It had been a long week; meeting upon meeting, conference after conference and yet still another function remained to attend this evening.
"It amazes me Philippe, that after all these years, people seem more concerned with the approval of their actions from their peers than actually accomplishing a task" Lisa said to her manservant as she sat looking out over the city while sipping a cognac.
"Mistress?" he replied in question to her line of reasoning.
"If someone comes up with an idea, which in and of itself is remarkable considering some of these employees' intellect, they must call a meeting to discuss this idea, the pros and cons of the idea, the possible scenarios arising from proceeding with said idea only to ultimately dispose of the original idea if not seen favorable in advancing their status."
"Progression in reverse" he replied.
"Precisely! They accomplish less with more rhetoric of how they are so progressive."
"Shall I ring for the car Mistress?"
"Ah yes..." she sighed "...time to attend yet another boring social function where the entire pompous, self absorbed elitists jockey for my favor and possible support."
"Yes Mistress"
"Have it brought around; I must pick up my companion for the evening's event..."
He bowed and walked away to do his task.
"...maybe I will be able to find more than just companionship" she said to herself.
The antiquities gallery was hosting this evening's event in hopes of raising funds for refurbishment of a hall that held attractions of lesser renown. Its care had been neglected and as the gallery had expanded, this one section became more of a 'boring section of relics' as compared to the others which held items such as the swords of Romans, armor of the Mesopotamians and gold of the Greeks. It was being thought of more as a semi-storage area than hall.
"This one is supposedly a script of a mother-to-be requesting the favor of a Goddess named Hequit to oversee her childbirth favorably" a well fit woman was regaling a young man who seemed bored with the lesson and was seeking a way to leave.
"But most of the populace is not aware of the little known fact that Hequit was actually the Goddess Kim Jisoo Hecate. The Goddess of Magic, the moon, judgments and many other duties." Lisa's silky voice caused Jennie to spin around yet again to find her standing a small distance away.
"Yes, that....that is true. How did you become learned in that fact?" Jennie asked in surprise at Lisa's appearance there.
"A hobby, if you will, of reading ancient lore" Lisa gave a small bow and turn of her head showing no emotion at the surprise it was that it was Jennie she was speaking to.
"Ah, there you are..." a man's voice broke the moment of each of the women looking at one another.
"Oh, Miss Manoban...lovely to see you again" the distinguished looking older man addressed Lisa and extended a hand in greeting.
"Good evening to you Mr. D'Olympia" she replied accepting his hand.
"So I see you've met my daughter Jennie Kim" he turned and placed his arm around Jennie's shoulder, Lisa stiffened at the words.
"Yes Daddy, we..."
"Were just discussing the Goddess Kim Jisoo Hecate" Lisa cut Jennie off and looked from Jennie to her father with no facial expression belying her shock.
"Ah, well you've stepped into a hornet's nest then I'm afraid" he chuckled.
Lisa cocked her head in question and Jennie rolled her eyes.
"It's the reason for her last name and knowledge of all there is about the Goddess. You see her mother loved that the Goddess was about change and when she found out she was pregnant with this one here, she named her after her but with a little change for modern society".
Jennie took a deep breath, closed her eyes and shook her head as if the story had been told just a few times too many for her liking.
Lisa was taken off guard at this revelation but put on a polite smile, "A unique name for a unique individual, I am sure. Now if you will excuse me, I am sure there are corporate executives who have yet to try and acquire my investment support. Good evening to you both" with a slight bow she was gone, mingling with others.
"A very lovely, driven and talented lady, that Miss Manoban" her father remarked.
"Interesting to say the least" Jennie murmured.
"What was that honey?"
"Oh nothing Daddy, so what's next to see?" the young man had vanished the minute he could and Jennie looked around and shrugged when she could not spot him, slipping her arm into her father's and he led her down the hall.
As the evening wore on, Jennie caught glimpses of Lisa.
One moment listening to some man's excited speech as he waved his arms about dramatically, the other looking up to a piece of antiquity while one of the curators explained some facet or another of the item.
Several times, she noted a woman hanging on her arm. A very beautiful woman; with long red hair who was dressed in a shimmering black evening dress that had a split up the left leg to mid thigh and an open back revealing a very sensual curve.
This woman complimented Lisa in height and attire as Lisa was graceful in her tailored grey suit.'A very gorgeous couple' thought Jennie as she watched Lisa say something to the woman on her arm and cause her to laugh.
The woman then leaned into Lisa, placing a delicate hand to her chest; she whispered something back which caused Lis to laugh in return.
"Ready honey?"
"Wha...oh sure Daddy..." Jennie replied her father.
"You were out of it there for a moment dear, are you okay?" he asked concerned.
"Yeah Daddy; I was just wondering where do you know Miss...what was her last name again?"
"Miss Manoban?"
"Yes, her"
"Business dealings only; Miss Manoban is the CEO and Owner of Amoeba Inc."
