Born on Kalinia, as the youngest daughter of the King, Willow never expected to be on the throne in the future, and, unlike her older siblings, she was never taught. This might have been exactly what the fae needed in order to survive, because this meant she wasn’t held back by the beliefs of those who would have stayed until the time came when everyone died. However, in order to find herself in that position there were many goodbyes, with all of her older siblings dying during this time, her father the only other surviving member at the time they made the journey. Unfortunately, this happened too late for it to help, and she also said her final goodbye to him, while she was also struggling with the Council.
From the beginning of her rule this was the case, as the Council didn’t agree with Willow’s choices. Had they had the power it’s possible the fae wouldn’t have made the journey to Earth, but they didn’t - in the end the choice was in the hands of a young Princess who found herself closer to the throne than she could have imagined being, not long after the funeral of one of her favourite brothers, Oak. By the time he found himself taking their father’s position he was already weak, his body struggling with the loss of magic. It’s hard to understand why those fae who survived didn’t also lose their lives, and it’s not something any of them can explain, not even Willow. She’s the first to admit she doesn’t know why she lived when the rest of her family died.
When talking about the Council it’s important to note there was a split. Of the eight members of the Council one had already been arguing for a change in direction, and there are those who’d say it was due to him being the youngest. Alder was in a similar position to Willow, having taken the position due to deaths in his family, becoming the voice trying to make the rest of the Council, along with the King, see what was coming. There was no doubt, as far as Alder and Willow were concerned, the direction things were going in, but making the elder fae see this was a much more complicated task than it truly should have been. Sadly, one of the consistencies with the Council is that they have always been against change. Especially changes such as the one they believe Willow forced upon them.
Choosing to leave Kalinia wasn’t easy. Had there been any other options Willow would have worked with them, but, the truth they weren’t willing to accept, unless the fae made the decision to leave they were all going to die. Travelling to another world was the only way they’d survive, the loss of magic something they were unable to stop. At the time the fae didn’t have a reason for this. Even the Council couldn’t explain why it was happening. However, when I say the fae, I mean those who made the journey to Earth, as there are reasons to believe there were those still on Kalinia who understood the situation better, the same way Willow came to do. The knowledge she has now is very different to the knowledge she had when she turned to the Council to tell them they were leaving, whatever arguments they had against her choice.
Even with that knowledge there was no other option. Kalinia was dying. Understanding why it was happening couldn’t have changed the fate of the world. The loss of magic had been happening for far too long, with the fae not seeing the problem until it was far too late - when the deaths started. Willow, at this point, was a child, unable to have any effect on what was to come, something that didn’t change for well over a decade. At first the deaths were thought to be caused in other ways, and it took the fae a long time to realise what was actually happening. It’s unlikely they would have been able to undo the damage, although they would have had other options. By holding on until it was too late they made the loss of all the fae a possibility, along with multiple others, including those who made the journey here with the fae - the mer, and the shapeshifters. She also helped other groups to find their way to other worlds, doing her best to mitigate the damage the fae caused.
Travelling to Earth was a decision made due to it being one of the safest for the fae. Even then Willow, thanks to her relationships, believed it was likely they were the reason for the death of Kalinia, and after the journey she found evidence to prove this was the case. Unfortunately, this evidence has never been enough for the Council, already inclined not to work with her. It also didn’t explain how the loss of magic became as bad as it was, although there is reason to believe this was due to the decision made by some who’d once lived on Kalinia to travel to another world, issues they had with the fae too much to be solved. Hence her not being certain of the choice, as she didn’t want to have the same effects on the inhabitants, yet came to the conclusion there wasn’t another world they knew of that would work. What we have learnt in the time since is others also realised this, and chose to do what they could in order to make Earth the safest it could be.
