No Call No Show

The next morning Maelyn again stood at the entrance to the site after getting ready. Expecting the observers to show up right at sunrise as usual, she was surprised but pleased to see most of them already assembling at the entrance. Greeting them all she welcomed them with their traditional bow and thanked them for arriving early so they could all get started as soon as the sun started to shine enough light to see. After she had welcomed them all she remained there waiting to see if Harmon would be able to hold to his promise to be there at dawn.

Looking down the hill she saw the rest of the observers already halfway to her and so she welcomed and thanked them. Telling them how pleased she was that they had all shown up early that day.

In response one of the observers let her know, "After that first discovery yesterday we all wanted to be able to observe the next discovery." Looking at the group that were already at their sites with the teams they had been assigned to, he continued, "Unlike the ones that are already here however, we all had either family obligations or we had gotten so used to our Minister's leisurely attendance that we are still getting used to waking up and being able to get ready before sunrise."

"And where might your Minister be this morning?" Maelyn asked with a grin, "I am sure most of you heard or have been told how he loudly announced that he would be here at sunrise today. And, with us being just fifteen minutes away from sunrise, I expected to see him starting his trek up the hill by now."

"I stood outside of his house as long as I could hoping he would awaken in time." Jonteel told her in resignation, "But his light hadn't even been lit before I had to leave to come here. So I am unsure of what time he will be deciding to come today."

"Hey now," Maelyn told him as she lifted his head, "I believe you will like having me as the owner of your house a whole lot better than continuing to have Harmon. So come to me after we have stopped for the day and eaten dinner and we will see if he really did follow through on his threat and we will talk and work things out."

"Yes madam." Jonteel agreed, "I will be there."

Looking back down the hill and still not seeing Harmon, Maelyn called out to the observers she had just welcomed and the ones already there, "Observers! I need all of you to come to me for a quick meeting before we get started!"

As they all assembled around her and asked what she needed from them, she informed them, "Ok guys. In case you do not already know, your second Minister has chosen to threaten Jonteel here for taking him at his word yesterday when he assured me and Abjul that he was on the way here and thus letting us observe and record the discovery we had last night without keeping us from recording and then preserving the site until he had arrived. His threat was to make his home one of the homes that your Minister is obligated to turn over for every hour he is late each day. Now, with him being so sure of being here on time today that he bet me four times the amount of homes he will owe me when he arrives. And, with his threat to Jonteel being to include his home in that list I wanted to clear the air on this and to assure you that if ANY of your homes are included in the deeds Anton's undersecretary will be handing me each day, I wanted to assure all of you that I am not nearly as ignorant of caring for houses as he believes me to be. The only thing I am ignorant of is current casts of food, utilities, and stuff like that but I WILL be fluent in prices in short order! So if you displease him and you home is included in the next day's batch, do not worry. I WILL make things right! Thank you and you all can get back to work now. Again, thank you all!"

As they all dispersed back to the teams they had been assigned to Maelyn went back over to the entrance to see if Harmon would actually make it to her even close to on time that day. When sunrise had come and had been gone for over an hour, Maelyn walked up to where Abjul and Joseph were and told them, "Sorry guys. Looks like he's gonna be super late yet again. I'm gonna stay up here with you guys for a bit but when we start getting close to the time he has previously been arriving."

"I am also sorry miss Maelyn." Abjul told her, "believe it or not, but the time he has been arriving the last couple of days is surprisingly an hour or so earlier than the usual time he shows up at the office each day. So I guess in a way, him showing up even that early was probably close to the time he THINKS sunrise occurs."

"I don't know about that part." Joseph told her, "But I must say that I have noticed more and more of the teams are becoming true teams with their observers without him her in the mornings. It's giving them time to interact without having to worry about him punishing them for whatever strikes his fancy that day."

"I know. And I have been doing what I can to encourage it." Maelyn shared, "But his little stunts like what he's doing with Jonteel isn't helping!"

"You may not agree with me miss Maelyn, but it did help." Abjul told her.

"You think it did?! And what crazy idea makes you think that?" Maelyn asked in aggravation, "If anything it made things worse! Cause now Jonteel is gonna be worried ALL DAY about his home and his family instead of being able to fully concentrate on what his team is doing! And not to mention the worry the others will have in the backs of THEIR minds about it! How does him causing so much worry help things?!"

"It helps because you standing up for Jonteel yesterday is why the ones that had been trying to gain favor with dad were here early this morning. They didn't fear him because they felt confident you would stand up for them as well." Abjul shared, "And now, after your speech and promising to treat them right if they DO get their house transferred, I overheard a couple of them actually WANTING him to transfer their homes to you!"

"They do?!?!" Maelyn asked in wonder, "Why? I would be worrying like crazy if I was in the same position Jonteel is in today!"

"Yes they are worried." Abjul told her with a smile, "But after seeing and hearing how you treat your crew and how you treat them just as kindly they are more trusting of you now than they are of my father. And, honestly, I can't blame them."

"Well I hope I don't let them down. And it also makes my plans for you until lunch and for me after lunch today more important!" Maelyn confided, "Because I'm wanting to find out the current prices for everything they are facing so I can set a fair rent."

"Miss Maelyn, your use of one word tells me that you won't let them down." Abjul assured her, "It is a word that my father only uses when complaining about HIS circumstances and has never used otherwise."

"And, pray tell, what word that would be?" Maelyn asked already suspecting the answer.

"I believe you already know the word ma'am." Abjul said with a smile, "That word would be 'fair'. It is a word my father doesn't like to use."

"Yeah. I noticed." Maelyn grumbled, "But anyways, how much do most of these people pay in rent each month?"

"That is an amount that varies depending on the size and the house's neighborhood so I can only give a range." Abjul sadly told her, "And that range would be the cheapest ones get charged ten thousand scales while the higher priced ones are charged two hundred thousand scales."

"Okay..." Maelyn replied as she thought about the range and then asked, "And what about utilities? You know gas, water, trash, and all that."

"To be honest ma'am," Abjul revealed to her, "That would be something better answered by the tenants because I don't know what they are paying for them. They have never told me and I have never thought to ask before today."

"And food?" Maelyn wondered, "Because that is an important expense as well."

"That is something I can somewhat answer." Abjul replied, "My servant usually asks me for three thousand most months but sometimes four. Families of four tend to be four thousand to five. While single tenants usually spend around one thousand."

"Wow!" Maelyn exclaimed, "I'm definitely gonna have to change that!"