Yoshi Ayarane

A Moogle in the grass

Yoshi's branch in the Extended continuity is detailed in "Sweet Summer Moogle."

When Yoshi was 8 years old, she and her father went to the family's summer cottage in La Noscea. There were fewer children around that year, so Yoshi was sure she would be playing alone much of the time. She smuggled a few cookies that the family's maid baked the night before, and went outside to play.

She found a boy sleeping in a grass patch up the hill. The boy introduced himself as Kupo, claiming to be a Moogle, but he unmistakably looked like a Midlander. Noticing the boy was very hungry, Yoshi gave him one of her cookies. When she asked which cottage his parents were staying in, Kupo stumbled over his words and spoke too softly, leading Yoshi to presume he was probably from Limsa Lominsa and had merely gotten lost while playing.

The two of them caught a ferry to Limsa Lominsa, where Yoshi began asking around for Kupo's parents. A patrolling Maelstrom officer directed the two to Hawker's Alley, as it was a sale day and it would be far easier to look for Kupo's parents there. All the while, Kupo's attention was fixated on the "shiny stone" he had been holding when Yoshi found him. Yoshi warned him against having fancy, expensive things out in the open, as pickpockets often lie in wait. Sure enough, a pirate faked a collision and stole Kupo's shiny stone.

Yoshi offered to find this pirate and beat him up, taking out a small Moogle-styled cane that her father made for her as that year's birthday gift. She proudly revealed that, despite only being 8 years old, she already knew how to cast Blizzard, Cure and Ruin. Kupo didn't like the idea of a girl fighting alone, but while Yoshi welcomed the help, he wouldn't get very far unarmed. Trying to get merchants to sell two children a weapon, however, was not so easily done, though a sympathetic blacksmith sold them a large kitchen knife that could cut a thief as well as it sliced a ham.

Yoshi and Kupo learned that a pirate had been spotted running through the gate to Middle La Noscea, holding a deep red crystal whose description matched that of Kupo's shiny stone. There was a pirate den in the area, and Yoshi was sure they could reach it before sunset. The two of them had to get creative in avoiding patrolling Yellowjackets, who would surely find the sight of children with weapons quite suspicious. While hiding under a bridge, Yoshi had to fight off a gigantoad that tried to snare Kupo.

For lack of a better plan, Yoshi charged right into the pirate den and demanded they return Kupo's shiny stone. The pirate crew, of course, laughed at her and brushed her off, but realized she meant business when she cast Ruin to knock the crystal out of the thieving pirate's hands, and Blizzard to freeze another pirate's mug. Kupo picked up a stew pot lid, using it to deflect a throwing dagger. For being children, they managed to hold their own against a half-dozen pirates for quite awhile, but when their leader became irritated at the spectacle, he released an agitated auroch the gang had stolen from a nearby farm and ordered his crew to flee. The auroch thrashed about, knocking Yoshi into a pile of crates, and Kupo used Pom Cure to heal her, proving that he was, in fact, a Moogle underneath his alleged Hyuran guise. When the auroch turned to charge at them, it was suddenly seized in a bubble. Phil had come to their rescue, having been informed by a couple of Yellowjackets that someone matching Yoshi's description had been seen trying to hide under a bridge.

After seeing the two children to safety, Phil gently scolded Yoshi for not coming back to ask for help, but knew her heart was in the right place. He agreed to let Kupo stay with them until they found their parents.

A couple weeks later, some of the Mooglesguard from the Twelveswood showed up at the cottage. The squad leader used a spell to dispel Kupo's glamour, revealing him to be a flesh-and-blood Twelveswood Moogle. Kupo bid farewell to Yoshi and Phil and left with the Mooglesguard.

On paths unexpected

When Yoshi was 18, she decided to leave Ishgard to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a Black Mage.

Her father gave his blessing to do so, handing over the Lilith Rod that once belonged to Yoshi's mother Eleanor. But Phil impressed upon her the importance of understanding all forms of magic rather than just focusing on one. Thaumaturgy, conjury, arcanima, and others yet to be known, all disciplines have their roles and purpose. And so Yoshi took it upon herself to do so, making plans to at least stick her head in all of Eorzea's magical institutions.

When Yoshi signed on at Gridania's Conjurer's Guild, her instructor was a practicing midwife. On the first day, rather than receive lessons in the fundamentals of nature magicks, she found herself assisting in the delivery of a baby, as someone urgently came to the guild to ask for help for his wife. After completing their task, Yoshi's instructor told her:

"Nature manifests in the most mysterious ways sometimes. New life might take the form of a sapling emerging from the soil, or a child drawing first breath outside the womb."

As she was the daughter of a healer, it was no surprise that Yoshi easily picked up on conjury. Perhaps this was why her instructor did not think much of nudging her into taking the lead on dealing with many of the routine missions handled by the Hearers as well as midwife jobs; after all, childbirth is every much a natural occurrence as rainfall or breezes.

In time, Yoshi left for Ul'dah to study at its Thaumaturge's Guild. This was a considerably different experience than working with the conjurers, as the mages set her up with tasks like... making deliveries using the roasted corpses of the wildlife Yoshi practiced on. It was, however, where she learned of her elemental affinity to ice.

