Damn! Forgot this on Monday. No excuse. Here is a double length snippet in compensation.


They left this grave area for the next dig as they lacked sufficient time to work through it and instead concentrated on the gate area. More finds produced Saxon and Roman belt buckles and broaches, some more Celtic type adornments, and then they were all surprised to find a folis of Honorius in amongst the Saxon and Roman-style material giving the fort an early fifth-century date or at least a terminus post quem for the building of the fort. Much argument ensued, but little was resolved during the dig. Which finally came to an end. Much to Jason’s regret, while he and Katerina had been getting along very nicely, they had not done anything more romantic than talk together after dinner during the dig period. They were both too tired by all the work to do anything more, anyway. He did feel that she was open to romantic suggestions once the dig was over, though!

      Unfortunately, she proved remarkably difficult to pin down privately, which belied his belief she was, like, interested in him. They had barely returned to the hotel for the last time than she announced that she was off home in the morning for a two-week visit before returning to Newcastle and her next semester at the university there. She was nearing completion of her Masters thesis, and with the dig over, she was now focused totally on that, as far as Jason could tell. Damn. Despite not sharing any more all-night talks alone with her, he enjoyed her company during the after-dinner round table discussion and was sure she was attracted to him. Well, he came away with her phone and email details, at least. If she was going to be otherwise occupied, he decided to re-arrange his own plans and booked accommodation in Monte Carlo, got a visa surprisingly easily, and headed to France.

On the train trip back to London, he realized that he not only hadn’t used any magic during the entire time on the dig but had he hadn’t even thought of using his magic! Ha. Good thing too, he told himself. He had no intention of drawing any unwanted attention to himself because he was pretty sure his treatment in real life would be very different from the way super people were treated in the comics and the movies!

Chapter 14

Bond, Jason Bond

The Casino de Monte Carlo was very much as he had imagined it would be. He went to the cashier’s desk and was directed to the section that dealt with foreign money exchange, where he asked for five thousand euros worth of chips and then had to set up an account at the casino. That completed, he transferred in the roughly five and half thousand dollars required to give him five thousand euros in chips. He then spent a great deal of time simply wandering around, looking at the décor and taking in the ambiance of the casino. There were the lavishly decorated ceilings, the paintings, and the polished wood panels. The sheer opulence was all very amazingly upper class, and he felt like he was in a Bond movie! And it was all so much more old-worldly and classy than the casinos in Vegas!

Two weeks working with Franny at the dig in England had improved his French considerably, undoubtedly helped by Urasmian’s spell. As he walked around the Casino listening to conversations, his fluency improved even more despite many of the conversations being in English or other languages, Spanish being common. Finally deciding it was time to earn some money, he approached a roulette table and put one thousand euros down. The croupier, none of that crass American terminology here, thank you very much, picked up the money and looked at him questioningly.

“Do you have a thousand-euro chip?” Jason asked.

The fellow glanced over into his float as the collection of chips at the rear of the table was called.

“No, sir. Only five hundreds, I’m afraid, sir.”

“Two of those then, please.” He responded.

The whole chips for cash process was carried out without issue. The procedures appeared to be pretty much the same in all casinos worldwide, even though the language was different. Chips in hand, Jason placed them on red. He then made sure the result was black. More euros.

“Same again, please.” He informed the croupier.

A thousand on black this time, openly following the color of the previous result. Black it was. Double the bet up to the table maximum of two thousand and made sure a third black came up. Took the two thousand payout chips away, leaving the two thousand bet out there. He was back to square. He made sure the result was red. The supervisor kept a close eye on things right from the start, so Jason was working to convince the fellow that Jason was following one of the simple betting strategies that everyone knew. And one that any fool knew would eventually lose despite any gains in the short term.

Back to a one thousand bet, this time on red. Red. Double it up and made sure the result was black. That put him down a thousand. He placed a thousand on black. Win. Double it up. Black. Take two thousand off while leaving two thousand out there, and he was square again. He made sure it was red so that he lost. Bet red. Double up again. Red. Take the two thousand off, which meant he was now a thousand up. Black result, so he lost again. Bet a thousand on black. Double up. Black. Take the two thousand winnings off. Let the ball land wherever. Red. Right. Back to red with a thousand. Black deliberately. Bet a thousand on black. Double it up when it won. Black again, back to two thousand up. Black again. He was now four thousand up. Red. Bet a thousand on red. Three up still. Deliberately made the ball land on black. Bet a thousand on black. Win. Double up. Red. Down to being up two thousand. Bet a thousand on red. Win and double up. Red. Take two thousand off, three up. Red. Five up. Let ball land as it would and got another red. Ha. Seven thousand up.

