With the situation calmed down for the time being everyone had transitioned into a state of tentative worry instead of objective fear. Now that the goddess was here and in charge of everything the humans were mostly at ease. The werewolves however were still filled with fear for the most part for the same reasons. Autumn's chilly night air reflected the chill in their hearts as they waited to see their ultimate fate.

The de-facto leader of the werewolves was this Markku and after he had checked in on his people I summoned him over to me again. From the human village I had called for their leader of sorts: a man by the name of Alard Resputen. He was in his forties with short black hair, orange eyes, and fair skin. Pretty average looking too. A couple of the villagers tagged along with him, mainly the watchmen which included Jeppe. They all stood there shivering in the cold, something the werewolves didn't suffer it seemed.

As a goddess I only felt the cold of the night in the superficial sense, not actually being harmed by temperatures in any way. I could see how cold everyone else was though and let out a long sigh. With the flick of my fingers I ignited a large fire several feet behind me. It roared to life by the power of magic, its light and warmth filling the darkness.

I then summoned up a chair from the ground by molding the earth and mixing in vines. It was a regal looking throne on which I sat my little bottom and crossed my left leg over the other. Now more comfortable I decided to start out the discussion with a bit of hospitality. People are more agreeable when they've had their basic needs met of course.

With several more hand movements I summoned four flagons of spicy ale and they hovered in the air before me. They were quite hot with steam coming out and into the air, the light of the fire making it look like smoke. One of them floated over to me and I took it out the air, lifting it to my lips and taking a nice sip. I then looked up at the others.

"Do you want some?" I asked.

The other flagons hovered closer to the two men and wolfman as I looked up at them over the rim of my own. Both Jeppe and Alard took one and shyly gave a sip. Once they realized how tasty it was they started taking bigger gulps. The wolf didn't seem all to keen in trusting the goddess of these humans however.

I hovered the flagon closer to his face and let the steam waft around under his nose. It was clear he was very tempted to take it but was forcing himself not to out of caution.

"Come on" I said slyly. "If I wanted to kill you I would have. Do you really think I'll poision you now? Take a sip!"

After getting more encouragement from me he decided ultimately to take the risk. Getting a hold on the flagon was slightly complicated for his big canine hands, but he had enough manipulation to pull it off. He lifted it to his muzzle and nervously took a sip. However once he got a taste of it and felt the warm liquid inside him he started guzzling it down like a real dog. Once he was finished he looked at me with a serious look.

"My men would enjoy a tankard as well. Some haven't had a good meal in a week and it would surely lift their spirits to have something warm in their bellies."

The watchman Jeppe looked at him in shock and irritation.

"You can't make demands of the goddess like that! Who do you think you're-"

I silence him with the wave of my hand. He then shut his mouth with a confused look in eyes.

"I'll do you one better" I said flatly. "I can appreciate a leader who thinks of his men."

A large platter of stone rises up from the earth in front of me, a simple circular surface of stone about the size of a bed pillow. On it appeared at least a dozen large juicy beef steaks. They were not real meat of course, just manifested to be the same as it, sort of like lab grown meat. The smell coming off them was very authentic though and Markku's mouth was watering.

Once the meat was manifested I put my fingers in my mouth and attempted to do the whistle but only managed to sputter. I never was very good at that. After failing miserably but before the looks could be directed my way I summoned a real whistle and blew on it.

The loud shrill sound made the ears of all the other werewolves perk up and they looked my direction in confusion. Upon looking over they also sniffed the air, noticing the aroma of piping hot meat. The look in their eyes betrayed their great hunger.

I turned to Jeppe and floated the platter over to him. He took it from the air as it settled down and looked at me in confusion and fear. Ignoring his reaction I turned Markku with a inquisitive look. He understood my implied question and nodded. I then addressed Jeppe.

"Take that over and serve it to the doggos." I then glared to silence him as he opened his mouth. "No they wont hurt you. Now do it."

As he walked away nervously I smiled smugly and leaned back in my chair.

"Oh! And make sure everyone only gets one!" I added.

With the watchman walking over to hand out the steaks I turned my attention back onto the two that were left. The leaders of both groups Markku and Alard. The latter was looking at me in disbelief, almost disgust, after witnessing me feed the monsters that had threatened his village. The former however was looking at me in disbelief for another reason: the kindness he had just seen.

As if to hide his feelings Markku asked me a question.

"Y-You summoned meat from nowhere?"

I lifted my left hand up and rested my head in it, leaning on the armrest of my little throne.

"It's just pho meat."

"What's that?" he asked confused.

"Oh it means fake" I replied with a glance over at him. "That is to say it was never part of a living animal. But its molecular structure is the same as real meat, so it is real meat basically."

