Chapter 15

"Susan?" Jill asked, laying in her arms.

"Mmm Yes, my bride?" Susan answered softly, playing her fingers idly though Jill's hair.

"Has Cindy talked to you yet?" Jill asked.

"No, she decided a week ago. She's still working up the nerve to talk to me." Susan chuckled, softly.

"Why's she so timid?" Jill asked.

"As if you didn't know. She's afraid I will oppose her taking the sixth level of Gongyla. I guess I scared her pretty badly when I made all that fuss before we first made love." Susan said.

"You were pretty tough on her. I thought she was going to bust. So ... are you going to oppose her?" Jill asked.

"Of course not. I wouldn't oppose any of the Sisterhood that were there that night. They all know exactly what the choice is. Those who have followed we must be more circumspect with." Susan replied.

"You might tell her that." Jill said.

"When her heart settles in, she will tell me of her choice." Susan said.

"How's Barbara's battle with herself coming?" Jill asked.

"She's decided. She'll probably approach me sometime next week. She's been a little hesitant, as the Sisterhood had grown. She knows something is going on, but it's magnitude is a bit daunting to her." Susan replied.

"I can understand that, I'm a bit daunted myself and I was there when Aphrodite spoke to us. Who would have believed that we would be fifty so soon?" Jill asked.

"How could we not be after that?" Susan chuckled.

"You know. To me, the most thrilling part of that experience was when I realized it meant that we were wed for all time." Jill said, softly kissing Susan's cheek.

"Oh, you like that do you?" Susan asked.

"You know I do, my bride." Jill said softly.

"Then kiss me quick, for I feel our next bride on her way to ask us to wed." Susan said, lifting Jill's lips to her own.

Cindy's induction to the order of Gongyla was performed by Susan. Since her induction to the order of Damoplyla, they had maintained the ceremony for sixth level and above. But due to space constraints, the attendance was limited to the original thirty who had shared the love of Aphrodite. This was being cured by the construction of a new facility adjoining the new house.

To outsiders, the facility was a meeting house for a new sorority of outstanding scholastics. To the Sisterhood, it was the New Temple of Aphrodite. It just so happened that nobody got asked to join the sorority except those of the Sisterhood. A new sorority house was being constructed which was the size of a hotel. Containing some hundred double rooms and several kitchens. Affectionately referred to as I phelta thigh by the Sisterhood.

The secrecy surrounding the organization didn't bother the University leadership. Whatever they were doing, it worked. The members were so proficient at their studies that other students would almost moan at the presence of one of the Sisters in their classes. But the women were so charming and lovable the scholastic competition was far offset. They could count on lively, intelligent debates over information the Sisterhood took offense to. Which was about anything stupid.

The other oddity, was that the women of the Sisterhood were also considered untouchable by the men on campus. At least in their early years. It was rumored that a girl had to be a certified virgin to gain acceptance. Nobody seemed to notice if they didn't stay that way. After all, it was a University and virginity was a rare thing for modern college graduates.

So many of the Sisterhood achieved scholastic excellence, that they began to displace the existing faculty as they aged. The university virtually quit looking outside for it's new teachers. They looked to the Sisterhood whenever a slot came open. Somehow, there was always a perfect candidate available.

Eventually, they began to replace the leadership of the University, that's when the school began taking on world wide recognition for excellence. It began to produce the best graduates of physical sciences, arts, humanities, law, medicine, business, athletics and political science that the world had ever seen.

They were also an odd lot. They were intensely ethical and caring. They would not participate in technologies directed towards war. They would not accept bribes of money or power. They were self confident and non-yielding in their manner. They were rumored to be very egotistical, but in one on one encounters, they were found not to be overbearing or condescending, they were just seldom wrong. But these events were in the days to come.

Barbara approached Susan shyly.

"Hello Barbara" Susan said, smiling warmly as she came up to her after her last session of the day in Tutorville.

"Hello Susan. It's been a while." Barbara said, uneasily.

"Yes, over a year." Susan said, putting no emphasis on the statement.

"Yes, I realize that." Barbara said, softly.

"I take it you'd like to have a chat. Shall we get a cup of coffee, or would you like to come up to the house to talk?" Susan asked, not implying anything.

"I'd feel more comfortable if we could talk in private." Barbara said.

"I understand. Would you like to follow me up to the house or ride along." Susan asked.

"I'll ride along, if you don't mind driving me back ... tonight." Barbara said, shyly.

"No, that would be fine. Shall we go?" Susan asked, gathering up her books.

Barbara was fairly quiet on the drive up to the house. Susan talked about trivialities.

"I hear you're doing much better in your classes." Susan said, casually.

"Yes, thanks to ... my scholarship and tutoring. I'm doing quite well. I hope I haven't disappointed those who sponsored it." Barbara said.

"I'm sure they would be quite pleased with you. I know I am." Susan said.

"You are?" Barbara asked, a bit surprised, both by Susan's statement and how it pleased her to hear it.

