What if #2
Willow had started off her morning in a fantastic mood. She had awoken bright and early, having gotten an excellent night of rest. All the plants in her room seemed to perk up as she got out of bed, drawn by her sunny disposition. She went about her room, checking on them and watering them all in turn, humming happily as she went. After they had all been tended to, Willow got dressed for the day and went to have a quick breakfast.
She found her fathers in the kitchen. The two were enjoying their morning tea along with some freshly baked goreberry scones. Willow greeted them each with a kiss on the cheek and helped herself to a scone. Then she got some bottled water out of the icebox and bid her fathers farewell for the day as she stepped outside.
The morning air was crisp, a rare cold front crossing the isles and dropping the temperatures much lower than usual. It wasn't frigid, but it was a significant difference from the balmy atmosphere that was the norm for Bonesborough. Regardless, Willow strolled out back behind her home to check on the modestly sized garden she had growing. The plot was filled with rows of herbs and smaller vegetables which were only just starting to sprout from the soil. She couldn't help by smile when she saw them, looking at them the same way a mother would at her newborn baby.
"Good morning, cuties!" Willow sunnily chirped, carefully stepping into the garden and crouching down. "How are all of my little friends doing?"
The sprouts, much like the plants in her bedroom, all perked up at her presence. Willow did a quick inspection to make sure no pests had been after her plants and then she got up, stepping into a small shed at the edge of the garden. She retrieved a small bottle with a cold protection potion and removed the stopper. Returning to her sprouts, she tilted the bottle enough to let a single drop fall onto the soil where one of them was growing. The liquid was soaked up, darkening the soil around the sprout, which briefly glowed. Then Willow repeated the action for the rest, humming happily as she performed the task.
Once she was finished, Willow returned the potion to its place in the shed and set about watering the garden. With all of her little friends set for the time being, Willow left the back yard and began making her way up the road. She traveled to a local plant shop to pick up some seeds that her teacher, Mrs. Amaryllis, wanted for the school's greenhouse. The owner of the shop, a portly fellow with a lion's mane of auburn hair by the name of Aparo, greeted her with a warm smile as she stepped inside.
"Well, hello there, Miss Park." He said, waving to her. "Here to pick up that order for your teacher?"
"Yes, I am." Willow answered. "And she wanted me to also pick up a new bottle of fertilizing potion for the future seedlings."
Aparo let out a chuckle. "Of course, I should have expected that. Fortunately, I just had a new crate of them delivered yesterday. I can give her two bottles for the price of one, a little thank you for one of my best customers."
"I'm sure she'll appreciate it, but I don't think it will be enough to convince her to let you have one of the Spiderbell seedlings." Willow told him.
"Can't blame a witch for trying." Aparo muttered, taking a moment to fetch the potions for Willow along with a small satchel. "There you are. Say 'hello' to Mrs. Amaryllis for me and come back soon!"
"You know that I will!" Willow cheerily replied, waving to him as she stepped back outside.
Willow continued her trek up to Hexside, starting to hum again. Along the way she saw some of her fellow students, getting friendly greetings from them. She returned each in kind, feeling a little giddy from all the attention. By the time she arrived at the greenhouse behind Hexside, her spirits were sky high. It was almost enough for her to go from humming to singing as she went inside.
A wave of heat welcomed her the moment the door was opened. Willow stepped through quickly and closed the door before too much of the warmth would be let out. Just like in her room, the many plants within the greenhouse reacted to her presence. The sight of them all turning towards her as she stepped closer to them made her giggle.
She went over to a nearby table and picked up a chart which had the feeding schedule for the larger plants. After giving it a quick scan, Willow stepped over to an icebox beside the table. Within it were whole frozen bugs and several frozen cuts of different meats, all of which had bones for the sake of providing the plants with as much nourishment as possible.
It took a couple minutes for Willow to get everything she would need for that day's feedings. A dozen wyvernflies, five barbari-ant larvae, two quinotaur rib steaks, seven chickalisk drumsticks and three fat cuts of apple, fresh delivered from the butcher only a day ago. She neatly organized everything onto a cart covered with a clean tarp and began making her rounds. The little plants had already been fed that morning, something which Mrs. Amaryllis tended to herself. All the other daily feedings fell to two of the plant track students, Willow almost always being among them. Her partner for the day was supposed to be Amelia, but Willow hadn't seen her yet. And to Willow that meant she needed to hurry.
The back of the greenhouse had a select few plants which needed to be kept behind magical barriers due to how dangerous they were. Only Mrs. Amaryllis or a student as proficient with plant magic as Willow were able to hand them without any trouble. Amelia wasn't by any means bad with her plant magic, but she also wasn't quite at the level where she could handle the task of feeding the dangerous plants alone. Unfortunately, Amelia had a habit of pushing her luck with that and as Willow had feared, she found that her classmate had become breakfast for one of the plants.
