The woman hopped through the portal and let it close before I could finish cursing her for this! Now it was going to spread through the continent like wildfire, and I was going to have women from every corner trying to try their luck!
"Tallia is stepping down as the goddess of the island? Does that mean the position is open to anyone?" Lutha asked, and I nodded, making all the women start talking about it at once, and I sighed.
"Wait! This is not what I came here to talk about! I still have no idea how I am going to even decide how I will pick the next goddess, so don't go thinking that you can butter me up!" I said as I walked over to sit down opposite Hilda with Carrie and the other five mothers around the table. Each of them, besides Carrie, had a helper that I recognized behind them, but I hadn't expected Kyra to be here with Mother Shallot. I thought that Ash would have been the one.
"I imagine that you will have to devise some sort of plan to help you sort through them? Maybe you might try some sort of event?" Mother Irene Balishire suggested, with Lady Penelope standing behind her smiling. She seemed to be in a better mood, so maybe things were already changing, but only time would tell.
"That is a good idea, and I feel like all three cities could use some festivities. Since I think that all the major threats are over, it is high time that we had a festival, but instead of having just one, we will have three! One in each of the cities, and this way, I can have an event in each one of the cities to gather all the possible replacements for Tallia, and then I can go over the finals after, but again, we are getting sidetracked!" I complained, and the women all laughed at me.
"Look, we get it; even if we wanted to, you aren't going to let us return to the way that we were doing things before, right?" Shallot asked, and I nodded. "Fine, but you said that you are going to fix the city up, right? When are you going to put in some new things to create more jobs? I can expand the ranch now, but even if you help me with expanding the farm, that is not going to create enough jobs to keep everyone fed, right?"
"That is a good question, and I will tell you the same thing that I told everyone else. Yes, I am going to do some renovations in the city, so people have better options for work than they had before. We can't fix every problem instantly, but if we keep working together, then eventually, we will get things back on track," I said and looked around the table, stopping at Grenada Guildmaier. "Most of your girls don't want to switch jobs, but that is fine because I am going to create the new Aquashell factories to work mostly autonomously, so you will not need very many people to operate them. While I can create many things, and I have learned countless things over my lives, I do not know everything there is to know. As I explore this world, I will get to understand what supplies are needed and what is already being produced around the islands, and I will provide more work. All of this takes time, and you all need to work together while I am away. I can't always check on you."
"I can see that things change, but how do we know that Hilda is up to the job?" Willow Wood asked, and I nodded to Hilda, who suddenly looked nervous.
"Because she was already working on bringing you all together, even if you didn't know it. She will also succeed because you are all going to help her and guide her. That is the job of the council to steer your leader on the right path, but you are not here to drive," I explained, and the women started to look at one another, and then Grenada spoke up.
"I think that this is a good chance for everyone to start fresh and for us to make the city of Torrain and the surrounding area great again! I guess I should have been thinking about the girls, but I thought that they would like the chance to learn something new. In the future, I am going to have to ask them what they want to do, I guess," She said, but I shook my head.
"This is your business, so you get to make those choices, but you should give people more options as to who changes positions. I am sure that there are many that will just grumble about it, but there are some that really enjoy working with metal. I can understand their passion, so we shouldn't take that away from them. I will try to make things so you can keep your shops going as normal, along with the new factories, but I am also going to create some research facilities. I am sure that there are some bright women among you all, and they should be given a chance to flourish as well. Hilda is a perfect example, and I hope to find more innovative people like her in the future."
The women looked around, and the council started to whisper back and forth. Hilda had a pleased look on her face, but she was also looking from one person to another as if she wasn't sure of what they were going to say. However, no one said anything against it in the end; instead, they all seemed to be contemplating my words with approving looks on their faces. After a while, they all nodded in agreement with my plan.
"We are happy that you are here, Galio! We will do our best not just for ourselves but also for Torrain!" Lutha promised, clearly speaking for the group as everyone nodded in agreement again, along with some mumbles of approval coming out from others seated around the table.
"Good!" I said before standing up again, "Well then, I have some planning to do before the morning when I make the big changes, but I think I am going to take the night off."
"Wait!" Willow Wood said as both she and Shallot Richmer stood up.
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