. The rules on unauthorised and unsupervised lightsaber use are abundantly clear and I am sure that you were entirely aware of them. I assume you were counting on not being caught."

"Well, yes." Raven wasn't sure if admitting as much was wise, but it must have been pretty obvious that she didn't want to get caught. Neither of them had wanted to get caught! "Are you very mad?" she asked in a small voice. Raven was feeling guilty over her decision to fight Rayan, not to mention having pulled him from the Senate meeting.

"No, I am not mad," Eeth replied calmly. "Being mad has nothing to do with this. Your actions are even somewhat understandable. Unfortunately, that does not make them excusable. And I am not prepared to take transgressions of the weapons rules lightly. You know better than to pull your lightsaber in a creche garden or to spar against an initiate without supervision. No matter what the provocation was."

Raven looked at the bone knitter as he spoke. Being stuck in this thing for another fourteen hours was going to seriously suck, but if what Eeth said was true, she wasn't in any rush to get home either. She sat there in silence for a long moment, and then she just had to ask. "What do you mean by that?" Because as far as Raven was concerned, he didn't take any transgression 'lightly'.

"Are you sure you want to know that now?" Eeth inquired. "I would rather you had some dinner and slept. The medication and the bone knitter tend to be tiring. I do not want you to lie awake worrying."

"You don't want me to lie awake worrying!" Raven repeated, incredulous. "And you don't think a comment like that will result in my lying awake worrying anyway? What are you going to do, kill me?" The padawan was being a tad dramatic here, but, well, hell! Now she was nervous.

"Nonsense," said Eeth sternly. "Of course I will not kill you. I will, however, cane you. That is what unauthorised fights will reliably earn you. I can assure you that this punishment will motivate you to think twice about walking away, the next time temptation arises."

Raven blanched, her mouth suddenly too dry to swallow. Did Eeth just say he was planning to cane her? Shit was trumps! "But it wasn't my fault. Rayan started it!" Okay now that sounded lame even to her, but it was true! And Raven was going to do her best to talk him out of using a cane on her. Raven had been smacked with a number of different implements during her childhood in creche, but never a cane. She had, fortunately, avoided pissing off anyone who favoured using them. Well, until now… Raven wondered if stating as much might help? "I'm only eleven. That's too young to use a cane on. You might damage me."

"Padawan, do not try it," Eeth said even more sternly. "It is pointless. You know quite well that you deserve to be punished and you also know that this was no light transgression. I, on the other hand, know what I am doing. You may take my word for it that I will not damage you." As a matter of fact, Eeth owned two canes, the bigger one of which was indeed of a calibre that he would only contemplate using on an adult. At least as far as humans were concerned. The smaller one, however, could safely be used on children. And of course, Eeth would considerably restrain himself. It was still guaranteed to leave a strong impression.

Why Eeth continued advising her against trying these things was beyond her; of course she was going to try it on! Whether or not she continued to push it after the fact, though, remained to be seen. Sure, he couldn't exactly spank her while she was stuck in a bone knitter, but then again, she did not want to push him to that point to begin with. Besides, he might just come up with something she hadn't thought of. All this ran through Raven's mind as she contemplated his words. "Nobody has ever caned me before, though!" she complained, hoping that this might sway him. The truth was, she had seen it before and really, really didn't want to find out first-hand why her peers were so wary of copping it.

"And your point would be?" Eeth asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That nobody has, so you shouldn't either. I got into a fight that I didn't start and that wasn't my fault. I bet Rayan doesn't get in this much trouble. You're being too hard on me." Yes, yes, that sounded lame, but it was all she could come up with. Raven was desperate now. She didn't want to cop it with that horrid thing.

"I am being exactly as hard on you as you deserve," Eeth said coolly. "Whether or not you have deserved it before or others have administered appropriate punishment is not my concern. Nor should Rayan be yours. I will not revoke my decision. But I can always add strokes if you continue arguing. Stop it."

"So you won't change your mind and now I'm not even allowed try. Unfair," Raven huffed. She wasn't willing to say any more, though, so she settled on boring a hole in her bedsheets with her gaze.

