Zander collapsed lethargically on the futon, his sweat making his eyesight go askew.
For five minutes he concentrated only on breathing, too tired to pry himself from the comfort of the padded piece of furniture. When at last he found the energy to sit up, he saw his mother threw the window coming up with walk, then he caught a fuzzy glimpse of someone beside her.  He rubbed his eyes, clearing his vision. It was his father.

Zander’s eyes widened, what was he doing away from his academy? Didn’t he have Jedi trainees to instruct?

Becoming suddenly remindful of the way he looked, Zander attempted to comb his hair with his fingers, and hide the traces of sweat.  But all was done in vain, for he still stuck badly, and was extremely burnt.

Jaden looked over at his son in shock, “What have you been doing?” he asked.

Zander shrugged a little, “I just went running for a while,” he answered, for partially it was the truth.  He moved to another topic of discussion hastily, in order to keep any of them from asking questions. “Are you on vacation?”

Jaden favored him with a smile, “Not exactly.  Your mother convinced me that we needed to have a father-son talk.”

Zander looked at Krysta inquisitively, “What’d I do?  Is this about the race last month?”

“What race?” Jaden asked, looking from his son to his wife.

“No race, it’s not important,” Zander answered quickly.

Jaden again looked at his wife, who sighed and, staring at Zander, told him that she would tell him about it later.

Jaden eyed his son over for a while, then forced the question into the back of his mind.  “Come on,” he said softly, leading Zander to his room.

He gently sat his son on the edge of the bed and was about to speak, but stopped short and shook his head.  “Son, go clean yourself,” he said laughing and gesturing towards the bathroom.

When Zander came out of the bathroom, he found his father sitting on the edge of the bed, gesturing for him to come and sit beside him.  He did so curiously, what was he going to talk to him about?

Zander’s inquiring gaze told Jaden that he should start talking. He exhaled calmly, and looked down at his son.  He didn’t particularly like having to talk about this, but Zander had to hear about this from someone. Exhaling a final, calm breath, he began.

“Well, Zander, you’re body has probably been undergoing a lot of changes, and I think that it’s time I explained some of them to you.” He paused, taking another moment to breathe.

Zander cocked his head a bit, feeling a bit of impending doom overcome him. Something told him that he wasn’t going to like this discussion…

“Some of the reactions to your bodies’ changes can be embarrassing, but they are normal and happen to everyone.  Anyway, a certain body part is effected. It hardens, and erects from time to time, but…”

Zander’s face went pale as the sudden realization struck him. His eyes widened with dismay, and for a while he couldn’t speak. Exhaling, he forced himself calm down, and look up at Jaden. “Dad…”

Jaden waved a hand to quiet him, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, I just want you to understand what’s happening to you.  While these physical changes occur, there are changes occurring in your body.  A substance called sperm develops in that area, it’s purpose I’ll explain to you when you’re a little older…”

Zander held his forehead in his palms, trying his best to block out the conversation his father was pursuing. The things that Jaden was telling him were things he all ready knew, and things that he did not want to hear from his father. He nearly collapsed from exasperation as his father drowned on and on about puberty.

Finally, Jaden let him go; believing that he had done a good job of helping him.

Zander closed the door behind him, sinking to the metallic floor of his bedroom.
As much as he had tried to stop his father’s explanations, he couldn’t have, Jaden
didn’t let him get a word in edgewise.

As he crawled to his bed to rest for the day ahead, he promised himself that if his father came home for no particular reason, he would avoid him. With resignation he fell back into his pillows, somehow unable to avoid the sinking feeling that he was destined for leather pants.