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"I'm so sorry, Master," Ahsoka said, readjusting the straps of her pack, hiking them up around her shoulders. "I should've checked the fuel gauge before we left camp."
"Ahsoka, I already told you—it's alright. You don't need to apologise again."
Breathing out a small sigh, Ahsoka paused for a moment, watching the vapour of her breath freeze and crystallise as it swirled into the icy air in front of her. Master Kenobi was standing a few paces behind her, bundled up in a big winter parka, much like Ahsoka currently was. It was hard to properly see his face around his fluffy hood and goggles, though Ahsoka could glimpse just enough to tell that his rosy, frost-nipped cheeks were peaked in a grimace, clearly bracing himself against the wintry breeze which was softly howling past.
"Besides," Obi-Wan added a few beats later, having caught up to Ahsoka's position after moving a few paces, "It was Anakin's responsibility to refuel the speeder." His voice sounded slightly laboured, clearly having to work a little harder to breathe due to the cold. Ahsoka couldn't blame him. The temperature had to be far below freezing right now. Even she could feel her hands threatening to freeze through her gloves. And Ahsoka was relatively good with the cold thanks to her togrutan biology. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, being human, was less so. Even with his Jedi training to tolerate a high range of physical discomforts, at a certain point one cannot escape the limitations of their own biology.
Despite his clear hinderance, Obi-Wan continued trudging his way forward through the snow and Ahsoka had to slowly jog a couple steps to keep pace with him.
"I'll be having a firm chat with him," Obi-Wan continued, clearly trying hard to keep his voice steady as he quietly panted for breath, "once we're back."
At the mention of "back", Ahsoka's mind momentarily drifted away from the snowy wilderness they were currently trudging through and began to ruminate on how nice it would feel once she and Master Kenobi made it back to the shelter of base camp, where they could warm up by the heat of a crackling fire and drink toasty hot caf while bundled up in a mound of blankets.
As much as the thought warmed her for a few moments, reality quickly came rushing back in a whistling gust of icy wind which funnelled past her body, causing an involuntary shiver to go wracking through her bones. Obi-Wan, beside her, also appeared to shiver, pausing for a moment to brace himself before continuing onward.
Releasing another quiet sigh, Ahsoka tugged on the straps of her pack as she glanced up at the white sky above. A few tiny snowflakes drifted down and landed on her face, immediately melting into her skin. Almost everywhere you looked, the surrounding landscape was painted a shade of barren white, only spare for the dark trunks of evergreen pine trees at the edge of a small woodland in the nearing distance, which created a stark contrast against the snow that was covering even the ever-present leaves of the evergreens, forming an image which at a glance might've almost looked like a row of charred teeth, looming ominously ahead as whatever creature the vast mouth belonged to sat in hibernation, waiting for some unsuspecting prey to near before it would gobble them up whole.
Briefly glancing behind her, Ahsoka could now barely see the run-down speeder which she and Master Kenobi had made the decision to abandon after the vehicle had run out of fuel not even a third of the way through their journey back to base camp. The pair of them had gone out on a scouting mission to survey an old, long abandoned military warehouse which decrepitly remained from some long-ago war in the history of this planet. The survey had all gone smoothly, and they were in and out pretty quickly, having efficiently catalogued everything they had found worth note. It wasn't until they were part-way through their travels back that things decided to take a rather inconvenient turn. The metal of the domed speeder glinted in the swamped light just enough for Ahsoka to tell that it was there, though it was already becoming slowly blanketed with a thin layer of snow and would no doubt soon become just another indistinguishable blob amidst the snowy landscape.
Facing ahead again, Ahsoka remained in pace with Master Kenobi, who was rubbing his arms over the sleeves of his parka, clearly trying to generate some heat to keep himself warm. Eyeing him for another moment, she watched as Obi-Wan puffed out a steady breath of air, forming a small cloud which immediately crystallised in front of him. From her angle, she couldn't quite see his face past the edge of his hood, though Ahsoka could tell that he was still grimacing, clearly struggling to handle the current temperature.