"You," said Eeth, "are quite lucky that I cannot turn you over my knee here and now. I am done with the backtalk. You may safely leave it to me to decide what is fair and unfair. Now, we will order dinner from the terminal, eat it, meditate and then you will sleep. Without further argument. The medication and bone knitter are putting a strain on your body. The more rest you get, the better."

Raven looked up sharply. Would he really spank her in the middle of the healers' wing? If the stern tone was anything to go by, yeah, he totally would! Thus, Raven desisted; apparently there was no talking him around and trying was simply going to land her deeper in the shit.

Dinner went down sideways, but she ate it nevertheless, and thanks to the medication top-up she received that evening, Raven was out like a light by barely eight.

The following morning, Raven was woken early by a healer who was checking the positioning of the bone knitter and scanning her arm for progress. "Ug, go away," Raven complained sleepily, attempting to turn over; but the bone knitter was preventing her from moving.

Eeth rose quietly and rested a hand on Raven's shoulder. "Let the healer do her job," he said softly. "You can sleep for an hour or two more when she's done."

"Yes, Master," Raven replied sleepily. She was too tired to argue and the healer was not causing her any great discomfort.

When Raven next woke, it was to the sound of a tray being placed onto her bedside table. She sat up, well, as much as she could sit up given that she was attached to a bone knitter. Immediately, she rubbed her eyes with her only free hand and looked for Eeth. He was there, seated in the same chair as he had been sitting in earlier, and talking with the healer.

Eeth, who was fully dressed and looking immaculate as usual, turned around and smiled at Raven. "Good morning, padawan," he said. "I ordered you some toast and juice for breakfast. Please eat. The bone knitter will come off in half an hour. Then the healers will check you over one last time and you will be allowed to go home."

"Morning, master," Raven replied sleepily, and eyed the toast hungrily. Maybe it was the drugs, but for once she had an appetite. Two pieces of toast and half a glass of juice later, Raven swiped a blob of jam off her sheets with a finger and sucked it clean.

"Master Koth, padawan Raven. Good morning," interrupted the master healer, who in Raven's opinion was far too chipper considering that it was barely seven in the morning. "Let's check you over." The healer went about scanning Raven's arm, and then she called in others to help remove the bone knitter. It took about half an hour before Raven was finally free of the thing, and even then she needed further tests. "I'm good, I'm good, look," Raven held up her arm and wriggled her fingers to prove her point.

"Padawan, you will leave that to the healers to decide," Eeth admonished her. "And if they need to perform further tests to determine that, that is what you will let them do."

Raven huffed but acquiesced, flopping back into her pillow and leaving her arm still for them to prod.

It was another half hour before the healers deemed her fit to leave. Finally! It wasn't that Raven didn't appreciate their help; she had, and she made sure to thank the healers who were present upon her release. After that, it was kind of hard to taper the exuberance at being freed from the healers. Raven skipped, hopped, jumped and ran her fingers along the walls as they walked the halls; being stuck in bed for fifteen hours had not been easy on her.

Eeth knew as much. "We will go swimming later," he said. "It is, unfortunately, the only type of workout you are allowed for the next week. No jumping or slides. First, though, we need to deal with the punishment for your entirely unauthorised lightsaber duel."

Raven didn't mind swimming and she brightened up at hearing that they'd be going. That exuberance was short-lived because when Eeth mentioned that they had other business to deal with first, it kind of sucked the wind from her sails. Over the course of the night and all that had happened, Raven had forgotten about yesterday's conversation over punishment. "Aw, no. Haven't I been through enough?" The question was sincere. She had broken her arm, after all!

"You must be delusional if you think I will forego punishing you for breaking the rules and risking the safety of yourself and others in such a spectacular fashion," Eeth said brusquely. He palmed open the door to their quarters and beckoned her inside.

Raven leveled him with a quelling look as they entered their quarters but did not argue.

"Pull off your boots and unpack your things," Eeth said. "I expect you in the common room in ten minutes."

