our song of hope, she dances on the wind higher, oh higher!

pillars of salt

There's a story that begins with an island and a fire.

In the past, a hundred thousand peoples sailed the waters of the Etheirys's warm southern seas, eyes fixated on the endless horizon line. There were all sorts of reasons these migrations—this way of life—began. Wars. Epidemics. Natural disasters. One such group spent decades searching for a place to call home, guided across the ocean with the wisdom of their dayang—their queen—and the heavens—langit. When they finally settled on the cusp between the Cieldalaes and the Southern Isles, it was with the wish that they were there to stay. The village they built on the island was named for both their first queen and the stars she taught them to read: Kalangitan.

Some generations later, one of Dayang Makiling's daughters gave birth to her first child. With four older sisters Luningning had no expectations of inheriting her mother's throne, and nor did she want to, being a free spirit by nature and unable to be tamed her whole life. She was trained as a warrior from the moment she could hold a weapon, and not even the prospect of motherhood could slow her down until her aunts and uncle forced her to for her baby's sake.

The invasion of the southern seas by Eorzean pirates was not unexpected or a new occurrence. For years they pushed further and further south, murdering and pillaging through each and every island they razed in the Cieldalaes. The people of Kalangitan refused to give up the home the stars guided them to, staying put even as the raids came closer and closer, and they remained in their home even as they were put to the torch.

There was one exception.

Luningning became a warrior by choice—she was a woman untamed, following the wind and water wherever it pulled her, except when her family asked her to stay, because her family meant more to her than any call for freedom. Though they and their people fought with everything they had to repel the raiders, Luningning watched as the last of her siblings was slaughtered and she thought about the baby boy hidden in her hut.

As fires ravaged the nipa huts and the cruel laughter of men cutting down anyone and anything in their sight echoed across the island, Luningning fled, her baby in her arms and an embroidered bag on her back as she stumbled through the sand and into a lone bigiw untethered to the shore.

The bigiw smashed against the rocks of the island of Macalino. In the morning, the village would gather around an unconscious Hrothgar woman and her baby tangled in the wreckage of a little raft and drenched in saltwater and grief, and a married couple with a child of their own would take her in, and they would feel safe for just a bit longer until the fires and men came again, until one day Luningning would say "enough" and she would take to the water of her own volition instead of to run.

This is the tale of Luningning "Lunya" Kalangitan, first captain of the pirate ship the Lady Luck.

a dream upon the waves

Toru was just short of ten summers old the day news came of his parents' death while fishing at sea. Unable to bear the loneliness of their isolated village, he left for Nagxia's largest port settlement and stowed away on the first Eorzean ship he found. He was caught not even half a day into the voyage by the captain himself—Bonifacio "Beni" Kalangitan was an imposing and dangerous man, but one with a heart of gold and a soft spot for children that led to him giving Toru the chance to stay aboard for the rest of the journey provided he pull his own weight.

Though Toru worked simply as a deckhand at first, by the time they arrived on Vylbrand he was a permanent member of the Lady Luck, having won over the other pirates with his wit and axe skills. Bonifacio decided to adopt him as his own son, successfully wheedling his best friend and first mate Urduja Macalino into coparenting with him.

can you drown at the call of the sea?

In a well-off village in the Southern Isles, Lilina Gabayan wondered if she was bound to the island her parents left her in for the rest of her life.

Nanasa and Juan Gabayan were business-minded and serious folk who determined that the best way to provide for their five children lay across the sea in Eorzea. They left Lilina and her siblings in the care of Nanasa's mother, Lilisette, who loved and determinedly raised her grandchildren but could do little to stem the resentment that began to brew with their parents' endless absence in their lives.

you can never go back

Yeyema Kalangitan was born in the 1558th year of the 6th Astral Era in La Noscean waters aboard the Lady Luck. Most of the first five years of her life were spent between the ship and the Mizzenmast inn, where her parents temporarily boarded while the family cleared land for their settlement. When Merlwyb Bloefiswyn became admiral she officially sanctioned the land for the Lady Luck crew's use and the family moved in and began to build up the farmstead.

As a child, Yeyema was a cheerful, energetic girl with a mischievous streak encouraged by her large family. She chased the family's chickens between their orange trees and turned her mother's curtains into dresses, and when it became clear from a young age that she was skilled with numbers the newly-founded Arcanists' Guild happily welcomed their youngest member into their ranks to learn arcanima after her grandmother enrolled her for the sake of learning a way to defend herself. Her childhood was a very happy one overall. The family wasn't well off by any means, but they were close knit and never worried about not having enough food for the table. Still, the children of Yeyema's generation were—consciously or not—burdened with their parents' wishes of them having a better life, of freeing themselves of the blood and grief that followed in the crew's wake for decades. For some of the kids, this became a duty. For others, a noose.

