By now it was late afternoon and Doc contemplated whether the two should take the ferry back to Kalamos, or continue on with the excursion with Maera on the mainland into the night, as he had suggested. Looking with enthusiasm through the various shop windows, selling both tourist souvenirs and Mytikas' serious attempts at summer fashion statements, Doc took serious stock of the trip thus far. He could see his companion was full of adventure and had lost all signs of trepidation about a world she had literally never explored out of the sea.

"Look, I know you're never hungry, but right now nothing sounds better to me than a Greek salad, some fresh baked bread, grilled octopus in basil and olive oil, some fried calamari and a simple house white wine. Can we go find those essentials in a taverna before we go hunting a place to stay for tonight?"

Maera smiled back. "Food. Traveling in ships, swimming . . . very little . . . and making love. Is that all you humans ever want to do?"

He smiled. "Well, since you put it that way . . . I would say . . . yes. There's truly very little else."

"I guessed right." She lit up with pride.

"Well, there are a few crazy ones like me that find studying things like mythology also exciting."

"Mythology and such things . . . I don't know them . . ."

"You wouldn't, Maera. Trust me. Like most of my species, it wouldn't interest you. But let's just say that subject, crazy as it sounds, is actually . . . about you."

"Is that why you care so much for me, Doc?"

He looked out from Mytikas beyond Kalamos, over to the large, towering island of Lefkada in the distance. The sun was just setting behind it and soon to be lost for another day.

"Well, it originally was, I guess you could say."

"Originally? What about now?"

Maera lifted her new sunglasses off her face. She turned to him and posed, just like the girls in the adverts posted in the shop windows.

"To be honest?" he went on carefully, "I do have a new opinion of you. Stronger feelings, you might say."

"So then . . . do you love me Doc, like I love you?"

He had to think about the question a moment as he led her in the direction of a seaside taverna widely known around Mytikas and beyond for its delectable seafood.

"You didn't answer yet," she reminded him, as they took a table at the water's edge.

"I know," he said, trying to look preoccupied with the menu.

She waited patiently.

He could sense her persistence. "I guess I really can't say. See . . . I'm not really sure how I feel about you," he suddenly said, looking up, over the menu. "You could call it a kind of love, I suppose. I'm not sure if it's your kind or not, but yeah. Love works, I guess. With some other feelings in there too. Confusing ones, really."

Maera never took her eyes off his. She seemed truly trying to decipher his human feelings for her. All her other encounters with men on the sea were easily categorized, and as Doc had learned from her own sad testimonials, they had always been uneventful in the end. Literally for centuries.

"Well, when will you know?"

"Know what?" He was now getting uncomfortable with the approaching intimacy.

"How you really feel about me?"

There it was again, he thought, Her Nymph DNA coming out. A force to throw men off balance. To seduce them at all costs. So persistent, so female—and yet not truly female at all. Something other-worldly. A creature with the innate power to charm, then ruin, just as his studies had taught him.

"I guess when I understand it all better, I'll tell you, Maera."

She looked down in disappointment.

"Look, I'll be honest. I do care for you. Maybe more than I want to say. I'm attracted to you as any man would be. Whatever it is beyond that . . . probably is all about my past. My past with women, and my past studying your whole realm. Your whole world . . . as a fantasy next to my own. Like I said, Maera, it's pretty mixed up."

She looked up at him as if waiting for something more. A small, encouraging phrase.

Look, I will say this. Since you've come into my life . . . I think about you day and night. I worry about you. I love your smile and laughter. The feel of your smooth skin. All of it. All of it Maera. So yeah, it must be some kind of . . . love."

She then smiled, stood up unexpectedly and practically crawled over the small table to kiss him on the cheek. "You made me very happy by saying that Doc."

"Well, Good. Now let me order some food so we can get beyond this human thing we call eating."

She laughed her musical laugh and went about perusing a colorful catalogue of clothing she had taken from the women's shop.

* * *

As the food had been brought out and Doc devoured it as a feast he had not had in months, a couple walked up to their table. The man looked to be slightly younger than Doc, as was his lady, both tanned, fit, and wearing bright and expensive summer clothing.

"Dr. Roussos? Is that you?" the man asked. I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's such a grand coincidence!"

Doc looked up at the couple standing at their table and was hesitant to answer.

"It's me, Orestes. Dr. Jim Abrams? From Berkeley? Ancient Med Studies?"

Suddenly the blank expression on Doc's face morphed into a cordial smile. He stood up and reached over for the man's hand.

"Of course! Jim! It's been . . . what . . . three years now?"

"Ever since you retired. I saw you last at that retirement bash in the City. The party Stanford sent you off with."

"Gosh, yes. Who could forget that?"

The man turned to his sophisticated-looking female companion.

"Honey, this is Dr Roussopolos, renown author, professor . . . and well, sort of a guru for us Classics folks internationally."

"I'm pleased to meet you," the woman acknowledged, tastefully made up and smelling of a summer perfume. She reached out and took Doc's hand.

Orestes, this is Diane. Diane Ferguson. An exec at Qualcomm headquarters back in the City.

"Hello, Diane," Doc said, still standing. "I'm sorry, you two. This is Maera." He pointed an open hand across the table at his young, lovely dinner companion. "Dr. Abrams and Diane . . . Maera is . . . "

"I'm Doc's lover," the Nymph said softly, but in no uncertain terms.

"Oh . . . well that's . . . congratulations, Doc." Jim said, in a manner of misfired etiquette. Diane just nodded blankly to the girl and then offered a pleasant smile.

"Would you two like to join us here?" Doc said, still in shock form the explosive introduction. "The Calamari is fresh and really excellent here. It's well-known all around the . . ."

Both the observers looked down and could see no plate in front of Maera.

"No! No! Doc. Listen. We just finished our dinner. So, what are your plans for the evening? I'd love to hear how things are with you these days. We back in the academic world have heard so many rumors about you living . . . off in seclusion on one of these islands. And from the looks of things . . . you're doing very well at it, it seems. Both of the guests' eyes flashed back to Maera looking up at them innocently.

"Well, Maera and I were just thinking of possibly traveling over to Lefkada for the night. And then . . . just open plans from there."

"Oh my gosh!" Diane chimed in excitedly. We're leaving on the yacht for Lefkada this hour!"

"That's so amazing!" Jim added. "What do you say, Doc. Care to cruise over with us in Diane's exquisite boat?"

"Well, my chartered boat," she said modestly.

"Oh. Well, I don't know. There's a ship going over tonight at around . . ."

"What ship, Doc? We're talking a first-class yacht. Diane and I have been traveling on it now for two weeks! How many islands have we been to now, sweetheart?"

"Six," she said proudly, her voice now full of fun. "And various ports on the mainland. It's been a great trip."

"Come on, Doc. If you were really planning on Lefkada tonight . . . think of it as an upgrade in your transportation arrangements. Besides . . .what better company on the way over for you and Maera than Diane and me?" He laughed.

Doc looked across the table at Maera, realizing how out of her element she was in all of this. Trying to bring her into the conversation and cover over her original outlandish comment, he spoke to her in the character of a couple.

"What do you think, Maera? You ready for a yacht ride tonight?"

"You know I love new things, Doc," she answered smiling. "It's good for you to see and talk to your friends."

Everyone smiled at her confirmation of the voyage, and within the hour the two couples strolled like old friends toward the wharf. Soon under a cobalt-blue sky they were walking down the white ramp to where million-dollar yachts rocked gracefully side-by-side in the warm Ionian Sea.

* * *