This made the werewolf look down at the ground for a moment as he tried to understand what I was saying. It was clear he was very confused and he eventually gave up. He then looked over at his fellows who were much happier now. After seeing that he looked back to me and kneeled.

"Your words confuse me but it seems to make my men happy enough. Thank you. Goddess."

I lifted my right hand and waved it slightly at him to acknowledge him.

"Mhm."

During this I had been keeping an eye on Jeppe over there with the werewolves. As expected he wasn't in any real danger and in fact because he was the one dispensing the steaks they might actually like him. The situation was therefore not necessary to concern myself with and I focused completely on the two before me.

"Should I summon seats for you two louts?" I asked rhetorically.

Two decently sized stones rose up from the earth and formed makeshift seats for them. They both sat down almost shyly before me. Now that everyone was seated I began the discussion in earnest. I sat forward in my seat and brought my hands together with tented fingers.

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"So. Shall we begin this meeting officially?"

The two men looked at each other with suspicious glares and then back at me. It seemed our canine friend was getting more comfortable around me which was a good thing. Its not like his human contemporary had met me either of course. This was my first time to this village.

Alard was clearly angry and had his hands balled up into fists.

"You said you'd handle this attack goddess! How is feeding these monsters and sitting down for a chat handling it?"

I glared over at the man and crossed my arms over my stomach.

"Are you questioning me human?"

He quickly shrunk back in his seat and looked down cowering.

"N-No goddess! I apologize!"

With his outburst handled I turned back to the werewolf and leaned back in my chair again.

"Lets begin with why you're here and why you were attacking this village shall we? Answer honestly. It's not like you can lie to a goddess."

Markku didn't seem to have an easy answer for this and looked around while stumbling over his words. He clearly didn't want to say the reasoning because of how he thought I'd react.

"We were... Well we were just..."

I spoke up suddenly.

"Were thirsting for human blood?"

My interruption startled both of them. Its not like anyone here was thinking anything else though. Markku looked almost ashamed at first but quickly straightened up. It seemed he would rather take ownership of it and face the consequences with a brave face.

"Yes ma'am." he said stoically.

"Goddess" I corrected him. "You need blood on a nightly basis though right? Did you kill and eat people last night as well? It doesn't have to be human blood I don't think?"

This made the werewolf sit back in shock. He was looking at me with a new sense of respect.

"You know much of our curse goddess. We did not kill humans last night. We've survived off the blood of wild game for decades and only recently were... Tempted to partake in humans again."

Alard was also flabbergasted by my reaction. Not in the sense of my knowledge, that he expected, but more so my seeming nonchalance when discussing such a topic. He was offended by the werewolf as well and crossed his arms with a look of disgust.

"How can you expect anything less from her? She's the goddess of light and knowledge after all. I suppose a beast like you can't hope to understand such things." he then looked at me and almost pouted. "How can you say such things so causally? This is proof they are monstrous demons!"

Markku looked at the man in contempt.

"You know nothing of demons."

That was certainly an interesting reaction. I whipped up another steak and threw it at the wolf man who gratefully snapped it up. My theory was the reason they needed blood is because the curse deprived them of life essence, which is what blood was commonly seen as. Hopefully steaks made of mana would satisfy that requirement. This would be a fine experiment.

"No need for cutting words Alard. We're playing nice tonight remember?" I said sternly. Then I addressed Markku, my chin resting thoughtfully on the tops of my fingers. "I gave you that steak in case you hadn't gotten blood tonight. Your curse requires the essence of life. So meat made from pure mana should suffice. I suppose we'll find out in the morning."

After he had finished wolfing it down like his namesake I gave him another thoughtful look and asked him a question innocently.

"You know about demons?"

Markku looked back over at the human and then at me. There was a grim look on his canine features. When he spoke there was a fury to his tone.

"Yes. That's the reason we came so close to humans in the first place. The demon mage has returned and drove us from our homes! Killing many of us in cold blood! You think we thirst for blood? You'd think us innocent puppies if you haven't seen the likes of her!"

Alard scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"The demon mage! That's on old myth from centuries ago! You're talking about the age of goddesses!" He then looked at me sheepishly. "Not that I'd imply that age wasn't a wonderful thing of course."

I was too busy thinking to respond to the comment about goddesses. Right now I was looking ahead and lost in thought which gave me a stern but blank look for several moments. The demon mage from the age of goddesses? I suppose I couldn't flat out ask them what they were talking about due to the image I had to keep up. This was something I'd have to look into later of course. Regardless they were still a mage and therefore stood no chance against a goddess.

I gave Markku an intense look that made him twitch in fear.

