Work Text:
The Black Shroud really should have been called the Green Shroud. Its forests and meadows were all sorts of green, which for Moonflower meant it was paradise. Her mother said their family had lived there for generations, and most likely would for many more. Moonflower believed her beautiful, perfect mother must be right. Who would ever want to leave the forest?
Moonflower grew up at the edge of a meadow. Flowers blossomed there, and they were safe from most of the rest of the shroud. Sometimes a beast wandered in, but Jasmine Hyou was more than enough to protect them. The meadow was Moonflower’s favorite place, and she went there often when things didn’t work out with the other children.
It wasn’t that the other girls bullied her. She was quite friendly with several of them, in fact. The truth was that Moonflower was far too soft and silly for other Keepers of the Moon to understand completely, so her time spent with them was frequently short. Moonflower wouldn’t admit to her wonderful mother that she didn’t fit in; she knew from a young age that her mother didn’t fit in either.
Jasmine Hyou, with piercing green eyes and long, flowing white hair, was an imposing beauty who should have had men begging at her feet. Even with the advantages brought by courting toms, she refused. The other Keepers thought it downright disturbing that she had only ever bedded one man, Moonflower’s father. It simply wasn’t done; what was wrong with her? They whispered that she would be teaching her pretty, soft daughter foolish, dangerous thoughts. Thoughts like one love and one mate, thoughts that tied a man down and gave up their matriarchal society. How could she lead her family like that? No, something was most assuredly wrong with Jasmine Hyou.
Moonflower asked her mother one day why she had no siblings. How come no men came around? All her friends had several siblings. Jasmine sighed and petted her daughter’s lavender hair. “It’s a simple fact that I don’t want more than you, my little moon. You are the only one I want.” In the striking woman’s eyes, it was better to risk shunning than an unwanted child, and the little girl had to admire her mother for it. She was determined to be just like her, and live her life the way she wanted.
When the Calamity struck and destroyed the lush, verdant forest, Moonflower was nineteen. She was at the age where she should have already taken one man into her bed, if not more. She tended to sidestep questions by saying she just wanted the first time to be special. Moonflower knew she could probably only get away with that excuse for a year or two more, and then her friends would start wondering what else was wrong with her. They already thought she should have long outgrown her fondness for flowers and start living like a real adult. She didn’t blame them; life in their area of the forest was simple, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
But the Calamity was cruel. Their meadow was saved, but blocked off. Moonflower’s beautiful, perfect mother spent the next five years in recovery, while she tended to her every need. Jasmine had broken many bones and even after they mended, she couldn’t move like she used to. “My dear little moon,” she said one day, “you need to leave here.”
“Mamma, no,” Moonflower protested. “I can’t leave you. How can you live without me? You cannot hunt anymore.”
“This meadow is too small for you, sweetie.” Jasmine petted her daughter’s hair, which made Moonflower feel like a child again. She leaned against her hand, taking comfort in the touch that raised her. “You have always been too large for our part of the forest. I named you after the moon, after the flowers that only bloom at night in the desert, but you have a light of your own. Take that light and help people like I know you want to.”
“Mamma…”
“Go, Moonflower. I will be fine.”
She was reluctant to leave, but at last she agreed to go. And when she was packed and ready to head to Ul’dah to learn how to be a thaumaturge, her mother limped to the door. “Mamma, one last chance for me to stay.”
“No, little moon. It’s time for you to go.” Jasmine stroked her ears one last time and smiled. “And when you go off on your adventures, I want you to follow your heart. You will not be in our forest anymore… Be yourself wholeheartedly, sweetie. Allow yourself to fall in love, like I know you have dreamed.”
Moonflower turned red. “I never told you that.”
Jasmine smiled. “You didn’t have to.” She kissed her forehead and stepped back. “Go on then. I love you. Carry your candle into the darkness, and light the world.”
The young woman stepped out the door and looked back. “Goodbye, Mamma. I love you!”