After greeting the observers at the entrance as they all were already halfway to her when she got to her usual spot, Maelyn went straight to Second Minister Harmon's bank. Knowing with near certainty that after him not showing up yesterday and instead going to all of the people renting the homes he was turning over to demand early payment of rent that Harmon would be showing up at his usual time after lunch, Maelyn felt confident that she would be able to get done with the task of paying off all of her tenants' loans before he had even awoken and would thus start out with him in a sour mood due to her once again turning his punishments on others into events that earned her the goodwill and appreciation of those he punished."
As soon as the bank opened she walked in and exchanged two pounds of her gold for the ten million scales she would need to buy out all of the loans today along with giving each of the secretaries being punished their full rent for this month. She then remained standing at the counter and gave each of her tenants the amount the bank said they owed so they could pay the loan off and the bank staff wouldn't be able to refuse the money. Finally as lunchtime approached, she had paid all except for a couple of the loans off and for most of those she sent the amount they had told her that was owed to them by messenger so they could pay it when they were able to make it to the bank. She then walked back up to the site and again emptied both wheelbarrows before visiting each of the sites to check on progress and to apologize for her not being fully present the last couple days.
Several of the sites reported to be close to a similar hollow cavity to the first one they had discovered. The site that Joseph had been working on without her on top of the basalt block was also starting to near the roof in several spots. But there was one spot that was by the front gate of the walls surrounding the palace that was so close to breaking through that they had already brung the spectroscope and all of the other scanners with them to the site so they could document and record the hollowness as soon as they had opened the cavity up.
Noticing Maelyn's continued presence at that site, Abjul had Joseph pause his digging and then descended down to the site she was at. Walking up to them he asked, "we find something interesting?"
""They are going to be opening access to another hollow cavity like the had at the other site." Maelyn told him while remaining focused on the area they were striking, "I don't know how similar the visuals are going to be, but the sound I hear when they are chipping away at the basalt is very similar to how the other site sounded. So we might have us another dragon shaped void for some reason."
"Well it could have something to do with Altinyn having been calling itself the Dragon Kingdom for hundreds close to a thousand years that we have documented proof of." Abjul teased, "But of course your team are all convinced that our recorded history is more mythological fabrication than accurate descriptions of true events so I know you won't believe why I think these voids exist."
"Oh contrair!" Maelyn told him with a smile, "I consider ALL information when trying to discover the history of ALL sites. Even if they may sound wild or childish or exaggerated tales told to children to entertain."
"Well if you truly want to know it ALL," Abjul told her in a serious voice, "We have a whole basement FULL of documentation going back for at least a thousand years that I know of. If you truly do want it all though, I would suggest studying the financial ledgers using a computer. It took me close to an entire year to get it all entered in, but my first task as Third Minister was to enter all of our financial records into the computer system we had purchased. And, as you know how my father can be, he was not clear on how far back to go so I made sure to enter it ALL. Now as for the events and declarations and edicts and who did what and why and all that though, that's all still on paper or leather."
"I don't know if I should thank you for that information or curse you." Maelyn replied grinning, "I had asked Anton about historical records when I first took the job but he had told me that they weren't important and that all I needed to know was in the palace. So I had been thinking that the records back then must have been stored in the palace."
"Some of the records are there," Abjul explained, "but from what I understand, those records are mostly just communications that they had received from other kingdoms."
As the team then struck and chipped away a little bit more of the basalt and she heard the sound of the hollow echo change Maelyn turned to the team and told them, "Ok guys, let's take an early lunch! You only need like two or three more hits to break through the rest of the way and I don't want Harmon to try saying we are doing this intentionally without his presence. Besides, after my actions this morning he is already going to be angry and I don't want him focusing all that anger on observer Hagan."
"Thank you greatly ma'am!" Hagan said in gratitude, "I have honestly been so eager to discover what was in this hollow that I had failed to consider Second Minister Harmon not being here yet. And, truthfully, I cannot afford for him to punish me the same as he punished my sister Catia or fellow observer Jonteel."
"If hanky Harmon DOES punish you for your work here let me know!" Maelyn demanded, "Because I REFUSE to let him punish any of you for MY actions! And, if he does to you like he did to Jonteel, I am sure Jonteel will be grateful for it here when we get back after lunch."
"He told me that his property had been given away!" Hagan told her, "How is that a good thing?"
"It is a good thing because Harmon had to give the property to ME as punishment for him always being late!" Maelyn informed him, "And Abjul can tell you, I treat my tenants a whole lot different than he does and I have set up my own bank to make sure that you are not forced to follow his childish rules when you need to borrow money. IF you even NEED to borrow money!"
"Yeah Hagan, you would much prefer to have her own your home than father." Abjul agreed, "She taught me a LOT accompanying her to all of the houses she now owns last night and I plan on following her example and making similar changes to the homes that I myself own now."
"It's good to know that at least ONE of you Alwuzars know how to listen and are willing to learn new things!" Maelyn teased him laughing.
As Maelyn then had the entire crew take an early lunch, she asked Jonteel to follow her and they went in town to the Second Minister's bank. Walking up to the counter Maelyn asked, "Hello miss. How much would it take to pay off Jonteel's loan today?"
"I am sorry ma'am, but I am not allowed to divulge account information to third parties." The lady stiffly but fearfully replied.
"Can you tell me then?" Jonteel asked, "I am seeking to reduce my debt so I can pay my bills without having to borrow more and paying more interest."
"The amount I have been ordered to charge is forty thousand scales." The lady shyly told him.
"But that is TWICE what I owe!" Jonteel shouted, 'How am I expected to pay it off now?! And why did it do up so fast?!"
"We were told that for certain loan holders we were to now double the payoff amount due to Second minister Harmon no longer owning the homes as collateral." The lady sadly told him, "And your name was one of the names he gave us that had not already paid your loan off before the order was issued."
"WHAT am I supposed to do now?!" Jonteel exclaimed in desperation, "I only have enough to pay off the original price!"
"Let's go outside for a minute so you don't take your anger out on this girl." Maelyn suggested as she placed her hand on his shoulder and steered him outside. Once outside she gave him the difference and told him, "here is the extra amount he is charging. Don't worry about this Jonteel. I am STILL going to be reducing your rent from the twenty thousand scales you were paying Harmon to ten thousand. Now, let's go back inside and show Harmon that him demanding rent from your wife yesterday instead of you just to avoid drawing my attention to his actions and now charging you double to pay off your loan will not deter me from from improving your situation."
"I don't know how to thank you ma'am." Jonteel told her with tears in his eyes, "I have never been treated so kindly before and I don't know how to repay you."
"Continuing to do a good job and being as kind as you have already been is all that I ask." Maelyn told him, "Now let's go take care of this and get this girl's name so that I can take care of the punishment he is going to be giving HER just for being the next one working the counter when we came in."