First off I have a short story about Bargan (Taroniah’s son) in this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFSSFKPC/

Kyron the Conqueror is off to the editor and I have started writing The Kelad Return

I haven’t decided what will follow the Kelad Return – either the next Taroniah book or something new….

Been a bit slack with the writing over the last couple of months but will try and do better between now and the end of the year.

For what it is worth, apart from Pam Uphoff books I have been reading books by someone called peachRoad (sigh)
they are alt history books with the ordinary person from the future taking over a historical figure and changing things.
As a rule they are badly formatted and full of inconsistancies with a lot of obvious AI writing but the way the author changes the timelines is very clever. Can;t recommend them but they are interesting if you like alt history.

Jason had never done as much physical labor in his life and by the third day was stiff and sore, but got a break that day as the professors and senior postgrads all concentrated on the newly found corners of the two forts. The bottom extended maybe ten yards further than the upper one, and the digging to determine the nature of the structures they had revealed slowed as the afternoon wore on. Jason was too tired to give his full attention to what they were finding, but then the next morning, feeling a little more rested, he paid closer attention to the finds and the conclusions being drawn. Finds of armor fittings, horse bits, and other material left behind during the construction of the lower fort led to a firm dating of the late first century and almost certainly a mixed force of legionaries and cavalry, probably a cohort of infantry and an ala of cavalry.

      The upper fort was more ambiguous. The corner had been built up with a wooden tower from the post holes left behind when the tower was burnt down. Careful excavation throughout the day resulted in a few hard to define burned bits and pieces and a shield boss, the date of which was hotly debated, with Professor Schmidt favoring a seventh or even eighth-century date with Germanic provenance. At the same time, Professor Armstrong thought it was fifth or sixth-century Romano-British. The shield boss was so damaged and too nondescript for any certainty in its identification, and the rest of the bits and pieces too badly burned to be easily datable. Several of the large pieces of charcoal that had been tower timbers were sent off for lab tests, but the team only had a limited budget for those sort of expensive dating methods.

      Normal digging resumed the next day as efforts were made to find the western side of the forts and the southern ends. After two days of carting muck and finding nothing exciting, they finally found the southern end of the lower fort. They found the southern edge of the upper fort the next day a good distance further south. The corner there was also found to have had a wooden tower on top of a substantial base, and this tower had also been burnt to the ground. It took another two days to find the western edge of both forts, which finally gave them some idea of the size of both. The older, lower fort they now revised to hold at least two infantry cohorts and the cavalry cohort or an even larger force, while the upper fort had clearly held an even bigger force given its rather large dimensions.

      Gradually more and more bits and pieces from the upper fort came to light. Some fittings looked Saxon, found near the middle of the east side, where they were now undertaking a slow search for a gateway. A coin was found that, after some work, proved to be from the reign of Valentinian the Third, which dated the upper fort to at least the late fourth century. It took several days to finally zero in on a gate on the east side as it was actually off-center to the south, not to the north as everyone had expected when nothing was found in the center of the wall length. The gate had been a substantial structure, with wooden towers on a sod base, and the left side was not quite as burnt down as all the rest of the remains. A mass grave was found just inside the gate where a large number of bodies had been thrown in a hole and then burnt before being covered with a mound of dirt.

His plan for an early night was foiled by the fact that Katerina was happy to sit and talk about almost anything! She played video games a bit and knew something about a lot more; she could talk science fiction and fantasy books of all sorts. They spent a lot of time comparing their favorite authors and then their favorite science fiction and fantasy films. Before they knew it, the place was empty, and the clock on the wall said it was one-thirty! Oh shit. They headed to their rooms on different floors, unfortunately, and Jason made sure his phone alarm was on, and the volume turned up!

The buzzing of the alarm did manage to rouse him barely three hours later! After a quick shower, a hot and not very good coffee made from the ingredients in the mini bar, which he only half slurped down, he raced downstairs clutching the two water bottles he’d grabbed from the tiny bar fridge in his room. He wasn’t the last to arrive out the front where he found a small bus was waiting, but it was close! One of the undergrads was right behind him, and a quick headcount confirmed they were all present. The bus lurched into motion even as Jason was heading for a seat. Franny was sitting with Katerina, damn, so he was forced to take a spot two rows back. A quick survey confirmed most of the crew were in shorts and t-shirts, although several had brought jackets of some kind as well. A jacket was something Jason hadn’t thought would be needed in the middle of the English summer! And sunscreen. Shit! In the rush, he’d left his behind. Oh well, hopefully, someone would let him share today.

