After the empty dragon shaped void had bee filled with foam and it had set, Marco and Kayley got started on digging around the foam dragon as they descended towards the original ground under the basalt. Meanwhile Maelyn was in the tent looking over the scans and the DNA evidence they had collected from the site further down the mountainside. Being able to only copy the pattern on the basalt that Kayley had knocked loose to enable them to access the cavity shaped like a dragon, Maelyn still had a large enough piece to show the same scaly pattern that she had seen on the previous two cavities.
Smiling at finding what she was starting to think of as the dragon pattern Maelyn then moved on to running the DNA tests she was able to get from the two bodies and from the blood still visible enough to be distinctly blood. When she handled the knife she was careful to always be wearing her gloves and to document every step in case the blood she was removing DID turn out to have been from a real murder. As she then started to document the knife's features and the workmanship and every other detail she could discern about it she patiently documented every inch of the knife and every detail she could. When the DNA tests returned she was surprised to find that the blood on the life showed her, Joseph, and Angie as relatives. As she reviewed the other samples she noticed that she wasn't registering any relatives on them primarily due to her not having any samples from the local residents to establish a sizeable enough comparison sample.
Deciding to collect a sizeable sampling of local resident of the Kingdom, Maelyn carefully packed up the knife and DNA samples so that the evidence would continue to be preserved until legally needed if the site did turn out to be the murder it was looking more likely to be. She then went up top to the palace site and apologized as she neared, "Sorry Joseph. I should have waited until in the morning to start all the testing, but I couldn't resist!"
"We're cool boss!" Joseph told her as he continued to make the hole wider like she had started before the site had been opened.
"Yeah, but I still hate to leave all the work on your shoulders too many times!" Maelyn shared, Especially when it's an important site like this one is!
"Like I said!" Joseph chuckled, "No worries professor! I knew you needed to sample those samples as soon as possible so no worries!"
"Yes!" Abjul agreed as he laughed, "And I have been learning a LOT about American culture! Like how Joseph has been relating to me all of his attempts at girlfriends! Because of that, I now know NOT to listen to Joseph! Because this young man seems to have a talent for LOSING girls!"
"You got THAT right!" Maelyn laughed, "The only girl he HASN'T ran off was Angie and that's only because she's his COUSIN!"
"Ouch guys!" Joseph fakely whined, "That burns!"
"Well you know I've always told you that sometimes the truth hurts and this is one of those times." Maelyn teased then turned back to Abjul, "Speaking of truth hurting, I'm gonna need to collect a wider DNA sample from residents who's families were living here since before this queen died. Those DNA tests came back and the only one that had any hits was the blood on the knife being an ancient relative of me, Joseph, and Angie. The other two came back as unknown."
"I could put out a request to the population this evening." Abjul informed her, "Can your DNA machine handle all of the DNA samples you could be getting though?"
"It can." Maelyn informed him, "The only problems I would have is it can only process five samples at a time and I only have a certain amount of Q-tips. But I can always use regular Q-tips when I run out of the ones they send with the sampler."
"And why do you need DNA only from families that lived here before the palace got buried in lava?" Abjul asked, "Wouldn't the DNA from families that came later help too? Or maybe help with other tests on different projects after this one is done?"
"Sadly it wouldn't help that much with future projects because your family's centuries of ruling as prime Minister and the rules and restrictions on travel they have passed has made this kingdom a very enclosed community and therefore I am less likely to encounter other samples that share common genetic signatures." Maelyn explained, "And as for only wanting families that were here before, I'm comparing them to the samples I collected from the site and, as such, families that were here before the lava flow are more likely to have had a relative at the palace in some capacity than a new family that had just arrived would."
"I see." Abjul responded thoughtfully, "I think I might be able to locate a list of who was here at the time or at least who worked here at the time once you identify the family. That way you can identify who the bodies belong to. Although I am pretty certain I know the identity of at least one of them already."
"Let me guess," Maelyn asked to make certain of her suspected identity, "The hand with the knife belongs to a however many great grandfather that was Prime Minister when this happened?"
"Close, but no." Abjul revealed, "My relative was the Second Minister that took over as Prime Minister when the Prime Minister at the time couldn't escape the lava."
"Interesting..." Maelyn replied as she thought about the possible identity, "But you DO know their identity right?"
"yes ma'am." Abjul answered, "His identity is Markel Almut. He was new to Altinyn when Queen Ielania quickly named him Prime minister instead of letting my relative take over. Then, ten years later, the volcano sent the lava. And, from what I learned from my research of the old documents, his family left the kingdom right after my many great grandfather rose to Prime Minister."
"Ok. So I shouldn't expect any results for him, but that still leaves the other body down there that looks like he was a guard or soldier." Maelyn explained, "And judging be the way his body is positioned, he was either defending himself from also getting stabbed, or was trying to take the knife from this Markel guy. But We'll have to wait until we clear enough of this basalt and remove the foam before we can start to try and answer THAT question."
Having widened the hole as much as she wanted it wo be, maelyn then started to dig deeper and soon started hearing a deeper hollow sound than they had been hearing at the previous sites. Grabbing her smaller hammer with a pointed end she started to slowly chip away at a smaller hole. Thinking she was fixing to come to the roof of the palace she asked, "Joseph, can you empty the bucket real quick! I think we're fixing to start seeing the roof and we're gonna need to keep this firt bit at least! Especially if it has that same kind of residue on it we have been finding at the other sites!"
Joseph quickly emptied the bucket and told her, "We're only halfway on this load but I'm gonna go ahead and dump it so we don't have to worry about any contamination!"
"Good thinking!" Maelyn thanked him, "Hurry back! Cause I'm almost through this layer?" As she continued to carefully pick away at the small area she was concentrating on she suddenly realized and called out, "Abjul! Don't forget to holler for your father! He ISISTED he be here to see this opening!"
Abjul ran to the edge of the block of basalt and yelled for his father then ran back and told her in a slightly winded voice, "I called for him!" Catching his breath a second later he sarcastically added, "Of course the time it takes him to walk uphill will probably result in Joseph making it back from the mountain top before he makes it even halfway up the ramp."
"You're probably right, " Maelyn admitted, "But I don't want his slow butt blaming us for not letting him sees it! I wasn't him to know that the only one at fault will be him and his slow legs!"
"He will still find some way to punish me for his faults," Abjul groaned, "But it will be worth it being the first one to see the palace uncovered!"
"Let's hold our horses Abjul!" Maelyn advised, "Remember, this is just the roof. We've still gotta uncover the side and find a window before this counts as more than just a first step!"
"Yes. It may be a small step," Abjul quickly responded, "But it will be a BIG step towards our goal in the end."
As predicted, Joseph came running back with the wheelbarrow and was parking it up top as Harmon started to ascend the ramp. Once he had the wheelbarrow in place, joseph eagerly asked, "You want me to take a turn?"
"Not right now." Maelyn told him as she concentrated on the basalt she was chipping at, "It should only take me a couple more taps. This circle is already feeling loose and it's got me wondering what 's causing this deep hollow sound."