The Force tugged at Ahsoka's mind—flashes of fear, pain, loss—and she grimaced. It was trying to tell her something, something she needed to know now. She picked a direction and started running, letting the flow of it around her guide her footsteps. She saw King Dendup pinned at the edge of a cliff with a single bodyguard being chased by a commando droid, who in turn was being chased by Steela.
Instinct tugged at her to tackle the droid. An old instinct, honed by centuries of fighting Shili's unforgiving climate and fauna.
Do not be hasty, young one. The words of many a master rang through her mind. For a moment, she listened to them.
And then she didn't. She sprang forward, forgetting even her lightsaber in favour of her teeth, sinking her fangs into the droid's metal neck and ripping it off.
At least that's what she thought happened. Steela had fired in the instant before Ahsoka was in her shot and the blast caught her in the back. She woke up several hours later in a medbay she didn't recognize. Several people surrounded her bed. Anakin and Master Kenobi looked angry, Rex was stressed, she wasn't sure what Steela's face meant and Lux was shaken.
All of them looked like they wanted to say something, probably to scold her, so she let her eyes roll back in her head, pretending to still be too out of it to talk.
"Ahsoka, don't try that. I know you're awake and I know you can hear me."
She didn't move, but keeping her breaths low and shallow made her suddenly start coughing. Anakin sighed, nudging Lux out of the way to gently lift her head up and help her take slow sips of water. "Careful, Snips. Relax. Don't hurt yourself."
She wiped the excess drops away from her mouth as Anakin set the cup down and sighed. "Alright, there's no getting out of this. How much trouble am I in?"
"Why don't we start with why the hell were you in my shot!" Steela snapped. "I had it handled just fine and then you come swooping in and rip the droid's head off! You couldn't have told me you were going to play flying squirrel?"
"There wasn't time." Her throat was a little hoarse, but considering the circumstances that was probably the least of her problems.
Obi-Wan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why would you even think that was a good idea? I thought maybe after all these years 'don't be hasty' would have stuck."
"It did. The Force told me to."
"Ah, yes, the catch-all excuse you Jedi love to make." Steela glared at her.
"For once, I agree with that." Anakin crossed his arms.
Ahsoka groaned. "The Force really did tell me to. I got this feeling that I needed to intervene. I didn't know you were about to shoot. My instincts took over."
"For once just throw your lightsaber, Snips! I know both Obi-Wan and I have told you not to do that, but in this instance it would have been okay!"
"I could have just as easily sliced Steela in half as the droid. Maybe I could have used my 'saber instead of my fangs but it worked, okay?"
"And you got shot!" Lux looked up from his lap for the first time in the conversation. "You had a blaster burn on your back. I thought you were dead."
"Nah, it takes more than a little blaster bolt to kill me."
"Not if I'd shot you in the head."
Rex sighed. "To answer your original question, you're in a lot of trouble. But also you did rip a commando droid's head off with your teeth, which most of the men think was pretty cool."
"Yeah, how are you not missing teeth from that?" Steela was a bit calmer now, but was probably going to go punch something later. "You sank your teeth into solid steel and just broke it like it was no big deal."
Ahsoka grinned. "Our fangs are rooted directly into our skulls. They can't ever fall out. We get them in about four or five and they grow with us as we age. And that's how Togruta hunt. Single bite to the back of the neck, like big cats. It's just usually not droids. But we've got extra muscles in our neck and jaw to help with things like that. I probably would have lost my other teeth if I'd used them, but the fangs are set forward from the other teeth to protect the more fragile incisors and to stop me from cutting my own tongue off."
She threw her hands in the air. "Fine. You guys are just weirdos." She left, yelling for Saw as the door closed behind her.
Lux took a deep breath and stood, following her.
"You really are lucky to be alive, kid." Rex shook his head. "You took a sniper bolt to the middle of your back at close range. It wasn't a direct hit because of the angle, but the next time you jump in front of someone's blaster, how about someone who isn't one of the best shots in the camp?"
"Sorry."
"Medic said you'll pull through without any permanent damage. It grazed a rib and possibly two vertebrae, but the majority of the damage was to muscles in your back, which should heal up just fine. But don't do that again."
"What Rex said." Anakin sighed. "Ahsoka, really, what were you thinking?"
"I already told you. I was following the will of the Force. I think I might have prevented something really bad from happening."
Master Kenobi took the chair Lux had left empty. "You may have. The cliffside King Dendup was standing on collapsed when it was hit by a falling gunship. He'd moved by the time it happened, but if he'd been standing there when it happened he would have almost certainly been killed. If so," —she could tell he was reluctant to say it— "good job, Padawan."
"But don't you ever do that again." Anakin glared at her.
"Yes Master."
