After the sun had disappeared into the horizon, Acacia and I walked through town and stopped at my office. It was about a two and a half hour's walk, but I needed certain documents and records to hold the meeting. Unfortunately, we had to leave Bebiche behind as the horses needed some kind of guardian while they slept out in the open.
Near the southernmost areas of Gyran, there was a string of workplaces coated in polished marble and stone. At the very edge, was a small, box shaped building. From my pockets, I dug out my ring of keys. A few dozen of them, mainly silver or gold, with a few exception, all clanked against each other as I scanned for the silver one that unlocked my door.
As I opened it, an overwhelming glow invaded the area around Acacia and I, replacing the faintly illuminated black of midsummer's midnight. I stepped in, the worn floorboards beneath me creaking. Acacia tailed me, and standing in my elongated shadow, she carefully took in the room. When her eyes settled on each individual object, she nodded, almost as if checking a mental list, before moving on.
The office was nothing more than one room, yet all of Gyran's history could be found in here. Thus, in my father's reign at least, it was frowned upon to have just anyone walk in. Original copies of anything with any importance to the town could be found in one of the several cabinets that covered and hid the wall from sight. The one time my old man ever broke the unspoken rule, a certain recipe was stolen, the Reja antidote. That plus the sudden disappearance of Dr. Resent, indirectly led to his and Mama's untimely death.
Reja was a sickness that appears exclusively in Lenties. In simple terms, it pulls out the powers inherited from their Lent ancestors. It was created when a team of scientists in Thirty One wanted to force their Lentie slaves to be more efficient. The problem was, through this method, Lenties are unable to control their abilities at all and the unfamiliar surge of power overwhelms their bodies until they drop dead from pure exhaustion.
Lucky for Gyran, Mama had managed to nearly replicate the recipe before the illness stole her too, and a team of doctors was able to complete it by the end of that year. That very antidote saved Earnest and eradicated the disease. My gaze hovered until it settled on the very cabinet where the recipe was kept. I hadn't touched it since it had been announced that Reja had completely died out in Gyran. Suspiciously, I single piece of paper peeked through, waving at me.
"Am I supposed to be here?" Acacia mumbled from behind me. I turned around and saw a bittersweet expression on her face. I walked over to the desk, not more than three feet away. When I sat down and Acacia tailed me, I felt slightly intimidated as her larger build seemed exaggerated from down where I was.
Nonchalantly, I answered while sifting the drawers at the desk that held all the recent events of Gyran, "Not really, no. But with everything suddenly so financially unstable, I hold meetings in here all the time." Grabbing a small packet of papers with the stables' record, I dropped them onto the table and added, "Plus, it's more convenient."
Shyly, Acacia nodded slowly and leaned against the desk which barely reached her midriff. The air felt so strangely heavy, so I side eyed her and joked, "Unless you're planning something, Lee." Frantic, she shook her head and retreated into herself. She rubbed her hands and looked at me with confusion as she slumped into the chair across from me. I sighed, "So let's start fairly simple with your proposal, shall we?" I pulled out a pen along with a few sheets of paper to draft out the grant.
Like a flipped switch, her timidness faded and Acacia sat up slightly taller. "So," she took a deep breath and scanned through the packet. Muttering something to herself, she pointed to the first page. "The stables were established in 4709, just three years after the town opening as Gyran saw the deep importance of keeping our horses well trained and taken care of. Until around 4760, only trained professionals were allowed to come anywhere near any of the horses. The stables were considered a serious business building like any other and Gyranians treated it as such.
"Come the mid 4700s, Ildebrando Gyran, secretly taught himself to ride a kiger mustang. He impromptly called together a town festival and rode his horse through town. This was a pivotal point in history as it was the first time most Gyranians had ever even seen a real live horse. Many children fell in love with the strange creature a new horse based dreams were dreamt that night. To please his people, he started having monthly festivals to show off the horses' abilities during the show season until 4786. That was when training became available for any and all people to learn to care and train horses.
