Padawan Bayrod Betu straightened his robes and shook out his shoulders to relax himself while preparing to push the com button on the side of his mistress' door. He had been summoned mentally earlier by her in lightsaber training. Her command came as he was trying to feint with one saber and pull the other one up and over as a distraction. As he thought this, his face buried in his hands, he smiled foolishly. Instead, it just went all to the moons of Helidor. He watched as the sabers crashed into the walls and fizzled out. Mace Windu, himself, came over and questioned him about his lack of control. He could only bow his head and accept the rebuke. Mentally, he returned a terse, "Yes, Ma'am, after this lesson" to his mistress. She had already moved onto other things but he was positive she received his message.
Here Bayrod stood, all sixteen years and two meters of him, kinda afraid to go in and see what she wanted with him. He had been afraid of her ever since he realized that the maternal feelings he had for her all his life had blossomed into so much more. Bayrod didn't remember his real mother the Jedi Council had sensed his potential while he was in the womb, so he was taken away from her as soon as he was weaned. The only thing he ever remembered was his mistress, Xeira Chamtete, her impossibly long brown hair, dusty green eyes like a pool that went without use for the summer months, her long fingers that played the harp so masterfully and could calm him with their touch. He loved her but he feared her. She was a little over a meter and a half of pure force of nature, her calmness gone when she was angry or annoyed with something, which gratefully wasn't often.
He pushed the button and at the same time, she projected into his mind, "I have been sitting here for five minutes watching you fuss about and work up the courage to come in here." "Yes, ma'am," he gave back. The door opened efficiently and he stepped through, still in wonder after all his years of her surroundings. Xeira had tried to make her chamber look as much as the seaside village from which she hailed. The floor covering was sandy but stable and the colors were immediately calming to him; all greens, blues and soft browns. He breathed deeply for no one else when to this much trouble for themselves, he thought. She was a little vain of the fact of it and allowed him to center himself in the Force.
He opened his large brown eyes and focused on her, asking without words, what was it she needed him for. His sneer betrayed the loyalty in the words and his half bow was committed too hastily to be genuine. She turned around, ruffling her robes and showed him her back, straight with a narrow waist. His face and demeanor immediately softened, he rushed to her side, taking the hem of her robes to his lips and kissing them as he had when he was a child. As a Jedi, he couldn't show the love he had for her but he conveyed in these gestures quite appropriately. Her hand reached out and tousled his Padawan braids, then to the top of his head, rubbing it gently, thoroughly. Bayrod loved this, her long fingers massaging his scalp through his short hair, this is all he ever wanted today and basked in it totally. He continued to kiss the hem of her robes as she spoke to him.
"Bayrod, your studies have dropped sightly and Master Windu asked me to speak to you about this. He is afraid that you have other diversions of attention and are allowing them to take your focus away from your studies, is this true?" She looked out the window to the Council Square as she spoke, speeders and hovercraft flitted by speedily. Only you, he thought quickly, but knew enough not to project it. When he spoke his voice wavered uncertainly; he hated that. "I will admit that my studies have declined because of something taking my attentions away from them, but it is an old affliction and I will do my best to pay better attention from now on." His lips returned to her dress, just slightly higher this time, he smiled at his nerve. Xeira continued to massage his scalp thoughtfully as they sat in silence.