Normally, if they had been planning on being out in the cold for a while like this, they would have brought buffs and maybe even worn a few extra layers. But, since this was supposed to be a brief survey mission where they were mostly going to be inside a building, and since they had driven there in a closed-canopied speeder with internal heating, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had somewhat rashly decided that their parkas would be enough to keep them comfortable for the relatively short duration of their trip, having only planned to survey the warehouse for half an hour then promptly return to base camp just in time for lunch.
But, after their unfortunate predicament with the speeder, and subsequently their mutual decision to abandon said vehicle since the heating system no longer worked to keep out the cold, Ahsoka found herself wishing that they had at least brought a few extra layers with them as backup despite the presumably simple mission parameters which they had foolishly made the basis of their earlier decision to wing it without extra wardrobe.
Knowing that dwelling on the past wouldn't help to change anything in the present situation, Ahsoka tore her thoughts away from berating herself and focused on the next steps. Just before they had abandoned the speeder, Obi-Wan had managed to send out a message to base camp from his personal comm, detailing their predicament and asking for someone to come pick them up along their route. No one had responded at the time, which had been slightly concerning, though it wasn't too alarming as there had already been issues with the comm system ever since they had landed on this planet. Interference from snowstorms had been wreaking havoc on certain electronic systems, meaning that there were certain periods of time when com-lines were down, rendering communications temporarily null. Knowing this, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had both activated their distress beacons on their comlinks in hopes that someone would at least see those signals once the interference cleared up and send someone out to fetch them, while they continued their own way back on foot, wanting to keep moving so that they'd stay warmer than they would if they stayed with the dead speeder.
That had been thirty minutes ago. And now that the pair of them had been out here exposed to the elements, coming to feel that they had had their fair share of the snowy wilderness, Ahsoka was beginning to question whether they had made the right decision to continue on like this on foot, wondering if they should have just remained in the speeder and huddled up for warmth while they awaited rescue. Though, if she really considered it, that likely wouldn't have been any better than what they were doing now, and they'd likely still be as cold as they currently were, if not colder. So maybe this was fine, she tried to reassure herself. This is fine. We'll be fine.
Even as her internal pondering turned more positive, the breeze briefly gusted, causing a deep chill to go leeching into her bones. Bracing herself, gritting her teeth to try to stop them from chattering, Ahsoka reached out and lightly placed a gloved hand on Master Kenobi's back, who had paused beside her, holding his arms tightly to his chest. She could feel his body trembling intensely beneath her palm, even through the numbness that was beginning to spread through her fingers.
"Hey," she asked, "are you okay, Master?"
Obi-Wan shifted his head in a brief nod. Though, Ahsoka could see that his face was scrunched in a braced grimace, his eyes squeezed shut.
"I'm fine," he managed to reply after a couple beats. His voice sounded tight and strained, though he was clearly trying to make himself sound as steady as possible. "Really. I'm alright."
"You sure?" Ahsoka questioned, studying the man's face as he puffed out a long, steadying breath. Obi-Wan tersely nodded again.
"Look. Let's face it, Master—I know you're not as good with the cold as I am."
"We need to keep moving," Obi-Wan muttered a couple beats later, already starting forward, seeming to ignore her statement. Ahsoka was left standing there for a moment, her words hanging empty in the frosty air as she watched the older Jedi with a creased brow, before she too made forward to follow him, rubbing her arms as more shivers shook through her body.
The pair walked in silence for another while. Both of them keeping their arms tightly cradled to their chests in an attempt to keep themselves warm, hearing nothing but the faint howl of the icy breeze; the sound of laboured breaths; snow crunching beneath their boots as they trudged onward through the whitened landscape.
It was only when Master Kenobi stumbled slightly beside her that Ahsoka finally spoke up again, struggling for a moment to move her half-frozen lips until she managed to say, "Woah—You okay?"
Taking Obi-Wan's arm, Ahsoka held onto his elbow even after he righted himself, mumbling something about being 'fine'. Narrowing her eyes, she studied the man with concern, noting how he was leaning forward slightly, seeming to be trying to catch back his breath in slow, controlled puffs while his face was scrunched in a pained grimace. He clearly didn't look fine, despite what he seemed to claim.
"Master, why don't—"
Ahsoka tried to speak, but her words were cut off as Obi-Wan stepped forward, murmuring, "Let's keep moving."