Letting out a sigh, Willow approached the plant which had preyed on poor Amelia. It was a large flower that had leafy green stalk topped with a white-spotted red globe. There was a wide mouth with teeth-like thorns on the globe that were usually hidden behind the lip-like tips of the petals. Willow noted a that the stem was swelled up and there was movement coming from inside; Amelia fighting to escape.
"You spit her out this instant, Aubrey 2." Willow demanded of the plant. "We've told you not to eat the people who come in to feed you. Now spit her out!"
The flower turned to face Willow, acknowledging her for a moment. But then they turned away, as if to feign ignorance about Willow's accusation. Willow frowned and stepped closer to Aubrey 2, ready to spin a spell circle if necessary. She wasn't in danger of being eaten since the plant already had a meal to digest, but she still had to be wary of the little fireballs that Aubrey 2 could shoot from their mouth.
"Do not make me force you to spit her out." Willow stated, her voice taking on an authoritative tone. "You know it won't feel good for you if I do that, and I will unless you listen to me. I'm going to give you to the count of three. One…"
Willow raised her finger as she began counting. She didn't need to get to two before she got the results she wanted. Aubrey 2 let out a noise, almost like an annoyed grunt, before regurgitating Amelia onto the floor. Without wasting so much as a second, Willow grabbed Amelia and dragged her out of Aubrey 2's reach. To her relief, Amelia was still breathing. Or rather, she was coughing and sputtering now that she was free.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Willow started to check if Amelia would need to be rushed to the Healer's room. From what she could see, there were no serious injuries. There was just some damage to Amelia's clothes due to the acid, but nothing that would be difficult to mend. Although Amelia would still need to change out of her uniform and take a long shower to rinse off the coating of bile.
"Are you okay, Amelia?" Willow asked, just to be sure.
Amelia nodded and Willow helped her up to her feet. She was trembling a bit from her unpleasant experience and needed to lean on Willow for a moment before finding her balance. Willow took out a handkerchief and started to wipe the other girl's face, starting with the mucus around her eyes.
"T-thanks, Willow." Amelia meekly said, managing a smile. "You're the best."
"I'm just glad that I got here not long after it happened." Willow replied. "What were you doing, trying to feed Aubrey 2 by yourself?! You know how voracious an appetite they have!"
"I… I wasn't going to feed them." Amelia told her. "I was going to get all the food prepared for when you came in, to help save a little time, y'know? But right after I got here, Aubrey 2 started to make weird noises. I got worried that something was wrong, so I ran over to check and the next thing I knew, I was being grabbed."
"You were lured in…" Willow concluded, her expression becoming angry as she turned to face Aubrey 2. "You naughty plant! You faked being hurt so you could try to eat someone! Amelia was genuinely worried for your wellbeing and you tried to make her into your breakfast!" She exclaimed. Then she took a step to the food cart and grabbed a cut of apple steak, holding it up. "This was supposed to be your breakfast. But since you were being bad, you'll be waiting until this afternoon to eat. And if you cause any more trouble, you'll be waiting until tomorrow instead. Is that understood?"
Aubrey 2 let out a snarl in response. Willow simply stared at the plant, unfazed and unamused. She twirled her finger in the air, creating the barrier which barred Aubrey 2 within a cylinder of green light. Then Willow cast a second spell that created a small circle within the barrier, from which a stream of water began to flow out and into the soil of Aubrey 2's plot.
"There, that should hold you for a little while." She said, turning away and returning to the food cart. "I'll be back later to water you again and give you your meal. If you're done misbehaving by then."
She turned away, leaving Aubrey 2 just before they started to thrash and hiss angrily. Willow sighed and shook her head sadly as she kept walking away. It bothered her so much to upset a plant like that, but it had to be done. If Aubrey 2 didn't stop attacking students, someday Mrs. Amaryllis would need to put them down.
Willow went over to where Amelia was standing. The other plant track witch had been watching the scene in mild awe. Even after it was over, she was still staring at Willow, wide-eyed with admiration. When Willow stepped up to her, she suddenly recalled her current condition and blushed with embarrassment.
"I'm a total mess!" She exclaimed, trying to wipe the slimy bile off herself with little success. "I'll try to clean up really quick and come back to help."
"Don't worry about it. I'll be able to handle things just fine." Willow replied. "But are you sure that you're okay? You don't have any bad burns from the acid or anything?"
"I think I'm building up a tolerance to it." Amelia told her with a wry smile.
