somebody sent me a pm not that long ago and while i’ve already answered them i thought it would be a good idea to air out some of the thoughts ive had about writing Shallow Waters since then
like in the original show, both hunter and willow are sides of the same coin. hunter oscillates wildly between fearing and being fascinated by faeries, most especially willow. at the point of the story that we’re in (chapter four, leading into chapter five) hunter had been raised to evaluate people based on their use to him and their perceived “rank”. hunter has only just barely begun to acknowledge willow as a full and complete person besides her identity as a faery and source of knowledge, and that’s because he is forced to reckon with the fact that SHE is just as afraid of him as HE is of HER, and she can and will hurt him if he ever poses a genuine threat. he is FORCED to respect her, and that catalyzes in hunter a respect for faeries in general.
willow, compared to hunter, has so much more to lose in their friendship. she is keenly aware of how being a selkie puts her in massive social danger, not only just by humans, but by other faeries. selkies, in the perspective of most tír na nÓg-based faeries, are more closely related or allied to humans than they are to other faeries. most selkies are born without an innate ability to perform magic (willow is unique due being a quarter faery by blood) and can easily pass for human. they often take (or are taken as) human partners, and, up until very recently (in the story) were not allowed to take residence in tír na nÓg. willow doesn’t fully fit in anywhere. she knows that if hunter ever discovers that she knows how to procure a selkie’s coat, she will lose their friendship AND the only aspect of her identity she gets to choose for herself. not only that, she would be responsible for the death of the selkie race, as no children she ever had would be born as selkies, capable of carrying on the tradition.
willow NEEDS to make hunter like her, respect her, care about her, because if she doesn’t, she has no power. she will become nothing. hunter needs the coat, needs her knowledge, needs her friendship, because he will cease to be useful if he doesn’t get it. that’s where they’re at right now. they can’t really have an quality romance until all of those problems can be resolved.