"What did the demon mage look like? I don't remember meeting them personally before."

This made the werewolf stop and think before answering as he was trying to remember clearly.

"Well she was a woman who looked almost human if not for her deathly pale skin and the large fanged teeth in her mouth. Her hair was flowing red and she could float through the air as if carried by wind. She raised the dead as walking corpses and was merciless in battle. As she drank the blood of her victims she seemed filled with glee, or perhaps ecstasy."

He shuddered as he finished his explanation as if remembering alone filled him with dread.

My eyes narrowed. "Vampire."

Alard looked at me in disbelief.

"Surely you jest goddess!"

I shook my head. "No that's the most likely answer.." I looked over at Markku. "I'll deal with her. Have your village pray to me if she shows up again and I'll take care of it."

Markku looked at me in confusion, clearly taken aback by my words.

"You- You'll protect us? Despite what we are?"

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah? Why not? People are people." I gave him a look up and down. "You do turn back into people yes?"

"Well I-" he replied. "Yes goddess. Thank you once again."

There was great genuine relief and thankfulness in his voice. His tough exterior cracking if only for a moment. It was probably quite rare for him to ever meet someone with more power than him so this was likely a humbling experience for him.

Feeling left out of the conversation and offended still at my continued generosity and mercy towards the werewolves Alard spoke up again. His voice was filled with indignation.

"And what about us? Are they going to keep coming for our blood?"

I glanced over at the human and then back at the wolf.

"You said you got it from game before? Whats the issue with doing that still?"

"We plan to continue doing that" Markku replied.

Alard interjected himself again.

"With two villages hunting the area there wont be enough wild game to go around come winter. They will simply have to move on."

With a solemn nod Markku agreed.

"What the man says is true. There won't be enough meat for both villages."

That was a genuine issue. I put my hands under my chin and thought for a moment. Surely the werewolves would have crops from- No they had to move so would've abandoned any crop fields they had. For this winter I suppose I'll have to send in shipments of food from elsewhere in the kingdom. Remind me to send a request for aide to the king.

My thinking over I spoke again.

"I'll arrange to have some food shipped hear for both villages. For this winter neither village will do much hunting. I want you to share the wild game as equally as possible and avoid over hunting. Markku tell me more about your village's situation."

Markku gave the human a suspicious look and then bowed his head to me.

"I apologize goddess. I'd rather not talk about such things in front of the humans. Our elders would be very curious to hear about the return of the goddesses however. How many are there here now?"

I sat back up in my seat and put my arms across my lap again.

"Fair enough. I'll just visit your village after this. Also its just me as far as I'm aware."

This brought some relief to both of their faces. The goddesses were bad news according to everything the people of this land knew, so the fewer of them running around the better in their eyes. This conversation was seemingly wrapping up as well which meant seeing this village of beasts for myself.

Alard looked both concerned and fearful as he looked at me once again.

"So is that the end of this goddess? You expect us to live in peace with these... Beast men?"

My expression was stern as I nodded, my feet sliding up to the chair as I prepared to stand up.

"That's right Alard." I gave a look to the werewolf. "I expect both villages to live in peace with each other. Winter is just around the corner and there's no time for fighting. Goddess is here to help care for your needs where you lack so there's no reason to squabble for things like food. Any complaints can be brought up directly with me." I narrowed my eyes. "And they better not be petty complaints either."

Both of them nodded to each other in reluctant agreement. Of course neither side would be completely satisfied by my decision, though its not like either was in the position to argue with me. The words I spoke were true as well and they both knew it. Winter was not the time to waste time and energy killing each other when simple solutions were at hand.

With the situation settled I smiled warmly and stood up from my makeshift throne.

"Good! Now then. Lets go visit your little village of lupine friends shall we Markku?"

The throne disappeared back into the ground from whence it came as well as the two stones they were sitting on. This forced them to awkwardly stand up suddenly and look embarrassed. Behind me the fire suddenly went out, the last of the magical flames twisting up into the night sky, the chill darkness once again closing in around us.

Markku bowed to me again and seemed genuinely happy about this turn of events.

"Thank you once again for your mercy Goddess Jenna. My people wont soon forget it. I'll be honored to take you to my home."

Not to be outdone but a beast man Alard also bowed to me.

"Yes Goddess Jenna. I hadn't properly thanked you for saving our village and I apologize for that. Thank you for rescuing us. Everyone here is extremely thankful for your generosity."

This praise brought another grin to my face. It did feel nice to be worshiped. Thankfully this conflict was resolved without bloodshed which was something else I was proud of, though I knew that wouldn't always be the case in the future.

"Yes yes you're welcome mortals." I replied gleefully. "Now without further ado lets head out shall we?"