Obi-Wan's steps were unsteady, however, almost drunkenly in demeanour. He only made it a couple feet before he stumbled again, his knees appearing to give out beneath him. Ahsoka rushed forward as he dropped to the snow, landing on his hands and knees.
"Master?!"
Obi-Wan didn't say anything at first as Ahsoka knelt beside him. She was worried he was falling unconscious until he finally murmured, "Ssorry."
His words came out slightly slurred, likely due to his lips being half frozen.
"I jusst…need a minute."
"Master?" Ahsoka repeated, her hands on his back and shoulders as she tried to get a look at Obi-Wan's face. His nose looked quite red and rosy, and Ahsoka suspected that he was beginning to develop mild frostbite, though that wasn't even her biggest concern right now. She could feel the man shivering beneath her gloves, but it didn't feel as intense as before—even with factoring in her slightly muted sense of touch at this point.
"I'm alright," Obi-Wan continued. "I jusst…need a breather, that's all. Maybe ten…no…fifteen…"
"Master—"
Obi-Wan started to tilt sideways, bumping against Ahsoka. She caught him, trying her best to hold him up by his shoulders.
"I need to sit down…" Obi-Wan muttered. Ahsoka's heart sank, concern spreading through her chest.
"Master," she told him gravely, "you're already sitting down."
"Oh," came Obi-Wan's softly spoken reply, his tone a subtle mix of both surprise and somber realisation.
Worried that he was becoming hypothermic, Ahsoka glanced up and scanned their surroundings, searching the snowscape for anywhere that could possibly provide shelter. Seeing a large snowdrift which had been swept up along the sides of the trees at the edge of the woods to the right, only a short distance away, Ahsoka figured that that might provide a means to make a shelter if she could dig into the snow to create a small snow cave, which would allow her and Master Kenobi to regain some warmth by huddling inside due to the insulative nature of the snow.
Thank you, Master Kolar, Ahsoka mused in her head, briefly thinking back to the cold weather lesson in the 'Survival 101' class which the Zabraki Jedi Master had taught back when she was a youngling.
Glancing back at Obi-Wan, who was still sitting half slumped against her side, Ahsoka realised that reaching the snowdrift may be more difficult of a task than at first thought if Obi-Wan was unable to hold himself up, much less walk. Taking a deep breath, trying to ignore the nipping cold which was continuing to leech into her body and curl around her bones in a tangle of icy vines, she willed her slowly numbing mouth to move, asking the languid Jedi, "Hey, Master Kenobi?"
Obi-Wan faintly hummed in response.
"I'm sorry, Master, but we can't stay here like this. Do you think you can move?"
Obi-Wan was quiet for another few moments until he let out a soft huff. Quietly, he finally managed to reply, "I'm not ssure."
"Master, we need to get you warmer," Ahsoka said. "I have a plan, but we need to walk a little further. We can't stay out in the open like this."
Faintly, Obi-Wan managed to shake his head.
"It's fine," he murmured. "You go. Jusst…let me stay here. I'm…sstarting to feel…warm again."
Another flood of concern barraged into Ahsoka's chest. If Obi-Wan was claiming he felt warm then he was definitely hypothermic right now, considering the symptoms she could remember. Given the gravity of the situation, Ahsoka knew she needed to act fast to get Obi-Wan somewhere sheltered and warmer. Which she couldn't achieve by staying out here in a position so exposed like this.
"I'm sorry," she told Master Kenobi, holding his shoulders, "I can't let you stay here, Master. I think you're hypothermic. You could die if you stay out here like this."
Her firm words seeming to melt their way through the older Jedi's current lackadaisical disposition, Obi-Wan managed to meet her eyes, whispering, "I…don't know if I can."
"I'm going to help you, but you need to try to work with me, okay? I don't know if I can carry you all the way."
Seeming to accept that, Obi-Wan silently resigned himself, doing his best to move as Ahsoka helped him up, taking majority of his weight as she slung one of his arms around her shoulders, calling on the force to help aid her strength as she held him upright against her side. It was rather unwieldy, given that Master Kenobi was almost twice her size, but that didn't stop them from making progress as Ahsoka helped Obi-Wan get his footing, the pair of them starting their slog through the snow, heading in a beeline towards the edge of the woods up ahead.