Lunya has no memory of it, but when she was still little, no older than 6 or 7, one of her cousins tried to kill her. Amador Kalangitan was eight years her senior and one of several foundlings adopted into the family. He was a brat and a brute, but none can say for sure what exactly led him to cornering little Yeyema with that knife; when their cousin Jonah stumbled upon them both, he reacted on instinct to defend Yeyema and Amador didn't escape the scuffle alive. Amador's name was struck from the family records and no one feels any good will come from reminding Lunya of the incident.

When Yeyema was ten, the family farm was burned to the ground by a girl named Syhrwyda Maetityrbwyn under the orders of a witch. Abruptly in poverty and the life they'd built in shambles overnight, the family began to fall to pieces. Several family members left the farm to find fortune elsewhere as infighting broke out. Yeyema begged her parents to let her help but Lilina refused, not wanting her own children to experience what it was like to be forced to grow up far too early as she had. Unfortunately, Yeyema inherited Lilina's wild, stubborn streak—and the conversation spiralled into a fight that was only stopped with the intervention of her father and grandfather, who also agreed that Yeyema should not be involved in an "adult problem."

Unable to be deterred, Yeyema ran away from home in the dead of the night. Her family would see no trace of her again for a decade, no matter how desperately they looked.

twilight over thanalan

Taking advantage of a porter's inability to gauge her age, Yeyema bought passage to Vesper Bay with her allowance, eyes set on the city of riches from the tales of Lominsan merchants. Ul'dah's glitter wasn't all gold, however; that little girl quickly found herself on the streets and forced to steal to survive. Being caught by someone she tried to pickpocket ended with her encountering a boy named Sirius, who would become her protector during those few moons as they scraped whatever coin they could together through rigged magic tricks and pickpocketing tourists. It was also Pearl Lane where Yeyema met Zaya Qestir and Valdis Otoel for the first time, and they forged an alliance to survive together until Zaya became a Noxius. Around the same time, she met the Starsinger siblings, and was one of the few people in the entirety of Ul'dah who wasn't even remotely scared or hostile towards them.

Eventually, part of Yeyema's family caught up to her; her father's younger sister, Anghel Kalangitan, came to Ul'dah to earn a fortune as a pharmacist and stumbled on Yeyema by pure chance. Her beloved aunt, shocked to see her niece in rags and fighting for survival so far from home, promised to take care of her and brought her to her little apartment in the outer walls of the city, offering her a chance to make her own coin by helping as her assistant. But Yeyema did not know of her Tita Anghel's vices—the family hid their conflicts from the children, and it blindsided her completely when Anghel betrayed her.

Anghel, going by the name Susuna as she worked outside of Ul'dah's gates, was a greedy woman whose family's love and happiness wasn't ever enough for her. She knew Yeyema was an arcane and mathematical prodigy. She knew their family was still looking for her. Susuna saw Yeyema's vulnerability and took full advantage of it, making her take charge of their finances and blaming her for anything that went wrong. When it came time for Susuna to test her medicines, she rounded up refugees from outside the walls and had Yeyema inflict harm on them with arcanima, and whenever Yeyema hesitated she threatened to withhold paying her. In Susuna's house, they were all trapped—Ul'dah and her gleaming spires couldn't care less for a few missing refugees or an urchin off Pearl Lane.

Yeyema was barely twelve. What she needed most in her life was an adult to care for her, and the one person she thought she could trust to do that failed her.

The experience was traumatizing and left a dire effect on her relationship with her magic for many, many years after. She would have been trapped under Susuna's thumb for a very long time if not for Sirius, who fought to learn the truth after not seeing her for moons and managed to get the attention of a traveller by the name of Einar Howl...

to entrust unto tomorrow

Sirius, devoted to his best friend, bargained with Einar to help Yeyema get away from Susuna. He didn't really have to—Einar loved children and was ready to help the moment Sirius asked—but Einar respected his pride and accepted a small reward in exchange for his help.

Discreetly, Einar began to seek Yeyema out. There were times Susuna disappeared into the city, forging connections with both the corrupt upper class Ul'dahns and their black market counterparts, and during these times he would "accidentally" stumble onto Yeyema as she sat outside their apartment and watched the children play. He took her under his wing, providing food for her and distracting her from the misery of her prison until the evening when Susuna came home and he couldn't protect her any longer. At night, Einar probed into the same markets Susuna just left; when he found she had caused a mass poisoning in one of the Thanalan refugee camps, he went to the Brass Blades with a case that couldn't be brushed under the rug and got her arrested for a grocery list of charges, freeing Yeyema once and for all and reuniting her with Sirius.

