"Complaints, your own refusal to talk to me straight, things that other people have said. All of it is quite unsavory, in my opinion, and it seems that you are treating your daughters as slaves," I said, and Irene turned her nose up at me.
"I think you should leave," Irene said, but I gestured for two chairs to grow.
The first grew vines that grabbed the shorter Irene and strapped her down to the chair. She struggled, but I was no longer here to follow any silly city rules anymore. I took the other chair and sat across from Irene, who stared defiantly at me.
"I think I will stay, and you are going to start answering my questions, or I will request the help of an Angel to get the answer out of you. You can either tell me on your own, or I will get it out of you. This is not up for debate, but your position as the head business owner is," I said, but Irene glared at me.
"You can't take my business away!" Irene hissed, but I summoned my Zodiac coating that turned my hands to sharp-clawed thick fingers.
"I think you are a mistaken with who I am. If I find that you are abusing the girls, I will take more than your business away from you, Mother Irene Balishire. I will take everything that you hold precious, so I will ask you one more time; why are the girls dressed like that?" I asked as waves of power rolled off me, creating distortion in the air around me.
Irene looked from me and stared off into the distance for a while before she finally answered. "It is for protection! The girls need to be protected from... bad people," Irene said, and I furrowed my brows.
"So you are protecting your own daughters by dressing them up like mannequins and making their lives miserable? Is that really what a good parent would do?" I asked as my claws dug deeper into the arm of the chair.
Irene shook her head slowly before closing her eyes as tears started streaming down her face. "No... No, it's not." She said softly before she broke down.
Once it was clear that she was done talking, I dismissed my Zodiac Coat and helped Irene out of the chair before giving her a hug. Turned out that many of the girls were Easterners, but it was hard to tell from all the face paints. Irene had been getting frustrated, and more people were starting to come and ask questions about the Aquashell. This pushed her to have them stand more, and all the planning for the big change had been starting to get to her mentally.
"You need to start listening to your daughters more and get them some proper clothing so their lives can be more enjoyable," I said as we stepped away with Irene still in shock. "Stop stressing about everything with the planning, and start letting them do what they want. Your happiness does not come at the cost of theirs; remember that. Now, at nightfall, I want you and Penelope to be at city hall in the meeting room. Hilda is back, and we all have things to talk about."
And with that, I opened up a portal and stepped through it to the next Mother. There was no telling how this would end, but as always, I had hope that some good would come from it all.
If I wanted to wrap things up, I needed to keep things moving, and now was the real challenge, Mother Wood. I still wasn't done with Irene Balishire, but now I knew the situation, and I was giving her a chance to rectify things, so we would see.
I walked up to the front of Willow Wood's family house, but a pretty woman that I recognized came rushing over to me. This was the woman that had pulled me through the city the first day that I had arrived. Marie still looked like she was skittering around, but she looked a lot cuter doing it now! Instead of a creepy woman in an alley following you, now Marie was just a cute stalker.
"Cat God! It is good to see you! Thank you for everything that you have been doing in the city, but do you think that you could fix the rest of the building around my place? I know you have already done so much, but the girls won't get out of my room, and this is the only pair of clothes I have left from women 'borrowing' them!" Marie complained, and I grinned and patted her head.
"How does tomorrow morning sound?" I asked, and Marie looked up at me with a confused look on her face.
"Really?" Marie asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah. I will be changing the whole city so everyone can live well with all the simple luxuries that you all deserve! I just have to get all the Mothers in line," I said, but Marie stepped back and then looked at the Woods Manor.
"You think you are... Never mind, thinking that you can't do something like that after everything I have heard of you doing is silly. I guess I will let you get to it, but I really just wanted to tell you how much this means to me," Marie said, and then she gave me a hug that I returned before pulling back. "Thank you for changing my life. Even with the girls in my room and taking my stuff, I still feel like I am in a dream. Word is starting to spread already that the Grashlor Family isn't as bad as everyone thought, and now the streets feel safer to walk on. It's nice not to have to scurry around."
"As much," I corrected, and Marie let out a small laugh, making me smile.
"Some habits are harder to break, but I am sure that will change soon. Good luck with Mother Willow Wood," Marie called as she left me, and I sighed as I looked around the city.
It was day now, but the city around me looked dull and dreary, besides the Wood's manner. It was still tall and proud, just like the Mother residing here, but I was going to have to see if I could curve her pride and put that motivation somewhere more productive.
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