Obi-Wan stumbled a few times, but each time Ahsoka was able to drag him back up before he could sink into the snow. She kept her eyes trained on the snow drift, using that—and the fact that Obi-Wan's weight was getting increasingly heavier against her—as a focus to fuel her determination.
When they finally made it to the snow drift, Ahsoka situated Obi-Wan against a tree trunk right by the edge of the drift; an ideal spot which was out of the breeze and slightly sheltered. She instructed him to stay awake and told him that he was going to get warmer soon before she began the arduous task of digging out the snow in the side of the drift with her hands. It was rather tedious, but Ahsoka was at least grateful she was wearing her gloves which would hopefully protect her fingers from frostbite.
After a couple minutes, having been continually talking to the older Jedi to make sure he stayed awake, Obi-Wan went quiet for a long moment, enough to fill Ahsoka with enough concern to cause her to pause her digging. She turned to check on Master Kenobi, only to find him beginning to slowly unzip his parka, much to her disbelief.
"Master!?" Ahsoka exclaimed as much as her numbing mouth would allow her, immediately moving in to stop Obi-Wan from completely removing his parka. "What are you doing?!"
"I…don't need it," came Obi-Wan's mumbled reply. Despite his nonchalant demeanour, he seemed delirious. "Feel too warm…"
"Master, even if you think you feel warm, you're not," Ahsoka said seriously. "Your body is freezing. I think you've just become chilled to the point you can't feel it anymore."
Obi-Wan only looked at her distantly in response as Ahsoka stepped in and zipped his parka back up for him. He had lowered his hood too, so she lifted it back up over his head, though just from the brief amount of time his head had been exposed, she could already see what looked like the early stages of frostbite forming on the tips of his ears.
Instructing him to stay put and to not attempt to remove his parka or any of his clothing again because it could quite literally kill him, Ahsoka returned to her digging with a newfound determination, wanting to get this over with as fast as she could before Master Kenobi could do something stupid again, or, worse, fall unconscious.
A few minutes later, satisfied that the space she had tunnelled out of the snow was large enough for the two of them to fit inside, Ahsoka quickly yet carefully turned to the task of manoeuvring Obi-Wan inside the snow cave, putting him in first so that he'd get the most amount of insulation from the elements. Obi-Wan was silent as Ahsoka helped move him inside, though he was still conscious which was what mattered.
Taking the foil blankets she had found in her pack (the only useful item for this specific situation that was actually in there), Ahsoka placed one underneath Obi-Wan, tucking it behind his back as a layer of extra insulation, then proceeded to shuffle herself in beside him, keeping her back facing the opening to shield him from the elements as she wrapped another foil blanket around herself and Obi-Wan.
Knowing that the best way to stay warm was by sharing body heat, Ahsoka realised that despite how counterintuitive it sounded, they'd warm up faster if they unzipped their parkas since the foil blankets were acting as an insulator around them which would incubate their body heats inside.
"Hey, Master Kenobi?" she whispered through her half-frozen lips. Obi-Wan didn't respond, but Ahsoka knew he was listening. "I know I t-told you not to unzip your parka again, but I think the b-best way to w-warm up is to unzip our p-parkas so we can s-share our body heat."
Obi-Wan released a faint hum, so quiet that she only heard it because she was sitting so close to him. Taking that as an acknowledgment, Ahsoka proceeded to unzip her own parka and unzipped Obi-Wan's for him too since he didn't seem to be in a position to do it himself right now. Making sure that the foil blankets were still positioned around them, she then huddled in closely with Master Kenobi, wincing at first at how cold his body felt even through his thermal layers before settling in as her own body began to adjust, feeling what internal heat she had left already beginning to slowly leech over to Obi-Wan.
"You still with me, M-Master?" Ahsoka asked in a whisper.
"Mm…tired," came Obi-Wan's mumbled reply. Ahsoka craned her head to try look at his face. From this close proximity she could see through his goggles and could tell that his eyelids were half shut.
"I know. But you need to s-stay awake, okay?"
"Mm…trying."