Einar didn't just leave the kids there, though. They were too young to take with him so he made Ul'dah his home base as he did local adventuring work, housing them in their own rooms in the Quicksand under Momodi's watchful eye. They became like siblings to him, reminding him of his own little sister he lost years ago. When he was summoned to Louisoix's side in the weeks leading up to the 7th Umbral Calamity, he promised Yeyema he would come back for them within the year to help her and Sirius return to her family, giving her the rest of his funds to tide her over until he came back. But Einar never returned from Carteneau, becoming one of the lost Twelvesblades.

In the weeks after he left Ul'dah, Yeyema became a regular at the Quicksand, waiting for news of her big brother to come in. She was accompanied by Sirius and a traveling adventurer—an elderly Hyur from Hingashi, who had left home many years ago after his theories about geomancy were mocked, and was a friend of Einar who agreed to look after her in his absence. Kichirou was a kindly man who she and Sirius would come to think of him as a grandfather. He was a person of great elegance and fashion taste, and he introduced Yeyema to the Weavers' Guild, where they gladly accepted her as a new member.

It was only by sheer luck that he was still in town the night of the Calamity, his carriage's arrival delayed by a swarm of monsters out in Thanalan. When the buildings began to crumble he tried to take the children and run, but they were too slow and Yeyema was caught in the frantic stampede to get out of the city. Though Kichirou fought against the crowd, by the time he reached Yeyema she had been trampled to death, the last of her aether starting to fizzle out. Out of desperation, Kichirou forced his own aether into her, draining every last drop of his own so she could live. The stress of a rapid disintegration and then the shock of foreign aether flooding into Yeyema's body permanently mutated her hair pure white, as well as the freckles on her cheeks. The night of the Calamity, it was Kichirou Taiketsu who died instead, with no trace that he was even once there.

At the same time, Einar, Zaya, and Valdis all wound up at Carteneau one way or another—and that intersection of their stars would wipe their names and faces from Yeyema's memory for the next five years.

thou must live, die, and know

In the wake of the Calamity, there were few people who weren't grieving and desperate to pick up the pieces of their lives, and Yeyema was among the mourners—ashamed to go home, her guardian dead, and a blank slate in the place of three people she knew were important to her, it was no wonder that the young girl was unable to do much than hide in her room for some time. It was Momodi of the Adventurers' Guild who took pity on her and took her in as a ward, under the condition that she did not let her grief take over the rest of her life.

So Yeyema enrolled in the Thaumaturges' Guild as a student with Momodi's recommendation in order to study and manage the effects Kichirou's aether had on her own. She would also come to function as an apprentice priestess of the Ossuary, taking the patronage of Nymeia as she helped perform funeral rites. As the years went on and she grew more comfortable with her magic again, she began to take odd jobs at the Adventurers' Guild alongside Sirius, and over time she rose through the ranks of the Weavers' Guild after Redolent Rose invigorated a sense of life back into a still-grieving girl.

After spending some time at Ul'dah's various guilds and watching the city's wounds slowly heal, Yeyema decided she would become an adventurer and help the rest of Eorzea in what little way she could, and perhaps find the people missing from her memory. The plan was for her and Sirius to leave shortly after her 18th nameday: a plan that had to be delay when a grievous accident on a job forced Sirius into an early retirement and threatened to throw Yeyema back into a catatonic state. Out of loyalty to Sirius, Yeyema decided to stay by his side as he recovered. It was an ordeal that took months and Sirius would never quite be the same again, so as another year slowly rolled around Yeyema decided she would leave Ul'dah on her own to make coin not just for herself but for Sirius's sake.

At nineteen summers old Yeyema—now going by the name Lunya Lanya, chosen by the girl in honor of her grandfather's mother—said goodbye to Sirius and Momodi and departed back home for Vylbrand, intending to hang around its Adventurers' Guild to watch over her family's farm from a distance and do simple jobs to make coin. Things got a bit out of hand, though, when she encountered Y'shtola Rhul in La Noscea...

close to home

Lunya's journey began in Limsa Lominsa, the city closest to her home and heart. Upon arriving in the port city she registered with the Lominsan Adventurers' Guild, meeting Baderon Tenfingers—her godfather—for the first time in years. Fearing he would alert her parents, Lunya did not tell him her original name. Baderon had his suspicions but kept his mouth shut. Knowing she had already done adventurer work for Momodi, Baderon had a special request for her: to accompany an Archon from Sharlayan on her first venture. Thus, Lunya was put in a party with Nyneve Pond and two other adventurers named Majj and Theodaux as they delved into Sastasha. She was difficult to work with—years of distancing herself from all in Ul'dah but her mentors and Sirius led to her starting out as brusque and distant, and the immaturity of her party wasn't doing anything to warm her up to them. It was Majj's warmth and persistance that got her to relax around them, and by the time they finished their job Lunya was sad to see them go. Or at least, she would have been if their success hadn't caught the eye of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who requested the four of them come to their Thanalan headquarters together.

