"So, when does the conference start?" Sophie asked. Her face was bathed in soft candlelight, throwing playful darkness over sections as she moved in her seat.
The concierge had hit the jackpot booking a table in this restaurant. It was quiet enough to be private, but not so much as to feel as though either one of them was pinned in a corner by the other.
Robert placed his piccolo coffee cup back on it saucer, and returned his gaze to Sophie.
"Well, it technically started yesterday- but I am not lecturing until tomorrow and then again on Thursday"
"So we have a day in between to look around. I've heard there is a beautiful museum just"
Robert cut her off "No museums, no churches, no tombs, no art and no relics- remember, Ms Neveu"
Sophie smiled, reassured that Robert still harboured some feelings for her.
"Would you like to come to the lecture?" Robert asked, looking into the now cold coffee "because, technically you are a VIP guest"
"Because of my heritage?" Sophie joked.
"No, although if they did know I'm sure they would worship you. But because you are here with me…" Robert stopped and looked at Sophie for signs of pressure or uncomfort. Seeing none, he proceeded "Well you are on the guest list. Front row seats, just like all the partners of other speakers"
She smiled.
"What, pray tell, is your lecture's subject? 'How to escape France while being pursued by DPCJ'?" Robert laughed.
"Unfortunately, no. Just the standard 'Former Religious Icons that have been demonised/adopted by the Catholic Church.' I don't know how many times I've given it. Actually, it's the same lecture I gave that fateful night in Paris a month ago"
A hint of sadness played across Sophie's face. A prang of guilt hit Robert square in the gut.
Damn, I shouldn't have brought that particular fun fact up.
Sophie sat silent; gazing off over Robert's left shoulder as if remembering a distant memory.
"I'd love to come." She said finally "maybe I could find out some dirty little secrets from your colleagues"
Robert smirked.

Strolling towards the lecture hall, Robert felt queasy- just like he did before every lecture he gave, but even more so now because Sophie was tightly holding his hand.
"Are you lecturing first?" Sophie asked, her shoulder length burgundy hair bobbing in time with her stride, the midmorning light highlighting the red facets that subtly streaked her mane.
"Second, actually. And I must warn you, there is a meet and greet before we start. I'll try and find someone that isn't a total bore for you and me to talk to for half an hour." Robert said, remembering the many functions he had been to where he had been delegated a depressingly boring chat partner by his friends that had been smart enough to pass them off before they stated to waffle on about their chosen topic.

As the oak doors of the hall loomed, Robert swallowed hard and held his head high. Sophie, who seemed to have noticed his nerves, squeezed his hand harder and pulled him over the threshold. The foyer was plain and deserted. A single sign stood in the centre of the oval vestibule. It read 'Symbols in Religion seminar .
"No Italian translation?" Sophie queried "No, never. It's just the organisers' way of pouring vinegar on a wound that has already had salt rubbed into it." Robert sighed, not partial to the politics of the organisers' agenda.
Sophie looked confused.
"Not only are we having a conference on how the Church has used other religions' symbols in Italy, the epicentre of Christianity- but we, they, refuse to have anything in Italian. Apparently the folks running the show are still living by the 'lingua pura' gospel." Robert explained as he led Sophie to the low drone of distant voices.

Coming to the end of a long carpeted corridor, Robert pushed the lecture hall door open. The hall was reminiscent of the Globe Theatre in London. A semi circle stage surrounded on all three sides by seating. The lighting was dim, casting long shadows and pockets of darkness the theatre. Men in black apparel ran across the distant stage, clip boards flaying dangerously as they yelled into their headsets in rapid Italian.
Somewhere above, a technical manager was testing graphics. Blown up pictures of pentagrams, crosses, crucifixes, the rose line, pagan gods flicked in rapid succession as if the man at the helm was having an epileptic seizure, pushing the 'next' key. The symbols melted into the head shots of the lectures. "George Ammath, Cordelia Barber, Henry Dennis, Andrew Gawls, Rosaline Hawthorne, Jean Innox, Matthew Lang, Robert Langdon, Sheila O'Malley, René Xios." Sophie read in quick succession as the headshots whizzed passed.
"What did you say?" Robert said. He hadn't been watching the large projector screen positioned behind the lecturer stand.
"I was reading the names" Sophie pointed, the headshots had turned into video clips that had been put of ultra-fast forward.
Robert considered the thought whirring in his mind.

Surely I didn't hear that name. Impossible.

Balding heads were bent in together in deep conversation; no one had noticed Robert and Sophie enter. All accept the painfully cheerful self appointed secretary. She heartily waved from behind a card table covered with name tags. A large freestanding lamp hung limply over her right shoulder, giving her a strange ethereal aura.
Sophie smiled at Robert as he waved weakly back and started towards the table.
"Morning, Robert" the woman gushed. Sitting on a fold-up chair, Glynda Prosselthwaite wore a cable knit pullover and long floral skirt that fell to just above her ankles, showing her tan coloured acrylic sneakers and dark navy socks. Her grey hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, fastened with a large butterfly clasp. She looked like a jovial Mrs Clause posing as a Librarian.
"Glynda, how are you?" Robert replied, searching for his name on the table, while looking for the name he thought he had heard.
"Oh, much better than I was last time you saw me, Robert. Remember I had… Hello, who might you be?" Glynda had noticed Sophie standing next to Robert, smiling fondly.
"Oh, how rude of me. Sophie Neveu." Sophie extended he had over the table. Glynda looked stunned as she weakly shook Sophie's hand.
"I had heard that you were bringing someone, Robert" Glynda said as she looked at Sophie, as though she had met her before, but couldn't quite place her.
"You look so familiar" Glynda said, squinting her eyes, apparently trying to remember where she had seen Sophie. Her eyes suddenly shot open. "Not Agent Sophie Neveu of the DPCJ"
Sophie cringed. Robert hung his head.
"One and the same." She said in a fake cheerful kind of way.
Glynda smiled broadly, while pulling a blank name tag from under the card table.
"Wonderful to meet you, Ms Neveu. I hope you enjoy the lectures." She handed Sophie the name tag.
"Yours is next to Matthew Lang, Robert"
Robert blushed; he had totally forgotten how Glynda had always alphabetised the name tags for easy pick up.

After pinning their tags on their shirts, Robert and Sophie started into the main part of the hall where the rest of the people seemed to be huddling.

There was a sudden shrill and a blue blur came running towards Robert, grasping him firmly around the waist.