2012

'Yes, yes okay. But I'm afraid it is so,' muttered Hera. 'It's just a question of finding out whom he chooses and controlling things from there.'

'I can do that, leave it to me,' Elithia volunteered.

'And then what?' Mnemosyne asked.

'I think she should be brought here to us,' replied Hera.

*****

Penny Conway, travelling alone, leaned her rucksack against a bench on the sun bleached deck of the aged Aegean ferry, lowered her young body, rested her back and gratefully stretched her long limbs. She was glad of the shade from the awning flapping in the warm sea breeze above her. Her fine, dark hair was cut ear length and flicked forward. Despite her advanced pregnancy, it was her height, long waist, and elegance of posture that invariably produced a second, more appraising, glance. Her face did not immediately add up to beauty, but she had large dark eyes and good bones. Her poise and bearing denoted a str