"Where am I?"

Whenever Ahsoka woke up in an unfamiliar place, that was always the first question she asked. The precise location didn't really matter, nor did the events that led up to her falling unconscious. Those details could be learned later. Where they were was never as important as who she was with, but that's never how she asked the question. And although she'd never said it explicitly, Anakin quickly found the answer she was looking for.

"You're safe, Snips. It's just me. Open your eyes, see for yourself."

She made a faint unhappy noise, like when she was feeling lazy and wanted to sleep in. Just ten more minutes, Master. She'd whine. Sometimes he'd humor her, other times he'd flicker the lights on and off, usually resulting in a pillow being Force-thrown at his face, while Artoo laughed as well as an astromech could. But she wasn't hesitating because she was still sleepy. There was a gap in her memory, and she could only guess what had happened.

With great effort, she pried her eyes open, squinting against the harsh lights. Her master's familiar silhouette sat beside her bed, slowly coming into focus. A smell, biting and acidic, brought her to full awareness. Halls of Healing. How'd I get here? She brought her hand up to rub her eyes, or would have, if the movement hadn't been stopped by a swift tug. She glanced down and found her wrists restrained to the bed with padded straps. That's a new one. She looked up at her teacher, who was trying and failing to hide the concern on his face.

"The restraints are a compromise." He brushed gloved fingers along her temple, tracing over the marks her nails had left. "They didn't want you to hurt yourself while you were asleep. I can untie them, but only if you promise not to fight the healers, okay?"

Ahsoka nodded, not quite able to speak yet, still wondering how she'd managed to go from protecting others to needing to be restrained in order to protect herself. With her permission, Anakin perched himself on the edge of her bed and set about freeing her wrists. He kept his attention on the restraints, and tried to pose his next question as casually as he could.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

There was no hesitation in her voice as she answered. "The noise."

"Noise?"

"You didn't hear it?"

Anakin shook his head. "Obi-Wan and I didn't hear anything, Snips. One minute, I was talking to him, and the next, you were screaming at us to make it stop."

Ahsoka shuddered, rubbing her freed wrists and drawing the blanket closer, even though the room itself was not cold.

"It was so loud. I thought my ears were going to start bleeding."

Anakin laughed. "You don't even have ears, Snips." She blushed, but couldn't help but smile as she sat up. She reached out and held onto what her Master was offering, a small reprieve in the midst of confusion. He was good at that, good enough to lift the spirits of his men when it looked like there was no way out. Kind of like now.

"A Mind Healer is coming by soon to talk to you."

"I don't need to see a Mind Healer." And more importantly, she didn't want to. There was only one person she trusted inside her head, and he had more issues than the Corusant Daily. Not that it mattered when it came to his skills as a Jedi and a teacher.

"Ahsoka, I know you don't like the Mind Healers, but we've got to explore every angle of this."

"I don't care. I don't like them. They get in my head and start moving things around." She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to meet his eyes. The Mind Healers were incredibly powerful Jedi, and it took a lot to become one. You had to be heavily connected to the Unifying Force, and that gave them the considerable power to see inside anyone's mind, regardless of Force sensitivity. You could shield against them, as she often did when they started in with their probing questions, but it would take the strength of a Jedi Master to block them out completely.

"I know, and I've already talked to them about that. They just want to talk, they're not going to look in your mind. I promise."

Ahsoka sighed, letting her chin fall to her chest as she rode the waves of emotion that were flowing through her.

"Fine." She relented, looking back up at Anakin, noticing how relieved he seemed that she had consented. He must really think it'll help. "I'll talk to them. Can you stay?"

"Of course, Snips."

Anakin wanted to say more, wanted to crack a joke, and make her feel better. She'd likely only laugh to humor him, but it was better than both of them feeling hopeless. The lack of communication across their bond was starting to affect him too. Over and over, he reached for her mentally, to offer support, only to realize that she couldn't hear him. Obi-Wan rarely understood it, but that's why he made jokes. Sadness, despair, grief- those emotions were like quicksand. It sucked you in and dragged you down, until you couldn't get out and fighting to get out only made things work. Humor, silliness, however ingenuine it may seem, could delay them both falling apart. He wanted to make a joke, but the Mind Healer in question suddenly appeared, silent as a puff of smoke.

"Master Skywalker, Padawan Tano. Good afternoon." They bowed, the tips of their aquamarine lekku nearly touching the floor.

"Healer Badwazi, thank you for seeing us." Anakin rose from his seat and bowed back. Ahsoka, anxious but ever conscious of her manners, nodded respectfully. Rizzo Badwazi was one of the younger Mind Healers, exceptionally gifted with padawans and younger Knights. She'd been in session with the Twi'lek before, after her failure on Ryloth, but that was just a check in. They'd needed her back on the field too badly for her to linger too much on the past.

Badwazi smiled, and gestured to the bed. "May I sit?" Like Aayla Secura, their voice was smooth and lightly accented.

Ahsoka nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, both providing a place for the Healer to sit and creating a physical barrier between them. Anakin saw through her tactics immediately, being fond of them himself.

"Snips."

It was only one word, not even sternly spoken, but it was enough. Grumbling, she unfolded herself and placed her shaking hands in her lap. She didn't like this. In fact, she hated this. But her Master wanted her to try so she was going to.

"Master Skywalker has already informed me of what happened. And I understand that you'd feel more comfortable if we keep our conversation physical instead of mental."

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, Healer. I can't shield or process anything. I just don't think I can cope with an extra presence in my head right now."

"That's perfectly fine. You can trust me, Padawan Tano."

"Ahsoka, please." See, I am trying, look at me being friendly, being vulnerable. This is great. I'm totally fine.

"I know you and Master Yoda have already talked about the effects of your injury. But I don't want to beat a dead wampa. In fact, I'd rather talk about your assignment on Garban."

"The mission? Supposed to be a scout and take down of a base, but our intel was bad. The planet's deep in Separatist space, but the native Jenet are neutral. Nothing happened."

Badwazi shook their head. "I don't want a mission report, Ahsoka. I want you to talk to me about what happened."

Ahsoka was getting frustrated. "I just told you what happened! We were supposed to find a base, take out some Separatists and go home, but there was nothing there! It was routine."

"You were attacked on planet, I believe?"

"It wasn't an attack."

"You were examined by your medic."

Ahsoka crossed her arms over her chest, abandoning cooperation faster than she had attempted it.

"Only because Kix wasn't busy and Master's overprotective."

"Hey!"

"It is well within his authority as your Master to have you evaluated for injuries."

"But I wasn't injured." The second the sentence left her lips, she wanted to swallow it whole. She wasn't injured. She was nearly incapacitated. Even worse, Badwazi's expression hadn't changed. They didn't even have the decency to look smug, or as smug as Jedi were capable of.

"Ahsoka, your Force-sensitivity was intact before you landed on Garban. When you returned, you were Force-mute. You can't ignore the likelihood that whatever happened on planet is connected."

Ahsoka sighed, staring down at the blankets. Anakin let her think. He hadn't considered the Garban mission as a cause of her injury either. It seemed far too complicated to be caused by such an average assignment. His padawan looked back to the Healer, determination rising in her eyes.

"What do you want to know about Garban?"

"Tell me what happened from the beginning. What you saw, what you felt. Everything you can remember."

Deep breath in...deep breath out.

"It had been raining for three days straight…"