Willow

She hatched second, a few hours after Banyan did. She only recalls her parents’ warmth as she slept in her new home, not even minding their sibling’s loudness (that’s you Banyan). Her time as a nestling was mostly spent listening to their parents’ stories, napping and, occasionally, annoying their siblings.

As the months go by, tiny Willow becomes more and more curious, now eavesdropping on their parents’ conversations to see what interesting stuff is happening outside her limited world, seeing as she wasn’t yet allowed to leave the family home.

She learned to speak quite early compared to her siblings, and she had a lot to say. She’d talk endlessly and wouldn’t care if the other avus wanted to continue the conversation. Willow did calm down as she grew, to all the family’s relief.

She and Redwood became much closer now and if her sister ever had something to take off her chest, she’d usually come to her first about it. In return, Willow would often tell Red everything interesting that’s been happening in the neighborhood that week. With her and Redwood getting along so well and all, she started to dislike her older sibling, Banyan. They thought it was too mean of him to, in her eyes, torment her sister just because she was the youngest.

Skullcap, her grandfather, seemed fond of her sister, at least compared to how he acted with the other siblings. Red started to hang out more with peepaw (sorry i had to) Skullcap so Willow had to find someone else to bother a lot of the time. She didn’t mind and she was glad Redwood was learning how to fly, especially if it meant she could outshine Banyan, but she still wanted to have someone to speak to so she started talking to Sandbox more. Turns out, both of them had quite a knack for gossiping so they formed what could be called an alliance. Nothing could happen in town without them knowing and they would tell eachother everything, well, except whatever Red wanted kept secret… she would not breach Redwood’s privacy.

She learned to fly a month or two before her first birthday, only doing so to be able to get an advantage at hide and seek.

They worked hard to exceed expectations and found they felt good when they helped other avus. She and Kumquat also grew closer, forming a sort of parent- daughter relationship even.

When Red came home with a scar on her neck, Willow panicked. She didn’t know what to do but offered her sister all the support she could. They side-eyed Banyan for a while as he seemed to form the wrong opinion.

At this time, both Sandbox and her started hearing stuff about some Canopy and Bluebell. They were quite intrigued, obviously, but could hardly find out anything about them as both of them were quite busy at the time, but they never let go and continued to ask around about them when they could.

She would speak with the avus who ended up needing to be taken care of after the fight and try to calm them, even if just for the moment. It seemed speaking about the happenings in her home place made a good distraction for those who could only think of war. She learned a lot during this time and, a bit before Baraahn fell but started feeling a lot more stressed when doing even the most basic things.

She started warming up to Banyan, not that she ever really outwardly showed her distaste for their actions. Sure it was still quite immature but he tried, maybe.

After the fall of Baraahn, Willow finally had time to actually go and search for this so-called ‘Bluebell’ as she thinks she saw him in one of the battles or in the infirmary tents. But how could she find someone she doesn’t know anything about? Sure, she feels it was him but there is no proof and she can’t just go around asking about this guy without even having a physical description. She’s getting closer now, though, she can feel it.

In all of this chaos, Willow found someone she could rely on to talk to. While wandering the markets she entered one of the tents and met Shimmer. After talking to her for some time she decided they were going to be best friends and the colorful hen just had to cope with it even if she didn’t like it. It wasn’t the same as talking to Redwood or Sandbox but at least Shimmer seemed to be interested in what they were saying.

While Willow was chatting with some avus back home one of them mentioned they heard from the grapevine that dog breeder Wasp Sr. might take on apprentices along. Willow, now quite anxious and scared while treating even a small wound, decided she needed to take a break for her own sanity. She apologized to Kumquat for giving up but promised to come back once she again felt confident enough. They hugged, said their goodbyes and Willow made a mental note to try to visit her from time to time.

She went and became one of Wasp Sr’s apprentices thinking dogs might help her calm down a bit (also she got to play with puppies so she wasn't that sad).