The others soon climbed onto the flying carpet and took off into the sky leaving me alone with Quarely who I held in the middle of my left palm. He looked fairly nervous which is to be expected. Here he was alone with a goddess sitting in her palm with no way to escape and no one to save him. Rulers like him especially were unaccustomed to being in such vulnerable positions.

Before talking any steps forward I lifted my hand up to my face and moved Quarely in front of my eyes. I turned my hand this way and that so I could study him closely. From what I could tell he was a good man, at least that's the feeling I got when looking at him. This talk would show me if this was true however. He was very handsome too.

For his part Quarely looked up into my huge eyes and was crippled with fear and awe, stunned as his legs shook from the sight. He was seeing the swirling wonder of the starry sky deep in the darkness of my pupils. Seeing this by looking into my eyes seemed to cause in humans fear, terror, wonder, and reverence. More testing would be needed to see what if anything inside the people themselves effected what they felt at the sight.

Without saying a word I turned my hand back to its original position and lowered it down to my chest level where it was more comfortable for me to carry. Once that was done I began taking my first steps with him in my hand, walking off into the forest with the sounds of my footsteps booming for him far below. The colors of the trees were beautiful as the fall winds swirled leaves around my feet.

Quarely finally broke the silence, sitting down in my palm and letting out a great sigh. The nerves in his voice were apparent.

"So erm. You must have wanted me alone for something Goddess Jenna."

Before replying I lifted my hand back up closer to in front of my chin.

"I had figured that speaking to you alone would bring different results than when you had your friends and advisors around you."

He nervously coughed and stood up in my hand, staggering a little before adjusting to the movements of my stride.

"Well if there's anything you wanted to know I wouldn't have hidden it from you even with the others there."

Typical response from someone in politics. Maybe if I took a more aggressive approach? I stopped walking and looked down at him in my hand, a disappointed smirk on my face.

"I'm a very understanding goddess Mr Quarely but I like there being no bullshit between us. You know what I mean right? Consider your position right now: I have you dancing in the palm of my hand literally. Basically as far as the rest of the kingdom is concerned I own you. What do you think of that?"

With those last words my hand was lifted up closer to my face and I stared down at him with a burning gaze. He immediately stumbled backwards and fell onto his ass, trembling with fear as he looked up at my face looming over him.

"Please goddess have mercy! You can do anything you wish with me, take all the possessions I own, just please don't harm my family or my subjects! They didn't do anything, they don't deserve to suffer!"

This isn't the response I expected. Begging for his life was what I thought would be the first thing he did, begging for his family of course would be expected as well. Here however he skipped himself, his friends, and went straight for his family and the people that he ruled over. This was a clear life or death situation for him and in his panic he defaulted to these things, that meant he clearly cared about them greatly.

My smirk faded and my face returned to a more neutral expression. I then lowered my hand and continued walking. Right now it it was a wandering path around the town in the miles of forest surrounding it. In my hand Quarely kept trembling in fear as I spoke again.

"You can stop your shivering in fear Quarely. I'm not going to hurt you or anyone else for that matter. Take some deep breaths and calm down will you?"

Following my orders he did just that. After sufficiently calming himself down he sat up more properly in my palm and looked up at my face above him once again.

"G-Great Goddess. Your moods are impossible for me to understand. One moment you're kind as a mother and the next as angry as a storm."

I ignored his comment. "Tell me how the people's taxes are spent. Also how the resources are distributed."

He looked up at me in confusion, the booming of my feet as I walked still somewhat distracting him.

"You want to know about such mundane things goddess?"

"Yes. Tell me." My voice was short and stern.

After he jumped from my direct reply he continued, seeming to gradually get more relaxed in my hand as his mind focused in on the workings of his province.

"Well the taxes are collected on a weekly basis from around the province. It all goes into the castle treasury. The first thing we have to do is separate out the portion that is sent off to the capital for the king's taxes. What's left is used to pay for things such as the army's wages, the building of roads and infrastructure, and the social services provided by the lordship."

He paused for a moment.

