For the rest of that day Harmon was forced to watch Maelyn carefully chipping away at the basalt that was covering the roof and making sure that each piece had a small cloth resting underneath it to keep it from damaging the roof. As it neared time for the sun to begin to set, Harmon abruptly ordered, "Enough! It is time for me to head back so I can get to the bakery before Tamm's closes for the night! You two cease your activity and we will resume tomorrow when I arrive!" and began to arrogantly walk towards the ramp leading down.
"I've already taken care of that excuse sir!" Joseph informed him before he made it to the ramp, "I had Angie ask grandma to treat us all to a dinner tonight as the sun was setting. So you don't have to go to them. They're coming to US! So you can get back to the hard work of standing there watching until supper gets here."
"I will consent to this only because they almost always refuse to cater to groups outside of the bakery!" Harmon justified then barked, "Now get back to working!"
Keeping her voice low enough for keep Harmon from overhearing her Maelyn muttered in disappointment, "Why'd you have to tell him?! I was looking forward to him walking all the way down there just to see them bringing the food up to us. It would have made my day!"
"Sorry." Joseph muttered back to her, "but I couldn't resist showing him how grandma favors us more than she favors him!"
"I understand and I was tempted to do the same thing but I didn't want to listen to his mouth during dinner." Maelyn confessed, "But I do appreciate getting this extra hour or so to work instead of having to call it a night cause his lazy butt was hungry!" She then continued to chip away pieces of basalt to clear more of the palace's roof and putting them in the collection bag for pieces they would have to do tests and closer observations of later.
Right as Maelyn and Joseph could see the bakery people bringing them all some dinner one of the sites hollered out, "Fixing to break!"
With it being easier for him to step out of his shallower hole, Joseph jumped out and looked to see which site it was that had hollered. When they waved to him he hollered back, "HOLD!" He then went back to Maelyn and Harmon and told them, "Mister Daughtry and Allison are hollering. They've got that site over by the fence with what looked like a bench I think."
"Close." Maelyn corrected him as she climbed out of the hole she had been working in while Joseph had been working on digging out a crude staircase, "They've got the site with what might have been a pond or water fountain because when me and Daughtry did our scan we picked up on a good layer of obsidian down at dirt level."
When she got out of the hole she hurried down the ramp and over to Daughtry's site. As she drew close she asked, "Did you break through? Or are you just starting to crack?"
"We've cracked through enough for the dust to drop through but we haven't made any real opening yet." Allison told her, "But I think two or three taps will break it loose!"
"Oohh Durn!!" Maelyn cried in frustration then explained, "If they hadn't just started to arrive with our dinner I would've had you go ahead and crack it open and have a spotlight set up to see until we got it foamed up. But with food arriving and it growing so close to sunset I'm gonna have to say let's hold off on breaking it open until first thing tomorrow."
They reluctantly agreed and Maelyn went around to all of the other sites checking on their progress and letting them know to finish up because their food was arriving. After she had gotten to all of the other sites she went back up top to the block of basalt her and Joseph were digging into to access the palace that was encased within it to help Joseph finish cleaning his area after she had thrown a tarp over the area of the roof she had uncovered to keep it from getting needlessly exposed to the weather overnight. Arriving at her's and Joseph's site she then carried the few remaining buckets full of broken basalt he would hand her until they had cleared all of the loose material. She then gathered the two bags of basalt that she had broken free that day and took them to the tents to inspect and analyze that evening after supper.
As everyone sat down in the tent they had set aside for meals Maelyn asked the young girl that was bringing each of them a plate that had already been prepared for them, "What is your name dear? I haven't seen you when I've eaten at the bakery yet."
"My name is Yasmine ma'am." Yasmine shyly answered, "And mother sent you your favorite meal along with a special desert for you today."
"And who would your mother be?" Maelyn asked with interest, "Kathy is the only one I have met so far"
"Yes ma'am." Yasmine admitted with a shy blush, "I am the youngest of her children."
"Yeah." Joseph told her, "And if I had known she was my AUNT I wouldn't have asked her out when I first saw her the other night when I went to visit grandma!"
"Well Joseph," Maelyn teased, "If you would take the time to get to know a girl before you ask them out you could have avoided that embarrassment." She then asked further, "But how did she manage to have you so late in life? Most women would have done been through menopause by the time they reached her age!"
"Mother's bloodline has been blessed." Yasmine shyly told her, "All of the dragonborn and their descendants enjoy longer lives and thus longer ...umm... fertility than others."
"Speaking of longer lives," Maelyn pressed, "Just how old is Kathy Really?! Cause I don't see how someone that's supposedly over a hundred years old could have a daughter!"
"Mother is one hundred and ninety three years old ma'am." Yasmine told her with certainty, "And she had me twenty three years ago when she was one hundred and seventy and won't be entering menopause for about another seven years."
"I still don't believe this!" Maelyn objected, "How can a woman POSSIBLY still be fertile for three times the length of time ANY other woman is fertile for?!"
"I believe the best way of providing that proof ma'am would be for me to offer you one of those DNA samples Minister Abjul has said you needed." Yasmine told her, "If you would like I will offer it as soon as I serve the last of the dinners that we have brung."
"YES!" Maelyn forcefully agreed, "I think I'm gonna NEED that test just to PROVE to me that you really are Joseph's and Angie's AUNT despite being YOUNGER than Joseph and the SAME AGE as Angie!"
"You know, I'm kinda hoping I get to live as long as grandma!" Joseph jokingly offered, "Then I'd be able to date HUNDREDS of young girls over all them years!"
"First off!" Maelyn sternly told Joseph, "TRUE dating is actually going out to more than just one meal instead of just asking them to a meal or them slapping you and walking out after five minutes." She then told Yasmine with a grin, "And tell your mom that her grandson needs castrated and neutered and I will GLADLY pay for it!"
"I will Miss Khadim." Yasmine told her with a grin of her own, "But after he asked me out at first sight I suggested to mother that the more widely known and more prominent royal families would allow the union and that way I could keep him in line and teach him how to behave himself when in the presence of women!"
"I like your style girl!" Maelyn told her with a laugh, "I might have to ask Harmon to allow you to be an observer who would be solely assigned to keeping an eye on Joseph and keeping him in line!"
"Sadly I wouldn't be able to." Yasmine grimaced then quietly told her, "I would also ask that you not mention my parentage to him so that I could continue to bring food up here to you all."
"Oh! That's right!" Maelyn blurted in shock as she realized the significance and apologized, "I'm sorry for being so loud earlier. I had forgot he was still here and I wasn't thinking about how if he knew her daughter was up here he would probably put the same restrictions he put on her on you as well." As a further idea occurred to her she then asked, "Which, how does he not already have those restrictions on you? Because I am sure if he did he would have done banished you as soon as you looked this way!"
"He only knows that I am Master Baker Oscar Drang's daughter." Yasmine explained, "And with father being an 'uppity' cattle boy from the village he stays so mad at father for being a baker instead of remaining a rancher that only the Tramm name registered and not mom's first name when he saw the birth record."
"Well let's hope that blindness continues to hold." Maelyn confided in her, 'Cause you've been fun to have around after you got over that shyness you started out with."
"Well I was told to be polite and be nice to everyone." Yasmine confessed, "Plus mom told me I couldn't use what she calls my sarcastic humor around you."