The dig site was on a farm in a wooded area. The previous season they had made one deep vertical trench ninety degrees to the line of the upper fort’s wall, and while digging that out, they had dug a couple of further, smaller, trenches northeast along the wall to find a corner. They hadn’t found an actual corner, but the fourth trench had been beyond the wall extent of the top fort and probably the older fort as well. The main trench had been extended outwards when they found the lower fort, which had been their main focus the previous summer. In addition to the two fort walls, they had found two adjoining ditches. In the case of the lower fort, the ditch seemed to have provided much of the material for the wall base, which would have then been topped with wooden stakes.

The upper wall was different and appeared to have been made of reinforced turf sods and logs with a protective palisade then erected on top of that. The dirt from the ditch seemed to have been only a small part of the wall construction. Although how they determined that from the nondescript mound of remains, Jason wasn’t sure. This year they were going to resume their search for a corner and then try and see how far the forts extended to the southwest. Oh goody. Lots of wheelbarrow work for the ‘technical assistants’! In practice, over the next few days, he found there wasn’t that much wheelbarrowing, but making up for the lack of wheelbarrowing, there was shoveling, digging, and carting tree refuse. The farmer had agreed to chain saw a tree that was in the way and used his tractor to pull out the stump and then cart off the bulk of the tree, leaving the bits and pieces that had broken off or otherwise come adrift for the ‘technical assistants’ to remove from the work area.

Jason nodded. The Professors then asked Geseppo about some personal matters, and Jason drifted apart, not feeling entitled to hear reports on the fellow’s family. He felt his arm grabbed, and Franny smiled at him while she dragged him over to where her boyfriend was talking with the younger members of the dig. There were about ten all told, mostly males but two other females besides Franny. A slim brunette was facing away from him as he was brought over, and when addressed by Franny, the brunette turned and, seeing Jason, smiled. Ah. The brunette from the video call last year! Jason decided she was even prettier in the flesh, especially as he could see a lot more of her very nice figure.

“Katerina, you remember Jason?” Franny purred smiling, at something Jason clearly didn’t understand.

Katerina blushed and nodded, glanced at Franny with a frown, then turned back to Jason.

“Hi.” She offered, looking tentative.

“Hi, yourself,” Jason replied. “I finally get to meet the girl in the phone!” he tried to make it sound light and humorous.

Katerina’s smiled increased, and she bobbed her head.

“You look different somehow.” She offered. “He looked fatter in the phone call Franny.”

“Camera angle.” Franny put in, although she gave Jason a good once over.

 “Have you lost weight?” She asked, looking slightly puzzled.

Jason felt himself blushing slightly. “A little. I have been doing a lot more exercise recently, although I haven’t so much lost weight as toned up.”

Franny took hold of her boyfriend’s arm. “That is what it is. Oh, tell me. What happened on that island? Didn’t you get food poisoning or something?”

Jason nodded. “Ate something that didn’t agree with me. Nearly died, in fact. All good now, though. So, tell me, how far is it to the dig site?”

Franny might have wanted to ask more about the food poisoning from her expression, but Katerina piped in. “Only about thirty minutes or a bit less, depending on the traffic. We leave pretty early in the morning, though. Did Franny warn you?”

Jason play acted gulping in trepidation. “Um, no. How early is pretty early?”

“Bus leaves at five-thirty, so you need to be up and out front by then. They get a bit miffed if you hold everyone up by being late.” She nodded over to the professors. “Breakfast and lunch are supplied on-site by a contractor at seven-thirty or so and around one-thirty. The food is a bit expensive but not bad with a good range for such a small truck. Make sure you have lots of water handy.  It gets hot and dry this time of year!”

He found her slight Scottish accent rather charming as he listened to her. Mind you, Jason’s first reaction was to scoff at it being hot here in the north of England. As he was from southern California, he didn’t think English hot would be anything like Southern Californian hot! However, he decided not to say anything as he had no real experience of performing manual labor all day in the sun. He had packed sunblock cream, at his mother’s insistence, so that wouldn’t be too much of a problem if he was careful. He hoped!