"One of the things such taxes would be spent on is the preparations for the upcoming war with Pheoa. The lumber we buy from the lumbering villages is used for the construction of siege weaponry and defenses for the towns and villages. The delay in shipments from the village of Doovlin caused there not to be enough materials to properly prepare the town of Vemdelen for the attack it suffered. I was told you were there to defend them goddess."

Shit. This is the damn butterfly effect. How was I supposed to know that keeping that lumber would have such far reaching consequences? I didn't think that's what I did. This guy is on top of the major events going on in his land. He seems to care about it too. I don't think he's as bad a guy as most kings or rulers are.

"If you're thinking I withheld that lumber in order to create the crisis just so I could step in and save the day you're mistaken."

Quarely got onto his hands and knees to bow before me. "I would never accuse you of such things Goddess Jenna! Please don't take it in such a way!"

"I'm didn't take it in such a way." I replied. "There's certain technology I plan on bringing to this land to improve the lives of the people living here. That lumber would have been used for it."

He looked confused at this and straightened up to sit on his legs. "Technology? Does it have to do with making you the state religion? To build temples in your name?"

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I let out a sigh. "I'm not interested in becoming the deity of the kingdom or whatever. People can worship me if they wish and not worship me if that's what they want. Besides they wouldn't just be worshiping me but my father Elohim above me as well."

"You're father? Male gods are something I've only heard about that other cultures supposedly had worshiped long ago."

"My father is the creator of everything including me. What religion does the kingdom currently have then?"

Quarely looked down and returned to sitting. "Currently people are allowed to worship whatever they desire. Some the world itself, some cling to their ancestors, and of course there are small cults dedicated to various goddesses of the distant past. Though those are exterminated wherever they are found."

"Well there's a goddess here right now." I said coming to a stop. I then lifted my hand up in front of my face again and looked down at him. "Let me ask you a question Lord Quarely. If I were to offer you my ear, to grant you any wish you desired, what would you wish for? This would be a big deal by the way and you should feel greatly honored."

He fell on his face before me. "Of course I'm deeply honored you would even speak of such a thing! If I were to wish for anything and have it granted..." He paused and sat up once again. "It would be that you would protect us in times of war so that fewer had to die in conflict."

I smiled happily down at him and his face flushed as if he was embarrassed I would look at him with such kindness.

"I'll grant you that wish Lord Quarely."

I had started using his title now as there was actually some respect for this man down in my heart. Maybe he was the extreme exception to the rule of those in power being corrupt and evil.

"Here climb down."

After saying this I squatted down and lowered my hand to the ground. Following my instructions he climbed down off my hand onto the dirt in the small clearing I was standing inside.

"What is it goddess?" He asked.

Once he was safely on the ground I stood up to my full height and stretched my arms into the air, taking a booming step backwards all to simply show off my size compared to him. He was a tiny bug standing on the ground at my feet. As he looked up into the sky to me towering above the lowland trees that barely reached my shins he might have understood my intentions.

"There's a difference in our size and power Lord Quarely." I said calmly. "You can see it displayed as we stand side by side."

After saying this I took one step forward with my left foot, stomping it down firmly into the dirt directly next to him. It would be less than ten feet away in his perceptive and the thundering impact shook him so much he tumbled to the side and fell to the ground. The look in his eyes was one of surprise and terror as he saw my boot in front of him, a boot that was easily bigger than a house and would crush it without effort.

With him fully aware of our differences beyond a doubt I pulled my foot back towards myself dragging it along the ground, ripping the foliage to shreds and leaving a deep trench of exposed flat dirt. I then put my hands on my hips and leaned in over him, my shadow cast across him and the ground on which he sat.

"And yet we are both rulers in our own right. Would you deny this Lord Quarely?"

Seeing that I actually meant him no harm but unsure where I was going with this Quarely nervously sat up on the ground and gulped. He looked at the destruction left by my boot and then at it as it sat next to my other foot.

"I-I would agree with you Great Goddess."

With a nod I continued and stood up straight. "You see the true difference between you and I is the level of responsibility. I have more power than you and with great power comes great responsibility. Even as powerless as you are compared to me you have great power over your fellow humans. Its not how much power one has that matters Lord Quarely, its what one does with the power they're given."

As he sat there craning his neck back to look high enough into the sky to see my face he adjusted himself and stood up on his feet once again. He seemed to understand what I was going for.

