When he had wolfed down every last morsel and finished off a weak beer, she gave him a patient smile indicating that she wanted to hear what had happe...ed and what he had learned.Yakhir's exhaustion evaporated as he remembered that he had real news for the two of them. "Janina, I learned that we are not alone, that we have many friends who are willing to help us and watch our backs." What do you mean, little brother," Janina considered with drawn eyes."I mean that Master Atto doesn't have the. This was the first time in my life that my father had taken a real interest in anything I’ve done. And I wanted to keep this moment going on for as long as possible.After lunch as we waited for the valet to bring the car dad said four words I never heard him say, “I’m proud of you.”I assumed we were going straight home after lunch, but dad was going in the other direction. So I had to ask, “Where are we going?”“Somewhere special,” he said.“The comic book store?” I asked.“Somewhere better,” he. " Exactly," Sarah said. "Professionalism begets professionalism. You act as a professional so you are treated as a professional. Now, what jobs did you turn down?" A couple of web shoots," Adam admitted. "One was for something called 'Femmes on Patrol' the other was for some woman's personal web site. I think the name of it was 'Robin's Quest.'" 'Femmes on Patrol' might have been cool," Sarah said with a smirk. "Did you look at the site?" No but the lady explained it to me," Adam said. "I. ” Mixing metaphors, my Cyrano’s sword was my Excalibur, the most powerful sword in all the land. And I was his Lady of the Lake, the stone in which his Excalibur would plunge, and only he knew how to thrust his sword into and out of my stone in such a way as to surround Excalibur with a protective lake of moisture, keeping all others from “coming” between Excalibur and the Lady of the Lake. That Friday, after breakfast together and window shopping at an antiques mall, hand-holding and flirting.