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High General Yoda was... an interesting person. Bacara was not used to being impressed by anyone other than his General, but it was fair to say that when he had learned in a random personal confession that this Jedi had been General Mundi's tutor, he had expected exceptional things of him.
That was his first opinion of him.
The second, during their meeting, had been more... disappointing, yeah, that was the word. He was an old man and, and no matter how much of a strategist he might be, he could not keep up with the intense and demanding pace that his own Jedi could.
When he learned that it was this Jedi who had come to Kamino for the first battle of Geonosis, however, his esteem had very paradoxically soared. Old, but not impotent, and he certainly had a lot of courage and dedication, essential qualities in his eyes.
Until this deployment, that was his final opinion: a man of great ability but whose best years were behind him.
How could he possibly express how wrong he had been?
General Yoda, beneath his elderly exterior, was a seasoned fighter whose speed was matched only by his experience. He did not hesitate to use his size to his advantage or to think outside the box to come up with unconventional solutions, and had even hatched an escape mission with his former Padawan that was so improbable that even Skywalker could learn from it.
He really was something else.
Everyone had their limits though, and it seemed that the little green Jedi had found his, slowing down and leaning more and more on his cane until Bacara could feel in a shiver of macabre foreboding that they were going way too slow. They were trying to find General Yoda's troops on the other side of that bloody mountain, and while their pursuers were slower than the fastest droids they might have come across, they were not so slow or incapable that they could not catch up with a tired little old man whose walking pace was decreasing.
In a single glance, Bacara and his General shared the same realisation, and not for the first time Bacara was truly happy to have had this pragmatic and responsive Jedi and not another, even if the expression of their temperaments sometimes lead to explosive arguments. They were just too devilishly efficient and demanding, even if the Jedi tried to smooth the rough edges where Bacarra did not care.
"Master Yoda, allow me to carry you, we must absolutely speed up."
"I'm not that old. I can do it."
Credit where it is due: he had done it, and without complaint. And since, he had been asleep, the minute they had chosen a place to make a short stop, he had sat down and passed out on the spot. Talk about willpower.
While Bacara gave orders and deployed troops to go off to reconnoitre to ensure that they would never be surprised, General Mundi communicated with General Unduli on the other side using an archaic and completely analogue method of communication that was undetected by the droids and in any case encoded with a code known only to the Jedi. They were temporarily safe, so they should be able to get through.
When the clone Commander returned to his General for his situation report, he discovered something he had not expected from someone as rarely emotional as his immediate superior. Not that he was mean, on the contrary, he was always a man of great respect, morality and justice, but... he was not exactly gentle.
The Cerean sat cross-legged and tapped with a rhythm known only to himself on his machine, listening carefully for answers before starting again, and this was expected, yet he had also nonchalantly, almost without thinking, retrieved his old Master to lie him in his huge folded cloak, letting him use his ankle – also covered by the cloak to soften the bony sensation – as a pillow.
His unused left hand was also resting on the old Jedi's body, making it all the more obvious how small the Jedi was. When General Mundi noticed him, he raised the little finger of his right hand, since the index finger was occupied, to signal him to wait, finishing a transmission and apparently listening to the reply before moving to remove his headphones, greeting him with a familiar nod. Bacarra sometimes received thirty polite nods a day, the Jedi seemed to spend their time bowing respectfully. It was endearing, in a strange natborn way.
"Anything to report?"
The clone did not even need to ask why the man with the usually calm and detached voice was speaking even more softly than usual, he had an immediate answer because Master Yoda twitched in his sleep without waking up, unconsciously grasping the index finger of Master Mundi's left hand which, much to his surprise, did not react.
Bacarra did not think it was an exaggeration to think that his High General was even less tactile than he was emotional. He had emotions like everyone else, sure, but he forced himself to keep them private and not to base his decisions on them – thank Force osik for him, if he had had Skywalker, Bacara might already have given up. The same could not be said of his physical contact with people.
And yet he said nothing, even passing his thumb very gently over the sleeping man's bald head without even looking. As if he did not even notice what was happening.
As if it was natural, and maybe it was.
"No, nothing". Bacarra replied as quietly as possible, saluting briefly before withdrawing, spreading an order not to go and disturb the two isolated Jedi.
There was nothing for them to see.