Raven stomped off to her bedroom, threw her pack onto the bed with considerable force and started beating up the pillow with her good arm. She was wallowing in self-pity, but she was also scared, not that she'd ever admit to that; Raven was brave. The idea of hiding under her bed was rejected as ludicrous the moment it flashed through her mind, as was the notion of jumping out the window. Still, when the ten minutes were up, she crept from her bed and pressed an ear to the door. Maybe he was going to be busy for longer.

"Padawan, your ten minutes are up!" Eeth called from the common room. "You don't want me to add strokes for arriving late."

She did not! But nor did she want to go out there. Panicking, the padawan did the only thing she could think of, namely, she pulled on another pair of trousers and exited her bedroom. Raven didn't say anything, she just folded her arms across her chest and tried not to look like she wanted to run out the door. Showing fear was not Raven's style, although she was honestly having a hard time of it over this.

Eeth was sitting on a chair he had taken from the dining table, arms folded across his chest. He gave her a penetrating look and ordered: "Take your pants and underpants down and get over my lap."

Shit! Well, so much for the second pair of trousers she had thought to put on. They would hardly provide extra protection if she had to take them down! And then there was the fact that Eeth would no doubt notice. This was getting worse and worse. Had he changed his mind? She couldn't see the damned thing anywhere, and getting spanked in addition wasn't meant to be on the cards!

Raven was hopeful. "But I thought you said you were going to cane me?" Raven questioned in a tone that sounded far too meek for her liking.

"I will," said Eeth, stony-faced. "But before I do, I will spank you. Now do as I told you or I WILL start adding strokes."

The look on Raven's face was all-telling. She stared at him for a moment, but fortunately for her, she started to comply despite every fibre of her being screaming the opposite. She moved to his side and started pulling down layers of protection. "Master, c'mon. You don't have to spank me. It wasn't my fault, and I promise it won't happen again. Ever!" She felt bad for begging before he'd even started. Still, she was hoping for a last-minute reprieve.

"Padawan, you chose to break the rules," Eeth said sternly. "Now you will have to take the penalty. You should not have pulled your lightsaber. Period. This was a serious transgression, and your punishment will reflect that. I intend to make sure you think very carefully before you ever do something like this again. Now get yourself over my lap. I will not ask you again." He fleetingly noticed the second pair of pants but did not comment. Lakhri had tried that one as well. It was pointless since Eeth never allowed his padawans to keep their trousers on.

Raven sighed at having her begging fall on deaf ears and reluctantly put herself over his lap. She made a token effort at getting comfortable, but if experience had taught her anything, it was that there was nothing at all comfortable about being in this position. She hated it! All the blood rushed to her head, and it was nearly impossible to reach back. Also, if she leaned forward too much, her feet came off the floor, and that was never dignified. Not that there was much of her dignity left at this point.

Without losing a moment, Eeth raised his arm and started spanking his padawan's upturned bottom, hard.

"No matter what the provocation, you are not to engage in unsupervised sparring unless you are absolutely forced to defend your life," he informed her while covering her bottom with rhythmic swats. The warm-up was the only time at which he could realistically remind her of the reasons for this punishment since padawans tended to be too distracted during the main part of it to hear a word of what he was saying.

Raven could just manage a rather unhappy grunt in reply. She squirmed, squeezed her eyes shut tightly and yelped. The pain and humiliation were hard to bear in combination, which was why she was wriggling around, kicking and whining; it hurt! It was supposed to hurt, after all, and Raven saw no reason to pretend it was otherwise. Besides, there was that one occasion when the faster she had started whining, the faster it had been over with. That hadn't worked with Eeth before, but it was still worth pursuing.

Eeth was entirely unimpressed with this strategy. He could distinguish fake whining from serious pain quite well and he knew that Raven was nowhere near where he wanted her. Thus, he continued raining hard and fast spanks onto his padawan's unprotected bottom.

Naturally, there was only so much an eleven-year-old could fake, and it did not take long before Raven's whining, and wriggling became genuine. "Oww! Master, waaait! Stop! It hurts," she complained through sniffling. She wasn't all and out howling, but neither was she happy about this!