"In 4800, Dessin Gyran made horse ownership legal. A decade later, he'd even allow them to be kept inside people's houses if certain safety regulations were met. As connected as horses and humans became, it was still illegal for an untrained Gyranian to handle a horse. This caused many problems as many townsfolk were still somewhat impoverished and lessons were unavailable. And despite the rule, it became common to see young teens learning to ride near the Northern Borders. It became a concern that fell under many categories and Dessin was never really sure how to handle it.
"However, once Rhonda Yves Gyran took over in 4848, she dropped the issue entirely. She freely allowed anyone and anything to enter the stables and do as they please. Her management of the stables closely mirrored the one we've followed since before you and I were even born. The only difference is that, recently, we've added a structure to who's allowed to actually care for all the horses and we pay them minimally. Take that one feature out, and it's a parallel of a system created during the notoriously most economically devastating nine years for Gyran and its beloved stables.
"Despite the people responding to Rhonda's system, socially at least, the stables were prepping for bankruptcy by the end of her time. Marine Gyran then made it her mission to reestablishing equestrians and their steeds as the financial income of the town, the way Leonardi had originally intended. By the summer of 4857, as her first major adjustment, she flipped the stables on its head and it reverted back to only trained professionals having any access. Many saw this as idiotic but Marine used this as an opportunity to expand Gyran.
"More horses were being entered into competitions, increasing the income of an equestrian and drawing in more aspiring horse trainers. This created a stronger link with District Three and not only did the town get richer, but more horses were purchases. More steed, more trainers, more competitions, more wins, more money, more steed--it became a full and ingenious circle. The town thrived and Marine's reign is famously known as the most fruitful time for Gyran since Leonardi. The citizens of Three loved the contests and entered and even bid their horses. This led to us being introduced to miniatures in 4900, marking the new century and sparking a whole new industry.
"I won't get too into miniatures, but after Marine's son, Naveen Gyran, turned of age and started his reign in 4914, things went south. He abused the minis' abilities, and the advantages for children that they brought were soon lost. We nearly reverted back to Rhonda's time and when Nasir Gyran, your father, stepped up in 4958, he stopped paying the stables' workers to save money. Shoshana Rese Gyran, your mother, opened jobs at the stables back up, but there wasn't enough money reserved for the stables for it to be sufficient.
"Based on this history, the only logical solution would be a business. Having the town provide it would lower the quality, so, Yara and I would like to buy it and turn it to a personal establishment. It'll be a public service, and we'd still need aid from the town bank, but overall, we'd manage the income flow there and use it to fund competitions. So?"
I took a deep breath, still processing the portion of history just dumped onto me. Acacia sat, shakily and desperately tying to keep her composure together. I discretely smiled and jotted down everything that I felt actually applied to the situation. Which, honestly, was maybe around an eighth of everything Lee had said.
However, a passionate overachiever attitude would be perfect leg in improving the stables. "You and Bebiche both own no other business and other source of income?" With a sense of pride in her tone, she confirmed and my doubts vanished. The main reason I never did this sooner was how thin I'd have to spread myself to include a project I wasn't as driven in as many others.
On a clean sheet of paper, I wrote then read aloud; "'If we were to turn the stables into a cheap, affordable one that welcomes volunteers, it would easily reel in enough income to rebuild the stables into something more glorious than before to accommodate the rising horse population. I intend to now sell it to Acacia Lee and Yara Bebiche, former manager and assistant manager of the show horse section. Both are skilled equestrians, careful in horse care, and have a researched and clear goal for the good of the town.'
"So I'll go ahead and send this down to Headquarters so they can make it a bill and then vote on it. You and Bebiche should both receive a letter with a telling of the results." From a drawer by my feet, I grabbed an envelope to put the paper in.
Gleaming, Acacia sat across from me and exclaimed, "Thank you, Sir!"
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