Obi-Wan's breathing felt slow and shallow beside her, and the faint thrum of his heartbeat felt weak and sluggish, which only furthered her concern for him. Despite her own continued shivering, Obi-Wan's body felt so still, his shivers having long since stopped, likely before they had even reached snow drift.
"We just n-need to hold out here f-for a little l-longer," Ahsoka said, both for Obi-Wan and herself. "Hopefully s-someone will see our s-signal and we'll be g-getting picked up b-before we know it."
Master Kenobi didn't respond. Though, again, she knew he had heard her.
Ahsoka continued trying to talk to Obi-Wan to help him stay awake, though even she was beginning to feel rather drowsy, coming to find that it was becoming just as much of a struggle to keep herself from drifting off. Even with the slight increase of warmth from sharing body heat, it wasn't enough to keep out the surrounding cold, the icy chill from the outside air threatening her to succumb to its grasp as it continued to leech further into her bones, paradoxically setting fire to her limbs as it tangled within her like creeping vines of frozen icy ivy.
Ahsoka wasn't sure how much time had passed. But the moment just before she was about to let herself drift off, she was half-startled by a loud bleeping sound. The comlink, her sluggish mind realised. There was a familiar voice speaking. Ahsoka wanted to respond to it, but she found that her limbs didn't seem to want to move. The comm crackled, then came a brief moment of silence before the crackling sound came back and the voice spoke again.
"—find you. If you—bzzr—hear me, just hang—bzzn—there. We'll—bzzz-tzzz—soon."
After that, the voice crackled out again.
"Mmasster Kennobi…" she managed to speak through her frozen lips, "they're coming to get uss. Jusst…sstay awake…a little longer…"
Even though she said that just as much for herself as for Obi-Wan, now that she had the confirmation that they were going to be rescued, Ahsoka found that it somehow only gave her body permission to give in more to the urge to drift off, secure in the knowledge that she was going to be safe and taken somewhere warmer soon.
Ahsoka wasn't sure exactly how long it had been. But she knew she had been drifting in and out for a while, finding herself half-conscious as the sound of a familiar voice was speaking to her, sounding much closer now. Vaguely, she was aware of hands on her body, seeming to be slowly moving her as more familiar voices continued to talk around her, mentioning something about "hypothermia" before more directly telling her things like "we've got you" and "stay with us, commander" and "you'll be warmer soon."
At one point, Ahsoka blearily managed to crack open her eyes just the slightest bit and found that she seemed to be seated in the back of a speeder. Her limbs still felt numb, but she could tell that she was sitting next to something warm and familiar. A voice was talking to her, coming from somewhere above her.
"Just hang in there, Snips," she managed to make out what the voice was saying. "I've got you. We're gonna get you guys warmed up again soon."
She could feel an arm around her, and even though her brain was too sluggish to figure out who it was, she couldn't help but feel a warm sense of comfort in their presence. She knew she was safe with them.
She drifted off again soon after that.
When Ahsoka next woke, the first thing she noticed was that she felt warm. Warmer than she had been in a while. There also seemed to be a lingering tingling sensation throughout her body, flowing through her veins almost in time with the beat of her heart.
Attempting to crack open her eyes, she found that they slid open a lot more easily than they had the last time she had attempted to do so. All she could see at first was a bright pool of white light, and for a moment Ahsoka thought that she was still out stranded amongst the snow. But, as she blinked again, her vision started to clear and focus more, and she realised that she was currently in what looked like a medical room.
Medbay, at base camp, her mind filled in for her. That was right. She and Master Kenobi must've been rescued and brought here.
A sense of worry suddenly striking through her at the thought of Master Kenobi, remembering the state he had been in the last time she'd seen him, Ahsoka found herself sitting up (she was currently lying on a bed, she realised) and desperately craning her head around, searching for the Jedi Master in her immediate surroundings, feeling an intense need to make sure that he was okay.
"Woah—Hey, easy, Snips," a voice spoke out to her, coming from her left. Ahsoka felt a hand on her arm, accompanied by the sense of a familiar presence in the force. She spun her head around to see her Master, who appeared to be sitting in a chair beside her bed.