He was then introduced to the other technical assistants. Most were post-graduate students, but there were two undergrads as well. They were Both from the University of Liverpool and obvious fans of Professor Armstrong. A couple looked a bit intimidated by having an academically famous person in their midst. Still, he was very careful to play down his achievements and point out he was as inexperienced as the two undergrads! Which was true. This admission helped ease the situation, and soon they were all on easy terms with each other.

Jason could hear the capitals in The Expert and understood why the German would be a little puzzled. He waved a hand in a deprecating manner.

“Franny was telling me about it, and I’ve never been on a dig before. I sort of feel that participating in a real dig is important for a history academic, even if it is only mere Roman stuff.” He winked very obviously at Franny and smiled at the two professors. “I am quite happy to be one of the slave laborers, I mean technical assistants,” He paused, and both professors smiled at the joke. “With no experience, I could expect nothing less. Besides, all the Minoan sites have been done to death over the last two centuries, and I was intrigued by what Franny told me regarding the dig last year. Being on a site with at least one person I know to show me the ropes can’t hurt either.”

Heinrich nodded. Just then, another person arrived and was greeted warmly by the German. “Andria Geseppo, good to see you. Allow me to introduce one of our, um,” He paused and smiled at Jason. “Technical assistants this season, Doctor Jason Lerner.” The tall fellow shook hands readily enough, smiling as he did so.

“Ah. A Doctor as a technical assistant, eh? You are a brave man.” He commented.

He had a strong southern European accent, and from the name Jason assumed was Italian. The dark hair and southern European complexion reinforced the impression.

Jason shrugged and smiled. “Everyone has to start somewhere.”

Heinrich smirked. “True. Very true. Andria is doing his Doctorate largely based on our finds at Brampton, so he is especially keen to find something interesting or at least unusual. He is not satisfied with just finding a pair of previously unknown Roman forts.”

“Unknown?” Jason prompted.

It was rare to find a previously unknown Roman site these days. Well, not large ones like forts anyway.

“Yes. Most of the forts along the Wall are well documented, but there is no mention of this one that we have found near Brampton. The older, lower one can be explained because it appears to date from the Late First Century, probably Agricola’s campaign. At least the few bits and pieces we have found point to the first century for a date. The newer, upper one, is different and later but how much later we have not been able to determine. Hopefully this year.” The Italian offered as he shrugged and smiled. His English was actually rather good, and although accented, Jason was having no trouble understanding him.

Professor Armstrong chimed in. “Yes. So far, we have not been able to date the later fort. It might be from the Antonine period, the Severan, or possibly even later. Initially, we thought it near contemporary with the lower one, perhaps dating from a campaign a few years later, but the more we have dug, the less likely that seems. In fact, it is possible the builders of the later fort were not even aware of the earlier one at all, or at least not when they first laid it out.”

“Really?” Jason prompted the Englishman, finding himself intrigued.

“Yes. It is laid out on a slightly different alignment and seems to take no account of the earlier fort at all.” Armstrong replied, shaking his head to reflect the bemused tone in his voice.

Probably the most interesting thing he took out of the casual meeting with Daiyu and the follow-up was the fact that despite being a nerd, at least one pretty woman had found him attractive. He hadn’t really noticed it before but thinking about it on the way home from the airport, he came to the realization that things had changed. Whereas his usual treatment at the hands of pretty women was polite indifference, since the, ahh, magic revolution, yes, that was the term, it was clear that women tended to be friendlier towards him generally. There was nothing overt, and he quite obviously hadn’t suddenly become a hunk! But even so, he was getting the occasional smile here and there rather than the usual polite indifference. Daiyu had gone out with him repeatedly, and when she was all dolled up for an evening out, she really was a glamour, no two ways about it. Hmm. He was beginning to really like this sorcerer caper! Of course, it was his much fitter body, toned muscles from gym workouts with the team, and so forth, which probably had more to do with the apparent change in his attractiveness to the opposite sex than the magic he hid from everyone!

Chapter 13

Work’n for the man

England was cold and damp. At least that was his first impression coming from California. He stayed a night in London and was glad he had a week at the end of the ‘dig’ to do some sightseeing as there was so much history in the city. He chose to take the train to Carlisle, which was fast, not as fast as flying, but still pretty damn quick, and he got to see more of the countryside. Besides, The County, where the team was staying, was literally around the corner from Carlisle railway depot, or station, as they called them here in England. They were supposed to meet in the bar area about seven that evening, and he had arrived relatively early. As it turned out, he had no trouble booking in, being shown to his room, and still had time for a quick shower before getting down to the bar on time. He spotted Franny almost immediately, with her boyfriend, and a small group of young people, and a couple of older ones.