Her first moons as a Scion were difficult ones—they had research done into her history and discovered her link to Susuna Suna. With Lunya unwilling to explain her side of the story, there was little amity or trust between the inner circle and herself for a very long time with the sole exceptions of Y'shtola, who recruited her, and Minfilia, who trusted Y'shtola's judgement. After Ifrit, Lunya would begin to warm up to some of her fellow adventurers. It was rough with her stubborn, snappish nature, and she particularly got on the nerves of Hanami Hagane, who was delightfully easy to push the buttons of, but she became noticably more playful with the other adventurer recruits than their Scion colleagues.

After the raid on the Waking Sands, Lunya was among the adventurers who sought shelter in Eastern Thanalan. Hiding how shaken she was herself, she provided a steady presence for her openly-horrified companions. It was in Coerthas that Lunya realized she'd become genuinely attached to the others and resolved to relearn the healing magic of her youth, fighting the unfortunate side-effect of resurfacing old traumas. She was trained by A'dewah Tia and Duscha Vesnasch with the assistance of Nymian tomes found by a childhood friend, Alka Zolka, who she reconnected with during her studies. Successfully healing through the confrontation with Garuda bolstered her confidence a bit and allowed her to rally the others for the storming of Castrum Meridanium.

As they fled the Praetorium, Lunya's memory of Einar, Zaya, and Valdis finally returned. Her true reunion with Einar and Zaya was especially emotional, and for the first time in years Lunya let herself be weak in front of others.

the seventh dawn

Following the defeat of the Ultima Weapon, the Warriors of Light returned to Thanalan to discover dozens of petitioners eager to offer the Scions their aid—though it was obvious to all but their leader herself that to take up any of their offers would be beyond foolish.

Lunya was much happier after reuniting with her pseudo-siblings and began to genuinely strengthen her bond with her fellow Warriors. Thanks to Zaya, Thancred and Papalymo would learn the full truth of her situation with Susuna, though Yda continued to keep her distance. Papalymo took it upon himself to teach the Warriors sign language so they and Zaya could communicate.

Around the time the Scions began to finish their move to Mor Dhona, an interesting job prospect popped up from the Sons of Saint Coinach. The first to catch wind of the fact was Lunya through a strange visitor she encountered in the Toll, and after confirming its existence she was quick to rope her friends into joining the expedition. It was through gathering aethersand that Lunya would meet the man who would quickly become one of the most important people in her life—G'raha Tia.

There was no shortage of work for the new Warriors between putting down primals, helping the displaced Doman refugees settle into Revenant's Toll, guarding Alisaie Leveilleur during her ventures into the Binding Coil, and assisting Alphinaud in forming the Crystal Braves. Lunya spent most of her free time at St. Coinach's Find assisting the scholars with research and a variety of fetch quests, and as she did she and G'raha grew closer. He was a good influence on her (though Hanami was inclined to call him a brat and Reese was quick to engage in heated debates with him whenever they crossed paths) and he inspired her to be more dedicated to her place in Eorzea's history. As their friendship strengthened, their trust naturally did as well, and eventually they became each others' confidants with the troubled sides of their lives: something Lunya was still reluctant to do with «balefire». It was G'raha who inspired Lunya to fully accept and cherish what had brought her to this point and the friends who were waiting for her to trust them.

As the first year of the 7th Astral Era progressed, Lunya grew more and more into her truest self—a vivacious, sassy young woman full of life and charm. At the same time she also began to recover much of her memories of her time in Ul'dah, which she had been holding back since the Calamity.

a lingering light

Lunya was separated from the others in the Vault, staying behind to hold off a swarm of priests. She broke through and reached the airship landing in time to see the aftermath of Haurchefant shielding Reese from Ser Zephirin's spear, and as she approached Reese desperately begged her to save him. With the rest of their healers out of mana or still in the depths of the Vaults, as Thordan made his escape Lunya opened the seventh gate and rewrote Haurchefant's fate, tying his mana to hers to drag him back from the brink of death.

