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.

“Half the way to ….” She queried, puzzling over the reference, then her head jerked up, looking into his face searchingly as she blushed slightly.

 “You, you are presumptuous!” She declared, but there was a twinkle in her eyes and a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth that Jason duly noted.

She was not entirely averse to this style of approach, it appeared to Jason, given the twinkle in her eyes and the slight upturning of the corners of her mouth. He was doing better with her than any girl he had ever attempted to chat up in the last three years!

He swapped back to Mandarin.

“”When the enemy gives you an opening, be swift as a hare, and he will be unable to withstand you.” He bowed and then reverted to English. “I can but try, lovely lady. I would truly like to buy you lunch if I may.”

She studied him for a few moments with a crease between her eyes as she considered him. Would she really agree to have lunch with him?

Finally, she asked. “Sun Tzu?”

He was a little surprised by her question, not realizing she was still thinking about the quote. And, of course, his lunch invitation was being simply ignored. That was more the normal response girls gave him. Oh well, so be it, but he decided for one last try and bowed again.

 “Very good. Have you had lunch yet?”

He waved his arm back the way he had come from in the direction of where the food court lay.

She looked annoyed for a second, presumably at his persistence, but found something in his face and smiled.

“No. I was just heading there, in fact.”

He bowed again and then held out his arm with the elbow held out from his body and crooked in the fashion of a medieval prince, inviting her to rest her hand on the back of his hand.

“May I accompany you?” He smiled at her.

This time she surprised him and started to laugh, then obviously recalled his earlier boldness and stifled it. She reached up and placed her hand on his arm.

“Very well. I know I am going to regret this, but your boldness deserves some reward.”

She gave him a quick smile before looking resolutely forward as she accompanied him as they promenaded down the corridor doing their best to imitate a medieval monarch and his lady, the two heavies forming the entourage. Ha! He thought to himself. Boldness actually paid off. Interesting. And even stranger was the manner in which people tended to get out of their way. Weird.

The food on offer was the typical range available at cons. Jason wondered if perhaps the same vendors traveled around the country, inflicting the same, well, not atrocious, but certainly very ordinary, fare on geeks from coast to coast at the highly inflated prices that all such events seemed to require. She didn’t appear overly keen on trying the so-called Chinese food on offer. After a period of unexcited perusal of the various foodstuffs available, they settled on two Caesar salad wraps. Jason went with a latte, feeling the need for caffeine, while his companion settled for an orange juice.

“I was distracted as well, lady, and owe you an apology for my clumsiness.”

He had learned Mandarin from one of his first tutors in college, who had been a Ph.D. student from Shanghai. They had hit it off, and Jason’s interest in Sun Tzu led him to take Mandarin as an elective for two semesters, and he had used it with Lee and a few of Lee’s friends. Urasmian’s spell apparently worked for old memories as well, as he had no trouble trotting out his somewhat limited Mandarin even though he hadn’t used the language for a few years.

She appeared both surprised and, if anything, became even more wary because of his use of Mandarin.

“You know who I am?” She asked, looking concerned and backing away a little more.

The heavies seemed to tense up and move as if getting ready to block him or perhaps take him down.

He shook his head, reverting to English.

“Only that you are a very attractive young lady who I nearly flattened by not watching where I was going. I feel I owe you something for my stupidity. Lunch, perhaps?” He smiled broadly.

Such open flattery and broad invitation rarely worked in these sorts of situations, as he well knew, but then this would be his only opportunity to get to know her, he surmised, having no idea who she was or where she was from. At college, you could at least get some idea of a girl’s timetable and could plan “chance” meetings based on that information. Not that his tactics had led to him getting anywhere most of the time, but the poor results were not so much a reflection of how effective the tactic was, but rather his low appeal to women!

She looked up into his face, puzzled and a little uncertainly.

“You really have no idea who I am?”

He shook his head. “None whatsoever.”

He paused, deciding his best approach. Hmmm. Oblivious ordinary male or someone awake on all accounts. She looked rather studious and very serious.

“You are obviously someone of importance given the guard dogs giving me the eye.” He tilted his head slightly, noting her eyes widening at his admission of noticing her guards. “Having two fellows watching my attempt at picking you up is a bit intimidating, I will admit, but fortune favors the brave, and you are very pretty.”

He kept smiling at this blandishment, hoping she would decide it was funny or at least so pathetic she felt she had to take pity on him. She even smiled slightly at his words which was something at least.

“So, you are trying to pick me up, are you?”

“I am now.” He replied promptly, catching her by surprise.

“It’s not every day a pretty girl literally throws herself into my arms.” He twitted her, still smiling.

She looked affronted at this.

“I did not throw myself into your arms!” She admonished him but then saw the twinkle in his eyes. “You, you are laughing at me.”

“No, I am trying to make you laugh. If a girl laughs, you’re half the way to first base.” He said blandly, watching her reaction closely as it was likely she did not know the term.

Jason had hardly made it in through the entrance before he found his eyes drawn to the extremely attractive blond in the revealing superhero costume coming down the passageway in the other direction. She walked confidently despite the very skimpy costume she wore, with that arrogant confidence of those who are either too good-looking or too rich to care about the reactions of their fellow humans. The girl never once glanced at the people moving in the opposite direction as she strode along, keeping her head turned solely in the direction of her travel.  As she passed him, Jason turned to catch a view of her from the rear and decided that she looked almost as good from that angle as from the front.

The numerous people passing in both directions soon hid her from view, and he turned back to continue in the direction he had been traveling in. He dodged around a group of large people, probably an extended family, given the similarity in looks and build, just in time to notice movement to his left, and he realized that he had reached the entrance to the TV and screen auditorium. There he found himself face to face with a girl of Asian features traveling in the opposite direction and not watching where she was going.  The girl’s attention was directed into the auditorium he had been heading for, and she was oblivious to his approach. Reacting quickly, he moved his staff out of the way in case she hurt herself but, being wrong-footed, failed to dodge completely successfully as she plowed straight into him, his arms closing about her to hold them both steady as she emitted a startled “Oof.”

Although she appeared to be fairly young, and her body was quite thin, he could feel it squishing against him quite nicely as they came together. Her startled expression only made her already attractive face appear even more intriguing.

“I’m terribly sorry.” He said, smiling broadly but not actually letting her go.

She looked up into his face, startlement giving way to wariness, but she made no immediate move to pull away, perhaps too surprised to react.

“I am sorry too.” She said in a pleasant, slightly accented voice.

She quickly glanced around as if looking to escape, and Jason released his hold on her, not wanting to frighten her. Then, at the edge of his vision, he noted movement in their direction by two large Asian men in plainclothes who were unlikely to be geeks and, from the way they were moving purposely in their direction, were perhaps security guards of some type. Perhaps she had been more concerned with them taking action than frightened of him, he thought. Was she trying to escape them?

Stepping slightly back, she gave him a little bow and made some motion with her left hand that caused the two men to stop their determined approach through the streaming groups of people. So they were guards, not pursuers. Probably a good thing, he thought to himself, realizing he had nearly been faced with the first test of his determination not to show off his abilities in public.

“I beg your pardon.” She said rather formally. “I was not watching where I was going.” Jason was even more intrigued by noting the hand signal and the immediate halting of the two large security-type fellows. So, who was this attractive but otherwise ordinary-looking girl? Getting a better look at the heavies, he realized the guards were not just generically Asian but looked Chinese or possibly Korean like the girl appeared to be, as she didn’t really look Japanese. He tried Mandarin.