That next morning both Daniela and Professor Vasiliou rose leisurely. As Daniela had informed Nicasio in a brief, late call the night before, her boat from the port of Gavrio back to Rafina was not scheduled to depart until mid-day. This would put her at the Rafina port and in a taxi with Nicasio around three o'clock in the afternoon. It also gave her and the professor time to talk again.

In the kitchen, while both wore house robes, Daniela asked her specifically about Penthesilea, the lovely Amazon queen whom she had seen featured in so many images.

"Well, that's very interesting that you would want to know about her," the professor replied, rising and seeming somewhat bewildered. "But . . . now that you have committed to helping us . . . I think I will arrange for you to meet someone. One of the best sources you can find in the world on just that subject. Penthesilea."

Daniela was pouring them coffee when she heard the intriguing answer. She noticed her hands began to tremble slightly.

"Actually," Nefeli continued, "this expert . . . like you . . . lives in California. But unfortunately it's a good drive from San Francisco."

Daniela lit up and placed the coffee pot down quickly.

"California?"

"Yes. In fact . . . I have something for you to take to her if you are willing to make that trip to the south a few hours."

"Oh Yes. Where?"

Well it's just down past Santa Barbara on the freeway."

"I know that area well, Nefeli. UCSB is where I went to university!"

"Really? OK. So you're familiar with the little community of Montecito. Just to the south of Santa Barbara?"

"Oh yes, my parents have friends living there. It's a gorgeous place."

"Well . . . if you can find the time after you return . . ."

"Of course I can."

"I would very much like for you to meet my best and most lovely friend there. We have been through so much together. Especially through this project. She was with me from the beginning. And she is one of the founding and most supportive members of the Sisterhood. Like my friend Deidre, out there on the yacht. Her name is Emel Bahar, and she has contributed so generously of her time and recourses over the years with us. Emel is truly everything we are about."

"Well, then I would love to meet her."

"Great, Daniela. It will simply be arranged. She'll tell you all the information about Penthesilea you could ever wish for. It will be some real astounding knowledge. Game-changing you might say."

"Ok. It all sounds pretty interesting."

It was a strange way Nefeli put it, and Daniela tried to make sense of what could have been couched in her last comment.

The professor sensed the puzzled look on Daniela's face as she sipped her coffee.

"You see, Daniela, Emel and I . . . actually there were five of us in all, had done an intensive search for Penthesilea's very remains in Turkey."

"Wow. Really?"

"Emel's family is from there. She's Turkish-American. And a very skilled and well-educated archaeologist. She very determined in her graduate years to locate and substantiate the Amazon myth as a historical reality. As I had been doing."

"That is so cool. And did she do that?"

"Well actually . . . yes, working together in Anatolia, our small team did just that. We located and unearthed the Amazon queen's hastily made grave."

"Amazing! I just knew they had to be real."

"Indeed they were. You see, like Greece, present-day Turkey is the homeland of so many layers of culture . . . the Hittites, the Phrygians, Lydians, and yes, briefly the Amazons. They came in as a splinter horse culture from the more nomadic and wider-ranged Proto-Scythians from the north."

"Oh, this is so great, Nefeli. I just wanted so much for them exist. Beyond art, I mean."

"Well, we have known for some twelve years that is the case. The Amazon women roamed the Black Sea's southern coast and the Pontic foothills for a few generations, at least. We're quite positive they were a homogeneous culture of females and were definitely there at the site of the Trojan War. Near its conclusion, something like 1240 BCE."

"Amazing."

"Well, as I said, Emel had this burning desire to find not only the sister-land of the Amazons, but what had actually become of their great queen you speak of."

"And she did?"

"Scholars of ancient texts, mostly literature, had known for over a two thousand years that the Amazons made a heroic stand at the Trojan War. The epic cycle of that war was left to us by Homer and other poets who told us so. But it was Emel's discovery of several key pieces of a lost text, the Aethiopia, that gave us more information about the Amazons and their involvement in that war."

"That's incredible . . ."

"Emel was able, through her family connections and research in Turkey, to intelligently search and then find these copy fragments which had been translated into Arabic. She located them almost by chance, as they had been collected amid some rare treatises on mathematics by Greek scholars in Alexandria. It was as if someone knew of their future importance and hid them in these other works for some private reason. After that, our clues came forth from a dig pretty rapidly."

"Clues?"

"Oh yes. As to the approximate area where Penthesilea's remains were buried."

"So you found her grave?"

"Precisely, Daniela. It was all spelled out in the Aethiopia. From that lost work we knew where to look and start digging. We found where her body had been carefully preserved and kept for over thirty two centuries. The queen's body was mummified, very much like the ancient Egyptians"

"This is all so unbelievable! So you did find Penthesilea.

"Yes and we have all gotten to know her quite well."

Daniela was even more perplexed by her statement. She remained silent.

"You'll be impressed, Daniela, when you meet and speak with Emel. Not so much by what we found. But what we have done with what we've found."

She continued to listen, more curious than ever. She was unable at that moment to even ask what the professor was referring to.

"But I think we better let Emel share all that with you when you make her that visit to her back in California."

Daniela could feel her heart pounding. She suddenly wanted to return home for the first time since she came to Greece, just to carry out this meeting.

"Now, as you know, all of this is still extremely confidential, and we will implore your trust. Especially with what Emel will share with you in Montecito."

"Of course, Nefeli."

