As they all finished uncovering what they could before the setting sun's light faded too much to enable them to clearly see they all retired to the tent they had set up for eating when possible and waited on everyone to finish so they could join the others. When the last of the group entered the tent Maelyn told them all, "Alright guys! Great progress today given us only able to conduct a half day of digging due to a little bit of miscommunication here with CERTAIN individuals. Now, in case you were too far away to hear when Mikael returned to us today, The Prime Minister is treating us to dinner at the Tamm bakery! So, let's all get freshened up and whoever gets done first will have to go tell Cassie so she can join us for dinner. I would also like to invite those of you observers that were kind enough to make sure not to get in our way while we were working to this dinner with us to. I don't know how your Prime Minister will feel about that, but don't worry cause if he does pitch a fit about it I'll cover your part of the tab. As for those of you that kept refraining our work because you were insisting on getting in our way, your dinner is up to the leader of your pack, Mister Harmon Alwuzar. Cause YOU, Mister Second Minister Harmon, got in Jeff and Hammad's way so dang much that the guys that were supposed to be able to get done tomorrow are now so far behind that at the current rate it is going to take them an entire WEEK to finish a mere three foot dig! So Let's see if we can't start off on a better foot after this dinner and meet here at SUNRISE tomorrow!"
As she walked over to her tent to grab a cleaner set of clothes to change into after taking the shower she was planning on getting Harmon marched determinedly after her and, once he caught up to her insisted, "The secondary, inferior pair of so called researchers that you had the NERVE to assign me to are the ones responsible for their delay NOT me!"
Not wanting to stop and get involved in another argument with him, she told him, "For your information Harmon, Jeff Lang is one of the other top archeologists in our field and has the credit of being the one to discover the newest set of pyramids at that rainforest site in Ethiopia. And Hammad has the highest grade average in his ENTIRE college and has kept his high grade WHILE being out in the field participating with other archeologists on several digs before this one! So you're gonna have a lot to prove if you want me to believe that two VERY knowledgeable archeologists are doing inferior work when being inspected by a man that probably couldn't even tell the difference between his anal cavity and a hole in the ground! So why don't you save BOTH of us any MORE trouble and clamp that biscuit chewer shut and KEPP IT THAT WAY! Now, unless you want your face to make friends with my pilot's fists for trying to barge into this plane's ONE PERSON ONLY shower, I would suggest you shut that pie hole, turn around, and then march your pretentious egotistical self back to YOUR crew and figure out what YOU are eating for supper while MY crew enjoys a nice dinner provided by YOUR FATHER. Thank you! BYE!" and then slammed and locked the door to the plane's bathroom.
Harmon started to try and yell through he door but, after seeing and hearing Cassie crack her knuckles and give him a look that begged him to give her an excuse to lay into him, he turned around and exited the plane as quickly as his portly self would allow.
Once everyone had freshened up and gathered back at the tent, Maelyn then lead them down to the town at the quick pace that her and all of her students and colleagues normally kept while several of the tried to converse with the observer their team had been assigned and had been invited to the dinner with them. Some of the observers were able to keep up with her group, but several of them were struggling to keep up with the group due to previously having to keep a pace that would let Harmon stay ahead of them and so not being used to walking at such a comparably fast pace. When they walked up to the first of the shops in the city Mikael saw them and escorted them to the Tamm bakery while thanking Maelyn for showing Harmon his place that morning in a voice low enough to not be overheard by anyone nearby.
Walking up to the front door of the bakery Maelyn thanked him and asked him to check with her tomorrow afternoon being as one of the teams was likely to near their first discovery at that time and she wanted to offer Anton the opportunity to be there when they did. She then entered the bakery to be greeted by a lady that appeared to be in her late sixties that was greeting all customers as they walked in the door of the bakery.
As she walked up to the lady she started to introduce herself but got interrupted midway, "Hello Ma'am. I'm -"
"You are Miss Maelyn Khadim!" The lady finished for her, "And this is the rest of your fellow archeologists here to reopen the palace! Welcome! I am Kathy Tamm and I welcome you to this lavish dinner we have prepared for you. Please follow me to the table we have reserved for your group!"
As the lady lead them up to their table she surprised everyone as she greeted each of them by name when pulling a seat out for them to sit in. After greeting each one by name as she pulled out the chair she would also share her own name until she got to Angie. Unlike with the others, instead of pulling out the chair, she pulled over one of the high chairs that were nearby and told her, "And greetings to the baby of the family..."
Angie in turn couldn't hold back her shocked question and asked, "You said your name was Kathy Tamm?! You look just like my grandmother and go by the same name! Are you twins?! Or doppelgangers?!"
