§ § § - March 25, 2000

Once their first guests—three buddies there for a twenty-five-year college reunion—had disembarked, Leslie turned to Roarke. "Okay, enough secrets. Who's the next guest?"

Roarke gestured at the plane dock; an ethereally beautiful woman with thick, wavy blonde hair and a willowy figure stepped out and picked her way down the dock, watching her bare feet. She wore only a long translucent white shift and a flower crown in her hair, and seemed a little bewildered by her surroundings. "There she is."

Leslie studied the new arrival with some puzzlement. "She seems…uncertain," she said after a moment. "Out of place, as if she's in totally unfamiliar territory."

"That she is," Roarke said. "Her name is Athena, and she claims to be bored."

"Athena what? And bored how?" Leslie wanted to know.

"Just Athena," Roarke said. "You see, Leslie, she is one of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses; in this case, the goddess of war. And she is bored because for centuries, she and her cronies have gone idle, with nothing to do and no one to do it for."

Leslie, still trying to get past the "Greek goddess" part, was staring at him as if he had sprouted three new heads. "Wait a minute, Father…back up. A Greek goddess?!"

"Leslie Susan," Roarke scolded, "how long have you been my assistant? How long have you lived on this island? How many things have you seen here? I am truly amazed at you, young lady. I had hoped by now that you would have learned to take these things more in stride."

Leslie sighed deeply. "Well, it's not as if we see these folks every weekend, you know. Anyway, so she's bored and needs something to do. Such as what?"

"She would like, very simply, to be worshipped once again, as she and the others were in the glory days of ancient Greece," said Roarke.

"Oh boy," murmured Leslie. "This is going to be very interesting."

Roarke half smiled in response, lifted his glass and toasted their guests, while Leslie wondered what on earth she was going to tell Christian. I hope he's at least fairly open-minded, she thought.

‡ ‡ ‡

Roarke and Leslie returned to the main house to find Christian at the desk, on the phone with someone. She cast her father a glance, but he simply gave her a nod and a reassuring look. Christian saw them come in and said quickly, "I'm afraid I must hang up…but yes, let me e-mail you and set up a time for an interview. It will have to be on Lilla Jordsö—I hope that won't inconvenience you. No? Excellent. All right, thank you." He hung up and smiled a greeting, coming over to kiss Leslie. "Good morning, my Leslie Rose…and good morning, Mr. Roarke." He hadn't been up yet when Roarke and Leslie had left for the plane dock.

"Good morning, Christian," Roarke said. "It appears you've settled on a candidate for one of the open positions, then."

Christian nodded. "Leslie saw an applicant from Germany in the stack, and I took a good look at it this morning after I woke up. He seems very qualified, but since it's a long trip, I'll wait to interview him until I've returned to Lilla Jordsö. Anyhow…I have the sense that I should get out of your way."

"I don't want it to seem as if we are throwing you out," said Roarke humorously, "but we do have a guest coming in here very shortly."

Christian nodded. "That's all right. Perhaps I can get a little breakfast at the restaurant or something."

Leslie groaned. "Christian, honey, you don't have to avoid Mariki. If you want, I'll go in with you and lay down the law. She should know by now, but just in case…"

"Thank you, my darling," Christian said, casting Roarke a sheepish look. "I realize it seems silly for me to be afraid of her, but as I mentioned before, she thinks I'm a demon."

"I'll fix her," Leslie said with determination. "Be back shortly, Father."

Roarke watched the two head for the kitchen and chuckled to himself, shaking his head. No sooner were Christian and Leslie gone than the door opened and Athena came inside, staring in amazement around the room. "Well, Roarke, my old friend, you still have the most exquisite taste of any man, mortal or not, I've ever known. Even the other gods had no sense of décor."

Roarke grinned. "Welcome, Athena, and thank you. Would you care to sit down? Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised that you chose the method of transportation that you did to come here."

