To know Moanne entails knowing Maa. Though most people knew her as Maa, Moanne always referred to her as Mama. Moanne after all was a piece of Maa so she felt it only right to call her Mama. Maa was a beautiful, imperfect, and colorful person. She was vibrant green and blue and brought her creations everywhere she went. She was one of the few special people who could grow life after all. The only one in fact in the whole of the inky town. She didn’t want to lose them.
Maa was obsessed with her newest creation. She called them her little folk. The folk Maa made were so incredible and happy to be made (at least that’s what she says) that they gave her a wonderful gift. They made Maa glow. All over Maa’s skin were freckles of light. It was very pretty and she was very proud of the talents of her little folk but they weren’t always good. The little folk would get into fights sometimes. They would hurt each other or hurt the other life Maa had made. Maa loved them all the more still. She always refused to see the ill of her folk but rather chose to point out all that was wrong with her neighbours. All except Moanne who she loved very dearly as though she were her own.
Although Moanne was very different from Maa they often took comfort in those differences. Moanne was always too meek to speak up for herself but Maa was more than happy to stand up to anyone who picked on Moanne and give them a good piece of her mind. Moanne often wished she wouldn't give out a piece of her mind so often or she might be left with none for herself. Moanne was always observing and often warned Maa of things she missed due to her scatterbrain. They were a sight to behold when they were together though standing near Maa tended to make Moanne look rather plain.
There was beautiful Maa. Brilliant in every way from her luscious appearance to her great talents in the life department. She was one of a kind, the only person who wasn’t born for glowing and yet glowed all the same. The only person in the whole of the inky town with little folk. Then, there was Moanne. Small, meek, pitiful Moanne. She was rather dull and something that overall could be easily missed in the dark of their inky town. Her soft pale features went unnoticed amidst all the colorful residents. She had nothing special about her. Nothing but her sweet sad songs which nobody particularly enjoyed other than Maa. Maa always said her songs could move her to tears with just a verse. Moanne didn’t take that as a compliment.
For the longest time, Moanne would hide in the shadow of Maa but as the years rolled by Maa had less and less time to be covering Moanne from all the darkness the world had to offer. After she created the little folk she had even less time to spare. Moanne grew fearful of what she would do if Maa got too busy to spend any time at all with her. She had to learn to do things without Maa so she became determined to do just that.
Moanne began braving through her time alone and trying to face every task set before with as much confidence as she could. Eventually she could do nearly anything all on her own. Solitude and song became her only friends. This worked out for Moanne for quite some time but she soon became dissatisfied. She could get the job done no matter the task but never in the way she thought she could if she had Maa with her. Still she pushed past the emotion and soon she came to a new feeling. Loneliness.
Moanne had spent her whole life by Maa’s side never feeling like she could ever find anyone else to talk to the way she did with her mama. Maa was her best friend and the closest thing she would ever have to a mother. Now there she was, looking for a replacement, she thought. No. No one she ever met could fill the hole left in her life by Maa’s temporary absences but still the loneliness grew inside of her. She had to do something soon before the loneliness ate her all up and left only a Moanne shaped hole in the world so she became determined to find herself someone to talk to. It didn’t matter who because she felt that no one she ever met would compare to Maa but in setting her expectations so low she found herself pleasantly surprised when she came into the company of two of the greatest people she would ever know, Gwener and Vesta.
