With her popularity waning, Bidi had to try to keep her people interested in her vision. As an interim leader, her title as queen could easily be revoked and leadership could be given to her son, despite the fact he wasn't an adult yet, and he wouldn't be an adult for over a decade.
To salvage her popularity, she was the first ever leader to offer relief to families who were struggling. Bidi set up government programs to aid those who lived in poverty. The programs were simple in nature, as they had never been done before, but more people were starting to see her as a viable leader.
Over half of the Gerak population lived in poverty established by Bidi's council. The programs offered them free housing and food. Bidi had a huge building erected near Drog Hakul. There was a huge chunk of land there that belonged to the royal family, so Bidi had a construction team build a massive apartment complex to house those who couldn't afford land. The program was a huge success, but while the poor people were waiting for their homes to be made, they still were unsure of Bidi.
Three parties formed from the new rise in government. There were those who opposed magic, those who supported it, and those who didn't really care one way or the other. There were radicals in each party. And the radicals were performing illegal acts to promote their party. The parties were nameless in the early stages, but eventually they would be defined with names.
The extremist who opposed magic would try to undermine everything Bidi was doing, because they were upset their leader was a witch. In the weeks leading up to Bidi's announcement of the construction of the free housing, twelve wizards were killed. Bidi addressed the issue in her speech, but her speeches' messages didn't travel as well as the messages of the Frizian extremists'.
Struggling to keep her kingdom unified, she watched as her people began to split into different parties. There was nothing she could do. For a long time, sorcery had been considered the devil's work. And many people were still stuck in the recent past.
Trying to make people see the good in sorcery was difficult. She had mountains to climb to garner acceptance of wizardry. People seemed set in their ways, and many didn't wish for the new age to bring back wicked wizards who went unchecked.
In the past, before the time they were in, wizards held practically all the power. The citizens didn't want that. The first king became a king because he unified the masses to fight off sorcerers. They walked the planet with no one capable of stoping them, then people banded together and fought back. The people refused to forget that part of history, as they often cited it in debates.
Gerak became the ghetto within a few months. Within the Gerak population, there was a war. Crime rose by huge margins. And people were afraid to leave their homes. Bidi was failing as a ruler, and she watched as more and more people tried to kill her and the other sorcerers.
In a little under two months, Bidi had to fend off three assassination attempts. She wasn't the most powerful witch, but she still had a strong sense of magic. While she could hold her own, she finally decided enough was enough, and she hired a personal guard to follow her around when she left the castle. Weekly talks with the commoners were put on hold, because she feared more would try to sneak in weapons and make an attempt on her life. That was how one of the assassination attempts occurred. A man carved out a sheathe that looked like a walking stick. With the concealed weapon, he attempted to run up the stairs and kill Bidi, but she used her magic to put him in his grave.
While she didn't like that there was no conversation between her and the people, it was for the best in these times. She hadn't heard from Albi in a month, and she was wondering if he had been caught. But a few days later she got a letter explaining the affairs in Frithe.
