Magic transformed Earth. Willow knew, prior to the journey, this was likely, although all the ways this happened weren’t something she could have prepared for. Before this fae would sometimes travel from Kalinia, viewing Earth as a safe world, where they would be able to live the way they wanted. This led to there being half fae children who were all affected by the spreading magic, slowly coming into their power, which is the main reason for the creation of the school - a place where Willow imagined the children of these fae would be able to learn what it meant to be what they were. Unfortunately this was one of the many things the Council was against, leading to a compromise, where they would permit half bloods to enter, of all kinds, in return for it being a school for the children of pure, mostly noble, fae as well.
As the magic got stronger there were other changes with the biggest being the connection to the Fictional Worlds. The first of these was when the characters from those worlds made the journey to Earth, with Willow hiring people to help them through the transition, but then the time came when others made the journey to the Worlds themselves. It wasn’t something they thought was possible until it happened. When this happened Willow realised she knew very little about the magic of her people, even after she read a journal by one of the fae who survived the loss of another of the worlds they called home - Shadur. Dietrich couldn’t be certain, but he believed the journey from Shadur to Kalinia wasn’t the first time it happened.
This was how Willow started to put the pieces together when it came to the reason for the destruction of both the worlds. Magical worlds relied on whatever was used being replaced by whoever lived there, but the fae, it seemed, were incapable of returning the magic. Instead whatever the fae used was lost entirely, something that eventually led to the destruction of the world so many believed was their only home. Very few knew anything about Shadur, and those who did kept it to themselves, the nobles having followed this rule since the first King of the fae travelled to Kalinia. At this point many of them were still against Willow being regent, especially as she’d made the decision to leave their home for good. Earth wasn’t a world they believed they could ever be happy on.
Their happiness never mattered to Willow in the same way their survival did. Had it been down to her father they’d have stayed on Kalinia until they all died. She wasn’t too surprised by this, her father an incredibly stubborn man, who wasn’t willing to listen to anyone, even the heirs to his throne, who died one by one. Leaving was the only way. Going against the majority of the Council then might have been the reason for their ongoing disagreements, although she had reason to believe they’d have viewed her the same way even if her father was the one who made the decision they had to make the journey. Most believed her too young to take on the power she had, due to her father’s coma. Alder, for a time, was her only ally, which is when their relationship first started to blossom.
During the first months on Earth Alder and Willow worked together closely, helping the fae to transition from one world to the other, while also guiding the humans who suddenly found they were something more than they thought they were. Alder’s younger, and only surviving, sister, Esra, helped with this, having learnt of the existence of their half siblings, their mother having made the journey to Earth long before they did. Esra became one of Willow’s closest friends during this time, both their lives changed by the slow loss of magic on Kalinia long before they left it behind. They understood each other in a way very few others could, especially as both had mothers who ended up disappearing, although Willow never found any half siblings on Earth. She had reason to believe her mother may never have journeyed there, potentially due to her belief it was the world the fae would end up on in the future.
Willow’s relationship with her father, as the youngest daughter, wasn’t very close, and the decision he made to have more children wasn’t something she could ever truly understand. It seemed to be something he did due to his belief it was how it was meant to be - so many of the fae chose to have multiple handfastings, building up alliances between the noble families, during which they would have a number of children. Each would last for a differing amount of time, with it being incredibly rare the fae would handfast for love. Those who did would often spend the rest of their lives together, having far less children, something viewed as incredibly unusual. Her father never married for love, but instead for alliances, seeing his children as a chance to draw different magics into the family line. Her relationship with her mother was different. The marriage to the King was her mother’s first, and when he made the decision it was time to move on once more it affected her much more than it did him.
Unlike the King she’d fallen in love, so the thought of him handfasting another woman led to her making the decision it would be best for her to leave Kalinia entirely, or that was how Willow saw it. After having four children during the relationship, including Willow, there were those who would have said they should be enough. Only for some it could never be the same, and Willow’s mother was one of them. She never said a final goodbye. For Willow there was a day when her mother was there, and then a day when she wasn’t, no explanation from anyone why it happened, even her father simply accepting it as one of those things. The handfasting went ahead, the King choosing someone he believed would bring good magic into the family, but by this point it wasn’t going to happen. They weren’t able to have children, due to the loss of magic, although this wasn’t enough of a reason for her father to leave Kalinia, believing the time would come when everything would go back to normal.
