Mars🪐

Summary: Mira built a quiet life on Endor for herself and her one-eyed black tooka cat, far away from war, Jedi, Mandalorians, and the kind of action and excitement that gets people killed. It's safe. Lonely, maybe, but safe.

Then a Mandalorian and a little green child crash into her life, and suddenly staying hidden isn't an option anymore.

Mira has her secrets, and Din has his, but there's more that ties their souls together than they realize.

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A/N: Hi! So I literally haven't written fan fiction in nearly a decade. I'm a writer now, but I tend to strictly stay in my creative nonfiction lane, so writing fiction is very out of my comfort zone! Nevertheless, this story and Mira came to me, and I couldn't get them out of my head. I had to bring them to life on the page and wanted to share them with others. I'm sharing this first chapter to gauge interest in the story. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think and if you'd like me to continue writing and sharing this story.

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Chapter One:

Mira had spent years convincing herself she preferred quiet. On a forest moon almost solely inhabited by Ewoks, a quiet life came easily.

Sure, Endor had seen the fall of the Empire, but there had been no action since then.

Life was even quieter when one lived in a private corner of the forest with no one to keep you company but a black tooka cat whose missing one eye.

In fact, it was a lonely life. But she'd never admit that. Mira was too stubborn for that. Too full of fear. If she admitted she was lonely, she'd be admitting she wasn't as content here as she'd like to believe. That really, the illusion of "contentment" was truly just an effort of keeping herself safe.

Her parents had lived more adventurous lives than her, and that's what got them both killed. So she hid.

Sometimes Mira wondered what existed beyond Endor's forests and longed for someone's company beyond Tovi's, but she always shoved those thoughts away as quickly as they came up.

Better alive and lonely. Better to stay curious than wind up dead like them.

Morning light flickered into the bedroom of her cabin hidden deep in the forest. She tugged at the gold locket around her neck as she lay in bed. The front had a tree (reminiscent of Endor's own) engraved in the gold, and inside housed a picture of each of her parents. She stared at the ceiling. Before the dull ache could settle in her chest too heavily, Tovi, her tooka, crawled across it. He nudged his head against her face, black fur brushing against her cheek.

She sighed softly, bringing her hand to scratch behind his ears. He was making it known he was ready for her to get up. He blinked at her slowly with that one eye he still had left.

"Ready to get the day started, Tovi?" she asked, offering the cat a sleepy half smile.

He answered by hopping off the bed and strutting towards his food bowl.

She chuckled, swinging her legs over the bed. "Right. That's all you care about."

Another one-eyed blink.

After granting her little tooka his breakfast, she made her way to the fresher. She changed out of her sleep garments into her typical simple brown garb. Usually some sort of flowy top with matching cargo-style pants. She slipped on her belt and laced up her boots. She ran her fingers through her long ginger waves before twisting them into two simple braids. Shorter strands escaped immediately and curled around her face.

Satisfied as she could be with her appearance, she stepped out of the fresher. It wasn't like she was going to see anyone anyway. She never did. At this point, getting ready for the day was just for her own sake of feeling put together. Other than that, it wouldn't really make much of a difference if she stayed in bed all day.

Tovi had finished his breakfast and now followed behind her with his tail sticking straight up as Mira walked to the kitchen. The tooka hopped up on the counter as she began to brew her daily caf. She didn't bother scolding him. While she waited on her caf, she prepared her own breakfast, which Tovi took a great interest in despite already having a full belly.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the kitchen window. It startled her a bit. She looked tired. Pale. Of course, pale skin was an attribute of anyone with her hair color, but Mira was bordering on ghostlike. Dark circles hung like crescent moons under her eyes above the light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and nose.

Once both mug and bowl were filled, she stepped outside onto the porch of her cozy little cottage. This is how she spent every morning, listening to the sounds of the forest waking up as the sun was still rising, enjoying her breakfast and caf with Tovi curled up at her feet.

After she finished breakfast, she liked to close her eyes and meditate. This, of course, never lasted too long, as Tovi would begin to headbutt her ankles until Mira acknowledged what the black tooka wanted.

"Ready for our walk, buddy?"

A walk through the forest, the final part of their morning routine.

Every day passed the same way—the same peaceful but mundane rhythm.

Once a week she'd make the trek to the Ewok village to barter for supplies, but that was just about the only ever deviation in the routine.

But today as Mira and Tovi walked, she saw a flash of light reflecting off something. Metal perhaps? She dismissed it as probably just some sort of remaining Death Star debris.

But then a twig cracked in the distance.

And Tovi took off in a mad dash.

It was all Mira could do to keep up. She wove through trees, dodging branches, hopping over logs. Finally she came to a clearing and froze.

Tovi's back was arched, ready to pounce; he looked side to side eagerly.

Then out of nowhere, his prey—or rather his attacker—came from above, enveloping him in a full-body slam—hug?

"Patu!"

What. The.

She squinted her eyes. She had never seen anything like this.

She cautiously approached, trying to wrap her head around what kind of creature she was looking at. It was small. Not much bigger than Tovi. Its ears were nearly too big for how small its little green body was.

She bent down slowly, ready to pry the little creature from her tooka.

A deep modulated voice barked at her suddenly, "Hey! Get away from him!"

Her eyes shot up to meet—

Beskar.

So that's what that flash of light had reflected off of. Mr. Shiny here.

She raised her arms to make it clear to the heavily armed man that she was not a threat. "He attacked my cat!" she retorted.

The Mandalorian looked her up and down through the T-visor of his helmet before assessing the state of the child on top of the tooka. He then stepped forward calmly as if he had decided she was no real threat.