"Yes, I was quite concerned about you there for a while. I sort of felt responsible for ... your decline. But that's past now and I'm much relieved that you are doing well." Susan said.

"Thank you. You sound like you've been watching me." Barbara said, uneasily.

"Not actively. But I ask about you from time to time. And people who know I care about you make it a point to drop little tidbits of information about you every now and then." Susan said.

"You still ... I mean ... you do care about me?" Barbara asked.

"I don't ever think I made a secret of that. At least I hope I didn't." Susan said.

"This is all so ... alien to me. I've never been very comfortable with ... affection." Barbara said.

"Of course not. When did you ever have the opportunity to feel secure enough in any relationship to experience it? But enough of that. Tell me about your current studies." Susan said, easily.

Barbara found herself telling Susan about her field of study and her plans towards her masters degree once she graduated in the fall.

Susan was attentive and seemed to be genuinely interested. This had always puzzled Barbara. She found little enough opportunity to interest people involved in her own field into intelligent discussion of it. But here was a woman who was a Sociology major discussing the latest particle theory's with her ... with intelligent understanding, like she had been in all the same courses of study all along. Barbara was awed by her intellect, but in no way was Susan condescending.

They pulled up to the house. A busy place. It was also stunning in it's opulence. Susan said she'd give Barbara the tour later. She guided her to her bedroom. Barbara felt a wave of panic hit her, but Susan guided her through the bedroom into her large, functional office. It contained it's own outstanding reference library in bookcases that stretched from floor to ceiling all around the room except where the window looked out onto the mountains, now illuminated by the late afternoon sun.

"Coffee, soda or a glass of wine?" Susan inquired, setting her books down on a work table.

"Some wine would be nice." Barbara said, looking around in awe.

On the way through the house, there had been a plethora of stunning young ladies sitting and talking in various areas. They had greeted Susan warmly ... but that was all. They were all dressed and none were overtly affectionate towards each other.

This was a puzzle to Barbara. It wasn't at all what she had expected. But what had she expected? she asked herself. Wild orgies in every corner?

She couldn't have known of the mental warning Susan had transmitted. But in fact little warning had been needed. Outsider guests were a common enough occurrence that generally lovemaking was reserved to private rooms. Signs of affection less rigorously so. But the women seemed to be very cognizant of what would be offensive to an outsider.

Now if Barbara were to show up in the hallway she had just passed down on certain occasions she might be flabbergasted to see thirty or more stunning nude bodies in a solemn procession towards either Jane's or Susan's bedrooms.

Susan poured them both a glass of an excellent white wine from a bottle taken from a small, silent refrigerator. Susan left the bottle out to breathe and placed Barbara's glass next to her extremely comfortable chair. Then Susan took what was obviously the command chair for the room. A high back ergonomic swivel seat.

"A reporter came to see me last year." Barbara said.

"Not surprising, she showed up here trying to trick us into revealing a torrid exposé for her paper. She got nothing. In fact she discovered she was out of a job. I suspect you were a desperation move on her part. She made several others before she gave up." Susan said, jovially.

"Desperation move?" Barbara asked.

"Of course, she was looking for someone who had been involved with us, but no longer was. You seemed to fit that criteria. Of course she didn't know that you'd never been intimate with any of us. She wouldn't have found anybody who had been, who was no longer involved with us. There aren't any." Susan mused.

"Well, I didn't tell her anything. She came right out and asked me if I'd had a lesbian affair with you. I told her no. She also asked about my scholarship. I told her to ask the executors. The conversation didn't last long. She was a bit of a bitch." Barbara said.

"I figured that's pretty much what you would have told her if she talked to you." Susan said.

"You didn't know?" Barbara asked.

"No. I don't spy on you. I never have. But I certainly recognized it was a possibility that she would approach you. Many number of students observed us talking that one night in Tutorville. You were quite distraught to start with. It would have been very easy to misconstrue the situation. That's the sort of thing that starts rumors. Not hard to find for someone seeking information.

"Which, by the way is the main reason why I have not been any more than cordial towards you since that night. For your protection; At this point I have a fairly active rumor mill surrounding me." Susan said, grinning and sipping her wine.

"In truth ... I've missed you ... all of you..." Barbara said, seeming on the edge of revealing something.

"Before you say anything. Please indulge me. I don't know if you've reached a tentative conclusion or not., I don't want to know for the moment." Susan said, hurrying on and not looking at Barbara. "As I've changed my mind about you having enough information on which to base your decision."

"You have?" Barbara asked in surprise.

"Yes. If you have the time, I have some information I think you will find very educational." Susan said.

"It's not erotic in nature, is it?" Barbara asked, nervously.

"Predominantly not. There are some ancient texts that are a bit steamy in places, but I think well within your tolerance level. No, what it is, is a chronological history of events that have taken place leading to a wonderful discovery that affects the whole world. If you have the time, then I'd like to walk you through them step by step as they occurred." Susan said.

"Of course I have the time. I'll take the time. You deserve that. You've been nothing but forthright and kind toward me. I respect you more than you could ever know." Barbara said, getting misty eyed.

