The Toils (Book Two)

VII. The Good King

"We need to speak to your King", Thatcher shuffled her feet against the grass.
The other women unmounted their horses and approached Arihona and Ratapu.
"Ah, King Tama", Ratapu pulled his lips into a sly grin. 
"What?", Ruataupare noticed and asked. 
"No, nothing... he's, uh, not so receptive of new faces", Ratapu corrected himself. 
"Unfortunately this isn't something that can wait", Thatcher pointed upwards, to the black sky overhead.
"No, of course, it's just going to be hard getting him to sit down and talk, is all", Ratapu spoke softly. 
"Could you guide the way for us?", Magnus asked.
"Naturally, come", Ratapu turned his horse back towards the gate, both men resheathed their swords and the women picked their weaponry off the ground before following them on foot. 
"We had one of your lot come through about a week ago", Arihona turned over his shoulder and informed them.
"One of our lot?", Rena asked. 
"Small man, reeked of dope, long hair", Arihona waved his hands as he spoke. 
"Ritty", the women said in unison. 
"Yeah, that's the one", Arihona nodded, "came through, asked for a bed to sleep in, the next morning he was gone".
"Northbound?", Thatcher asked. 
"Yeah, last anyone saw of the guy he went out the northern border towards the Tahanga Desert. He'd be long gone by now", Arihona finished.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say", Ruataupare coughed out as they crossed through the fence and into the city. 
"Welcome to Nui Taoni, ladies", Ratapu hitched his horse at a small post.
Arihona and Rena followed suit, tying their horses next to a trough of water. 
The ground was paved with jagged cobblestones, the streets lined with tin shacks pushed closely together. Tall buildings towered over them as street vendors hocked their wares openly. Thatcher couldn't help but be reminded, a bit, of Perk in Zedeylia, where open markets dominated the streets surrounding Eldores' Government House. 
Slowly they walked up the bustling streets, drinking in the sights of life. Hundreds of people swarmed about, trading their goods. Most were clothed in a hybrid style; something between the black rags of the Settlers and the traditional clothing found in Motueka. 
"Kinda homely", Rena muttered to Magnus.
"I was thinking the same thing", Magnus replied. Looking up towards Ratapu and Arihona, Magnus couldn't help but ask - "so what kind of monetary system do you guys use here?".
"I beg your pardon?", Arihona asked back, unsure of what she meant.
"Like - user pays or does the government handle things?", Magnus responded. Thatcher and the other two knew she was putting the feelers out, but none of them felt it was the right time to be asking. 
"It's very much user pays. We have a keen sense of history here. Tradition exists for a reason; we see no reason to break that", Arihona returned dryly. 
"What's the currency here?", Magnus asked guiltily. 
"The Rua", Ratapu looked over his shoulder and answered Magnus with a gentle smile. 
"And what does that buy?", Rena shot back to him. 
"Well, not much. Especially not with the food shortage we're going through at the moment, but typically the price of a medium fish will fetch three or four Rua", Ratapu answered.
"And is that a coin or a note?", Magnus asked.
"Both, we have a National Reserve Bank administered by the Kings advisors who lend the money to those who need it", Arihona chimed back, "they mint any currency in circulation. Coins are the easier ones to make so they make up a greater proportion of currency".
Ratapu plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small stone coin that'd been finely engraved - with a swift chuck, he tossed it to Magnus who caught it in a spectacular fashion.
She pored over the coin, feeling its incredible detailing. On the front, it bore an intricately detailed head, a crown sitting atop it. Carved into the stone, around the edge of the face, was the denomination - "Fifteen Waikatoan Rua, King Mangatainoka". 
Magnus flipped the coin, the backface contained a carving of the same face, with the inscription - "Minted by The National Reserve Bank, 2290".
"Aren't these prone to forgery?", Magnus asked, passing the coin back.
Ratapu declined the coin, gesturing for Magnus to keep it. She tucked it into her sheath and listened as he answered.
"It's less of a problem than you'd think. Not too many people have the skill to make these. We get the odd one turn up in the Bank but it's fairly easy to track back where it came from", he answered her with a  smile. 
"And what happens to those who get caught?", Ruataupare wondered aloud with a tinge of disdain in her voice. 
"We have a penitentiary, just beyond the Northern Border, currently holding forty-odd prisoners", Arihona shrugged.
Together, the gang stopped outside a small storefront. Arihona entered, leaving the five others standing outside the corrugated iron shack.
"On that", Rena started, "how many people live in Waikato?".
"We've never actually tried figuring that out", Ratapu answered her, "best guess? Fifteen thousand".
"Not a small country", Thatcher sounded moderately impressed.
"No, not at all", Ratapu gave her a wary grin. 
"You mentioned food shortages, how are you handling that?", Thatcher shot back.
"Right now it's down to the people. They want money and/or food, they need to do that themselves", Ratapu replied, "fundamentally, it's their responsibility".
"Is that working for you?", Thatcher asked with a slightly horrified look on her face, a look that was shared by the other women.
"I don't know", Ratapu replied evasively, "I couldn't give you an answer either way. But fundamentally, it's the best way for everyone. Those who want to work and eat, will work and eat, and those who don't won't".
"But if there's not enough food-", Magnus chimed in but was cut off as Arihona exited the store, holding a single apple, and the group once more resumed their trip up the street.
The two men shuffled ahead, giving the others a chance to speak without being interrupted.
"That's fucking barbaric", Magnus whispered hurriedly. 
"Come, we can work this out later. For now, let's get in and meet this King, and see what we can manage before we go imposing our way of life on these people", Ruataupare chucked back at Magnus. 
With a huff, Magnus stromped ahead of the other three.