The spell worked—but it pushed Lunya past her limit, and both she and Haurchefant fell unconscious. While the rest of «balefire» chased down Thordan to the Sea of Clouds, she and Haurchefant were relocated back to the Fortemps Manor where they remained in a deep slumber. Though Lunya stopped him from dying, the spear of light already began to actively eat away his aether and she had to tether him to hers until he stabilized. By the time they awoke, the others were preparing to breach Azys Lla to properly confront Thordan once and for all: and Lunya, despite just waking from weeks in a coma, came along.

take us home

Following Thordan's defeat, Lunya lent a hand to Ser Aymeric's quest to end the Dragonsong War once and for all. She ventured with the others back to Idyllshire to meet a scholar who could help them find Thancred and Minfilia, and was equally surprised and distressed to learn Krile Baldesion was an old friend of G'raha Tia. Though the memory of him stung, she trusted Krile could bring their lost friends home. While the bulk of work towards peace in Ishgard was watched over by Lumelle de Lipine and Theo, Lunya busied herself out in the field helping Krile between bouts of assisting Leveva—the upheaval of attitude towards dragons and heretics made spreading the teaching of astromancy far less of a problem than it used to be.

Familiar with the ways of pirates, Lunya managed most of the talk with the Redbills during The Shadow of Mhach. It was Nyneve who spearheaded the fights through the Void Ark, the Weeping City, and finally Dun Scaith, however, being their resident voidsent expert.

At the encouragement of «balefire» and Ranaa Mihgo, Lunya decided to go home for the first time in just over a decade. Before the storming of Baelsar's Wall, Lunya went back to La Noscea and reunited with her family.

in crimson, in violet

It was at H'lios' request that Lunya officially put «lode» forward to help the Ala Mhigan Resistance despite her own reluctance to take yet another country's yoke upon her friends' shoulders, and during their time in Gyr Abania she did as little as possible to stand out among the crowd of soldiers. Following the attack on the Reach and the subsequent decision to send a party to the Far East, Lunya split «lode»'s members, keeping more than half of their number stationed in Gyr Abania.

Lunya took quite easily to the sights and sounds of Kugane, having heard stories of it from Kichirou as a child. While inclined to stay behind with Tataru, she dutifully followed the others to the Ruby Sea and beyond. On the Azim Steppe, she firmly rejected assisting in Hien's plans after foreseeing conflict between Zaya and Hanami, and instead stayed behind in Reunion with Majj while the other members of «balefire» followed the prince through Bardam's Mettle and then the Naadam. She had a lovely time with Zaya's family while her friends were out beating each other up.

mooncaller

While her guildmates dealt with the aftermath of Zenos' death in Gyr Abania, Lunya returned to Kugane at Krile's request to join the Eureka expedition. It was mostly a solo venture, with some of her friends popping in from time to time. She was available on call for events in the Far East, and was present to see Yotsuyu's story to an end. She took part in the Four Lords story and was briefly summoned back to Aldenard to help with Omega, and Einar recruited her to help with the Return to Ivalice raids. Being so close to the former home of one of her dearest friends reopened the wound in her heart that never really healed. She's significantly more sullen and quiet throughout the 4.x patch cycle.

At the Ghimlyt Dark, the Warriors of Light faced down Zenos yae Galvus resurrected—but something was different, and horribly so. Before they could engage in battle however they were Called yet again and at the worst possible moment. Lunya knew that voice as soon as she heard it—how could she not when its owner had haunted her dreams for the last four years? When she came to it was with a fury and a deep gash in her side, her friends even worse for wear after Zenos's onslaught.

beloved by night

Lunya arrived in Norvrandt with no shortage of grievances with their mystery caller, the Crystal Exarch, who stirred all sorts of anger in her that she had no heart to verbalize while her colleagues and friends were in danger. Despite the tension weighing her and the others down, she quickly agreed to help Norvrandt and its people. Seeing the Crystal Tower up close and personal for the first time in years did horrible things to her heart, but she tried to keep her chin up as best as she could.

Her relationships with Thancred and Zaya deteriorated over the course of Shadowbringers while watching their failure to treat Minfilia right. She was protective of the girl right out the gate and eventually her frustration with Thancred in particular boiled over after Il Mheg, ending with a fight that left Lunya refusing to talk to him until the events at Nabaath Araeng.

It was Lunya's turn to absorb the Light when they scaled Mt. Gulg to fight the final Lightwarden, but things rarely ever went as planned for the Warriors of Light. The Exarch revealed his true plan and his identity, shattering Lunya's heart when he made it clear he was ready to die for her and their worlds.

beacons in the dark

e'er our vows endure

Lunya found herself in love with Old Sharlayan near instantly, though of course that affection was hampered by the Forum and Fourchenault Leveilleur being an ass. When part of the team headed off to Thavnair, Lunya remained in Sharlayan, exploring Labyrinthos with Y'shtola, the twins, Majj, Nyneve, and Athanasia. She instantly regretted this when Y'shtola decided to turn them into frogs. When Zaya and the Thavnair team return the two siblings have to pass out in the Andron and recover from their respective ordeals for at least half a day.