Eeth, of course, was not going to do her that favour. The handspanking was only the prelude; it was not nearly sufficient punishment for an incident of unsupervised sparring! When he let up on Raven, it was only to say: "Alright, padawan. Go to the cupboard and bring me the smaller one of the canes."

Still crying, Raven scrambled to her feet and while one hand rubbed furiously, the other yanked up one pair of trousers. Her underpants wedged up her ass crack uncomfortably, but that minor hardship was a mere drop in the ocean of discomfort she felt right now. Raven made a whining noise in response to his orders, all the while doing her best to untangle herself from the extra pair of trousers. She obeyed, though, as the threat of getting extra was not something she wanted Eeth to make good on. She did, however, take her time about it and dragged her feet slowly back to where Eeth sat. If her bottom lip stuck out any further, she would surely fall over it.

"Thank you, padawan," Eeth said perfectly calmly, accepting the cane and rising from the chair. Its back was too high for Raven to bend over. He had done this with Lakhri often enough to know how to create a suitable position, however. "Bare your bottom, bend over and place your elbows on the seat of the chair," he ordered. "Best grip the backrest with your hands."

The last thing Raven wanted to do was turn her back to Eeth while he held a cane, let alone do so with a bare ass! Again, she pushed down the urge to run. Eeth would probably catch her, and if he didn't, she would have to come home sooner or later. She bounced on her toes and reluctantly pulled her trousers and underpants down for the second time! "Masterrrr, don't use that on me… I've learned, I swear I'll never do it again. It hurts too much already," she whined. She wasn't exactly exaggerating either. Although he had only used his hand, he had spanked her hard, and it had hurt!

"I do hope that you have learned," Eeth said, unmoved. "But I still want to make sure this lesson sinks in. Bend over."

In truth, he was not planning on giving her a particularly hard caning, by his standards, since this was her first experience with this implement. He had made the handspanking accordingly harder and therefore was well aware that Raven was already in considerable pain. But the cane was the implement he always used when he really wanted to make a point, and he was not about to make an exception now. Eeth did not like making exceptions at all. He was rather predictable that way although, of course, Raven had as yet little experience that she could have based her predictions on.

Raven was struggling to obey here. "Wait, I'll do extra meditation, or you could ground me for a month even…" she bargained desperately and rubbed a tear away with her shoulder. Not many things frightened Raven. However, she had seen her peers caned before and had thus developed a healthy amount of fear for the thing.

"I am not in the habit of letting my padawans vote on the way they are punished," Eeth replied firmly. "That will be one extra. Two if I do not find you in position in ten seconds."

"Aww nooo!" Raven complained, but stopped with the bouncing around all the same. She didn't want any more! In fact, she didn't know how many one extra would make it! Sniffling, Raven put her elbows on the seat of the chair and gripped the backrest of the chair like it was a life preserver.

Eeth moved to stand next to Raven, let the cane rest on her bottom briefly, then raised it and brought it down onto the centre of her buttocks quickly, but not remotely at full force. Without pausing, he delivered two more fast strokes, moving down towards her sit spot. Since this was Raven's first experience with the cane, he did not know whether she was going to be able to maintain her position if he drew it out any longer than necessary.

Raven heard a faint whooshing sound, followed by a sharp crack and then… nothing? He hadn't missed his target because she had felt a… "Ahhhoooch!" FUCK! At first there had been only a mild sting, but then it burned, white-hot, and an ache bloomed from two inches deep, radiating across her entire bottom! It was the worst pain Raven had ever felt …And then Eeth landed a second! This was unbearable; just as the pain from the previous stroke peeked, the next cracked down! "I'm sorrreeee! I'm sorreee!" Raven howled, anything if it would make him stop. She was no wimp. She had experienced some pretty serious punishments before, but this? This topped them all.

Eeth hardened himself against his padawan's howls and proceeded to raise the cane again. He brought it down onto Raven's bottom another three times in quick succession, increasing the force behind his blows just very slightly - first onto the lowest part of her bottom, then onto the crease where the bottom met her thighs, and last onto her upper thighs. He waited for a moment until Raven's howls had died down a little and said: "That was your punishment for your unauthorised sparring match. Now for the extra stroke you earned for dawdling."