Everyone appeared to have a drink already, so he wandered over to the bar first, procured a scotch then headed over to the group. When he’d mentioned he was going to England to some of the lads from the Australian football team, they’d told him in no uncertain terms to be wary of the beer. Piss weak and warm were the most common terms used to describe English beer!

Franny happened to turn in his direction as he approached the group. “Jason!” Franny almost screamed, clearly delighted to see him! She rushed up and got the obligatory hug and kiss on the cheek before she dragged him over to the boyfriend, who shook his hand.

“You remember Louis, Jason. Yes. He is not staying for the dig but will come over on the weekends. Ah. Professor Schmidt. This is Doctor Jason Lerner.” She presented him to the older, more grey-haired of the two senior members of the group. “Jason, this is Professor Heinrich Schmidt of Berlin University. He is head of the dig.”

“Herr Professor,” Jason said, taking the man’s hand.

“Ha. Call me Heinrich.” The Professor said in German and was obviously watching Jason’s reaction.

“Yes, Heinrich. Please call me Jason.” He answered in German, then swapped to English. “That exhausts my German; I am sorry.”

“That is not a problem. And this is Professor John Armstrong from the University of Liverpool.” The Professor replied in faultless English. Jason shook hands with the slightly younger academic. “So. You are ‘The Expert’ on Linear A, and now you want to dig a Roman site?”

Sorry – a bit late this week


He’d never managed to chat a girl up at a convention before, so at least a maybe she will call was an improvement over his previous efforts. Just his luck that he’d find someone nice, and she’d be leaving the country almost immediately. His amorous adventures had all been fairly lame over the years. Most girls found him too nerdy and not all that attractive, a truth he had realized many years ago in High School when none of the pretty girls would give him so much as the time of day. The one girlfriend he had ever really had, had been a very strange, not all that attractive, girl who was his own age, whom he had gone out with for a couple of months just after he started college. He quickly decided that she was slightly mentally unstable. Her instability had become abundantly clear to Jason after only a few dates. Even after breaking up with her, it had taken him a couple of months to get her to leave him alone! She had so many mental issues it was almost scary being alone with her at times. Today, though, having a rather attractive girl give him a maybe was somewhat of a giant leap forward, all things considered!

He had tried some of the dating apps but never met anyone who had proved to be at all interesting in person. In fact, he was becoming quite disillusioned with those apps as he very rarely got any response, and the few responses he did get, well, the person he met, was usually nothing like the person he imagined he would be meeting from her profile on the app. Besides, with all his study load, girlfriend finding had largely been a summer break thing anyway.

      By their third date, he was used to the bodyguards always being in the background, and they had relaxed, just a little, with him. They had enjoyed long evenings of chatting about anything, and everything, of comparing stupid television shows the general populace of their respective countries appeared to enjoy and what video games she liked to play and the ones she didn’t like. Apparently, playing video games was one of her favorite ways of getting rid of the tension she often felt because of the restrictions placed on her due to her father’s position. Jason thought he would have gone mad having the same restrictions placed on him as she had growing up!             Their fourth date was the last. Jason tried hard not to be disappointed by their time together coming to an end, but she promised to come back to the US once she had finished College, and he promised to come to China if she didn’t! His single biggest regret was that they were never really private together, at least private enough where both of them would have been comfortable making love. She had hinted that she wasn’t averse to the idea, but the opportunity never arose. He saw her off at the airport, her bodyguards being surprisingly relaxed about him tagging along, but then he supposed they weren’t concerned as they were heading home, apart from the occasional references to her having to give up her Laowai boyfriend. He was finding it hard to let her go, never having met anyone whose company he had enjoyed so much. Was this what real love felt like? He didn’t know, never having felt this way before, but what he did know was that he was half tempted to fly to China and further his acquaintance with her. Not that he would have been allowed to contact her, even if he did fly to China.

“Normal students don’t have security details.” He informed her but smiled to lessen the sense of interrogation. “And they do not ask strangers if they who know they are, in the sense of being a someone and a person they should probably recognize.” He paused. “Which I don’t; however, I am guessing Chinese, perhaps the Ambassador’s daughter?”

She looked down for a moment before lifting her head with the look of someone who had made a firm resolution.

“My father is Lin Chou!” Her tone was a combination of proud and challenging.