"Attack?" He tilted his helmet. "He just wants to play."

She lowered her arms and laughed shortly. "Tell that to Tovi. He looks mortified."

"Tovi?"

"That's his name."

The Mandalorian leaned in to get a better look at the tooka.

"He only has one eye."

"Astute observation. You must be very smart, Mandalorian."

"Never seen a tooka with one eye."

"Never seen a little green creature like yours."

"What happened to his other eye?"

She put her hands on her hips.

"Would you get your little gremlin off my cat or permit me to continue doing so?"

"Right. Sorry." He padded over and lifted the green bundle into his arms. "Alright, Grogu, that's enough."

The creature—Grogu, apparently—whined, little hands reaching out towards Tovi in protest.

Tovi promptly ran to Mira's feet, and she scooped him up on command.

"You should watch your kid."

"You should watch your cat."

A silent standoff settled between them.

"We don't get visitors here," Mira pointed out. "What is your business on our moon?"

"Our business..." He took a step closer to her. "Is not yours." He walked past her without another word, shoulder brushing against hers.

Mira stared at his back. Stars, Mandalorians could be so difficult.

"Hey!" she called out.

He didn't turn.

"You're walking towards my home, so I'd say it very well is my business."

His steps slowed to a stop. A long sigh played through his voice modulator. "Fine."

She caught up with him, waiting for answers. He finally turned to face her again.

"I'm a bounty hunter by trade—"

"A bounty on Endor? For who? An Ewok?" she asked, sarcasm lacing her voice.

If she wasn't certain that he was already annoyed by her mere existence, her interrupting him confirmed that he was definitely annoyed with her now. "I'm a bounty hunter by trade...but I work for the New Republic now."

Her eyebrows shot up. "The New Republic. Seriously?"

He said nothing. Right. Mandalorians weren't much for talking.

"You still didn't answer my question." She stroked the still-shaken-up tooka in her arms. Grogu was actively trying to wiggle out of his father's arms to get to Tovi. "Who would there be a bounty for on Endor? There's only Ewoks and a few other scattered species of creatures here."

"You're here." He countered.

Fair point.

"But no one else is," she replied.

His helmet tilted towards her.

"You think you're the only person hiding out here?"

She froze.

"I'm not-" She bit her tongue. "...Hiding out."

He nodded, but he clearly didn't believe her.

"Listen, I'd like to know if there is a presence endangering my home. I'm here because it keeps me safe." She shifted Tovi higher in her arms. "I need to know if that's no longer the case."

He was quiet for a moment, as if he were weighing whether to feel empathetic for the woman. "I don't know, but you're preventing me from figuring that out."

"Fine."

He nodded again, turning away with the green creature still eyeing Tovi over his shoulder. Then the odd pair disappeared into the trees.

Mira just stared blankly in their direction for a while, shaken by the interaction. When was the last time she spoke to another person? But what shook her more than that was another thought...

Who did the Mandalorian think was here?

Unable to answer her own questions, she sat Tovi down and began to walk back to her cabin.

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Mira tried to sleep that night, tossing and turning with Tovi beside her. She couldn't sleep. There was a stranger on her moon. A Mandalorian of all people, too. And worse, he was looking for something else. Safety didn't feel like a reality anymore.

She sat up straight in bed at the sound of glass breaking. Her windows?

She jumped up, grabbing Tovi in one arm and reaching for the weapon at her bedside. She scanned her home cautiously. It was silent now.

Then a sound split through her ears. She ducked instinctively

Ships flying overhead.

But she knew that sound. That wasn't just any ship. Those were TIE fighters.

Oh hell.

"Hey!" a voice cut through her panic, but of course brought a whole new layer of panic because there was someone in her house.

Before she could raise her weapon, her eyes met that shiny metal again.

"We need to get you out of here," the Mandalorian instructed.

That's who broke her windows. She slipped her weapon into her belt.

"Did you break into my house?"

"Let's go."

Mira could hear the fighters growing closer. Her shoulders hunched as she looked overhead again before turning back to the Mandalorian.

"What is going on?"

"We need to leave. Right now."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Now is not the time to be stubborn."

Even if danger was imminent, how did she know this stranger wasn't just as dangerous? She knew nothing about him, and he knew nothing about her. Well, except for the fact he already picked up on her stubbornness from their one brief interaction earlier today. "I don't know you."

That beskar helmet nodded towards outside. "But you know what that sound is."

She paused.

She'd spent a good chunk of her life hiding, just like her father. Endor was safe. Or at least it had been safe. Now damn TIE fighters were flying over her little forest moon. She tried to convince herself their presence didn't necessarily mean she wasn't safe anymore. Even if Imperial remnant groups started poking around here, it wasn't like they knew who she was. No one knew who she was. As far as anyone else was concerned, she was just a plain, homely woman living out her days quietly in her forest cabin. The empire had already taken so much from her when it was active...she couldn't let it take her from her home now. But the desire to stay was beginning to be beaten out by something more potent...fear.

If she were stronger, she would've kept the tears from filling up in her eyes by sheer will, but the sting in her throat was impossible to tame in this moment. She knew the Mandalorian was right deep down. He knew something she didn't.

She did her best not to choke on her words. "This is my home."

He was losing patience. There was no time.

The Mandalorian strided forward until he was right in front of her. "They're here for you."

"What?" She shook her head. Impossible. "What makes you think that?"

He reached into his pocket and lifted something out towards her. Her heart dropped as a hologram lit up.

A hologram of her face.