Star Wars Tales

Lothal's Beauties ~ SWR

This is a little one shot I thought might be cute, Ezra and Hera hanging out with some animals and getting some good adopted mother and son time. I definitely need to include Hera's actual son in the future... :) 💚🐺✨🐱💙
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Though the only Lothal he had ever known was an oppressed world with countless bad memories, Ezra Bridger had learned to find peace with himself through Jedi training, and sensed that peace for Lothal and the galaxy was not far off from the present time.

The young Jedi sat in the tall tan grass as two loth-cats tumbled around in front of him. Another one nuzzled up against Ezra's arm, asking for attention.

"I got you," Ezra laughed as he scratched between the cat's ears. Two more came along and Ezra smiled as he petted the little cats. One of them rolled over, wanting its belly scratched like a dog.

Hera Syndulla watched from a short distance as the young Jedi had some peaceful, happy alone time though he was being mauled by loth-cats. The twi'lek smiled and approached.

"They seem to really like your company," Hera smiled. Ezra turned and smiled back before another lothcat came and tackled Ezra to the ground.

"Perhaps a little too much," Ezra chuckled as he juggled petting all the cats. Hera kneeled down next to Ezra and started to draw the cats' attention to her.

         "Don't worry, I've got some coming over to me now." Hera laughed and started to scratch the cats wherever they seemed to want it.

          "I've only got two hands, so that's a relief." Ezra continued to pet the cats. After a few moments, the cats left to do their own things, blending into the tall grass as they ran.

         "You seem to be doing alright with all that's happened," Hera said to Ezra, leaning back on her hands but still sitting up.

          "I can say the same about you." Ezra replied. Kanan's death took a major toll on the Ghost crew, but it also reopened the idea to freeing Lothal with the destruction of the TIE defender factories.

          "Kanan may have been a Jedi," Hera started a topic. "and told me things about the Force, but some of it seems so confusing to me. I know I'm not a Jedi, but I can't help but feel such a strong connection."

          "Kanan told me that the Force resides in every living thing." Ezra explained. "Jedi or no, animal or person, even the world's nature themselves."

          "Is that why animals tend to be popular with you?" Hera asked, seeing two lothcats tumbling a few meters away.

          "Yeah, I think so. I've learned to know how they feel, and it helps if I'm calm. If I'm afraid or upset, it's harder to know what the animals want because I can't think clearly."

          "Hmm," Hera mumbled with interest. She turned her gaze from Ezra to straight in front of them again.

           After another moment of welcome silence except for a breeze shaking the grass, the pair felt some warm gusts on the backs of their necks, like something was breathing. Both of them turned around and saw the white lothwolf and one of his pack mates. Ezra smiled, while Hera flinched but quickly settled back down.

           The wolves sat down and looked at the two rebels. "What's up?" Ezra asked as he patted the white wolf's muzzle. "Haven't seen you in a while." Hera smiled at the other wolf and patted its nose.

"Hey, Hera." An idea came to Ezra. "Wanna go for a quick ride?"

"Sure, as long as it's pretty fast," Hera shrugged. "and okay with these critters." The response was excited panting and tail wags from the wolves. The tall animals laid down so Ezra and Hera could easily mount them.

"Trust me, you'll like this." Ezra turned from Hera and whispered something into the white wolf's ear. He turned around and the wolf Hera was on followed its leader. The rebels held onto the wolves' long manes and the animals started to run.

It was a unique experience to get along with wildlife and ride these huge creatures. So high up on their backs, you could see everything within eyesight. These wolves had interesting ways of moving from place to place, but they just kept to a basic run this time.

After they had covered quite a bit of ground, the wolves turned around a set of mountains and ran up a flatter peak before they stopped. Panting from the run, they laid down again so Hera and Ezra could dismount.

"How did you find this place, Ezra?" Hera asked, looking around. They had a perfect view of the horizon. No buildings or mountains in the way.

"This is going to sound weird," Ezra admitted. "but when I meditate out here, I get connections to the planet and can see unique places. So I guess, the Force told me about it."

"That's not weird," Hera smiled. "When you work with Jedi," she then sighed. "You learn to get used to hearing and seeing some weird stuff. Anyway, why'd you bring me here?"

"Look again," Ezra smiled and gestured to the gap Hera had seen previously. "I thought maybe a sunset would make you happy, give you some light even in these dark times." The twi'lek stood and watched the clouds turn warm colors as the sun fell and the moons started to climb higher in the sky.

Hera fell speechless for a bit. All the emotion of the past couple days was balling up to come out again, and some tears shed from her green eyes, but something about the warm colors in the sky calmed her and she grinned as a last tear fell. Almost as quickly as it came, the sunset was over and it was time to bead back to camp.

"Come on, Hera." Ezra placed his hand on her shoulder and she followed. The lothwolves stayed right with them. The rebels mounted the wolves for one more ride. They stood, with the persons secure on their backs, howled as the moons came up, and started down the bluff ramp that led to the rocky platform.

In no time, they reached their encampment. The stars were visible, any ground based day creatures were sleeping in their homes or wherever they were comfortable. The lothwolves crouched down again so the Rebels could easily get down. Both wolves receiving some respectful pats in return for the transportation. With another howl, and a distant one to follow, the wolves headed to meet back with the rest of their pack.

"Thank you, Ezra." Hera said as the two of them watched the wolves run away. "Something about that, the ride and the sunset, it made me feel really good. And thank you for being so strong through all the madness and memories."

"You're welcome, Hera." Ezra smiled. The two rebels turned into the camp for the night, both feeling better from the quick trip they decided to take.