Ahsoka woke slowly. There was very little that she got to do slowly. She seemed to always be running. As a crechling, she was running between classes and running after her clan-mates, in and out of training. She ran after clones, after Rex, especially when he stole the sweets Cody snuck her when he thought no one was looking. She ran onto transports, across fields riddled with gunfire. She ran towards burning buildings and away from Mace Windu when the Temple commissary was out of caf. And normally, she was up and moving from the moment that her chrono started beeping, loud and obnoxious. So this was a privilege. A privilege, to blink her eyes against the bright Coruscant sun and stretch her limbs, tangled in blankets and sheets.
She woke very slowly, not allowing her mind to deceive her. She remembered all of the previous day in perfect clarity, and did not want to experience the crushing disappointment that a brief flicker of hope would bring. She was still Force-mute. But she didn't need the Force to hear her Master, busy as ever in their common room. He was focused, she could tell by the short, harried steps that echoed from one end of the room to the other. Better get up before he breaks something. Or sets something on fire. The first time she'd ignored her instincts to see what he was doing. Two holes in the wall and a minor explosion later, Ahsoka learned that at any given moment, Anakin Skywalker was no more than thirty seconds away from causing complete chaos.
She appeared in the door, still wrapped in her comforter, bare feet curling up on the cold floor. Her Master was running from one side of the room to the other, alternating between fussing with something on the stove and tinkering with what looked to be an entire shop's worth of parts spread out on the floor. I guess I should be thankful they aren't on the couch.
"Did you even sleep last night?"
Anakin glanced up from the stovetop, sliding something from the pan onto a plate with one hand, and pouring two cups of tea with the Force at the same time.
"Good, you're up."
"Master, sleep? Ever heard of it?"
He shrugged, not breaking his stride as he thrust the plate and one of the mugs into her hands taking the other back to work on the electronic mess on their floor. "I feel fine. You need to eat."
"I'm not hungry." She wasn't. She hadn't been since Kix had tested her.
"You can eat what I fixed or you can drink the meal-replacement shakes the healers have. Your choice."
Well that stopped any protest she might have had. Ahsoka sat down where she was and stuck the fork in her mouth. Scrambled eggs and toast. Her favorite. "Thanks for making breakfast. Did you eat?"
He flashed her a winning grin. "Of course. Can't be training on an empty stomach."
Ahsoka blinked, unsure if she was hearing him correctly. "Training? How are we going to train when I-"
"Snips, I'm gonna tell you the same thing Obi-Wan told me when I lost my hand. We're Jedi. We'll adapt. I've got a dozen droids searching the Archives for any information on Force-muteness. We're going to figure out what happened to you, we're going to figure out how to fix it. But we're also going to keep you on your feet in the meantime. Training will help. Now eat your breakfast and get changed. Don't forget your saber belt."
Ahsoka was about to ask how she was going to handle a lightsaber when she was struggling to walk a straight line, but Anakin simply turned the radio on and started singing, effectively drowning out her concerns with his off-key show tunes.
Less than twenty minutes later, Ahsoka reappeared. Anakin had a screwdriver stuck between his teeth and was putting the finishing touches on something in his lap. With one last flourish, he spat out the tool and turned around, holding up what looked to be a pair of binders, like the kind clones used on prisoners of war.
"Ta da! They're all done!"
Ahsoka stared back at him blankly.
"Cool. What are they?"
Anakin rolled his eyes, as if the magnificence of his mechanical genius was perfectly obvious, and his padawan was just being deliberately dense to tease him.
"Sit." He ordered, producing another pair from the pile of mechanical nonsense.
"How are binders going to help me?"
"Ah!" Anakin exclaimed, "These, my young padawan, are no ordinary binders. I've modified them for our particular purposes." He placed the set in her lap, and Ahsoka discovered that they were unique. They were binders, but split in two, forming two distinct cuffs.
"Okay, so they're split in half. Still not following."
Anakin grinned, warm reassurance in his eyes, silently asking for her trust. And while Ahsoka trusted her Master more than anyone, she was always hesitant when it came to his oddball inventions.
"Put them on. Use the little switch on the side to tighten them until they're snug."
Ahsoka obeyed, clamping each cuff around her wrists in turn. So focused was she on her task that she didn't even notice Anakin fiddling with the other set of cuffs until his hand captured her left ankle. She jumped, twisting in his grasp.
"Hey! What gives?"
"Snips, if you'd sit still, I'd finish faster."
Ahsoka harrumphed, but decided she'd save kicking her Master in the chin for their training session. Once he finished tightening the binders around her ankles, he fished around in his pile and tossed her a vest.
"Are we going into a combat zone or something? Why the blaster proof vest?"
"Just put it on, and then stand up. You'll figure it out."
Eager to get to something familiar, like sparring, Ahsoka jumped to her feet...only to immediately stumble and fall over, or would have, if her Master had not been expecting it. He stood patiently, letting her use his arms as a brace as she stabilized her footing and reassessed.
"They're weighted?"
Anakin beamed, pleased that she had caught on so quickly. "They are. Heavy enough for you to notice but not enough to hinder your movements. You might feel like they're slowing you down at first, but that'll go away once your mind adjusts to the extra weight."
Ahsoka nodded, shaking her arms absently at her sides, twisting at the waist, tapping her foot on the floor. "So because they're weighted I have to pay more attention to how I'm moving through space?"
"Exactly. The added sensory input should make you feel less clumsy and help with any overload. Does your head still hurt?"
The stripes on her lekku darkened a shade. She didn't want to admit any more weaknesses than she already had.
Anakin raised an eyebrow, waiting for his answer. He understood why his Padawan was doing this, why she felt the need to be so tough. She was being raised on a battlefield, among soldiers who were taught to suck it up and keep fighting for the greater good. But they weren't on a battlefield right now, they were home. She wasn't a soldier. She was a kid who was hurt and trying to recover. But she couldn't do that unless she was honest with him. So he'd wait for his answer.
C'mon you idiot. He can probably already tell. "A little, Master. Mostly from the sound, my hearing is more sensitive than usual. There's an insect crawling on the table. But, it's nothing I can't handle."
Anakin smiled, accepting her statement without judgement. "Well, if it gets worse, we'll take a break. And if not, you're explaining to Kix why you're back in the Medbay. Got it?"
As usual, her teacher paired his lectures with his easy-going and all-knowing smirk, letting her know that even if she was a complete and total screw up, he still cared about her.
"Understood Master. Can we go punch some things now?"
Anakin laughed, striding to the door of their apartment, flicking off the lights with one hand. "We'll get to that. Trust me, I've got a lot planned for today."