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People tended to think Moonflower was an idiot. A soft-hearted, foolish girl whose optimism would kill her someday. She smiled easily and laughed freely, and she was always dreaming of love. They shook their heads and waited for the day she got into trouble she couldn’t get out of by being happy.
The truth was, however, that she simply believed in the best possible future. The Calamity could be avoided if they all prayed enough. She prayed day and night to her beloved moon goddess, Menphina. Surely the goddess of love would be able to control her stray moon, and spare everyone a devastating fate.
Dalamud fell. It crashed into the earth and split open to reveal an enormous dragon, Bahamut. The world exploded and shifted into something anew. Many died or disappeared. The Warriors of Light vanished too, leaving nothing but their brilliant shadows behind.
Normally, such a calamity would have broken Moonflower’s spirit. But she was made of stronger things than the Seventh Umbral Calamity. Perhaps her prayers had not saved everyone, or kept Dalamud in the sky, but Menphina and the rest of the Twelve had surely protected people who might otherwise have died. It was not as if the world hadn’t felt calamities before. They always rebuilt, they always carried on.
Moonflower had not lost hope. She would fight for the best of all possible worlds, and that was how she ended up in Ul’dah, meeting who must surely be the love of her life. A handsome hyuran man: he had beautiful, slanted, dark eyes; thick, black hair; a pointed chin; and strong shoulders. He was intelligent, well-mannered, and simply perfect. She fell in love as soon as their eyes met, and when he kindly asked her if she needed help, she let her heart say yes at the same time as her lips.
Yes, this is the best of all possible worlds.
Her Nagamasa loved her for her enthusiastic optimism. He smiled and sometimes even laughed when she spoke her wonderment for their beloved world. Eorzea was beautiful beyond compare, and she wanted to take it in. She stopped when they went into the places no one ever wanted to enter, she paused to take in the rock formations and the slopes in the forest, and she mused over the flowers they passed on the road. “Look, how beautiful they are!” she said frequently, and she would share her lovely vision with him.
“Yes, beautiful,” he agreed, and he would capture her in a kiss or an embrace. They were in love, and not even the constant death and destruction would dim her happiness. He led her on adventures and she followed, trusting him beyond what most would say was reason. Nagamasa never led her wrong, not once. Then, when resting in the ruins of Sharlayan and admiring the land near Idyllshire, he turned his warm gaze to her and took her in. Moonflower leaned over the edge, unafraid, and caught his eye. When she smiled back, he asked, “Will you marry me?”
She didn’t think they could be much happier than they already were, but her heart took flight and she thought to herself, This is the best of all possible worlds. They married one cold day and she ran through the coils of Bahamut in her wedding dress. She was a bright, sparkling vision in white, and she let her light shine for everyone to see. People were starting to think that maybe it was possible to be happy and view life with hope, now that they had Warriors of Light again, especially when one smiled so radiantly.
The best of all possible worlds meant that she had to keep her core belief of hope, even when death ripped her into shreds. Love died in her arms and she was left without her friends. Could this be the best of all possible worlds? Where my friends are gone, my love is dead, the world at the brink of war and calamity? How can I be hopeful now? How could this be the best of all possible worlds? How could this happen?
But it was. The hope and joy that she radiated may have dimmed, but Moonflower would keep going. Yes, she followed her beloved’s lead, but she was capable of forging the way herself. She would be happy again, she would never give up. The best of all possible worlds was in her hands, shaped by her fingers. She couldn’t lose faith now. Besides, had she not been happy? Did being unhappy now erase the happiness of the past? She didn’t think so.
I have to make the best of all possible worlds myself. There is no one else, and no one can do it for me.
Moonflower found courage from her friends and their newest companion, the Crystal Exarch. The people of Norvrandt were desperate, and they needed hope. It took only the pitiful sight of those desperate to enter Eulmore and the patients at the Inn to make her believe she must, she must give it to them. It was worth it to make people smile and dance. Maybe she wasn’t happy now, but she would make it happen for them.
She had always been stubborn in her optimism. Even when she should have given up, when she should have fallen apart, when she should have lost hope, Moonflower clung to the belief that she needed to just keep going. She needed to just keep smiling. If she stopped, all the horror of which she had chosen to see the best would come crashing down on her, and she couldn’t bring herself to let that happen to her.
Even when their new friend tried to die, and then did, she couldn’t let her shaken, fragile hope shatter. The best of all possible worlds meant that sacrifices had to be made. So she smiled and nodded when the new man she loved asked, “If I were to tell you that this isn’t the end—that we would meet again—would you believe me?”
Yes. Because in the best of all possible worlds, you and I will be together. In the best of all possible worlds, our homes will be safe, and free. In the best of all possible worlds, your sacrifice will mean something.
Perhaps Moonflower had always been foolishly happy and ridiculously optimistic. But in the best of all possible worlds, it was worth it, especially when she saw her friends welcome G’raha Tia as a Scion after all the sacrifices they had made to get to that point.