Major Story Arcs

Moonshadow

Bettina lives on the pastoral planet of Pillbox in the town of Poof. She is the niece of Marigold Flimflam, and they live with Mr. Dimhoffer and Lord Gaylord. Her parents were killed when she was very young. Gaylord brings Moonshadow home with him one day, and Moon stays there for some time. It becomes his first real home outside of the Zoo.

He becomes very close friends with Bettina, who is several years younger than him. However he eventually leaves to rescue his friend Ira from Mobidiah Unkshuss.

In the meantime, Pobidiah Unkshuss destroys Gaylord's home and kills Dimhoffer and possibly Gaylord. However, he makes it look like one of Gaylord's inventions malfunctioned. Luckily Bettina and Mrs. Flimflam are out at the time. However they are in shock and go to live at their neighbor's house.

Moon returns, and can't believe what happened. He leaves without staying for the funeral, breaking Bettina's heart and his own.

Farewell Moonshadow

Many years later, when Moon is a young adult, he returns to Pillbox to live. He works as a tinker, but doesn't tell anyone his real name, and doesn't contact Bettina, although he secretly follows her around. Finally Aunt Marigold forces Moonshadow to admit who he is and makes him talk to Bettina, who has also realized who he is and has been pining away for him all this time. They marry soon after and have several children: Mia, Charles, Charlotte, and Katherine. They live a wonderful life for a short time, with their children putting on plays for their amusement. Moonshadow has been questing after love for his entire Romantic life, and has finally found it.

Aunt Marigold dies of old age. Moon refuses to go to her funeral also. Soon after a freak storm hits the area and kills the entire family, leaving only Moonshadow alive. He dives into a deep depression for years afterwards, and never forgets her.

However, when Moon is very old and about to die of old age, he has a birthday party. While at this party, he has flashbacks to the story above. Then, an old woman comes up and kisses him at the party and gives him a snow globe with a house and family inside. This woman could be Bettina (or possibly the Lady Shady, his other long-lost love). How could this be? Moonshadow's writer, J.M. Dematteis, has said that Moonshadow is an unreliable narrator within the series, and that that Moon may have made up much of the story about his life. It is therefore possible that the flashback, in which Bettina (or Shady) dies is not true, and the old woman at the party is the true Bettina. Or, the party story could also be made up, or the woman could be someone other than Bettina.