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Ki-Adi was starting to get genuinely tired, yet he could not afford to stop walking now, so he kept putting one foot in front of the other despite the fact that "now" had started almost two hours earlier and two hours surrounded by geysers of boiling water that were in danger of exploding beneath him seemed like an eternity.
And he would not even mention the toxic gas around them, because at least he was not the one managing that part.
"When are we going to get out of here?"
"The estimation is around thirty minutes, maybe more, maybe less", his Commander replied beside him with a rare tiredness, not even making a sound as he slipped on a smooth, slippery piece of rock, ready to collapse any second, held up only by Ki-Adi who grabbed his arm and lifted him to his feet.
"Keep going, we're almost there."
The mission had been a success, Droïdeka production would be severely hampered in the long term thanks to their sabotage, now all they had to do was make their escape and get back in one piece. Well, apart from Lil who had unfortunately lost several fingers to a very badly injured hand that would probably be amputated, but apart from that, they were all fine, and the clone would be treated with the best equipment, so it was fine.
In the hope that the soldier would see things the same way, he was well aware that his opinion was biased: the Jedi were used to the idea that an amputation other than to the head was not such a big deal, and they had high-performance prostheses and a history full of battles where sliced hands, arms, feet and legs were unfortunately commonplace.
"If the youngsters could just gather together a little more..."
"Please form a closely grouped unit!" Ki-Adi relayed, wasting no time, only stopping to check that his belt was still firmly fastened across his chest and that Master Yoda was still stable behind his back, glancing at the dozen or so soldiers who had taken part in the operation.
"We're almost there, it'll be over in a few minutes, we can do it", he said aloud, mixing encouragement with a blatant form of baiting that only Master Yoda recognised, humming a discreet approval.
"A few minutes" did not mean much if he did not say what time counting he was basing it on. Some minutes were the equivalent of a thousand seconds, others barely ten, and so the very concept of minutes lost much of its meaning... but in any case, as soon as you used "a few", the other side knew they were screwed. No Jedi was fooled any more by young Master Kenobi when it came to thinking of "a few" compromises or by Master Windu, who promised that he would return after destroying just "a few more B1 droids" with his troops.
In a way that was imperceptible to the clones who did not perceive the danger around them with the same precision, Ki-Adi felt a subtle surge of anxiety as the deadly fog drew ever closer, sometimes stopping only a few steps from the most outlying clones in the group.
"Hang in there, Master," he encouraged softly.
"I'm going to make it, but we've got to keep moving."
After that, Ki-Adi unconsciously accelerated and only slowed down when a hand grabbed his wrist.
"General, please. Even with our helmets on, we don't have the Force to guide our steps, so we won't be able to keep up if you move that fast."
Probably already aware of the sense of urgency that had settled over Ki-Adi as he calculated the time they had left in these tired conditions, his old Master pushed death a little further away, as if to tell him without a word that he was still able to hold on. Ki-Adi did not need this kind of proof, he knew intimately what the man who had made him a Jedi was worth, but he appreciated the sentiment.
"My apologies. You all, go ahead, I'll lift you with the Force to get you over the obstacles."
A silent tandem of the most unusual kind, Padawan and Master worked to save the lives entrusted to them, one rescuing them from the random relief of the stone, the other keeping a more insidious evil at bay with a gruelling effort that Ki-Adi knew he could only suspect.
When leaving the danger zone, Bacara immediately called for their ship and the three men who had managed to climb aboard and take off before the enemy troops found them. As they retreated into a sickly forest to shelter from a visual scan from the sky, Ki-Adi suspected rather than felt the fatigue that must have overwhelmed his old teacher and reached out to place a finger on a small clawed hand.. After all, he was over nine hundred years old and did not live the life of your average senior citizen, so he absolutely had to take it easy in future.
"Still awake?"
"I'm not a child," came the grumpy old man's reply, but that tone had not worked for decades.
"Of course", he reacted blandly, absent-mindedly unbuckling his belt to fasten it back around his waist where it belonged, letting his parental figure hold onto him now that he had both hands available for the task, reaching out a hand to steady him before deciding that was ridiculous, using his height to his advantage to lift the man up and back against his chest when they were finally able to board.
It was strange to hold the man who had actually raised him more than his own biological father in a similar position to the one he had when carrying each of his infant daughters, but it felt... right, somehow.
Exhaustion removed any energy to complain from the old Master, and soon he was clutching both hands to his tunics and letting himself be lulled by the beating of his heart, trusting Ki-Adi not to let go and to watch over him, watch over them all.
Folding his cloak over him to conserve as much of his body heat as possible, Ki-Adi was already thinking about what to do next.
There were so many people to save, he would never be able to do it alone, but with a bit of luck, all his efforts would see the survival of this man who meant so much to him.
Not every student who arrived older than the standard was destined to sink into arrogance, and Ki-Adi was determined to remain the kind of person you could rely on, the kind of person you could count on.
Stable as ever, Ki-Adi was there to make sure things got done.