Quills: the Rise of the Northern Matriarch-Chapter 107: Downfall (5)

"You will not believe it, Hudai has completely collapsed and now Setton wants to partner with us on a health initiative. Maybe they are embarrassed and want to correct their image after publicly meeting with her?" Allurai said. The news was welcomed by her. The goodwill and relationship gained by another powerful connection would elevate her status above other Prime. It was a way for her to solve the tension between the senior staff and her.

The Allari did not see much change to their operations. To prevent shedding of their staff, Allurai offered raises exceeding what Liem was offering his staff at Quill Industries. He paid Janel well and treated him very well from what she could see. She felt remorseful for losing such a valuable staff member and counselor. However, he was with Liem, which made it less bitter to lose him. Allurai enjoyed having a disconnect from her interface. It was frustrating to have to get up and go to her office every day to work. But she had set office hours now. She could not communicate with her staff as easily. However, her staff did not need the constant supervision that she thought they needed. She saw growth and increased productivity since she became more hands off.

"Liem might come home more often if we allied ourselves with their clan. They are very friendly with the Setton." Dorien said. He rarely saw his son, unless there was a party they were invited to. The last time he saw him was at a party at the Quill residence.

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"You would think he would be grateful," Reye said.

"Grateful for what? We benefited from him and from her," Allurai said defensively. Reye was handsome, but he was not very bright. He was what they called an 'empty vase', and it spread to her daughter somehow. The malfunctioning tools brought her to a realization that she felt terrible about. Allurai had recently started counseling about her past use of the punishment tools and her guilt for using them. She had in the beginning felt horrible using the tools to punish staff or her male children. She had never killed anyone using them, but she thought about the many men that she had lightly punished by decreasing their social credit or shocking them to various degrees. She felt ashamed of what she had done. She had made mistakes. Huge mistakes. Costly mistakes and she was not stripped of her right to her children or hurt. She was consoled. Allurai thought that she would have to live with this guilt for the rest of her life.

Allurai's brows furrowed as she read the communication from Solina Setton with great interest. She was interested in collaborating and adding more mental health resources to her staff and teaching her staff how to incorporate mental health into their peacekeeping. With Setton footing the bill, who would not be pleased. It was a business opportunity for her, something that could be incorporated into facilities across the system, it did not require equipment. But she could bill for clinical furniture. This new communication was to set up a mental health care facility for post-traumatic stress.

"I wonder if this is something I should speak up about, If Setton is going to endorse it, it would reflect upon me well if I were to bring up the importance of mental health care to leadership and implement it. " Allurai said. She had read horror stories about some of the clans that had recently collapsed and some of the ordeals that their staff and children had gone through. How bad could the clans of Callor be?

"Perhaps you should wait until after the meeting?" Dareem said, his sister had been very frustrated about Hudai, he had a very bad feeling about this. "Maybe we should focus inward, at employee relationships. Higher wages were a start but they still have grievances." he continued. Allurai needed to be challenged before she did something ill advised again. She had the habit of acting without fully understanding the risks and liabilities. Using her tools instead of docking credit like the larger clans was very traditionalist. Yes, they benefited from respect, but certain behavior was expected.

"That is a very good idea, Dareem." Dorien said, backing Dareem up as he had done before in the past as part of the first three. They had hierarchy above the rest and often cleaned up after Allurai's mistakes. There was only so much you could smooth over with a rattled Gimmel researcher. They accepted the compensation, but it was hard to let go of someone hurting you for making a simple mistake or correcting a mistake. "We should work on it internally as well, so it looks like we had a similar idea. It would give us goodwill among the employees. We could start with a quick pilot program, I am certain Janel submitted a request years ago." Dorien said. He was quite certain about the request. The gimmel had helped them through the hardest time of their lives and had saved his sons life. It shook him learning that his boy had been suicidal when he had reviewed the counseling files in secret.

"How do you make up for such mistakes like hurting an employees? Will I have to sit and listen to their grievances? Should we publish admonish the clans who have abused their staff and males in the forums? Other than this clinic, because of the timing of it, we must do something that seperates us from Setton. It is not like Allari is not powerful in its own way." Allurai pondered aloud. She felt uncomfortable with what she had done. She also thought that this was the way to start making things up for her staff. Should she extend her hands towards Quill? They had opened all of the Healing Farms while under her roof, she could not claim it was under her guidance that this happened.

"Why not be an example instead of covering up for it. Admit your faults and commit to being part of the change?" Leilanna said from the doorway. Leilanna walked into the office. It was almost time to meet for last meal, she thought she would surprise her mother. She had learned lessons about herself since Daven's birth. It took her fear of something happening to the first male she loved, the first person beyond herself that she truly loved to change. Her relationship had grown better with the Quills prior to their departure, although Kadir and Cerez would never forgive her for what she did. She had assaulted them and caused them to fear women.

"Oh please, like what I did was anything like you did." Allurai said. "I think you should leave this to others with more experience, Leilanna." Allurai paused. "Your idea was great, we will just save it for later. I will just reach out to other powerful clans and create a plan." Allurai finished. The greatest part is that they shared familial ties through the Quills, so the Allari would benefit if the Setton formally allied with them as well. This would increase Allurai's political power without drawing too much criticism since they had those ties between them. Little did she know that Solina would need to ensure that Allurai's beliefs fell in line with their thoughts for the future to begin to get her support politically. If not, then the relationship would be purely collaboration and not allegiance.

"Oh." Leilanna said, feeling disappointed. She was certain she was right. She had apologized sincerely for her actions to the staff that she remembered having bad interactions with. Her relationship was better. She knew that her mother thought she was unnecessary now. Reye had changed since Lena was born and she only had her Father's back up. He was looking at her with some semblance of pride at the moment, it was probably the only reason Allurai faltered. It was because of her Father's smile.