Before he could speak however I asked one more question. "So what makes a good ruler? How should those given power use it?"

It took a few moments for him to think about his response but it didn't take long before he replied to me.

"I would say Goddess Jenna... That the mark of a truly good ruler is that they use their power to benefit those without it. Its the weak that require the protection of the strong."

This response proved to me that he was indeed a good person. Of course he wasn't perfect as no one is, but he did indeed care about his subjects in a meaningful way. A bubbly laugh escaped from deep inside me, the sound echoing around the woods and causing birds to take to the air. The sound caused Quarely to laugh as well, the infectious crystal sound almost as a wave of energy flowing out of me and into the world around me.

After the laughter passed I crouched down again and lowered my hand for Quarely to climb onto again. He did so without needing to be prompted as he seemed to feel much safer with me at this point.

"You have passed my test Lord Quarely." I said with a smile as I stood up. "You at least are a ruler I shall show my favor to."

Quarely gasped and held his right hand to his chest. He then let out a long sigh before looking up at my face again.

"Thank you Goddess Jenna! You really mean it?"

I just smiled down at him and nodded. "I think you're a good ruler Lord Quarely. I don't know the deep specifics of the kingdom as a whole yet or even how your province runs in great detail. But if you're willing to tell me about it I'll be willing to give you my advice."

"Of course goddess!" He seemed excited now. "And if it pleases you I would like to hear about this technology you mentioned before."

"I think we could talk for a little while about that as well. How about I take the long way back to the town so we can chat a bit?"

"That sounds wonderful goddess."

So it was decided. I took off walking again and took a path that circled around the town so that we could spend some time talking. It was already past noon and though I didn't want to keep him too long I wanted to speak for at least another hour.

-------------------------

Quarely and I spoke for at least another two hours, stopping my walking only to give him a bite to eat from the forest plants and a drink from a stream. As a goddess I didn't need food or drink of course which he found fascinating. Of course he asked if I did the bodily functions associated with those things and I of course scolded him for even asking such things of a young woman.

As for what we spoke about in that time it was mostly about the workings of the kingdom, pretty basic stuff as far as medieval society went. There was also a great deal of talk about the technology from my previous world that I wanted to introduce in the kingdom like plumbing and electricity. He seemed quite fascinated about such things and easily saw their benefits to society as a whole. One thing he was reserved on was my desire to bring books and wider knowledge to all humans of all classes. He saw conflict and rebellion if the greater public was greatly educated and I reassured him that with me around it would hopefully not come to that.

Of course the king himself came up as well. According to what Quarely knew of him he was one of those stereotypical fat and greedy kings who was more like an overgrown child than a true ruler. The provinces were mostly left to their own devices and the quality of the lords presiding over them were hit or miss. Now I was trusting his interpenetration of the situation because honestly I trusted him. He was interested in when I wanted to meet the king and I told him I wanted to avoid it for as long as possible. He was worried if I met him that I would crush him underfoot like a roach and I told him I would try to avoid it if I could.

Obviously he will have to report my existence to the king and I told him to do it as he saw the need for it. I wanted to be left alone for now however and try to gather more information and worshipers before dealing with any wide spread interactions.

After our chat had concluded I took him back to Vemdelen and dropped him off at the gates. The guards there were more than happy to take him to the castle and I told him we would speak again. All the townspeople were quite happy to see how well their lord and their goddess got along and the prayers I was getting after that were ones of thanks for my benevolence.

Once he was dropped off I hurried back to Doovlin which took no time at all. It was late into the evening when I arrived and the villagers were all finishing their work for the day. They were worried about how the meeting went were happy to hear how well it all turned out. They seemed to have a positive impression of Quarely themselves, if only for the reason he left them alone for the most part. They were also happy to hear that their lives wouldn't be changing because I had meet with their lord either.

What worried me however was when I was greeted by Miya. She notified me that some strange people that wore large cloaks had come to the village and were asking about me. They seemed to want to meet me but hadn't stuck around to wait for me to return. She told them that she was my high priestesses which caused them to become very interested in her according to her impressions of them.

What in the world was that about? I'll have to investigate this when I had the chance.