Chapter Text
Mace looks at the students, everyone diligently moving through the parts of the kata. Since the knighting of his own padawan Deepa, he has assumed a more prominent role in lightsaber training for older initiates.
A suggestion by his own master Yoda. The old master himself is greatly involved in training the younglings and has done so for centuries “Passing on what we have learned we must”. The words are ringing in his head while he lets his eyes wander on the stance and movement of the young force users.
He stops at Anakin Skywalker. He sees how Skywalker shifts his weight from one foot to the other and performs the next sequence of strokes and a backward flip that ends with a block with his eyes closed. He is fully immersed in the force. While he is a padawan to the young Knight Kenobi, the council has agreed that he should train with other initiates of the same age to catch up. And then enroll in the advanced courses for Padawans.
The boy has been in the temple for some time and has shown extraordinary improvement for somebody only training for a year. He is already on the same skill level as the other Initiates, sometimes even surpassing them. And while his own concerns over the boy remain, even he must admit that Skywalker has a natural talent, rarely seen in the temple.
At least in terms of his physical education. in terms of meditation, he heard the boy struggled. Maybe another sign of the uncertain future that lies ahead of Anakin Skywalker.
Before he can dwell any longer on the subject of Anakin Skywalker, he looks at the doors as they open. Jedi Knight Kit Fisto enters the room and makes his way to the end of the room where Mace stands. Mace feels how the concentration in many of the students falters and notices how some try to glance subtle at the nautolan.
“Resume the kata.” He says into the room while shifting his focus to the newcomer, with a raised eyebrow.
“Master Windu, please excuse my intrusion” The knight exclaims with a big smile that does not particularly speak of remorse for the interruption. But Kit Fisto is a cheerful individual, so the grin is not surprising.
“Of course, how can I help you Knight Fisto?” he responds.
“Since I have to departure today for my mission to Dac that will probably take a few months, we have to reschedule the underwater training for this class.” He had forgotten about that one, Mace muses and strokes his chin. He remembers now looking over the report and assigning the nautolan and his Padawan to that mission.
“That will be no problem, I will look for a new date in the swimming halls and will inform you when you come back.” Fighting underwater is not his strong suit and he found that Fisto is not only unsurprisingly an excellent Swordsman underwater, but also a skilled teacher.
“Underwater? Doesn’t a lightsaber short circuit in the water?” comes a question from the left and both Master and Knight look over to Anakin Skywalker, who is holding his still ignited training saber seemingly forgotten in his right hand.
Before Mace could say anything about concentration and the importance of lightsaber safety the voice of the man next to him speaks up
„Excellent question young Skywalker” -Mace is not surprised that Fisto knows the name of the boy, Skywalker was quite the source of conversation, when he came to the temple, whispers of prophecies and the Chosen one, something Mace himself still doubts - “To use a lightsaber underwater you have to modify it. But the training lightsabers already have a waterproof casing, so you won’t have to worry about that.” He explains.
Mace is fairly sure Skywalker could modify a lightsaber to be waterproof if he would be allowed near a real one. He had already met at least a dozen of his so-called improved droids to his own annoyance. He is clearly gifted in mechanics.
“But how can we fight underwater, if we can’t breathe underwater Master?” Initiate Yara Nu a young girl right next to Skywalker asks with a frown on her face. Most of the students have stopped by now and are more interested in the conservation than in their kata. Mace notices this with dismay.
“You will get a respirator or you have to hold your breath for a bit.” Kit Fisto answers with a smirk, clearly amused by the questions of the students. Not aware that Mace Windu has tried to bring the younglings in a meditative state by letting them practice for the last half an hour in silence.
“You don’t have to worry about that for now.” Intercepts Mace, before the other young students can chime in with their own questions. “In the lessons with Master Fisto will be enough time for all of your questions. Now everyone will do the rest of their kata and then we will start dueling.”
With that, the younglings start again, not with concentration, but with growing anticipation to fight. He had wanted them to go in a duel as calm as possible, but that seems out of question now. Well at least he would be able to see, who would need help to immerse themselves in the force quickly and could implement some quick meditation techniques.
With that in mind, he begins to turn to the Jedi Knight, when he notices that Skywalker is still looking at them with a tilted head. He is about to remind the boy of the kata, as he starts to settle back into the stance. The next sequence of the kata is still technically correct but lacks the finesse of before.
He locks at the nautolan next to him, who is watching first the younglings and then Mace with an amused look on his face. They begin walking out of the training hall together.
Outside of the door, they exchange a few more words of planning. With a quick “May the force be with you” he watches Fisto walk away, before returning to the training room.
With a smile, he notices that a few of the Initiates have already begun to sink deep into the force again.
And when the time for the duel comes most of his students, perform their newly learned parries and strikes while being connected to the force.
To his surprise Skywalker, who never really struggled to connect to the force, while lightsaber practice struggles the most. His defense is sloppy and slower than usual. His attacks seem weaker and not as precise.
Mace even has to correct his stance that was near perfect during the kata.
When he dismisses the class of the younglings, the boy practically flees out of the room
He makes a mental note to speak to Kenobi about his padawan's unusual behavior when he sees the man next time.