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Tomorrow I expect the two of you to have some plan in place to start your own search. Master Yaddle, as you will be in charge of the team searching the archives, would a weekly progress report be too much to ask for? Or would you prefer a monthly one?"
"Monthly reports, best it would be," Yaddle replied quickly. "If information found, update progress more frequently we may."
Later, after the meeting broke up, Mace made his way down towards one of the meditation rooms. He stayed there for several hours meditating on his path forward, coming away with a vague sense of being on the right path, but no clear reason as to whether or not his decision with Anakin was part of why it was the right path or not. The only thing that came to mind was an argument he'd had with Qui-Gon on the nature of the Force several years ago:
"Living in the now," Qui-Gon had said, "opens you up to more possibilities. This allows you to roll with surprises, to take advantage of impressions the Force sends you in ways that settling on one rigid vision of the future cannot."
Mace had replied, "Yes, but you lack the certainty of purpose. You're too open, Qui-Gon. You can be diverted from your path through not just vague impressions of the Force but emotions and thoughts that you perceive as such. The Unifying Force does not allow for that. It gives us the certainty of our purpose. And that, my friend, is more important to me than being open to changes in the wind which may lead you astray."
"You call it being led astray, Mace, but if the Force is directing you, can you truly say that is actually the case?"
Sighing, Master Windu came out of his meditation, shaking his head slightly. "Farewell, my friend. You will be missed, even if you sometimes drove me up the wall." Chuckling a bit as he remembered the times that had occurred, Mace left his personal meditation area, a small severe cell set next to his equally bare room. From there he made his way down to the more public meditation rooms, which substituted in many cases for both training and meeting areas.
Eventually he found Anakin in one of the larger meditation areas, a hydroponic garden with many numerous paths through it which doubled as a food source and a small exercise area. But the youth from Tatooine was not alone. Wulo was with him along with Yoda, who was sitting on Wulo's back with Anakin as the Chironian ran to and fro through the meditation area.
Wulo's race was one that needed a lot of exercise on a day to day basis to keep in physical shape. He spent several hours here exercising above and beyond the normal exercises Yoda had him doing.
As Mace came towards them, Yoda was saying something. "The Jedi Path, learn it you will. Meditation too you will learn, a necessity of all training it is. Not only emotions it will teach you to control. Imagination and organization, begin to consciously develop both you will. Imagination, help you form the Force externally it can. Organization, knowing when and what techniques to use, aid you it shall."
That right there was the secret to why Master Yoda had taken on a padawan at this point and one of the youngsters from clan Saa in particular. Wulo was actually not very strong in the Force. Indeed, he was quite a bit weaker than the normal cutoff point used by the Council of Reassignment to decide if someone would be sent to the agricultural core. But he had a lot of dedication and imagination and could use the techniques of clan Saa quite well. Yoda taught him control, which allowed Wulo to use all the strength in the Force he had. In turn Yoda learned imagination from Wulo, which helped him in mastering the techniques of the clan, giving the techniques a lot more legitimacy throughout the Order. Through this the two of them had formed a close bond, though both went to pains to hide it from most people.
As Mace strode toward them, Yoda smacked Wulo on the rump with his stick. "Halt you will now. Leaving us Anakin will be."
Anakin slid off the Chironian youth's back with a smile which faded slightly as he saw Mace waiting for him. "Master Yoda, Padawan Wulo," Mace said calmly, nodding his head. "Thank you for looking out for Anakin."
"It was no trouble, Master Windu," said Wulo, who had watched Anakin during the earlier meeting and after. "He's intelligent enough, if a little opinionated," he teased the younger boy. "Still, running him into the ground was fun."
It was only then that Mace noted that Anakin looked a little tired, his clothing drooping off him, and there were numerous sweat stains here and there. He smiled faintly to himself. That might make him more susceptible to a few hours of meditation and discussion later, and Mace sent an appreciative nod Wulo's way.
"How was I supposed to know you'd be so fast on those four feet of yours? You're the first centauriform I've ever met," Anakin protested. "Put me in a racing pod let's see who's faster then!"
"But that would not have anything to do with who among us is faster, but who has the best reflexes," Wulo said with a smile. "I would certainly lose there. And what would you gain from such a contest?"
"Why do I think you're making fun of me?" Anakin muttered, looking away.
"He is trying to teach you a lesson, youngling," Mace said, resting a hand gently if inescapably on Anakin's shoulder. "A contest between the two of you in your specialty of piloting would avail neither of you anything. On the one hand, you would learn nothing and gain nothing by beating Wulo, and on the other, neither would he learn anything from losing. Why would you seek such an uneven contest?"
Anakin flushed still looking away, and Mace smiled thinly. "Come child, we must talk."
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