Instead of trying to articulate any complicated thinky thoughts that might be completely unhinged from canon I will instead summarize some of my most self-indulgent plot bunnies.
For example there’s one where Sybbie Branson gets ill and it looks like she’s going to die. Thomas responds to this situation by walking out into the forest and calling three times the name of a terrifying Fae Lady who tried to lure him away to her court when he was a child - and hopefully still wants him as an adult. He successfully makes a deal: himself for Sybbie being healed.
I don’t know where the plot goes from here, but the next thing that happens is that she turns him into a raven as soon as the deal is sealed - and yet for some reason gives him until midnight to say his goodbyes. And then he is a raven, and spends the evening saying his goodbyes.
Not that he can say them, but he can perch over the children’s beds and carefully adjust their hair with his beak. He can land on Daisy’s shoulder and squawk loudly. I don’t know where this takes place in his and Baxter’s timeline but maybe he flutters down onto her knee and looks at her for a moment before giving an awkward, birdy nod. Mrs. Hughes offers him an upstairs treat from the kitchen and says what he did was very selfless and she’s terribly proud of him and does not cry. He spends a moment sitting on her knee as well. Mrs. Patmore supplies as many farewell treats as wanted but doesn’t want to go near the freaky bird. Depending on the timeline, he spends an hour or two on Jimmy’s shoulder while Jimmy reads to him in a shaky voice.
Then I guess maybe the plot keeps going or something I don’t know. Birdy Thomas and lots of feelings.