Athena shrugged her shoulders and faced Roarke head-on, saying, "Well, Zeus has been on our backs about keeping up with the times, and ever since Ares took over the field of war, all that's been left to me is domestic arts. And that doesn't call for much travel, you know." She settled gingerly in one of the leather chairs. "To be completely honest, I don't miss war all that much. It's always been the traditional province of swaggering macho he-men anyhow. And besides, the way mankind has devoted itself to developing all kinds of sophisticated new weaponry…though, what's so sophisticated about killing tools, I ask you? It just sickens me, Roarke. But then…" She paused when Leslie came back into the room, minus Christian. "Oh, I had no idea you had company."

Roarke smiled. "Athena, this is my daughter, Leslie Hamilton, who is also my assistant. Anything you say to me, you can say in front of her. Please, do go on."

Athena smiled at Leslie. "Good to meet you, young lady. Well, as I was saying, I may not have to worry about war any longer, but then the domestic arts are getting short shrift too. Most women work, and the housework suffers, and too many men still think housework is beneath them…no one has any time to devote to such quiet, homespun pursuits. Knitting, sewing, crocheting…that's almost unknown. Even cooking isn't given the attention it should be. It's throw something in the microwave, or defrost some frozen concoction…how thoroughly pathetic that so much time and importance is devoted to some corporate career. Don't get me wrong, that has its place in life, but it shouldn't be the only thing in life."

"I see," said Roarke. "So precisely what are you asking of me, then?"

"I want to be worshipped again, Roarke. Actively worshipped. It was Christianity that drove us into obscurity, and now that's about all that's out there, at least in our part of the world. Ares has been out there and seen the Islamic and Buddhist religions. But I miss the good old days when we were held in high esteem. I was hoping that if I could rise to the prominence of the modern-day deities, perhaps the crafty arts would come back into some prominence. And I could finally get out of Olympus each day."

Roarke regarded Athena with a faintly dubious expression. "While I understand your point of view, Athena, I must advise you that the very modern-day religions you just enumerated are so entrenched that all others that went before them are now considered false or pagan at best. You and all the other gods of long ago are regarded as mythology."

"What are the modern-day religions but another form of mythology?" Athena argued. "If these deities are real, why are we not? Don't I look real to you, young lady?"

"You seem pretty corporeal to me," Leslie remarked, glancing at Roarke, who smiled slightly.

"Thank you," said Athena with satisfaction, shooting Roarke a look of her own.

Roarke's smile widened a fraction. "Perhaps, perhaps," he conceded, "but there may never be more than a cult status associated with worshipping you, Athena, and you should keep that in mind."

"Martha Stewart is a cult, isn't she?" Athena shot back. "And she and I are in the same field."

Leslie said helpfully, "They do call Martha Stewart a domestic goddess, you know."

Roarke looked a little broadsided, glancing back and forth between the two women. Athena was peering at Leslie with new respect. "I like you, young lady. Forgive me, what was your name again?"

"Leslie," said Leslie, smiling at her.

"Yes, Leslie. I like the way you think. Now tell me if you agree with me on this one. From everything I've seen, all modern monotheistic religions state unequivocally that their central deity is a male. The female is relegated to childbearer—preferably of more males, I notice. Men have nearly all the important roles in support of these deities. Look at Christianity. One god—a male. This god had a child—another male. If it hadn't been necessary to bring in a female to bear that child, I'm sure there would have been no mention of the woman at all. Judaism has the same male god, though theirs is childless. Islam has more or less the same male god under another name, and the same with Buddhism. Would someone explain to me why this is so? Women had much more importance back in the good old days. We weren't relegated merely to invisible supporting roles. We were someone. We were on a par with the men, and we proved we were worthy of the name 'goddess'. I want to taste those times again, Roarke. I want to bring back some of the good old glory days. Please, I beg you. Maybe something will change. I do know one thing—it will make me feel useful…needed."

Roarke pondered Athena's impassioned tirade at some length, during which time Christian wandered back down the hallway with half a banana in one hand and stopped just at the beginning of the foyer, as yet unnoticed by anyone in the study. Leslie sat up at just that moment and said, "Father, she has some excellent points. I have to admit to wondering why that's so. I've never been able to figure out why modern men think they have to be in charge of everything and why women are little more than second-class citizens. It's not fair. We females are people in our own right, and we deserve to have equal say in whatever goes on in this world. We live here too, after all!"