In Garlemald, Lunya was stationed in Camp Broken Glass and missed the worst beats of the arc while occupied with healing the Tempered and the injured of the Contigent. When Zenos bodyjacked his way over via Hanami, Lunya sensed something off about her friend as she approached and put herself between "Haanami" and G'raha. After the Tower of Babil the party split up once again, Lunya leaving her shift in the medbay to join the moon party.

Argos immediately adores Lunya on first sight and the feeling was very mutual, which everyone just chalked up to her being the Dog Whisperer of the group.

In the Aitiascope, Kichirou's spirit interferes in the fight against Amon—"in a rush of warm adoration, the memory of a whimsical guardian takes form," a field of lilies blooming across Amon's arena and a dome of light forming overhead as the shade called down the energy of Dalamud through a simulacrum of the Syrcus Tower.

As their friends sacrificed themselves one by one, Lunya began to dread who was eventually going to be next. And she was right—G'raha turned to her at the end of the Base Omicron section and she refused him. To her friends' shock and resignation, she sacrificed herself alongside him, transforming his crystal path into one lined by golden stars.

After Endsinger, it was the prayers of the others keeping Lunya together. As a healer she's the very first targets Zenos goes after and he forces her out of the fight by leaving her on the brink of death, and right before Zaya can force her back onto the ship she baton passes what remains of her aether to them. When she appears on the ship she's all but dead already, and G'raha saves her by transferring all her stored aether in his wedding ring back to her, a bookend to how Kichirou once gave her his own aether to save her life.

higher, oh higher!

legacies of gold

a hopeful future

Hydrangea kanzashi: Given to her by the geiko Kotocho, one of her Kugane weaving clients, as a gift of gratitude. Worn by her left ear.

Moonstone ring: A belated 25th nameday gift from the Scions after the events of Shadowbringers, worn on her right index finger.

Aetheryte earring: A crystal earring in the classical design of Eorzea's aetherytes that Lunya wears on her left ear. It pulses with a gentle blue glow. It seems someone is attuned to it as his home point...

Engagement ring: A truegold ring set with a blue ruby. Though crystal blue in colour, tilting the ring brings out more of the red and violets of the gem. The band is intricately designed to look like two comets connecting at the stone, and the ruby itself is the centerpiece of a miniature sun. A Hanami Hagane original design.

Crystal wedding band: Worn with her engagement ring, this wedding ring was a final gift from her husband on the day they were married. Bursting to the brim with crystallized aether.

Crystal bracelet: A wedding gift from the Starsinger siblings worn on her right wrist. Made of shiny purple beads and accented with a crystal charm. Lunya carefully took it apart and reinforced it with knots between each bead, so in the event that it ever snaps she won't lose it all at once.

Ornate hair sticks: A pair of gold pins crafted by Hanami as a wedding gift, featuring a trail of shining crystals, rubies, and little golden stars. One stick has a familiar spirit-vessel-shaped ornament at the end...

The Ace, Go-Getter Girl. There are very few things Lunya is bad at compared to what she excels in, and she's like that one girl you were classmates with in high school who had straight A's and was in six different after-school clubs that you kind of wanted to hate but couldn't because she was so nice.

Action Fashionista. The only thing more powerful than Lunya is her wardrobe, and she will sometimes switch between her astrologian, black mage, and warrior attire in one single battle.

Action Girl / Lady of War / One-Woman Army. Comes with the territory of being one of the Warriors of Light, of course.

All-Loving Heroine / Friend to All Children. A trait carried from her days as Asteria. Lunya values all life, from bugs in the gardens to people in the villages and the dragons in the mountains. Life is an incredibly precious thing, and she will protect it no matter what. Except frogs. She hates frogs.

Anti-Mentor. Don't ask her to teach you anything. Really, don't. Lunya's good at what she does but that doesn't mean she can give you anything substantial to learn.

Astrologer / Gravity Master / Star Power / Winds of Destiny, Change. Lunya's an Astrologian, and a damn good one too.

Badass Adorable / Cute Bruiser / Pint-sized Powerhouse. Two fulms ten ilms of whoopass.

Barrier Warrior. When aligning her astromancy to the Nocturnal Sect, she can create shields. She also frequently uses her immunity to primal tempering as this, physically pulsing the Echo from her to shield anyone retreating from the battle.