The professor got up and left the kitchen inexplicably. She seemed to have headed up stairs toward her office in a determined manner. Daniela waited, imagining possibly that she was making a call or a scheduled connection through her computer. Instead, Nefeli returned quickly, holding a thin, delicately woven leather cord. It was a necklace. Hanging at the end of it attached was a small, dark green pendant. It was simply and beautifully an abstract or primitive carving of a little horse. Dark green in color, appearing to be jade or marble.

"You asked how you could help us," said the professor holding the pendant up to her face carefully.

"Yes. How might I?"

"Look."

The professor held the little horse in both of her hands and twisted it gently until it popped open. Inside, Daniela could see a small digital memory chip like those placed in cell phones. The professor pulled it out carefully from its slot and inspected it. She then placed it back inside and pressed the two sides of the horse together until they clicked again tightly closed.

"I want you to take this to Emel when you visit her at her home. She will understand what it is and will know I have sent you with it. This small act, Daniela, will provide us a great service."

"Ok." She was a bit hesitant to ask or say more about the task.

"You see," she twirled the little horse in circles, "we are now being traced on the Net . . . fairly regularly these days. Any detailed communications I send from here can be intercepted by those who may be hacking us. A lot of our operations and the details of our projects must be preserved and protected."

"I see."

"We're taking all precautions to maintain secrecy and to keep our critical files from these interceptions. This memory chip in the little marble horse contains the latest updates of our project codes and new memberships. All details which Emel needs on her side of the world."

"Alright."

It's some of the most sensitive information we have and certainly don't wish to lose it. But it needs to be transferred to her as soon as possible."

"So . . . you want me to carry it back with me to California on the plane?"

"Yes. If you are willing. And to deliver it safely. Only to Emel."

"I think I can do that."

"Could you? You see, Daniela, unfortunately, we are in a battle with certain entities out there right now. People form agencies who would love to break into our data and destabilize our operations." The professor caressed the little horse between her fingers as she waited for Daniela's confirmation of the task.

"No problem. I'll do it then."

The professor smiled and looped the chord over Daniela's head. She carefully positioned the dark green pendant to the center of her chest.

"Looks rather beautiful on you," she said, smiling more broadly. "Just never remove it. Until you get to Emel. The leather, stone, and chip inside cannot be detected at airports, so just wear it as simple jewelry."

"Alright, Nefili. I understand what to do."

"Wonderful! I just knew we could depend on you. Now remember something by heart. Emel's estate is called Ephesus West. Ephesus is a temple complex in Turkey, originally built to Artemis, a female deity whom the Amazons honored and revered."

"Ephesus West."

"Good. When you arrive in Montecito, you can easily find her home. It's one of the largest properties in the upper hill district. Just identify yourself with your sisterhood name at the front gate, 'Aenea¬_4356.' Remember it? Her security guards will be expecting you, Daniela. And, of course, you'll be . . . alone. Is that understood?"

"Yes. Alone." Daniela showed no expression, just held the horse between her fingers and blinked at the gravity of it all.

"So . . ." The professor walked toward the center of the kitchen and turned to look at Daniela formally. It was as if she was admiring a work of art.

"You are so beautiful! Are you sure you're OK with all this? You are now our sister."

"Of course I am." Daniela smiled back.

The professor walked back to her and put her hands on her shoulders, again in her unexpected and comfortable way. "You'll get used to all this, trust me." She then kissed her lightly on the cheek.

After this gesture Daniela felt even more accepted and more at ease. She also felt that she was finally ready to travel home.

"Actually . . . I'm perfectly OK with it . . . all of it," she said. "I can make that trip south to Montecito just when I get back. Before I return to work. . . Oh my god. Did I say work?"

The professor laughed. And then again, louder.

"Excellent! And yes, you did say work. And that's exactly what I have to get back to myself after I get you to the port today in a few hours."

The professor paused and thought for a moment quietly. "Now, you may need some money for that drive down to Montecito . . ."

"No. No. I'm good, Nefeli. I'll make the drive myself. I haven't been south to Santa Barbara for at least a year. It'll be fun!"

"Alright then. But I insist you take something with you, whether you decide to drive or take a plane, at least to the Santa Barbara airport."

Before Daniela could protest, the professor had left the room momentarily and returned just as fast. In her hand were five one-hundred dollar bills, an odd site to her, especially in Greece where the currency was only Euros.

"No arguments now. Put this in your purse, or I'll hide it in your backpack. You can use it for the gas and lunch or a plane ticket and taxi.

Daniela was speechless.

"I'm just sure you'll love Emel," Nefeli remarked. "And she will receive you into her beautiful home grandly.

"I know I will."

"And you promise you'll give her my best?"

"Of course I will, Nefeli."

"Now I have something more for you," the professor said, reaching into the pocket of her house robe. She produced from it a small, white square box. She handed it to Daniela silently.

"Now, what's this for?" Daniela sounded aggravated with the generosity.

She opened it and found a plain, brilliantly polished silver ring. Though simple and broad, it was exquisitely made. There was no decoration on its outer surface, some two centimeters wide. Taking it out of the box and holding it between her fingers, however, she could see a small decorative emblem etched on the inside.

It was a peculiar, rounded diamond shape with a tiny double bladed axe inside it. Two tiny Greek A's were just visible on either side of the axe handle and the design rested on a delicately thin, upward arching, crescent moon.

"It's lovely!" Daniela exclaimed.

"The emblem inside it is ancient. It's from the original society," the professor said.

She took the ring and slid it carefully onto Daniela's finger, instantly removing from sight the secret crest.

"Wear it in good health," she told her. "And also in all your fiercest battles."

Daniela was speechless. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

"I'll do that, Nefeli . . . always."

* * *