"Where's Master Kenobi?" she managed to blurt out, concern still coursing through her. Her lips weren't frozen anymore, it seemed. "Is he okay? He was—"
"Hey—Yes, he's okay," Anakin told her, placatingly. "He's okay. He's right there. He's going to be fine. You both are."
Following Anakin's pointed gaze, Ahsoka craned her head to the right and spotted the bundled-up form of Master Kenobi lying on a bed across from her. He appeared to be asleep, and he looked rather small beneath the layers of blankets he was currently piled under. Only his face was peeking out, though Ahsoka could see that a long tube lead from somewhere under his blankets up to an IV bag hanging a little ways above him at the side of his bed.
Feeling something odd in her own hand, Ahsoka glanced down at herself to find that she appeared to have an identical IV tube attached to her too, leading from a cannula in her hand all the way up to an IV bag of her own.
"It's alright, Snips," Anakin told her calmly, "you're okay."
Feeling the concerned panic in her chest begin to dissipate now that she knew that Obi-Wan was alright, Ahsoka looked up at her Master, who had moved in and was now gently trying to lower her back down against her pillow. Deciding not to fight him, she let him lower her all the way down and pull her blanket up over her chest, tucking the fabric in snugly around her shoulders. He gave her a warm smile as he sat back in his chair, though Ahsoka could sense that there was a hint of what almost looked like guilt in his expression.
"What…" she started, but Anakin cut her off as her words started to trail.
"We're in medbay, at base camp," he told her. "You had hypothermia. But you're okay, and you've been treated. Kix got you warmed back up again, and you're already recovering well so far."
Ahsoka remained quiet as she took that in.
"We got your message. And your distress signals," Anakin continued. "Comms were out briefly due to the storm, but we saw your beacons as soon as the system started coming back online. We went out to find you guys as soon as we could. I don't know if you remember much from when we found you. You were drifting in and out for a little bit. But we brought you guys back and Kix took care of you."
"I…remember a little bit," Ahsoka told him, recalling the fleeting memories of being moved from the snow cave and finding herself in the speeder. Anakin gave her a sympathetic look.
"You…you were both on the edge of severe hypothermia when we found you." he told her, his voice softer yet more serious, face turning a little more grave. "Obi-Wan was a little worse off than you, though you weren't too far off either. You both had mild frostbite too. If you had stayed out there any longer…" His voice trailed off and he shook his head, replacing his pained expression with a comforting smile. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're both going to be okay."
Ahsoka took that in for another moment before she quietly questioned, "How long have I been…"
"A day."
"What?" Ahsoka retorted in surprise.
"You've been sleeping for most of that time. You fell fully unconscious while we were driving back in the speeder. You've been pretty much out since then."
"What about Master Kenobi? Has he…"
"No," Anakin replied, clearly knowing what she was going to ask. "You're the first to wake up so far."
Taking that in, Ahsoka was quiet for a little while before Anakin gently asked her, "How are you feeling?"
"Warmer," she wryly replied with a light smirk, though she was being genuine. Anakin smiled in response, but the humour quickly faded a moment later as his face fell into that same small squint of guilt which Ahsoka had noticed earlier.
"Master?" she questioned. Seeming to realise that she had noticed this, Anakin scooted forward slightly in his chair and placed his hand over Ahsoka's (the one without the IV cannula), his demeanour turning more serious and apologetic. Ahsoka met his eyes, her brow-marking's furrowing in slight confusion at her Master's sudden seriousness.
"Ahsoka," he told her seriously, "I am so sorry."
Confused, Ahsoka retorted, "For what?"
"This was all my fault," Anakin said, sounding almost upset. "You guys would've never ended up in that situation if I had just refuelled the speeder like I was supposed to. It was my mistake, and I am so, so sorry that my negligence led to you getting hurt."
Oh, Ahsoka realised. So that's what he's so guilty about.
"Master, it's okay—"
"No, it’s not, Ahsoka," Anakin cut her off. "You could have died if we never came to find you. It was my fault. And I promise that something like this is never going to happen again. "
"Master, I accept your apology, but you really aren't the sole person responsible for this. Master Obi-Wan and I should've packed extra layers with us just in case. We never would've gotten as cold if we had prepared better. We are just as much to blame."
"But you never would have ended up in a situation where you needed those extra layers if I had just charged the speeder."