Beautiful Singing Voice. Can boast this thanks to her parents both being musically inclined.

Blood Knight. She hates to admit it, but Lunya likes fighting, and is counted among «balefire»'s most bloodthirsty members.

Boy Meets Girl. Lunya and Raha meet at the beginning of the Crystal Tower expedition and start to fall in love. Raha locks himself up in the tower, like an idiot, and they both think they're destined to never meet again. Five and three hundred years later, they're reunited.

Child Prodigy. She caught onto mathematics from a very early age and could understand the complex geometries that create carbuncles when she was only five.

The Chosen One, Hopebringer. She was one of the first Warriors of Light that Hydaelyn woke in the 7th Umbral Era, and the lavender dress she wears during the liberations of Ala Mhigo and Doma become an iconic symbol of the revolutions.

Combat Clairvoyance. Mostly thanks to the Echo and partially her own divining skills, Lunya can sense incoming attacks several seconds before they come, mostly manifesting as a sudden chill.

Combat Medic, Healing Hands. Got smacked around on the battlefield? Lunya's ready to heal you.

Combat Pragmatist, Good Is Not Soft. Fighting fair has no place in a warzone. Lunya doesn't care about honor or fairness as long as the people she's protecting get out safe.

Cool Big Sis. Literally, to her younger brother Taro. She also acts as this to Alphinaud and Alisaie, as well as the Starsinger siblings, the Lipine siblings, and Illya Skawi. Funnily, she's shorter than all of them but Elwin and Cherrypit.

Cosmic Motifs, Lunacy. Her entire aesthetic is this, hello?

Covered with Scars. She hides the biggest of them with glamours, and those that she does almost certainly come with a story behind them.

Dance Battler. Literally one as a DNC, but her grace from her dancing ability translates well in combat as her other jobs.

Dark-Skinned Blond. A white-haired variant.

Determinator. Lunya doesn't like quitters. Naturally, that means that she'll run herself into the ground for just about anything, be it a boss fight to the death or finishing a project before a deadline.

Does Not Like Spam. She hates bananas. Saba bananas are the exception.

Don't Think, Feel. This is usually how her "lessons" tend to go, resulting in a lot of frustration and confusion on her would-be pupils' part.

Earn Your Happy Ending. Has to go through a whole lot to reunite with G'raha Tia, but it's worth it.

Family Eye Resemblance. Lunya got her eye colour from her dad, and though she has the Dunesfolk gloss on top of them they so distinctly belong to them it's how her mother recognizes her for being their daughter when she comes home.

Fashion Designer, Heroism Won't Pay The Bills. Lunya operates her fashion business under the pseudonym Aurelia Astrologos, which she leaves in the care of Redolent Rose. She also operates a small artisanal crafting empire in her spare time under her own name.

Flower in Her Hair, Hair Decorations. Her favourite hair accessories feature flowers. She's also fond of ribbons and tiny hats.

The First Cut Is the Deepest. She never really gets over G'raha.

The Gadfly. Lunya practically lives to push her friends' buttons, teasing them for for everything between their obvious crushes to how they take their eggs. How hard she pushes you is a pretty good indicator of her affection for you, strangely enough. She always backs down when things start getting visibly uncomfortable, so «balefire» just takes it in stride.

Glass Cannon. Don't let her tank. The blue in her job icon is just for aesthetic, she's actually a DPS when she picks up her axe.

Graceful Ladies Like Purple. Her signature colour, and she definitely fits the category of a graceful lady.

Green-Eyed Monster. Acknowledging it makes her sick, but Lunya's easily jealous and quick to envy others. A'dewah Tia probably got the worst of her judgement during the Crystal Tower expedition when she came to see him as competition for G'raha's affection, her self-worth spiralling down the drain with the belief that she didn't deserve love as much as someone so kind and gentle. She did get over it in the years following, at least, and now gladly can call A'dewah a friend. But even beyond relationship issues, Lunya still feels inferior compared to her sweeter and softer friends like Kotone and Illya...

Heroes Love Dogs. She has fourteen, and her carbuncle and chocobo frankly behave like one enough to count.

Hot-blooded. Her temper's as short as she is.

Huge Guy, Tiny Girl. With Raha, as long as you're only comparing them to each other. He's very short for a male Miqo'te.

I Am A Monster. Carries this image of herself for more than half her life thanks to Susuna's conditioning of her as a child.

Interrupted Declaration of Love. She never gets to answer G'raha's confession before they entered the World of Darkness and things quickly collapsed in on itself right after. It's something she regrets all the way until the end of Shadowbringers.

