When Luna is nine years old, she develops a newfound fascination with dresses, and her mother takes her to the local shops to pick out the ones she likes. She puts them on back at home, and twirls around, laughing as her mother and the servants all applaud and tell her how nice it looks.
She has one that she particularly likes, a dress with periwinkle cloth and some gemstones embedded into it for decoration. She wears it as often as she can, despite her mother gently telling her that the dress will wear more easily if she does not take it off. Ravus laughs and teases that she looks hideous in the dress. Luna laughs and she responds, "Well, why don't you try it on and see if you look better in it?"
"Boys don't wear dresses, silly," Ravus laughs. "Those are only for girls."
Luna freezes. "... Oh," She says quietly in response. Ravus notices her sudden change in tone, and ignoring his concern, she carefully retreats to her bedroom.
She's never thought about it before, but Noctis is a boy, isn't he? Luna is a girl, and Noctis is a boy, but Noctis is Luna. Does that mean that Noct… can't wear a dress? Or can he?
As a matter fact, why were boys not allowed to wear certain things? It's not right, she thinks. Shouldn't everyone be allowed to look pretty and twirl around for the applause?
She's determined to find an answer, so she sets out to find Ignis. He is fortunately in the Citadel today, in the library. "Ignis," she asks him. "Are boys allowed to wear dresses?"
Ignis looks at her. "I don't think so, Highness." He says, pushing up his glasses. "Why do you ask?"
"I just wanna know," Luna-as-Noct answers, trying to faking indifference. "But why aren't boys allowed to wear dresses? Who made the rule?"
"I…" Ignis frowns, his nose scrunching up in concentration. "I'm not entirely sure."
Luna deflates in disappointment. "But you know everything," She protests.
"It's not in any of the books I read," Ignis defends himself. "But I'm sure we could find out if we inquired an adult."
Luna thinks about that. If even Ignis doesn't understand, it must be something only very intelligent adults can understand, and the wisest adult she knows is… "Ok then, I'll go ask dad."
Ignis sighs, bookmarks the page he's on, and closes the book. "I'll go with you. I don't want you going off to make trouble."
"Ok," Luna agrees easily. She likes Ignis. Other than Ravus, Ignis is the only person she knows that is somewhat close in age with her. He always looks out for her, and it's rather nice, she thinks, to know that someone cares about you so much.
Her father is in a meeting, the guards inform her, and he has requested not to be disturbed, but she sits down with Ignis in the adjacent wall so that once her father's meeting is over, she can speak with him.
It is mid-afternoon, and through the windows Luna can tell that today is cloudless. In Tenebrae, it is overcast, and she can hear a light rain hitting the window. She examines her knees, that are smooth, unblemished. Noct's knees look similar, but are slightly scuffed from when she tripped earlier that day. She looks at Ignis, who smells like musty books and something else that she cannot identify.
She looks at everything in the near proximity while she waits, until she's burned the image of the area into her mind. Hours pass, and her father has yet to end the meeting.
When he finally strides through the door, it is late evening and the guards and Ignis have already been begging her to give it up, to go to dinner and ask another day, but Luna shakes her head obstinately. Ravus attempts to get her out of her room for dinner as well, and her response is the same to both.
"I won't move until I understand."
"Understand what?" Ravus asks through the door, his muffled voice sounding frustrated.
"Why boys cannot wear dresses," She answers. "Now hush, brother."
"Wh—" Ravus sputters. "Luna, they just can't, that's just the way the world works."
But before Luna can retort back, her father has bent down to her and picked her up, and Luna-as-Noct's face brightens. "Dad, I needed to ask you something!"
"I heard from the guards," Her father laughs kindly, although he still looks as tired as ever. "I'm sorry I could not get to you sooner, Noctis. Come now; let us discuss this over some dinner, shall we?"
He carries her over to the dining hall, and Luna asks, "Dad, why can't boys wear dresses?"
Her father actually stops walking to glance down at her. "... Noctis, where did you hear that from?" He asks her.
"Everyone," Luna responds. "But no one knows why. Ignis said I had to ask an adult, so I'm asking you."
"Well," He says to her. "Do you wish to wear a dress?"
Luna looks down at her periwinkle dress in Tenebrae, and says, "Yes."
"Then I don't see why you anything should hold you back," Her father tells her. "There's nothing wrong with boys wearing dresses."
Luna's face lights up. "Really?" She says, excited. She has never worn a dress as Noct before, and the dresses from Insomnia are different, but just as pretty as the ones from Tenebrae. "Can I wear one tomorrow?"
He laughs. "I don't see why not. Why don't we order one during dinner?"
"Yes!" Luna laughs and scrambles out of her father's arms. "Dresses!"
In Tenebrae, she finally leaves her bedroom, and Ravus just shakes his head in confusion. "I have no idea what just happened," He mutters under his breath, and Luna merely laughs.
She ends up choosing a pretty scarlet dress made of satin, and the moment it arrives the day after she puts it on, twirls around in front her father, and he laughs and claps and tells her how nice it looks.
She's so happy that at the end she straightens up, holding her head up tall, and says as formally and sincerely as she can, "Thank you father, for this wondrous gift. I will hold it dear to my heart." And curtseys low, the way her mother taught her to express thanks.
When she looks up, her father is smiling good-naturedly. "You are very welcome, Noctis." He responds, and Luna beams.
(She never wears it again, because it's not until the next day that finally receives the true answer to her question, when she overhears a council member speaking her father in rapid, urgent tones.
"It's not right for the Prince to be wearing such attire, King Regis, simply not right —"
"What Noctis wears is none your concern," Her father says sharply. "You'd best close your mouth now lest you say too much."
"But King Regis, this is simply unheard of. It's— it's downright perverted, that's what it is —"
"Enough!" He snaps. "I have heard enough. This matter is closed. You are not to interfere with what Noctis chooses to don, or what he chooses not to. Now leave, before I make you."
But Luna listens more carefully over the next few days, and she realizes that everyone — not Ignis, of course, Ignis is the same as usual — is looking at her when they think she isn't watching, and she hears whispers of "dress" and "boy" and "wrong."
And it's the first time Luna realizes that even though she is Noct, Luna and Noct are not the same at all, because the world has decided certain things that others have accepted as the truth, and not even her father, the strongest man she knows, can stand against that.)