By this stage Raven was barely able to keep from jumping up and bolting for her bedroom. Her elbows had come off the chair several times and she was squirming, flitting from foot to foot. This hurt more than anything, and the last thing she wanted to hear was that there was still another one coming.

Eeth aimed this stroke at the centre of Raven's bottom, at moderate force, although he doubted she was going to be able to tell the difference right now. Then he laid the cane onto the table and waited for her to regain her composure.

Composure and Raven were not on speaking terms. The shame she felt over openly bawling like a toddler was only overshadowed by the pain that seemed to be dominating her entire back end. She stood slowly and reached back to rub, only to realise fast that rubbing cane welts did nothing to alleviate the pain; it just made it burn worse! Utterly miserable and still bawling the padawan buried her face in her sleeve and sobbed. Had he meant to make it hurt that badly?! It was unbearable. Maybe he was planning to take her back to the creche? These thoughts only made her sobs intensify.

"Padawan, calm down," Eeth said quite gently and pulled her into a slightly awkward but genuine hug. "I know it hurts."

Raven hadn't forgiven Eeth for causing her so much pain, but she still went willingly into his arms and accepted the comfort. That it was awkward on his part went completely unnoticed to the padawan who was focussing on nothing other than the pain that was throbbing and thumping with each beat of her heart. "D-don't send m-me back t-to the c-cre-che," she managed to get out between sobs.

Eeth frowned. "What gives you the idea that I want to send you back to the crèche?" he asked. "Because I disciplined you? The Temple would be void of padawans if we all followed that logic. Now I want you to meditate for twenty minutes. If you make an appropriate effort, I will provide some healing afterward."

Yes, that was exactly why. It had been the hiding of her life! "I figured y-you wouldn't want me anymore, because I disappointed you, a-and, you made it hurt that much!" Raven was finally starting to win the battle, and her sobs were calming down.

"Disappointed?" Eeth asked, surprised. "Disappointment has nothing to do with this, padawan. I disciplined you in order to help you make better choices in the future, not because I was disappointed in you. I fully expect you to make your share of mistakes, like all apprentices do – and you can fully expect to be called to task for them. As I said earlier, your actions were understandable, albeit not excusable. Now meditate."

How the Force Eeth expected her to meditate while she was in this state was beyond her. Okay, so by this point Raven had gotten her sobs under control, but her breath was still catching in her chest and her backside, well, it was never going to forgive her. Ever! It burned, ached, throbbed and stung all at the same time. Unwilling to question him, Raven yanked up her trousers only to wince and pull the fabric away. That was not at all pleasant, but she had experienced far worse just moments ago. "What do I have to meditate on?" she managed to get out with any words catching in her chest.

"When I ask you to meditate after a punishment," Eeth said, "I will want you to reflect on the choices that brought it about and on what you might do to avoid them in the future."

Raven sniffled and hitched her way to her meditation mat, blew her nose on the extra pair of trousers —at least they had come in handy for something — and fell onto her belly, her head buried in the crook of an elbow.

Eeth left her to it. He did not care in what position Raven meditated as long as she did it. He monitored her through the Force, though, to make sure that she was actually meditating, rather than sulking or waiting out the twenty minutes.

It took Raven a few minutes to find her focus. Focus seemed elusive at the best of times, let alone when she was in significant pain. At least he was not going to return her to the creche#, that was one less thing she had to agonise over. Ten minutes passed in which she made a valiant effort at concentrating. However, the comfortable position coupled with the stress of the whole ordeal had her drifting off not long after that.

Eeth would have none of that, of course. He sent her the equivalent of a prod through their bond, which had her eyes opening immediately.

"Padawan," he said out loud, "I asked you to meditate, not to sleep. Your twenty minutes are not up yet." He said it quite gently, though. He knew that this was most likely Raven's first time doing this on a sore bottom and that she had trouble focussing at the best of times. He did not expect perfection, merely a decent effort.

"How much longer?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but all the wailing coupled with the stress of the last two days was catching up on her.