"But we should've been better prepared for the cold weather regardless. It's standard protocol for outings in this weather, yet Master Kenobi and I ignored it. It was our fault."
"No, you don't need to try to make me feel better about myself—it was my fault, Ahsoka."
"I'm not trying to make you feel better—"
"You're not listening to me, Snips—"
"You're not listening to me!"
Suddenly, a weak voice spoke up from across the room, interrupting them both, throwing a wet rag onto the fire of the heated moment.
"An'kin…listen to your Padawan."
Anakin and Ahsoka both blinked at each other wide-eyed for a hanging moment, Anakin's mouth opening and closing like his words were caught on his tongue before the two of them simultaneously cast their gazes over to where the voice had come from. Master Kenobi was still bundled up on his bed across from her like the last time Ahsoka had looked at him, though this time his eyes were open, staring in her and her Master's direction.
"I'm just…trying to apologise," Anakin finally said, breathing out a frustrated sigh. Then, before Ahsoka or Obi-Wan could respond, changing tone slightly, sounding a fraction more upbeat, he quickly added, "Master, you're awake."
"Mm. It appears so," Obi-Wan quietly mumbled in response, still remaining where he was, not making any attempts to escape from his blanket cocoon. Ahsoka couldn't blame him. He looked very comfortable in there.
"How are you feeling, Master?" Ahsoka asked him. However, instead of responding to her, Obi-Wan seemed to ignore her (though Ahsoka could tell that his intent wasn't malicious), clearly still hung up on her and Anakin's previous argument.
"Anakin…stop trying to take all the blame for what happened," Obi-Wan quietly said. "There's plenty of it to go around."
"I—Master, that's—"
"Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered in a warning tone, "I'm serious."
"But—"
"Hush."
"Master—"
"Anakin, please—"
"Obi-Wan, i'm just—"
"Don't interrupt me, Anakin, that's rude."
"You literally just interrupted me!" Anakin retorted incredulously. "Multiple times!"
"Well, I apologise for that. But you weren't listening to me."
"Oh, so you're allowed to apologise, but i'm not?"
"That's not what I said, Anakin."
Anakin released an aggravated groan.
Seeming to pivot momentarily from the current debate, Master Kenobi met Ahsoka's eyes and told her with a kind smile, "I'm feeling a lot warmer now, thank you for asking, Ahsoka."
Behind her, Ahsoka could sense Anakin shaking his head in a flurry of annoyed disbelief.
"You're welcome, Master," she responded. "I'm glad you're okay."
"You guys are so…" Anakin grumbled a moment later, his words trailing off so Ahsoka couldn’t quite catch the end of his sentence.
"What?" Ahsoka said, turning to look at her Master, feigning innocence. Anakin stared between her and Obi-Wan for a long moment before he shook his head again, releasing a long sigh.
"Look," Anakin finally said, "I'm glad you both are okay. But, I just want—" Ahsoka was about to open her mouth to say something but, seeming to sense it, Anakin held up his hand to stop her with a warning look in his eyes. Ahsoka stopped herself, remaining silent. "—to make it clear to you how deeply sorry I am for what happened with the speeder. It was completely my fault and my responsibility, and I wish there was a way to make it up to you."
"Anakin, we accept your apology," Obi-Wan spoke up, "but there's nothing more you need to make up for. I feel you have already done that when you aided in our rescue. Now, as your Master—"
"Former Master," Anakin cut in. Obi-Wan faintly rolled his eyes.
"As your former Master," Obi-Wan amended, "I am not just going to completely ignore your negligence of responsibilities with the speeder. However, I think you're already punishing yourself more than I could, so I would just advise that you take this as a lesson learned."
"I understand, Master."
"Now, I would also like to point out—as I believe your Padawan has already tried to tell you—that a large part of the blame really falls to us as we rather foolishly misjudged how simple our mission was supposed to be and failed to prepare for the worst case scenario. We should've brought extra layers with us as backup, as well as heat lamps as protocol advises, but we ignored that advice and faced the consequences. In fact, I was the responsible adult between us, so really it was more so my fault. Ahsoka was only following my lead."