Jason kept his face impassive as he racked his brain for who Lin Chou was. And then he realized. Oh shit! The Chinese Premier! He managed a shaky smile.

“Interesting. that explains the bodyguards, of course. So, have you enjoyed your time at USC?”

If she was surprised by his low-key response, she hid it well, simply nodding in reply and smiling. “Yes, very much. I wish I could have made it longer, two or more semesters, but it was impossible. It took months of arguments to get my father to allow me to come for just this one semester!”

Jason tried to look sympathetic. “How far along your degree are you?”

Daiyu waved her hand. “This is my third year. I am trying to decide whether to continue next year, which my father favors, or just try and get a real job. It will depend a bit on what happens at the Party conference later this year.”

Jason reflected that being the daughter of the Premier would no doubt be both a good thing as far as getting a job and a bad thing in not knowing whether you got the job because of your skill or who you are the daughter of. Interesting conundrum and something he supposed a lot of kids with famous parents would be affected by. It was never going to be his problem, of course. Still, she was pretty! And smart!

“You are only here for another two weeks, you said?” She nodded. “Damn. Well, can I take you out to dinner, say, tomorrow night?” He smiled at her.

She shook her head.

“I am not supposed to go out with American boys.” She replied but then stopped and cocked her head sideways. “You would not mind if my watchdogs come along with us, would you?”

He grimaced internally as that would limit how far things could go, but he managed a smile anyway.

“As long as I have your company, you can bring a whole squad of bodyguards.”

God, that sounded so lame. In fact, his whole conversation had been far lamer than anything he had ever attempted with an American girl. Hmm. Maybe there was a lesson there!

She laughed though at his sally. “We shall see. What is your number?”

He gave her his number, and she promised to call him the next day, one way or the other. Not wanting to push things, he let her wander off after they finished their lunch. Besides, he was booked into a seminar that afternoon, while she wanted to listen to a talk by a particular writer which happened to be on at the same time as the seminar. Oh well, hopefully, she will call, he thought to himself as he moped through the convention until he reached the auditorium where the seminar was being held. That had been by far his most successful chance meeting with a girl he had ever had, and while feeling hopeful, he was also miffed that it was not going to lead anywhere.

They luckily found an unoccupied table near the rear of the area, and the girl chose the seat that put her back to the wall without hesitation. Jason noted this almost unconscious preference and wondered once more who she was. He took his seat and smiled.

“I am Jason Lerner.” He offered with a smile.

“Pleased to meet you, Jason Lerner.” She hesitated, glancing to where Jason assumed the guards were stationed somewhere behind him, before shrugging and smiling back. “My name is Lin Daiyu.”

Jason reached out with his hand in a way that caused her to assume he intended for her to shake hands with him. However, as her hand reached his, he took hold of it and quickly turned it palm down; he brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand lightly before she realized what he was about. The whole thing happened so quickly that she was either too surprised to react by pulling her hand away, or else she decided to go with the old-fashioned action. She certainly smiled charmingly at his bravado.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Daiyu.” He offered smoothly, recognizing the Chinese name word order.

Her eyes widened at his use of her personal name, but after a moment, her smile became even broader, if anything.

“And I am pleased to meet you, Jason.” She replied.

They both started eating, and Jason found himself feeling he should know who she was, but nothing was popping into his head. He began to get getting frustrated with himself but kept up an amiable front.

“Do you live here in the States?” He asked between bites.

She continued to smile but shook her head.

“No. I am here at USC on a one-semester exchange doing a Political Science degree. I go back in two weeks.” She lost her good humor with this admission, and Jason got the clear impression she was not keen on going home. She glanced at him under her brows.

“I like your costume. I don’t recognize the character, but it looks very good. Did you make it yourself?”

“Well, I designed it. But I had a professional actually make it up. Sewing is not really my forte.” He answered. “I’m glad you like it. It’s my sorcerer outfit.” He paused a moment. “I don’t really get to wear it much except at these things.” He waved his hand to encompass the convention. “It’s a bit much to wander around in normally. People give you funny looks if you go shopping at the local mart dressed like this.”

He tried to keep a serious, deadpan expression on his face as he said this.

She saw the joke and laughed. “I can imagine.”

He snickered a little in sympathy with her and then decided to stick his neck out. “So, who are you?”

“What do you mean?” She replied, attempting to act innocent.

He smiled and waved idly to where the watchdogs were camped at a table near the door. One was watching them, and the other was watching who came and went through that orifice.