"Ten more minutes," said Eeth. "Provided you do use them to meditate, rather than take a nap." His words had no sting to them, however.

Ten minutes was going to feel like ten hours, and Raven's piteous expression said as much. Still, she thought sitting up might help, and so she moved to sit on her heels. That was a mistake; it hurt, and she was up off them again immediately. Kneeling was uncomfortable, so she bunched the extra pair of trousers and knelt; this wasn't perfect, but at least she was not going to fall asleep.

Eeth did some chores around the household in the meantime. When the ten minutes were up, he came to release Raven who was kneeling on an extra pair of trousers, her head resting on the wall.

"You may get up now," he said. "Lie down on the couch and bare your bottom. I will provide some healing. You are still going to feel this for a while, but I want you to be able to sit down."

Raven stood, stiffly, and rubbed at her knees. The pain had settled into a deep, smouldering ache that radiated across Raven's entire back end, but at least it was no longer building. Small mercies.

Her trousers hurt coming down, but it was nothing compared to what had caused it in the first place. Thus, she sucked it up and twisted to check the state of her poor backside. Much to her surprise, it was not the brutally battered, bloody mess she had expected would result from enduring that amount of pain! In fact, there were seven red welts, some were raised more than others, but none of them were the war wounds she had expected. Apparently, Eeth had somehow managed to make it hurt like she was being murdered without leaving her with anything worthy of such pain to show for it. Raven frowned, pulling her tunic further up her back to double check.

"Yes, you are still in one piece," Eeth informed Raven. "And the pain will be bearable after I have provided some healing. If you want that healing, you had better lie down, though."

She did! Raven lay on the couch, her neck craned to see how he planned on doing this.

Eeth frequently used his healing abilities in order to ease the pain after dealing out one of his harsher punishments. He did not believe that the additional ordeal of having to sit on cane welts for days would add anything useful to the discipline he had meted out. Even though this caning did not qualify as particularly severe to him, he knew that Raven was in a lot of pain right now.

After about ten minutes of silence, in which the pain had reduced significantly, Raven asked: "Did you discipline Lakhri like that?" She had used his wording, although the term 'discipline' felt far too much like something being done for her own good; Raven wasn't quite ready to forgive, forget and accept just yet.

"Yes, I did," Eeth replied. "And just so you know, this was not the harshest punishment I could have given you. The cane will be reserved for serious infractions, though."

He rose from his kneeling position and motioned for her to get up.

Raven obeyed and stood noticing that she still hurt, but it was nothing like the ache that had been there before. "Not the harshest?" Raven wasn't sure if she wanted to hear how he could one up that, but she asked anyway. "What could be worse than that?"

"Let us hope you will not have to find out," Eeth said calmly. "Suffice it to say that I held back considerably. This time."

The look Raven gave him was priceless. If that was holding back, she couldn't fathom what it would feel like if he really gave her what for. Tentatively, she asked: "Did you, you know? Um, ever not hold back with Lakhri?" She had her reasons for asking. The insecurities Rayan had planted had her wondering if being that harsh was just because she was failing.

"I have always held back somewhat," Eeth said. "After all, there is only so much human skin can take without breaking. But there are different degrees of severity. With Lakhri, I have been harsher than I have been with you right now on many occasions. Sometimes too harsh, regretfully. Now finish unpacking your things if you have not done so already. After that, you will do some school work. You do not have to go to classes today but you will need to look at the lessons you are missing. This afternoon, we will go swimming as I promised." He had been honest in answering her question about Lakhri but that did not mean he liked to talk about his previous failures as a master any more than necessary.

Raven pulled up her trousers, again noticing that it didn't hurt as badly as it had before. The idea of homework didn't thrill her, it never had, but Raven obeyed all the same.

Unpacking did not take very long. Eeth had packed enough to last her, but not too much. She splashed her face with water in an effort at cleaning herself up a little; there even was snot in her hair! Raven was usually quite a pretty child. At the moment, though, her eyes were red and puffy, her face was patchy, and her hair looked like a gundark nest. Eventually, she got herself sorted out and wandered out to their common room, data pad in hand. Ordinarily, she would do her homework at the dining room table, but today she lay on the couch and began working from there.

