Back in Professor Vasiliou's home on Andros, the wind that night could be heard blowing as gusts in the trees. After Daniela had finished reading the entire "Illumination I," the corresponding website to the email she had received, she sat motionless on the divan. Outside she could hear the air whipping up as a hypnotic sound. Inside the house, with the professor presumably retired for the evening, the atmosphere was still and except for a number of candles left around the room, it was dimly lit.

Daniela felt something had happened to her this night. Something which no matter how she responded to the invitation to become involved in the society, simply the knowledge of its existence would become permanently a part of her. She truly now felt some calling beyond curiosity-some obligation to join these women's efforts. Perhaps it was always in her nature to find this side of herself. To seek out where to put that dimension of her character-the one which had become such a quest to explore lately. Now it seemed, she might be on the verge of doing just that.

Closing the original email and looking at the column of other messages, Daniela could see there remained two unopened letters in the inbox. Looking at her watch, she could see it was a few minutes after midnight. Assuming the long silence meant the professor was either asleep or deeply involved in her work, she curiously opened the second email. It was shorter and sent from another 'sister' in the society.

"Marpesia_2394," read the name in the sender box of the message:

Dear Anaea_4356:

I have been called on to assist in your education about our work. I am living and working in England. I am twenty-seven years of age. I am married, with one child, aged three. For the past four years I have been involved with the sisterhood you are now learning about. I can only tell you that the work has given my life so much meaning. Seeing the programs we are involved with and how they have made a difference for women in my own community and those in even needier situations abroad gives me great joy.

You are so fortunate to be called upon, for it is an opportunity and honor you will always treasure. Like all of us who are active in PS, we work silently and in total secrecy, but feel such a great comfort in our knowledge that we are many. We are also always there to assist each other through guidance, strength, wisdom and even monetary support when needed. I am neither a lesbian nor bisexual. I love my husband and child to the greatest end of the world. But as love is limitless, I can also say I share great affection for my sisters all over the earth. I take great pride in standing by them. Helping them who need it. We all work on giving strength and independence to our sisters. And that sometimes is a gift they might never had known otherwise.

You will find that we are a very different collection of women in the Penthesilea Sisterhood. All of us have special talents and gifts to contribute. I can say first hand that we share a wonderful sense of closeness when working. And that closeness is growing daily. So has our commitment to change our lot as women. And especially the conditions of our sisters when trouble faces them. I will be guiding you to your next "Illumination" and hope you will read it with an interest to continue your learning about us.

Please log on with your new username and password to access the next informative webpage. I hope to someday stand with you as a warrior in our overall battle against exploitation, intimidation and the physical and emotional abuses our sex still has to face in many places. We can make a difference in our own lifetime if we join up to these efforts fully. For your heart and mind, I encourage you to enter our circle of sisters.

--Marpesia_2394

Learn more. Log on here to proceed to our password-sensitive site: .

Log on here to cancel and discontinue any further correspondence with us:

Without hesitation Daniela logged onto the next website link. . .

The Penthesilea Sisterhood

VADE MECUM

for Anaea_4356

[Note: This document upon closing will self-delete. Its encryption will not permit copying or printing.]

Illumination II: Early Efforts to Preserve Our Society

You have learned that much prior to our present name, "The Penthesilea Sisterhood," coined in England in 1832, this secret society emerged out of the Classical Age and was known during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times as Αδελφéς Αμαζóνες-"Adelphes Amazones." These early periods to the "Amazon Sisters" were formative and challenging. Our small, enduring clan had worked underground mainly through channels of power and at great risk, if exposed. The institutions of Europe strengthened during and after the Medieval Age, and the fervor of organized doctrines began to seek out and persecute anyone who believed contrary to accepted beliefs. These were mainly sanctioned by the Church of the Holy Roman Empire which was to become a fierce arbiter of what was considered acceptable and what constituted heresy.