Roarke focused on her and lifted his hands, palms down, to indicate that she should cease. "Calm down, Leslie. I quite agree with you, believe me. Men and women should indeed have equal say in the way of the world. However, even I am only one person, Athena. I cannot change the world, and neither can you. Not all alone, certainly."

"Maybe not, but if I could get enough followers, maybe we could make a difference," Athena said. In the foyer, still unnoticed, Christian squinted at the scene in confusion.

Roarke thought a little more, then gave a long, deep sigh that seemed to involve all the breath in his body. "Very well, Athena, I will grant your fantasy; and since you and Leslie seem to have developed a bond on some common ground, I will leave her to be something of an advisor and a helpmate to you during its course. But keep in mind that things may turn out quite differently from what you anticipate, all right?"

"Unpredictability adds excitement," said Athena with relish. "Thank you, Roarke. When can I start meeting my disciples?" Christian almost choked on a chunk of banana.

"Immediately," Roarke said and smiled. "Leslie, if you would?"

"No problem," Leslie said, and just as she and Athena stood up, Christian finally gave in to the coughing fit he had been desperately trying to stifle. All three of the occupants of the study turned around to peer at him, and Leslie skirted Athena with a quick "excuse me" and jumped the steps. "Christian, are you okay?"

Christian flapped a hand a few times, trying vainly to downplay his physical distress. Athena glanced at Roarke, who more or less fell back in his chair with another heavy sigh, and sprinted over to check out the newcomer. "Does he need the Heimlich?" she asked Leslie.

"No…no, that's…" Christian coughed hard a couple of times and finished croaking, "That's all right, but I thank you. I'm very sorry, but I really didn't want to intrude on your, uh, meeting…and I had nowhere else to go, so…" He shrugged sheepishly and descended into some more coughing.

Athena nodded. "Hm, I see. Roarke, do tell, who's this fellow, your adopted son?"

Roarke had to laugh. "Not son, but future son-in-law. Surely you recognize him, Athena? He's Leslie's fiancé, Prince Christian of Lilla Jordsö."

"Oh," said Athena, studying Christian with new interest. "Actually, I'm not very familiar with the Nordic countries. The Norse gods told us to keep out of their territory centuries ago, and we knew better than to tangle with them. That cold weather they have there really gives them the nastiest tempers." She caught Christian's shocked expression and grinned. "Though I have to tell you, I've had quite the crush on Thor for a few hundred years. Those muscles, that hammer…and those lightning bolts could come in handy when someone crosses me."

Leslie cleared her throat loudly. "Um. Athena, maybe we should leave right now…Father's got some more guests to meet, and anyway, I'm sure you'd like to start your fantasy right away."

"Absolutely," Athena agreed enthusiastically. "Prince, would you like to come along? It's been quite a long time since I chatted with a mortal male, and I could use a little enlightenment on the ways of the modern world anyway."

"Right," mumbled Christian. Athena beamed and departed; Leslie caught Roarke's long-suffering look and tossed him an apologetic smile before wrapping one arm around Christian's waist and towing him out the door with her in Athena's wake.

"What's the matter with you, anyway?" Leslie asked on the porch, while Athena jogged into the lane and busied herself washing her hands in the fountain. "Why do you look so stunned?"

Christian gaped at her. "Disciples? Norse gods? Crush on Thor? Who is that woman?"

"Don't noise it around, but she's the Greek goddess Athena," Leslie told him. "I still don't see why you're so astounded. I remember when you first proposed to me, trying to talk me out of my jitters, and telling me in a very matter-of-fact way that Teppo's death by a Finnish god wasn't my fault. Now why on earth would you take that in stride, but not this?"

Christian's expression grew blank, and she could see him struggling to remember; when it came back to him, he gave her a wary look. "I never said 'god', actually. As a matter of fact, I assumed you meant some sort of organized-crime figurehead."

Leslie stared at him in disbelief, then rolled her eyes. "Oh, good lord. Well, come on, my love, I think we'd better start making you a little more blasé, or I'll never be able to trade work anecdotes with you after we're married. Just this once, you're going to be an observer." Still with her arm around his waist, she pulled him along after Athena.