When she traveled to Limsa Lominsa to seek out the Arcanist Guild, Yoshi recalled the time she spent with the Moogle boy who had been glamoured into a Hyuran form. During the voyage, she met Y'shtola, a conjurer belonging to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Y'shtola raised an eyebrow upon hearing that Yoshi had come from Ishgard but decided not to inquire further, sensing her hesitation about talking about home.

Being a persistent shadow

Yoshi's training assignments led her to cross paths with Y'shtola time and time again, and in progressively stranger circumstances. During one such encounter, Yoshi came to blows with a black-robed figure, and after vanquishing its familiar, picked up a fragmented crystal that it dropped. In an instant, Yoshi was hit with a brief but intense headache, experiencing her first Echo vision. When she came to, Y'shtola, who had healed her, informed Yoshi that she possessed the Echo, and invited her to come to the Waking Sands in western Thanalan if she wanted to know more about this power.

Some couple weeks later, Yoshi came to the location that Y'shtola marked, and before she knew it, she was swearing a pledge to join the Scions herself. If anything, it would be yet another avenue of learning about magical phenomena.

In the wake of a primal summoning involving the Amalj'aa, Minfilia sent for Yoshi, and informed her that she would be assigned as the partner of the recruit who slew Ifrit. Minfilia additionally whispered:

"This one is rather stubborn. Should she attempt to shrug off your company, be persistent. Stalk her if you must."

The newcomer, Hikaru, was not pleased to have an assistant forced upon her, insisting that she was capable of tackling her assigned tasks on her own; after all, if Thancred was unfashionably late with backup, who's to say that this Elezen mage wouldn't be just as unreliable? Presuming that this partnership would be temporary, Hikaru made a point of addressing Yoshi by her last name and deflected any attempts at small talk. But she could not deny that having a mage for a partner was useful, especially one who didn't mind handling all of the paper-pushing between missions.

Hikaru's abrasive personality often meant Yoshi had to smooth things over with the people whose feathers got ruffled. Even so, she was determined to stay on Hikaru's good side and, if possible, even make friends with her.

In investigating reports of a plan by the Kobolds to summon Titan, Yoshi and Hikaru would be working with Y'shtola.

After the events of Brayflox's Longstop, Yoshi received an urgent summons from the Conjurers' Guild, penned by E-Sumi-Yan himself, requesting her help in dealing with a voidsent that had appeared and spoiled a water supply for a nearby settlement. The guild sought the input of someone who was versed in multiple forms of magic, as the voidsent was resistant to conjury. Apologizing to Hikaru and Y'shtola that she had to duck out just before the confrontation with Titan, Yoshi took her leave and returned to Gridania.

Creating a spell of her own

Yoshi met with E-Sumi-Yan and some of the people of Quarrymill who had witnessed the voidsent befouling the water. The voidsent, as E-Sumi-Yan had told, shrugged off Stone and Aero like they didn't exist, but Yoshi was able to contain it using Blizzara. However, she noted that this would be a temporary measure, and that it would be necessary to consult with the Thaumaturge and Arcanist Guilds to hammer out a more definitive solution.

While leaving the Twelveswood, Yoshi happened upon a female Moogle wearing a witch's outfit. This Moogle was clearly not a Twelveswood variant, introducing herself as Mogentine, a self-proclaimed "enterprising businessmog." Hearing that Yoshi was also a mage, Mogentine asked to come along with her, always eager to chat with a fellow spellslinger.

Yoshi and Mogentine spoke with the leaders of the Thaumaturge and Arcanist Guilds, explaining the appearance of the voidsent that resisted conjury, but could be frozen for a time. Both arrived at the same conclusion: the voidsent's aether is most likely aspected to both fire and earth, which would explain why it is immune to conjury but easily weakened with ice. Therefore, the solution would be to strike it with an even more powerful spell, one that could exceed even Blizzaja. Ideally, such spell would also make use of light, an element that Yoshi herself hadn't had much practice with. Mogentine wondered if the light issue might resolve itself in the process; after all, ice crystals create beautiful displays of refracted light.

An idea occurred to Yoshi: if the spell being called for did not exist, could she not just invent one? But she was not in a position to sink lots of time into experimentation, as the voidsent was likely to break out of its icy restraints soon, and slaying it was necessary to undo the corruption of the water supply. Once more, Mogentine was able to cut right into the heart of the matter:

"Just go bigger, kupo! More ice! BIGGER ice, kupo! Become a one-woman Calamity of Frost, kupo!"

It sounded like a bizarre and overly-simplistic suggestion, but with time not on her side, Yoshi had little to lose in trying. Experimenting on a lone fallen tree at the edge of the Twelveswood, Yoshi devised a massive ice spell, with Mogentine drifting about and offering input on how to adjust the formula and reduce the aether expenditure. Finally, Mogentine asked what the spell would be called, with Yoshi answering: Final Embrace.

Yoshi returned to Quarrymill just before the ice binding the voidsent was thawed enough for it to break free. With the help of Mogentine, E-Sumi-Yan and a number of Twin Adders called in to provide backup, Yoshi fought the voidsent, and used Final Embrace to deal the killing blow. Once the voidsent was slain, the corruption in the water faded.