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A smile split her face. "Oh yes, they can. But you and your friends can't ask so many pointed questions without raising some expectations," she laughed. "I know that everything is uncertain now. But as long as you were telling me this much, I felt it only fair to be upfront and honest with you...

"I'd by lying if I said I wasn't interested. It's fascinating, and to work on something that could eventually change our world so radically, so much for the better, it's almost irresistible. But there are issues. I have an obligation to Mrs. Parker's group just now. Of course I can always leave...

"What do you hope to accomplish with an excavation, Cal? Is your eventual goal to heal the breach between Arcane and Clerical countries? If it is, how would what you find here help? Much as I hate to say it, in the current atmosphere it would more likely cause an outright war over the property...

"They weren't terribly specific, but they asked what I knew about the Carnutes and my experience with Roman ruins, so it stands to reason they're from the time of the Roman Empire. Whether I passed or not, I said quite honestly that I would need more experience and more study before I would be...

"How long have you been wanting to ask me that question?" she teased. "We spoke a bit of your cousin Meaghan, who I gather is NOT well-liked among you. We spoke a bit about your family and who's who, including your Aunt's late-life romance. Also, what it's like for them to live here and visit...

"Something hearty," she said, immediately dismissing the idea of any fish or anything light. She was far too hungry to play around with light fare. "Mmm, Chateaubriand. Good bread. Perhaps some harico vert or the garlic balsamic roasted brussels sprouts. Of course the French Onion Soup."

"To be honest, I wasn't sorry to miss the formal functions. I can do fancy manners and small talk, but I find it exhausting." As they were shown to their table she said to him, quietly, "What a beautiful place. I didn't expect the atmosphere to be so intimate. And the smells are amazing."

"Alright, we'll throw caution to the wind and enjoy ourselves. I can't say I mind... There has been a distinct lack of the finer things in my life lately. I missed all the fancy parties in Egypt, after all."

"Cal, that's rather extravagant, isn't it? And..." She paused. "I don't know how watched a personage you are in Paris, but reports would easily get back to your father that you were seen in my company."

"Please tell me that's a restaurant, because if I don't eat soon, my stomach may devour me fromthe inside."

"Thank you for your company," Abby said sincerely. "It was a pleasure to meet you. Enjoy your evening."

Abby chuckled and smiled at him. "Delightful. Although I was apparently a much more troublesome child than you were."

"Oh, beautiful city," she said, looking out the carriage windows, but at least mindful not to look like a country girl getting her first glimpse of Paris. "Sleeping Beauty awakes," she chuckled.

This laugh was hale and hearty. "Now that one I can believe! And don't think I'd think any less of sister Evelyn. Anyone who thinks young people aren't up to that sort of thing is blind or a fool. Or was never young themselves."

"Oh, now that's not fair! You know if I ever meet his poor sister the first thing I'm going to imagine is the girl caught in an intimate position by her little brother. Scared by a nightgown is quite embarrassing, but didn't he ever do something ridiculous? I have no brothers or sisters, but I...

Abby grinned. "The most embarrassing, of course! And while childhood stories are fun, we're at our most embarrassing just when we think we've grown up."

"I know history marches on slowly. Honestly, it's the only way it can. Change that comes too quickly frightens, causes a backlash. All I can do is keep behaving the way I wish others would and be satisfied that I may have helped history along a bit."

Although her words didn't sound angry, there was a tightness around Abigail's mouth and eyes that betrayed it. "I hate that you have to think about where you would be safe and where you wouldn't. With all my studies and what I've learned about the nature of people you'd think I'd know that we...

"That sounds like home. New Orleans has people of every kind from everywhere, and the clubs there... I shocked some of my new compatriots with my familiarity with them. I wish it were perfect there, but I've never seen another place where races and classes mix so freely. I suppose it wouldn't...

"Just because someone enjoys a quiet country life doesn't mean they don't like a little excitement now and then." Abby laughed again. "I've had a little more excitement than I can take the last few days, a night on the town will be like a vacation. What do the two of you plan to do in the City...