Kathy in return mimicked Angie's shocked look and voice and responded, "And you look just like my granddaughter Angie! And you go by the same name too! You must also be her twin or doppelganger!" and smiled.
"But how can you still be alive if you really are my grandmother?! She's like a hundred and fifty or so years old now if she's even still alive! And how do I know it's you?! None of us have seen or heard from her in like twenty years!"
"You want to know if it's really me? How about this?" Kathy asked and then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, "LOCK THE FREEZERS! THE ICE CREAM THIEF IS HERE! AND PUT A TRIPLE LOCK ON THE ROCKY ROAD! IT'S HER FAVORITE!"
Surprised and convinced by Kathy calling her by the nickname her grandmother had called her by as a child, Angie stepped forward and crushed Kathy in an all encompassing hug as she cried into her shoulder, "Granny! I've so missed you! I'm SO glad to see you're still alive after all this time!"
Kathy patted her on the back and pulled out the chair and gently told Angie, "I've missed you too sweetie. But let's sit down now and eat you some dinner while your Grandma seats the rest of your group. Don't worry dear, we'll talk later. And the door is always open for you the whole time you will be here working on uncovering the palace."
After Angie reluctantly sat down Kathy proceeded to seat the rest of the group and worked her way around the table seating everyone who, seeing her lovingly greeting each of them by name were respectfully letting her seat them in case it was a cultural tradition for Altinyn, until she got to Joseph. As she pulled out his chair she surprised them al, including Joseph, when she greeted him with a different greeting than the rest. With him sitting beside Maelyn and thus being the last one to get seated, she greeting him saying, "And lastly greetings to my sweet grandson Joseph Tanyn. I am sorry for my grandfather denying my father his right to the throne due to his prejudice and thus denying you your right to carry the flame and keep the Tanyns rightfully ruling their throne."
Confused, Joseph asked, "Wait? You said you were my grandmother?! How do I know if you're telling the truth?! I never go to meet my grandmother! I was told that she had left with no notice after my father turned eighteen and had just met my mother! So if you really ARE my grandmother you've got a lot of explaining to do!"
"I am sorry for having to leave John behind." Kathy told sadly told him, "But, like your cousin Angie pointed out, I am over a hundred and fifty years old. And so, when your small town in Arizona started getting pushy about me producing a birth certificate and kept wanting more and more documentation that I didn't have access to when I left Altinyn all those years ago, I felt like I had to disappear and find a place that would let me start fresh without demanding the documentation I didn't have. Especially being as I didn't know I was pregnant until after I left and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back because your grandfather was a very jealous man that would have assumed that the baby wasn't his and would have kicked me onto the streets if I had come back after finding out."
"How did you know it was his though?! If you found out a couple of days after you left it should have been obvious it would have been his?" Joseph pressed, "And if it was later than that then how do you know it was his?!"
"Because dear boy," Kathy explained with a gentle smile, "We didn't have these fancy tests back then that they have now and so I didn't know I was pregnant until almost two months after I left. And, before you jump to the same conclusion that your grandfather would have, he was the only man that I ever had sex with and the reason it took me so long to suspect I was pregnant was because the women of the dragonborn line have longer menstrual cycles that last two months. And, if you don't believe me, you can ask two women here who are also of the dragonborn blood. Your cousin Angie and your teacher Miss Maelyn are of dragonborn blood so ask them if you don't believe me."
As she seated him with him still stuttering and trying to figure out which one of the thousands of questions rushing through his mind, Kathy finished by telling him, "If one of those questions you are trying to force out your mouth is for proof of me being your grandmother, my proof is that your father was born with a birthmark of a hand about the size of a quarter that the dragonborn who were meant to be kings are born with on his left hip. You should also have a similar birthmark and, if it follows traditional placement patterns, yours should be on your right shoulder to signify your task of having to reclaim a throne that you were denied. And, sadly, that is all I am able to tell you at this time because Second Minister Harmon has arrived and the Alwuzars don't want me sharing any of the family secrets of the dragonborn because it endangers their chance at claiming the empty throne once you and Miss Maelyn uncover it. But, like I told Angie, if you want to know more of the life and family I have outside of Altinyn this door is always open for you and you are always welcome to come and discover more about your grandmother and about your father and grandfather that they probably didn't think to share with you." She then patted him on the shoulder where his birthmark was and went to seat Harmon and the observers that hadn't been invited to sit with the archeologists.
*** If you are unfamiliar with Webnovel or haven't already noticed, I will often include comments in the Author's Notes section below. And today's note is going to be about a way you can earn extra chapters so check it out if you want/need more of the story fed to your brain every week! :D