Feeling a knot of guilt twisting in her stomach, Ahsoka couldn't help but cut in, "Actually, Master, technically I was the one who was in charge of packing our supplies."
"Yes, but I should have made sure we were following protocol, yet I didn't," Obi-Wan countered. "I knew we didn't have backup supplies, but I still gave us the go ahead, not thinking it would be a problem. I'm the Jedi Master. I should've been more responsible. I have to hold myself accountable for that."
Not wanting to continue prolonging the arguing over who was really to blame, knowing that it was only becoming frivolous at this point, Ahsoka decided to accept Master Kenobi's words and released a soft sigh before she spoke up again, saying, "Okay, why don't we all just agree that we're all equally to blame for what happened."
Ahsoka glanced between Anakin and Master Kenobi, who both seemed to silently share a look with each other, until finally they both nodded in agreement, Obi-Wan doing so while still remaining bundled in his covers.
"Agreed," Anakin accepted with a soft sigh.
"Well said, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan chimed in, sharing his support.
Ahsoka smiled in return, releasing a relieved sigh, letting herself relax more against her pillow once again.
Standing up, Anakin picked up his chair and walked round to the other side of Ahsoka's bed with it, plopping the piece of plastoid furniture down in the space between her and Obi-Wan's beds, clearly wanting to sit between them so he wasn't as far from Obi-Wan. Looking at the Jedi Master, cocooned in his mountain of fabric, Anakin amusedly remarked, "You look comfy in there, Master."
"I'll have you know that I am indeed rather comfy right now," Master Kenobi responded. "I highly recommend getting hypothermia just to experience being bundled up like this."
Anakin frowned.
"But, why would you…" he started before pausing, seeming to realise that Obi-Wan's last comment was sarcastic. He sighed. "You're being sarcastic."
Obi-Wan flicked him an eyebrow.
"No, i'm being fully serious, Anakin," he said, deadpan. Ahsoka watched Anakin roll his eyes, though a flicker of guilt seemed to reemerge in his expression once again.
"Anakin, seriously though, i'm alright," Obi-Wan said, quieter this time, seeming to notice Anakin's face. Anakin however still didn't look fully convinced.
"You're really okay?" Anakin asked him. Obi-Wan nodded in response. When Anakin continued to look unsure, Obi-Wan spoke again.
"Anakin, what is it?"
Ahsoka continued to silently watch as Anakin breathed out a soft sigh, looking down at his lap.
"Master," he said, a slightly pained tone in his voice, "It…it was bad. When we found you, you were barely breathing. Kix even had to manually rewarm your blood. I—"
It fell silent for several beats, spare for the quiet sound of beeping coming from Ahsoka's and Master Kenobi's heart monitors. Ahsoka swallowed. It felt loud to her montrals.
"Well, whatever Kix did," Obi-Wan finally spoke up in a whisper, breaking the silence, "it seems to have worked. You don't need to worry, Anakin. Truly, i'm alright."
"You're really sure about that, old man?"
Obi-Wan seemed to roll his eyes at the nickname.
"Yes, Anakin."
Anakin looked between Obi-Wan and Ahsoka for a few beats, like he was gratefully taking in either of their faces. Then, he finally quietly told them, "I'm really glad you're both okay."
Ahsoka and Obi-Wan both smiled in response, but then, just at that moment, the sound of reverberating footsteps rang out as someone entered the room. Ahsoka could tell through the force exactly who it was without having to look, but despite this, all three Jedi glanced up to look as Kix walked over to them.
"Sir, are you disturbing my patients?" Kix asked Anakin in a faux-serious manner. Anakin opened his mouth, appearing aghast over the claim.
"He is, Kix," Ahsoka spoke up with a joking smirk. "Please save us from his smothering presence."
Anakin threw her a betrayed look, though she could see a hint of humour in his eyes.
"Ahsoka?"
"Yes, Kix," Master Kenobi chimed in, "he's really disturbing our peace."
"I hate you guys," Anakin grumbled, shaking his head as he slumped slightly in his chair, folding his arms. Ahsoka shared a look with Master Kenobi. He was smirking too. He gave her a subtle nod.
Wordlessly understanding what Obi-Wan meant, Ahsoka warmly sang out, "We love you, too."