Willow wasn’t a part of this, having no knowledge of it happening, but this may have made her task easier than it would have been otherwise. Due to her position she was one of the first to make the journey through the door to Earth, and she took this time to help as many of her people as she could to find somewhere comfortable to rest, some affected worse than others by the sudden influx of magic into their bodies. All felt the change, whether they admitted to it or not. Some, those who’d been worst affected on Kalinia, were watched over by healers, and there were those who made it through. At this point she was still holding on to some hope her father may be one of them, while also worrying about his reaction to her choices. Like the Council he was against the idea of ‘abandoning’ Kalinia, something he’d argued about with several of her siblings, as Willow wasn’t the only one to believe it was their best option.
It took several hours for all the fae to make the journey to Earth, with Alder watching over them from the other side, as he was the only member of the Council she trusted with this task. Finally the time came when it was done, Alder made the journey too, and the two of them moved on to the next step - speaking with the Prime Minister at the time, George Hill. They believed this was a necessity, with their arrival already causing changes, as magic spread from the park they’d chosen for their entry, known to be a place of magic. Until this point there had been plans to potentially transform this park into a housing development. Putting a stop to this was a secondary priority, as many of the places of magic had already been lost due to these choices, and even if it had been attempted after their arrival it wouldn’t have been possible. Magic, at this point, had a strong effect on most technology, making most of it, including cars, entirely useless to those who lived in the area.
Warning the Prime Minister of how things were likely to keep changing, due to the increasing magic, was something Willow saw as one of her top priorities. She explained to him everything was likely to change, including some of those who called Earth home. The fae, along with others, had travelled to Earth in the past, without anyone ever knowing. Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing at this point exactly how many changes there would be, but she made a promise then to help however she could. At times this meant working around the Council. They, even after finding she was right, weren’t entirely willing to accept her. She did, however, gain allies in this time, who were open to accepting they’d been wrong originally, increasing her minority to three of the eight Council members. Sadly the other five never changed their minds, leading to ongoing problems throughout Willow’s reign, something still ongoing at the writing of this biography.
At the time Willow became Regent she was 18, exceptionally young for one of the fae to be in such a position, something that didn’t help the situation. Alder was two years older, and his sister, Esra, was 16. The two of them worked closely with Willow during their early time on Earth, to be able to understand exactly what was happening. Esra, of the three, had the most freedom to explore the area, returning to Willow to inform her of the changes happening around them. Without Esra it’s likely Willow wouldn’t have learnt as much as she did, making her able to plan for the future. Fortunately, between the three of them, they were able to be there for those who needed them, in multiple different ways. Some of them existed purely due to Willow needing to work around the Council, knowing they wouldn’t agree with her choices, but it was the beginning of it seeming like she was always available to help, no matter how complicated the situation.
Every step Willow took was one she believes is very different to the ones her father would have made, had he been awake at the time. The journey to Earth was one he wouldn’t have agreed with making, but it’s not something he’d have been able to change, because Kalinia became a wasteland less than a week after the fae arrived. From what we know of the difference between the two this time is likely to have been much longer there, probably around six months, although this doesn’t change things. Had the King attempted to take the fae back it’s likely any attempt at creating a new door would have failed. Willow’s door was created at the very last possible time for anyone to have made the journey from one world to the other, in part due to her making certain she was getting as many survivors as possible to somewhere safe. There were those who made the decision not to leave Kalinia. No one knows what happened to them, or if there’s any chance of Kalinia regaining any magic.
Although he fought hard, the time came when Willow had to say goodbye one last time, to her father, in the early days of December. Whatever she might have hoped, or feared, she became Queen, but this didn’t give her control. The Council accepted this was simply how things worked, and crowned her the same way they had her father, although he was much older at the time, having made the decision they were never going to work with her. Fortunately, this is exactly what she expected to happen, which led to her building relationships with those who had power outside the Council. Even as Regent she made the decision what came first were her people - and if she permitted the Council to hold her back she wouldn’t be able to help them the way she believed she should, especially those who were on the outside. She viewed anyone with magic, wherever they were born, to be one of her people, in part because this was something the fae caused. If they didn’t have the freedom to travel to Earth there wouldn’t be those learning unexpectedly they were something more than they imagined, magic transforming them into who they’d have always been, had they lived somewhere like Kalinia.