500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

"I assume that I am?" I asked slowly, but Carrie was right about this woman's attitude.

​ I wonder how I could calm her down?

"It seems that you have your foot in a lot of different things; I heard about you from my daughter. What do you need to do with me?" She asked, looking me up and down again before going to sit on the couch nearby.

"I was hoping that we could speak privately," I said, scanning over the room as I scrambled for thought. The workwomanship and attention to detail in this place were astounding, but that gave me an idea as I pointed at the table between us. It was covered in a thin layer of dust, but since I was currently alone with her, I could use it to my advantage.

"It seems that the table between us is made from Bansquebar wood, a very rare type of wood," I said, getting a sharp glance from Mother Willow.

"Yes, and it is also very expensive; why do you care?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I sat down and started talking to her about how hard it was to get Bansquebar wood, the difficulty in getting the right pieces, and how long it could take before they were ready for crafting, but I also mentioned that it was very strong and resilient.

"It is true; you don't mess with Bansquebar wood," Mother Willow said, shaking her head before looking at me again curiously. "Now, what do you want to talk about?"

"Hilda, what else? You know, for someone that was trying to do better for all of you, most of you seem very indifferent to her going missing," I said, and Mother Willow raised her eyebrow.

"Why should any of the mothers care what figurehead is in place? Do you really think that Carrie is the one that keeps this city running and everywhere else around the Torrain Region?" Mother Willow asked, but I was waiting for one of these family Mothers to finally come out and say this.

"Really?" I asked curiously, hoping that she would go on and dig her and the other Mother's graves.

"Oh, come off it. All of the Mothers pull their strings and make sure that the city is running smoothly. If we don't keep it together, no one does," Mother Willow said with a smirk before getting up and walking to a sideboard. She filled two glasses with something dark before sitting back down on the couch across from me; it was obvious that she was trying to make me feel more comfortable, but it wasn't going to work.

"What does this have to do with Hilda?" I asked, and Mother Willow sighed again before looking up at me.

"Hilda had a lot of ambition and drive; too much for most people around here since that would threaten some of our control, but it doesn't limit me. If anything, I liked Hilda, but I am not going to go out of my way to find the woman just to fix what isn't broken.

"Good," I said, and Mother Willow gave me a puzzled look as I took a long drink of what she gave me and nodded at the smooth buttery burn. "So that means that the state of the outside villages and the city currently are the results of the mothers more than Carrie herself. I was trying to figure out where the root of the problem lies here in the city of Torrain. Since I have come and started to talk to you, Mothers, more and more, it seems that your scheming and inability to work with each other is happening at the cost of the people in and around Torrain. Do you think that I am wrong?"

Mother Willow looked at me with narrowed eyes and scowled at me before finishing her drink and standing up. It looked like I may have pushed a bit hard, but I didn't really care.

When I did find Hilda, and I would, I would make sure that the five mothers all formed a council. I was sure there would be some people that didn't like it, but this craziness was not working.

"It is late. You should leave now," she said, and I stood up. It Wouldn't do me any favors to stay in her presence longer than necessary.

"Of course," I said before walking out of the room and back downstairs before leaving the house as quickly as possible, knowing that this situation would only escalate if I stayed here. That just left me with finding the daughter, Jana, and then going to see Teresa to see if I could get more information out of her that she had promised.

I left the house and headed back to The Bottom to go find Teresa again. All I knew about Jana was that she liked alleys and wore a yellow dress, so I figured that the streets of The Bottom would be a good place to start my search.

I started walking down the street, looking around for anyone wearing yellow, but I didn't really see anyone that matched the strangely blue-haired Jana from the file I had read. The city was big, so I didn't really expect too much as I made my way back to The Bottom.

It was almost time to give the city the makeover, but I wanted to get to the bottom of everything before I started doing anything here. Still, the place was mapped out from above now, but the squirrels were still getting me the dimensions of all the buildings.

The streets were pretty empty, but they started to get a bit busier and brighter as I reached the section of the city called The Bottom. The last time I came here was with Connie, but I hadn't really enjoyed the place. The reason I had come here was to ask about the note that Lady Penelope gave me, but I hadn't asked.

Teresa hadn't seemed to want to talk around Connie at all, and I didn't know what that was about, considering it would be about her sister. So I hadn't really wanted to bring up Lady Penelope since she seemed guarded already.

This time I would take my time because Teresa was probably not the only person that would know a thing or two about what was going on around the city. I was here to get some information and find out what had happened to Hilda and maybe have a bit of fun.

Just a little bit!