Eeth did not mind her position, as long as the work got done. He needed to leave Raven to her own devices, anyway, because a Council meeting had been called during which, among other issues, Rayan's future within the Order was going to be discussed.

"Meet me at the dining hall for lunch," he told Raven. "I do not know exactly how long the meeting is going to take. I will call you when it is finished. Probably around one thirty."

"Yes, master," Raven replied, looking up from her data pad. She knew what was expected of her, and so when Eeth left, his cloak billowing behind him, Raven kept at her homework until it was done. What little was left of her morning after that was spent finishing chores that hadn't been done while she was in the healer's ward. Then, as promised, Eeth contacted her, and they arranged to meet for lunch. Their visit to the pools that afternoon was fun, even if Eeth had said that it was training… Raven enjoyed it despite not being allowed on the slides thanks to her recently broken arm.

That evening Raven sat on the couch watching holo, yawning. It was only eight o'clock, though, and far too early for a padawan to go to bed regardless of what had happened during the day or how tired she actually felt.

Unfortunately for Raven, Eeth did not agree. "Padawan, I think you should go to bed," he said as he heard her surreptitiously suppress a yawn. "The pain killers are still affecting your system and you have had an exhausting couple of days. We will put in a short meditation and then you will get some sleep."

"I wasn't yawning because I am tired and need to go to bed. It's only eight, not even initiates go to bed that early," Raven said, getting to her knees and flopping her side into the back rest of the couch so that she could see Eeth seated at their dining room table.

"I am sure they do when they break their arm, receive treatment and are exhausted," Eeth replied firmly, looking up at her. "And you are. Do not try to deny it."

Raven let her arms flop over the back of the couch. "Maybe. But can't I stay up for just another ten minutes?" This wasn't about what she needed, but about her padawan pride.

"You," said Eeth, who surmised as much, "will get ready for bed. Now. Be back here in ten minutes."

"Aww…" But that was the extent of her protestations. After today, Raven was utterly unwilling to disobey or push Eeth too far. Thus, before Eeth could comment further, Raven had flicked off the holo projection and was in her refresher getting ready for bed.

Exactly ten minutes later, Raven padded out into their common room dressed in a sleep shirt and underpants. It was only ten past eight, but she did not complain. Instead, she sat (a little carefully) on the chair opposite Eeth and tried to feign interest in whatever it was that he was doing.

Eeth finished the sentence he was writing and put the datapad down. "Would you like to meditate on the balcony?" he asked.

"So, I can't stay up but I can meditate? What lengths must I go to in order to get out of meditation?!" Raven wanted to know.

"You will not get out of it at all unless you catch the Corellian flu," Eeth said drily. "And I would not recommend that. Meditation is really preferable.

"Says you." Raven was teasing him, although she wasn't sure how much cheek would be wise at this point in time.

"Meditation, padawan," Eeth said firmly. "Then bed."

"Bully." It was said quietly, and with a smile on her face. Raven didn't mind meditating with him, although the sitting still part was trying.

A quarter of an hour later, Eeth came to tuck her in. He felt that he probably ought to make sure that she was coping well with the rather harsh punishment she had received.

"I hope you do not regret your decision to become my padawan," he said quietly while she was settling down under her blanket. He still suspected that Lakhri had, at this point of his apprenticeship, although the man had vehemently denied it when they had once talked about this.

Raven shot him a quizzical look before reaching up tentatively and hugging him. It was a brave move as it had not gone unnoticed to her that affection was something he found uncomfortable. "I'm proud to be your padawan, master. I want to be like you." She hoped he would sense her gratitude and not the insecurities buried beneath it.

"Thank you, padawan," Eeth said gravely, returning the hug a little stiffly, but sincerely. "I am sure you will once become a knight I will be proud of. Now sleep well."

"Yes mas-ter," Raven replied through a yawn.

She could hear him rustling about in the common room. Probably doing more work for the Council or something, she thought. Her life had changed so much over the last month that at first, it all seemed like overload. Now it was becoming routine, and with that came the comfort of familiarity.