The two shared a quick laugh and Willow ushered Amelia to the door. On the way, she retrieved some paper towels for Amelia to wipe off herself more easily. Amelia happily accepted it, letting out a little sigh of relief as she finally managed to clean off most of her face.
"Thanks, you're the best, Willow." She said softly, a light blush coming to her cheeks as she stepped out of the greenhouse. "See you in a bit."
"See you in a bit." Willow repeated, waving as Amelia departed.
With the unplanned rescue now behind her, Willow resumed her task of feeding the plants. She first set aside the apple steak for Aubrey 2 and then made quick work of feeding the other large plants. Aubrey 2 made a point to snarl at her as she passed by again, snapping at her ferociously. Willow ignored the angry plant, but let out another sad sigh once she had walked away. It was worrisome how bad Aubrey 2's behavior could be sometimes. If not for Mrs. Amaryllis's very patient demeanor, the poor plant would have been mulched ages ago.
A short while later she finished feeding all the plants on the feeding schedule for that day. Then she did a quick round of watering, followed by a check on supplies. She wrote down a few items in need or restocking for Mrs. Amaryllis and tacked it onto the corkboard by the icebox. Once that was done, Willow moved onto her own little free study of the plants, taking her journal out of her bag. She went to a table where several little cups were neatly arranged into three rows, each with a tiny, ebony sprout poking out of the soil.
"Good morning, you little cuties!" She cheerily greeted. "I've got a special treat for all of you!"
Willow brought out one of the potions she had gotten from the shop earlier and removed the stopper. She began adding a single drop to each little cup, the soil sucking it in and darkening from light brown to a deeper, richer shade. As each sprout received its drop of the potion, it perked up a bit and grew just the tiniest amount. After she finished with her task, Willow put the stopper back into the bottle and started adding notes to her journal.
A few minutes later, Willow put her journal away and did a quick round to check on the plants again. Then she left the greenhouse, locking the door behind her since no one else would be dropping by again until the afternoon. She began heading out and spotted Luz running towards her from a short distance away. The other girl waved her arm almost frantically as she approached, calling her name.
For a moment, Willow was concerned that something had happened. It took a moment for her to remember that she was supposed to have met up with Luz that morning and she very likely had lost track of time while in the greenhouse. After giving herself a little mental kick, Willow hurried over to meet with Luz.
"Sorry!" She said as she got closer. "I'm late, aren't I?"
"A little." Luz replied. "Everyone else is waiting so we can get started. I just got here, but all the others have been here for a little while now."
"Oh thorns, I can't believe that I didn't notice how long I was taking."
"Don't worry about it." Luz told her. "No one is upset or anything. Well, except for you-know-who."
Willow let out a sigh. "Of course. And I guess I should expect some attitude from her for making her wait."
"Not that she needs the excuse." Luz added. "But we'd better hurry up if you want to keep her from mouthing off to you again."
Luz turned to head back the way she came. Willow fell into step beside her, mentally preparing herself for potential confrontation. They walked over to the school's Grudgby field, where the Banshees were currently getting ready for practice. Cat and Skara greeted them with smiles and waves, Amelia mimicking them somewhat timidly, her eyes on Willow. The last member of the team however was scowling at them, her three eyes looking at them with contempt.
"Took you long enough." Boscha icily spat. "You know, if you can't even show up for practice on time, then maybe you aren't cut out for this."
"Hey, leave her alone!" Amelia exclaimed, throwing Boscha a dirty look. "It's my fault that Willow is late! If I hadn't messed up, she wouldn't have had to do my share of the work at the greenhouse this morning!"
"Whatever." Boscha replied, rolling her eyes. "Can we start already? I'm sick of waiting."
"Feel free to go ahead." Willow told her, trying very hard to mind her tone. "Luz and I need to get changed and do some warm ups first. Skara, did you plan out those practice plays for us to do yet?"
"You know it. I did them this morning during breakfast." Skara answered with a wink. "I've got a few that should be easy to start with. Then if you feel ready, we can do a couple intermediate ones too."
Luz let out an excited gasp. "Do you mean like combo moves?!" She asked hopefully.
"Maybe, maybe not." Skara replied with a sly smile. "Only way you're gonna find out is if we manage to get that far today. Practice is already starting, you know."
In the next moment, Luz was off like a shot. It took Willow a couple of seconds to realize she had left before following. They made their way over to the door that let into the girl's changing room. A glaring eye that was set into the wall above the door set its gaze on them, a light coming out to scan the two. After a moment, the door opened to allow them entry, Luz stepping over and gesturing for Willow to go first.
"After you, Captain Willow."
What if Willow had accepted the offer to join the Banshees?