Kicking Ass in All Her Finery. Wears a very fancy violet dress during the liberation of Doma and Ala Mhigo, complete with a lot of golden jewelry.

The Lost Lenore. G'raha was this for her for a while, though he was never dead but asleep and sealed away, with the odds of him waking up again within Lunya's lifetime being slim to none.

Like Mother, Like Daughter. Lunya's a strong echo of her mother, inheriting her grace and talent for dancing and even much of her body language. Unfortunately, she also got Lilina's wild, stubborn streak, and it's what caused the two to have a horrible fight before Lunya ran away from home. Significantly, Lilina, in her youth, also ran away from home—but for a very selfish reason instead.

Locked Into Strangeness, Mystical White Hair. Her hair and freckles mutated from black after her surrogate grandfather saved her life during the Calamity.

Long Hair is Feminine. As of Shadowbringers, her hair reaches her hips.

Love Transcends Spacetime. Not many people can say that their soulmate literally fought the bounds of time and space to save their life.

Mama Bear. To Ryne as well as her adoptive wards.

Manipulative Bastard. She's not above roping people into doing things for her or saying something they had no intention to, and doesn't usually feel guilt over it if she feels it was worth the end result. She's a very "the ends justify the means" person.

Muscles Are Meaningless. Look at the giant axe in her hands. Now look at her.

The Napoleon, Pint-Sized Powerhouse. Lunya's only 2'10" but she will kick your ass.

Not So Stoic. Lunya did a very good job of keeping her emotions in check battle after battle after battle, the only time she really started to falter being after G'raha sealed the Crystal Tower. Come Shadowbringers and her mask all but falls apart in the wake of Thancred's mistreatment of little Minfilia, herself and her friends nearly dying, and then the reveal that G'raha was planning to die for her. She breaks down in front of the Scions for the first time after the fight with Innocence, and once more (but happily so) after Hades, and post-Shadowbringers she's a lot more open with how she really feels.

Pointy Ears. A Lalafellin trait, and large compared to Elezens' long.

Reincarnation Romance, Eternal Love. In a sense. She and G'raha, before the world was sundered, were once called Asteria and Endymion...

Rescue Romance. She thought he was cute and interesting when they first met, but Lunya's crush on G'raha really set in after he saved her from a gigantoad in the Fogfens.

The Runaway. Became this when she was about eleven summers old or so.

Seen It All. Starting to consider running in the opposite direction the next time she inevitably comes across Hildibrand Manderville. Also considering the sheer number of chaos-seekers in her group of friends, she's mostly unfazed by just about anything they can throw at her these days.

Self-Made Woman, Workaholic, Heroism Won't Pay the Bills. She's not exactly getting paid for her work as a Warrior of Light. Most of Lunya's money comes from her crafting work and occasionally sellsword missions. She also tends to run herself into the ground through them...

Significant Birth Date. Lunya's birthday corresponds to July 7th, which is Tanabata, the Star Festival. It celebrates the meeting of Hikoboshi and Orihime, the Weaving Princess, who are separated by the Milky Way and allowed to meet only once a year.

Single Woman Seeks Good Man.

Stepford Smiler. Lunya's a perpetual smiler, allowing very few people to see any kind of negative emotion from her. Beneath that mask is a broken bird who's believed she's a monster for so long that she doesn't know how to think of herself as anything else.

Stellar Name. Out of universe her name comes from luna, the moon.

Street Urchin, Recruited from the Gutter. Was both of these at a point during her childhood, when she lived on Ul'dah's Pearl Lane and was eventually hired off the streets by Susuna Suna.

Superstitious Sailors. Lunya's from a family of these, so she herself was raised as one. It's the source of her strange hatred of bananas.

Talented, But Trained. Lunya's a quick learner, but she still had to work to get to where she is today in both combat and crafting. She didn't wake up one morning knowing how to open the seventh gate. (This is not the case for her skill in arcanima and maths, however.)

The Team Benefactor. Most of «lode»'s funding comes right from her pockets. And even some of «balefire»'s, interestingly enough. If there's something you need you only have to mention it to her, and half the time she'll just buy or craft gear for her companions herself without being asked.

Traumatic Haircut. Gets one at the Bloody Banquet.

Trademark Favourite Food. Her favourite fruit are oranges, her family farm's signature export.

True Companions. With «balefire». Also with the Scions, though she doesn't really accept it until the end of SHB.

Violently Protective Girlfriend. For G'raha. Even if he's a tank, any mob that smacks him too hard will get a Fire IV to the face.

We Help the Helpless. «lode», being an Eorzean Free Company, has fourteen Warriors of Light whose main jobs are techncially mercenaries, but they basically function as wandering Good Samaritans.