As it turned out, The National Reserve Bank and The Kings Palace were one and the same building. 
A large sandstone building on the corner of two intersecting main roads. It stood at four stories tall, with floor-to-roof pillars accenting the oakwood doors. Eight steps lead to the entranceway, and as the group ascended them, Thatcher was simultaneously sick at the gross display of wealth, and also moderately impressed. 
It was clear that hundreds of hours had been spent renovating the building; maintaining it in the three hundred years since it was originally built.
Looking to the others, it was Magnus who wore her disgust most visibly. 
Shooting her attention back down the street they'd come from, Magnus couldn't help but feel sorry for the citizenry who lived in squalor while the King sat in his golden palace.
Despite their innate feelings of disgust though, the group couldn't help but feel in awe, too. 
Over the threshold, the floor inside was a gorgeous white marble, the paneled walls covered in art unlike anything found in the South. Paintings full of color, showcasing faces of people long dead.
In the middle of the room was a glass elevator with a crank leading up the four stories like a vertical tunnel. The roof was much higher than it appeared on the exterior, making each of them feel like ants. 
At the end of the large atrium sat two staircases, going in opposing, horizontal, directions. The handrails were ornately carved. 
Between the staircases was a large opening, leading to rooms unknown.
Ratapu led the group across the floor, as people bustled around them, towards the glass elevator. 
They piled in and closed the door. Thatcher watched the floor disappear from view as Arihona grunted, cranking the crank and pulling them upwards.
"Are you not worried that the line will snap, seeing this box plummeting to the ground below?", Magnus asked Ratapu with a nervous chuckle. 
"If we die, we die", he returned with a sly nod.
Slowly, the glass box passed the second floor, then the third, until finally stopping upon reaching the fourth.
A clank rang out, the sound of the top of the elevator hitting the roof. 
Ratapu pulled the door open and led the group out of the box and into a corridor built like the atrium below.
The corridor had been well tended to, with no signs of damage to any of the architecture.
Much like the atrium, large portraits hung on the walls - some painted, others photographs of a bygone era. 
"Where did these come from?", Thatcher asked Arihona as the group traipsed up the corridor.
"Most were passed down through the generations, others were painted more recently", he returned.
"Hey!", Magnus stopped in front of a painting of a face she recognized.
Pulling the coin from her pocket, she compared the two faces. 
"King Mangatainoka, the father of the sitting King", Ratapu told her as the group stopped to take in the painting. 
"Come", Arihona urged them all. 
Near the end of the corridor sat a huge oakwood door, with a golden plaque reading - "The Kings Room".
Arihona knocked, only to be beckoned in from a voice on the other side.