Cecily, Willow’s stepmother, didn’t believe the same as her husband, and she was the first to argue with him about the choices he was making, before slowly watching as her stepchildren died. Willow, as the youngest, was also the strongest of them all, while her older siblings struggled more, due to the choices made by the King when it came to his wives. He wanted his heir to be more powerful than he was. Unfortunately this meant they were also among the first to die when the magic started to fade from their world. Not losing his children proved he was wrong, even though it should have, something Willow couldn’t wrap her head around, because the moment her oldest sibling died she started trying to convince someone within the Council it was best for the fae if a different decision was made. Even then they weren’t willing to listen, no matter how many children, or wives, they buried, including Cecily. Leaving those graves behind was one of the hardest parts of the decision, although Willow worked to create a memorial to all those who were lost. It was another of the many things the Council believed was entirely pointless, but it did endear her to some of the older fae, who’d lost many of their loved ones.
As was the situation on Kalinia there was a difference between the way the nobles viewed their new regent, and the way the normal fae did. To those outside the nobility Willow was said to be their saviour, someone who made the hard choices, while the Council weren’t willing to listen to those who went against their belief all they had to do was wait it out. Even some within the nobility, who argued on the other side, saw her that way, and were more willing to argue for her ideas, but they were the minority. She didn’t believe the time would ever come when all the fae would understand the decisions she made in order to save them, certain there was no chance magic could return, at least not with the way things were. From how it seemed things worked out she believed she knew the point at which everything did start to change, when the piskies made the decision they were no longer safe on Kalinia. They, it seems, were the ones with the ability to replenish lost magic within the world, so it changed everything for all the other beings here. Seeing this as a fault of her people specifically, as it was one of their Kings who caused it, Willow wanted to help those she could. At the time she didn’t believe anything she could do would be enough, considering the fact they were the reason they had to go through the end of Kalinia.
Calling a meeting, gathering those who were still on Kalinia, Willow wasn’t surprised to find there were royals who’d already made the logical decision. Others were making similar choices to her father, not willing to leave behind the world they called home, including Mab, the Queen of the Thirteen Families. Mab made the decision to attend the meeting purely to tell Willow she was making a mistake by leaving Kalinia, her age the reason for her fear, but those who’d lived for longer knew there were always phases when it come to magic, and there was no good reason to run when the time would come when everything would be back to normal. Willow believed the time would come when Mab would be proved wrong, which is the reason she offered to help anyone who wanted to make the journey with them, or create a door for them to go elsewhere, something the Dragons choose to accept. Both Willow and the regent of the Dragons, Draven, believed it would be best for the inhabitants of Earth if they didn’t have to deal with the Dragons along with everything else.
Two groups of shapeshifters, the dogs and the cats, along with the mer, made the decision to join Willow’s fae, seeing it as their best chance of being able to have a normal life, because they’d be on a world they knew for certain had magic. Finding worlds with magic could be more complicated when Willow didn’t want to open too many of them, and they didn’t want to make the journey to Arkal with the Dragons, which was the only other magical world she knew of, and one not safe for the fae, as they had reason to believe it wasn’t inhabited. In order to not end up in the same position in the near future they knew the best option they had was to make the journey to Earth. However this also means Willow doesn’t know what happened to the Dragons, something she disliked, due to the close relationship she had with Draven before they found themselves living on two different worlds. Had it not been for this relationship it’s possible everything would have ended up working out differently for the Dragons.
Willow wasn’t as close with the shifter or mer royalty, but they did work to build up a better relationship, so they were able to do what needed to be done. One of the first things she had to do was create an underwater door for the mer, letting them travel to Earth, magic they offered her as a gift, something they hadn’t done for her family before. Until Willow became regent there were those who kept their distance, not able to forget what happened to the piskies, although it seemed as though few within the fae cared at all. All they cared about were themselves, but Willow was different. She felt the weight of the choices her family made, and wanted to help those she could, knowing it could never truly be enough.