Eeth Koth, Jedi Master: Learning Self-Restraint

[Livia Yoran]

"I am already taking it a lot easier than I would like," Eeth replied severely. "That does not mean I cannot make tea or prepare porridge. Besides, you were still asleep. And I will be able to rest during the whole morning while you are at school. Now, might we perform our morning meditation or do you have any objections to that as well?"

[Raven.]

Raven’s frown deepened. “you’re meant to be resting. Getting up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast isn’t exactly taking it easy, and no, I don’t think we should do our morning meditation, I think you should eat breakfast and go back to sleep,” she told him in a stern tone. Raven knew it was pushing it, but well, she was concerned, and perhaps enjoying the opportunity to boss him around a little.

[Livia Yoran]

Eeth, however, was not prepared to let his padawan boss him around. He wanted to return to his usual routine as fast as possible, and he felt that Raven needed him to as well. What was more, he knew himself to be perfectly capable of heeding the healers’ advice without her intervention. These thoughts showed in the glare he was now levelling at her.

“Padawan, you are not going to tell me what to do and what not to do,” he said in a dangerously low tone of voice. “If you seriously think my illness is an excuse for you to get out of your morning meditation, think again. I am definitely not too weak to meditate, and even if I were, I would be able to find that out for myself. There is no need for you to organise my schedule.”

He pointed at their meditation mats, the look on his face clearly telling her that if there was one more attempt at backtalk, his paddle was coming out. A paddle that he had resumed wearing in his belt as per this morning.

[Raven.]

The padawan paled.

Squared stance and rigid posture, check, withering glare, check, deceptively calm and low tone of voice, check. Yep all the signs were there, right down to the slightly furrowed brow. Raven was quite certain that if she continued along this path it would end painfully. She opened her mouth to give the expected compliant response, then took in his ashen appearance and thought again. Perhaps he was not physically able to bust her ass right now, or simply inclined to be more lenient with her given he was ill and her motivations were primarily about his health and well-being? She held his stern gaze for a long moment, her own posture squared, then guilt at her thoughts – not to mention past experiences with her master’s considerable endurance in the most extreme of situations – overrode her stubbornness. “Yes, Master. Sorry,” she acquiesced, her gaze now focused on his boots.

[Livia Yoran]

Keeping up with their ordinary morning schedule was demanding, Eeth had to admit; but since he knew that he would have ample opportunity to rest once Raven had left for school, he was not overly concerned. Besides, meditation, far from exhausting his energy reserves, was actually helpful. He had got used to drawing on the Force whenever he felt the need as a very small child, living on the streets of Nar Shaddaa, and the habit had never left him. Feeling considerably strengthened after their morning meditation, he was well able to make it through breakfast and even to clear the table.

[Raven.]

Eeth’s simple nod of acceptance was welcomed. It meant that she had read the signs correctly and managed to placate him before getting herself in deep shit. Deep shit was something the padawan diligently tried to avoid, besides, he really was sick and she didn’t want to add to his woes.

Meditation had come hard to the restless girl, she had trouble keeping still, was flighty, fidgety and generally an energetic personality. It wasn’t until the Jedi Council needed her to access their training bond to ascertain Eeth’s life status during a mission, that she managed to make serious progress. In fact, her hard-won success during that time of crisis had been the event that prompted the man to allow his apprentice to construct her first lightsaber.

Now days Raven enjoyed most meditation, although at times it could be compared to getting a small child into a bath; can’t get them in, then can’t get them out. Today was one such day. Eeth was able to hide the extent of his illness outwardly, but during meditation Raven could see the toll this was taking on him, conversely, she could also see that he was making a serious effort not to overtax himself, despite the frustration this was causing. She was reluctant to leave the meditation when Eeth called it to an end, her reasoning being that she wanted to help him heal, not that the twelve-year-old could offer much. Still….

The rest of their morning was routine, Raven did her chores with her usual animated chatter, then once ready to leave moved to stand before him. “Can I go?” she asked, quickly brushing off a strand of red cotton from her bedspread that had stuck to her lapel.