"Good, then lets get started." Susan said, opening a wall safe and removing several bundles.

"It starts with research Jane was doing for her masters thesis long before I ever met her..." Susan began.

Over the next four hours Susan methodically walked Barbara through the events. Showing her the text that had led Jane in her search, her notes as it progressed, her suppositions and then photographs taken during the search. Culminating at the buried chamber site, with photographs of the sunlit arrow, the before and after pictures of the excavation.

To Barbara it was like a real life treasure hunt and she found herself getting caught up with excitement as she followed the irrefutable evidence.

Susan was careful to point out at any point how the information could have been fabricated. Barbara dismissed the assertions. She was convinced that something had been found.

"It's not as easy as most people would think to fabricate such a story. For one thing, such a contrivance would surely become a best selling novel. Which I can't see someone fabricating just to dupe me. I doubt seriously that I'm that big a prize." Barbara said.

"I think you vastly underestimate your worth ... now ... This is what was found." Susan continued.

She showed a slightly beaming Barbara photographs of the metal manuscript, the pots of corn and grain and the original Rod of Sappho.

"Where are these artifacts now?" Barbara asked, excited.

"Sadly, the Rod, is no longer in existence. For reasons I will explain ... the book ... is here." Susan said, reverently opening a bundle.

Barbara shook with trepidation as Susan revealed the Platinum-Silver leaves of the manuscript.

Her mouth hung open as she gaped at it.

"That ... shouldn't it be in a museum or something... " she stammered.

"Oh, I don't think that would be a very good idea at all. I can virtually guarantee that will never happen. I would personally destroy it before I let that happened. It's much too dangerous." Susan said, very seriously.

"Why?" Barbara asked, not conceiving how anybody could damage such an incredible ancient artifact.

"Because of what it says." Susan said.

Barbara carefully leaned over the pages, afraid to touch them.

"It appears to be ancient Greek. I can pick out a word or two, but I'm afraid it's not my field." Barbara said.

"It's been translated. Would you like to read it? We can substantiate the translation, but that would of course take a long time." Susan said.

"Yes, I'd love to read it. I believe you. You don't need to substantiate the text. What does it say?" Barbara asked.

"In a moment. Barbara, I've shown you this information at great personal danger. I've shown a lot of trust in you, which I believe to be safe for me to do so. I believe you to be an honorable person..." Susan began.

"Thank you." Barbara began.

"Please ... this is quite serious. I need your word that you will never reveal the information you are about to see ... not to anyone ... for the time being. Perhaps in the future that may change ... but for now I would like your word of honor. For it's as much for your own protection as for the protection of the information. I would not want anything bad to happen to you. I care too much for you for that to happen. And if you did reveal this information, it could have and probably would have tragic consequences. That's not a threat, it is my assessment of events that would be way beyond my control to prevent." Susan said.

"Sounds spooky. Maybe I'd better not know." Barbara said, shakily, as she could see that Susan was serious. She was never superfluous with words. She meant it.

"That is of course your choice. It is spooky, but it is also joyfully wonderful. That's all I will tell you about it till I have your word or your rejection." Susan said, reverently rebinding the manuscript.

Barbara watched her a moment, evaluating herself. Susan monitored her internally, showing no outward sign of it. She was well pleased by what she knew was coming.

"No, I am not a school girl who has to tell the world her secrets. I've maintained my personal life in privacy... -which I can't seem to obscure from your perception, but you are singular in that- I know myself well enough to comfortably give my word of honor if you feel it that important. Which I can tell you do. You have my word of honor that I will never reveal to another any of the information which you have already or choose yet to reveal to me." Barbara said, solemnly.

"I knew you were a person of great worth. " Susan beamed at her.

Barbara found, she did indeed, feel like a school girl under Susan's smile and words. She found herself blushing.

Susan took another bundle and opened it. Inside was a white satin bound volume of parchment paper. The hand written script was a masterpiece.

Susan had her wash her hands in a small bar sink and then dry them and put on some white gloves.

Once attired, she carefully handed her the book. Barbara held it like a newborn baby, but felt quivering and shaky inside. She began to read.

Let no man read of these words lest woman become a slave for all time.

I Sappho -being of a goodly age- (and) having found no fair sister to pass on my power and art to, have imparted it upon the rod of Sappho.

I feel naked and devoid without the power which has sustained me for these many years and fear I must soon pass on.

The power has sustained me over a vast journey through unknown endless waters and across lands peopled by savages...

"Stop when you reach mention of Irana's touch. Then we'll talk." Susan said, leaving her with the book.

Barbara nodded and continued reading in rapt fascination.

Susan let her read at her own pace. Her face furrowed in concentration. She refilled their wine glasses, but set Barbara's away from her grasp and the book. Barbara didn't even notice.

Finally she looked up, visibly shaken.

"You read about Irana's touch?" Susan asked.

Barbara nodded, gently closing the book, looking at it wistfully.

Susan took the book and rewrapped it. Then placed everything in her wall safe and locked it, spinning the dial.