A number of our sisters during these dark times often showed great heroism in going before tribunals and inquiries wishing to associate them unfairly with any doctrines or behaviors which were seen as an enemy to the Faith. Our own faith in ourselves as women, however, endured. In the shadows of secrecy it lasted to protect and inspire future generations to champion independence and celebrate our ancient mystique as females. The intolerance and cruelty during all of these times toward women, in many places still existing today, were endured sometimes barely by a few crafty and persistent women. Yet, over time, these individuals grew in numbers and influence.

Today we are progressing rapidly with united energies. The ongoing struggles by women for causes of protection and growth have not just remained constant, but have evolved into a powerful, competent force in the last several decades. Our present Penthesilea Sisterhood is an extension of those struggles, and the recent years have seen tremendous growth towards the future lives of our daughters. We are living in an age when great changes are unfolding and dramatic events are already taking place. Women alive today can be promised to see the beginning of a dramatic change in the world emanating from the potential of a power women once held and will hold again.

Long before even the Αδελφéς Αμαζóνες had gathered up to keep alive such noble aims, the original Amazons, known to many only in myth, roamed the steppes and plains of Eurasia. These women who were known to be "equals to men," drifted in and out of legend over time and called themselves in their own tongue, "Daughters of the Moon." For a number of phenomenal and bold generations they truly existed cohesively and entirely without men. Never in the history of the world, had there been a more successful separatist society of all women, nor so formidable a subculture competing for survival. These original Amazons existed as a cultural group some three-thousand years before us. To the historian, this period of time is known as the Middle to Late Bronze Age. And we celebrate these women's efforts and their brief, pure female culture as a symbol of our independence, our ideals and hard work today.

You, as one of our newest potential members, shall carry the name Anaea_4356. In our present Penthesilea Sisterhood you will only be known by this name and number and only communicated with through the utmost confidentiality. We strongly request that no one outside our order is to ever know of the details you will know. Nor should they ever know of your own participation. This you shall promise to us by what ever you personally believe to be sacred, through your own religion of choice, or your individual vows of trust and self-held integrity.

In the eventual passing of your life, you will have never shared this information with anyone outside the order, leaving only the knowledge of it within the memories of those of us who endure. We must also prohibit your revealing any of our knowledge or history with others outside our lasting sisterhood. Only in cases where you have been called upon, as I have, for this celebrated sharing will this be granted.

We have existed for thousands of years on this very self-same promise, this lifetime commitment. Alone yet together. You have been chosen as worthy by one of our own who knows you well enough to stand up for your virtues. This process of nomination only needs your acceptance into the circle, should you decide to take your place here. We hope you will soon dance with us in celebration of our achievements and sometimes cry with us in recognition of the injustices and suffering our fellow sisters still continue to face all over the Earth.

We implore you to fight with us in any and all battles to overcome these ills. The first and last goal has always been for our survival as an enduring society. Next comes the expansion and nurturing of new members of our order for the good of all females, all ages, anywhere. We promote self-growth and improved conditions for women and girls everywhere.

Celebrated Anaea_4356: May your new name and the history of our sisterhood presented to you here always remain of the highest importance. It is our hope that you become a strong link in the trust, pride and unity which has held our clan together since seemingly time before time. From this day forward you need never again feel alone or that your life has no eternal purpose. For it always had, since the moment you were born female and inherited the potential to be a warrior.

--Andromache_7823

Daniela paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. She then quickly closed the text of the email and watched it become unreadable. With it vanished the entire attached website. She sat motionless in the darkened room for several moments before putting out the light. She did this by completely closing lid of the laptop. Only the sound of the trees now sweeping strongly against the outside walls of the old house could be heard. And once again she reflected on how remote she was in the village of Stenies, nestled in the mountains of an island, so far out in the Aegean Sea. What magic was this, she wondered, which brought her to this place. It was almost like being summoned here inside if a dream.

She took the blanket which had been carefully placed near her on the sofa and covered her body with it. A heavy weariness came over her and she felt an overwhelming desire to sleep. It had been, she honestly felt, the most remarkable day of her life. As she imagined saddling up Baylor and riding him out onto the foothills for the evening, she curled up and allowed the memory of her horse's steady gate to lull her thoughts toward sleep. Her last meditation was that whether on or off this island of Andros, she would now never be the same.

* * *