[Livia Yoran]

"Yes, you may," said Eeth, giving her a small smile. Once she was out the door, he left the dishes for later in favour of going back to bed and getting some more sleep.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Eeth went to see the healers as per instruction a little before lunch. His progress was declared satisfactory; in fact, he thought he already needed a little less sleep than he had yesterday. Still, he allowed Lakhri to send him off to take a nap while Raven and Lakhri went to the gym to work on Force-enhanced running; in return, he helped Raven with her homework after that. By the time she had gone to bed, he felt about ready to collapse himself; but he was glad to have survived a fairly normal day without significant problems.

[Raven.]

The following day went much the same, the only difference being that the girl got up early in an effort to make him breakfast in bed. This failed spectacularly though, as the bleary-eyed, sleep bedraggled apprentice practically fell over him on her way to his room, Apparently, Eeth was already up and was in a deep healing trance.

It was nice having Lakhri around, he was her comic relief, the easy-going petunia in what could be at times considered a bit of an onion patch, and mostly, a good friend who, although was in a position of authority, was the closest thing to a sibling relationship the Order provided.

That evening Raven was sent packing after dinner to study for next weeks finals, their cycle was almost up which meant it was time to put in some serious revision. Unsurprisingly, this was not the academic-allergic padawan's favourite of times, still she obeyed, not needing more than a flippant reminder from Lakhri that she had earned this remedial math class for failing to study last time. A comment that was reinforced with a glare from her master and an order to go study. Now.

Lakhri had stuck around long enough to help her with some of her math, then Eeth had taken over when the man had to leave to prepare for his own class the following day.


*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*Eeth Koth, Jedi Master: Learning Self-Restraint *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*


“You’re feeling better,” Raven announced the next morning over breakfast. Eeth had been home for three days now and although he was still far from recovered, his colour was beginning to return.

[Livia Yoran]

“I am,” Eeth affirmed. “I might not actually have to go back to bed once you have left for school. I will make use of the time to catch up on galactic events. Oh, and I have booked us the obstacle course for this afternoon. Lakhri will not be around since he has to teach a full-day mission preparation class for senior padawans, so we need to do something that I will be able to coach you through without physically exerting myself. Please come home right after lunch so you can put in some revision before we leave.”

[Raven.]

If he was referring to the obstacle course she was thinking of, it was one of her favourite gym activities! It was fraught with challenges, everything from crawling through mud pits to scaling Force sensitive trees to obtain specific markers needed to progress to the next level. The mention of study, however, wasn’t as well received. Still, she nodded her compliance and after being sent back to redo her braid once, left for the days classes.

Unbeknownst to Raven, today was not going to be a typical day as classes went. Usually she met with her friends, they found a spot to sit and worked. Boring. Given that finals for this cycle were just a week away, their Math and Basic teachers had decided to do things a little differently, today their two classes were going to be combined. A double practical lesson where they would get to use the theories and skills they’d learned in real situations. Raven could not be happier, in fact, anything that got her out of the classroom was cause for a mini celebration in her opinion.

“Wow, I never would have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, a practical use for algebra outside of astrophysics,” Raven quipped, garnering several nods from her small group as they made their way back to the classroom to write up their notes.
“And acronyms! Oh, speaking of practical applications,” Bindi, a Falleen girl who Raven had befriended during her first month as an apprentice, started. “My master just got back from her mission and she bought me a new holo game, it’s a learning game of course, meant to help me with my B’tnor. You’re all welcome to come and play it with me if you like,” she told the group.

“Count me in, I’m taking B’tnor also, it’s a Sith of a language,” said Fae’lin, a small changeling child who despite being a couple of years younger was in Ravens Basic class and remedial class this cycle.

Raven nodded, she was ‘in’ also, the only challenge now would be convincing Eeth to let her exchange their study session with this one. While everyone was making the relevant calls to gain permission, Raven punched in the code for Eeth’s private commlink and waited. She wasn’t kept waiting long and soon a small holographic image of a rather tired looking Zabrak hovered above her palm.

“Master,” she greeted him, inclining her head slightly. “Some friends are going to Bindi’s to study, can I go too, I will be back in time for our gym session, promise?” she requested, trying hard not to fidget and deliberately leaving out the fact that they would be studying a subject she was not taking.