They all looked sick and bedraggled." All?" the King wondered."Gorin and Melodart came with them," Torbert said. He couldn't contain the smile that ca...e to his face when he thought about the return of two of his oldest friends."Wonderful!" Landor said. "Did you set them up at the castle?"Torbert nodded and told him Eslada was resting in a guest suite.Denae, meanwhile, was staring out the window."Denae?" Landor asked. "Are you OK?"The Princess either ignored her father or didn't hear him. In. "Are you sure you want to do this? Really, really sure?" he asked repeatedly."Yeah, Danny, I want to do this for you. Now let go, I'm not gonna take off." OK," he said disarmingly, relaxing his hold. "But don't forget, I'm really counting on you."When they got to the door Daniel reached over Emma's shoulder and opened it. As Emma's eyes slowly adjusted to the semi-darkness, she gasped, and Daniel felt her stiffen against him."Danny, what the hell is that?" she whispered."Aw, don't worry, Emma,. But he hid his thoughts well and returned my gaze with a friendly smile. "What's that?" Cheryl asked. "Part of the entertainment industry." I nodded, as if that explained anything. "It's small, but growing." "Entertainment, oh that's nice." Mom nodded. She was a young forty-something, still very attractive even after raising two k**s. A good woman too, very practical with boundless common sense, and she'd been my role model growing up; all of my confidence came from her. "Is that like movies or. It was nearly ten o’clock when I heard my brother turn on the TV in the living room and open a can of beer.“Hey, good morning,” I said to him. “I made breakfast. Want to join me for some coffee.”“Nah,” he shook his head. “This is my breakfast. Besides, I have to meet up with a guy from work. He wants to take me fishing this weekend.”“That sounds exciting,” I massaged his ego. “When will you be back?”“I don’t know. We’ll probably stay at his campsite until Monday morning and go to work from.