The girl yawned. She lay against a brick wall early the next morning. Her hood and hair were down, her mask waiting, lying on the dusty floor beside her.

Yesterday was terrible, she admitted to herself. She yawned again, her eyelids threatening to close again. She hadn’t gotten much sleep after what happened. She had spent all night traveling back to her small village, Akari.

"Hey, Maki!" a girl called. Maki was the girl's name in the village. It wasn't her real name, but she didn't want others to be suspicious of her.

"Yes, Amanda?" she asked with another yawn. She didn't look up at the small school girl that hangs around her when she's in the village.

"Why didn't you come to the midnight festival last night? You said you'd be there."

I completely forgot… The girl bit her lip. "Sorry. I forgot. Plus, I had somewhere to go." The girl shrugged and finally opened her eyes. Amanda was sitting in front of her. She was a little girl with brown pigtails, grey skin, and small horns sticking out of her head. She had big green eyes and white freckles. A thin tail swayed away back and forth behind her.

"Oh, okay. I was just disappointed when you didn't show up. You said you would."

"Sorry, Amanda." The girl shrugs in response.

There was silence for a moment and Maki closed her eyes once more.

"Maki?" her friend asked, pushing the silence away. "How long did you stay up? You seem tired."

"Eh. A little before sunrise," she answered. The girl yawned and a bright light caught her eyes. She shot her eyes open and looked around.

Passing her alleyway was a stranger in full steel armor. They had a flowing worn-down cape and a rifle attached to their back. They wore a smooth helmet on their head. The light reflected right off the armor and into her eyes.

"Amanda, who's that?" she asked quickly.

"You didn't hear? That's a Mandalorian! He came to a nearby town last night. Someone there killed a man near a bank and the Mandolorian came to investigate." Amanda shivered.

"Oh…," she stuttered. The girl didn't know how to react. She heard Mandalorians were expert fighters and hunters. Was he a bounty hunter? If so, was he looking for her? "Hey, I need to go to the market today. Wanna come with?" she asked Amanda, standing up.

"Do you have any credits left?" Amanda asked, standing up next to her friend.

"Nah. I have a few pieces of gold, though. Should be worth enough credits to get what I need." She wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. She wore the cloak every time she went out. She didn't have many clothes and someone could recognize her outfit if she didn't wear it.

"Alright, well, I have some credits. Mama gave them to me yesterday." Amanda grabbed the girl's hand. "Come on!"

"Hold on." The girl took her free hand and messed with her hair. When stealing. She had it in two buns. Otherwise, she kept it down. "Alright, let's go now."

The girl's bright blonde hair bounced up and down on her shoulders as Amanda led her through the village to the marketplace.

The market place was large with rows of wooden huts built to shade what was being sold. People crowded by, conversation flew into the air. Laughter and joy, cheers and cries.

The two friends stopped at a bread stand. The old man running the booth sold fresh bread every day.

"Good morning, Maki, Amanda." the old man smiled. He had grown familiar to the two because they came nearly every day.

"Two loaves please." Amanda pulled out a small leather pouch from her pocket and emptied it on the wooden table showcasing the fresh bread. Seventeen credits were spread out in front of the old man.

"Of course." The old man took almost half of the credits and handed them two freshly baked loaves. Each was short but thick and fat. Maki took the loaves and nodded politely to the old man, holding the bread to her chest.

"Thank you again,” she said as Amanda collected the remaining credits.

"Of course! See you both next time." The old man smiled back cheerfully. The two girls walked off, back into the crowd.

"Hey, do you think you have enough credits to get us a small jar of jam?" the girl asked Amanda. They were getting closer to one of her favorite shops, Jam Gaylor.

Amanda sighed. "I think. But after this, you owe me some of that gold."

"Of course, of course." Maki giggled and a smile spread across her face.

The two made their way to the jam booth and stopped in front of a small hut with small jars of jam stacked on either side.

"Hello again, Maki! I see you got some bread. Would you like the usual to go with it?" The nice lady selling jam held out a jar of raspberry jam. It was a dark lavender with purple swirls and chunks of raspberry inside. It was super hard to make but extra delicious with fresh bread.

Maki's mouth watered. "Yes, please!"

Amanda laughed and took out the rest of her credits.

The saleslady paused. "Hun, that isn't enough." She shook her head sympathetically.

"Here." Maki reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold nugget half the size of her palm. She handed it to the saleslady, who took it with surprise and delight.

"Wow, Maki! A nugget this big is worth almost 20 credits! It's enough for a second jar!"

“Really? Cool!” Maki looked over to Amanda. “What do you want?” she asked.

“Hmm...I think Mama would like strawberry or glorbara.” Glorbara was the planet’s national fruit. It’s sweet but a bit sour and slimy.

“Well, I ran out of strawberry jam earlier this morning, but I do have some glorbara left!” the sales lady grabbed a green and pink jam jar. Inside was specks of leaves and glorbara fruit chunks.

“Perfect! Thank you!” Amanda eagerly grabbed the jar. “Mama will love this!"

“Great! Thank you for buying!” the lady smiled and waved to the two as they left with the two loaves and the jam.

“Maki?” Amanda looked to her friend as they merged with the crowd once again.

“Yes, Amanda?” Maki held the loaves close to her chest.

“May I ask, where do you keep getting the gold? That one was the biggest yet!”

Maki sighed. “I got that one a few nights ago,” she admitted. “I found a night job in a nearby village and have been going a few times a week.” That wasn’t a total lie. Her job as a thief was to go to other towns and villages at night. And of course she wouldn’t go every night. It would make her easy to track and catch.

“Oh. You never told me that.” Amanda looked to the ground and tightened her grip on the jam jars.

“Yeah... My bad.” Maki looked away as well. Ever since she came to Akari, Amanda was her only friend and the one person who hung out with her. Ever since they met, it started changing the way she thought about herself. She even felt a bit bad whenever she lied to Amanda. Maybe it was the fact that Amanda was bullied a lot before Maki came along. Or maybe it was the fact that Amanda was the very first friend she had ever made.