"Thee Amoeba Inc?"
"Yes, why?"
"Wow, she's....wow. They were listed on the Forbes 100 Top Companies."
"And you know this how?"
"Well, when I sit waiting for you outside your office, the only magazines available are Forbes or Wall Street. I chose the lesser of the two evils and the article explained what it took to make it to the list."
"You mean my daughter actually read something modern? About today's living society?" her father asked incredulously but with a teasing voice, "Stop the presses! I've got to have this put in print!" he joked.
"Oh hardy har har."
"Just joking sweet pea. So yes, that's where I know of Miss Manoban, but I know her from having had my advisors speak to her consultants and she met with us two times this past month."
"Why Daddy? Is something wrong?" Jennie asked concerned as she slowed down in her walk causing her father to almost stop as she had her arm hooked in his.
"No darling, just making sure we do the right thing so that nothing does go wrong. She is a very knowledgeable woman who has an understanding I've not ever seen in one so young."
"Oh"
"Well come on pumpkin, this old man of yours is starving. These little pigs in a blanket leave so much to be desired."
"Daddy! How many of those did you eat?" Jennie stopped this time and placed both her fists on her hips, staring at him and speaking in an admonishing tone.
"Uh, only a couple..." he hemmed.
"You know the doctor said none of that stuff!"
"I know....but I was hungry and this dinner thing is still another fifteen minutes away" he whined like a child instead of the parent.
Shaking her head, she smiled at him and laughed "What am I going to do with you?"
"Feed me?"
"Come on then, before you eat a rare priceless artifact"
"Or become one if I don't eat" he joked back and they headed towards their table.
...
Dinner was a typical event which was catered with a variety of specialty foods unlike the common fare while speeches were presented by guest speakers from the National Archives and Historical Society.
Afterwards, each guest was informed by the curator to reach under their chairs and pull out an envelope taped there.
As the guests did so the curator went on to explain that in each envelope there was a number. Guests had to find their matching numbered guest; one of them would have another sealed envelope.
They were to open the envelope and then follow the clues to an artifact. At each artifact there would be another clue to lead them on to decipher a riddle or clue. Whoever could solve the problem correctly and return would win a generous prize donated by Eloquence Marketing.
The sounds of tearing envelopes and then chairs being moved was immediately heard as guests began looking for their match.
"Oh Lisa, can we just leave now? I'd rather we pursued other forms of entertainment this evening" the redhead implored with a very enticing voice while running her fingers provocatively up Lisa's forearm.
"As much as I am drawn to that idea, I have to decline for the moment. There are two individuals who we must assist in this endeavor. Once that task is accomplished, I will auspiciously oblige your every request" Lisa handed the redhead her envelope from under her seat and proceeded to open her own.
"Oh..." the redhead pouted as she looked from her number to Lisa's "...you've got 17, I've got 3."
"Well then, the sooner this is complete..." Lisa let the words hang as she rose and assisted her companion up. Turning she held up her number as she walked about with the other guests doing the same.
"What number do you have Daddy?"
"I've got 34, how about you pumpkin?"
"Oh, 17. Wish we could have done this together" Jennie said sadly.
"Well how about I go find 17 and ask them to trade?"
"No, its okay. You go mingle with other suits. I'll find my unfortunate victim and attempt to bore them to tears in a new all time record" she joked self-deprecatingly.
"That's my girl, spread the misery" he joked back as he rose up and went in search of his matching number.
'Oh well, number 17 isn't going to come to me sitting h...'
"Excuse me, Miss Kim?"
Again the voice.
Jennie turned to her left where she swore she heard her name only to see no one there; 'I bet she's behind me' she thought.
Turning around she found Lisa standing almost a table away "Did you call me?" she asked.
"Yes, it seems we have a number match" Lisa held up her number.
"How do you know what number I have?" Jennie asked with brows furrowed.
"It is on the table in front of you. My apologies if I have made an error"
Jennie turned around in her seat and looked at her number then to Lisa, "You can see that from there?" she pointed to where Lisa stood.
"Yes. You seem reluctant to participate. If you so desire, we both can decline and continue on with our evening's plans?"
"No!...um, no that's okay. Sorry, I was just....never mind."
Lisa stood silently waiting, as if frozen in time.
Jennie found it amazing she could do that and just stared at the living statue of beauty before her.
It wasn't until someone walked in front of her that she realized what she was doing. She lowered her head embarrassed, "Sorry for staring."
"Shall we commence then?" Lisa replied.
"Yes, sure. Um, here's the envelope" Jennie handed it out to Lisa as she approached.
Lisa opened the envelope and began "Your clues, should you choose to accept, are as follow:
1. Of this parchment was a request2. Of this immortal, no one claimed possession3. Of the lesser of two was their species
"Wow, give us a clue why don't you" Jennie shook her head.
"It is best if we start one at a time, do you not agree?"
"Yes, of course."
"Of this parchment was a request" the silky voice repeated.
"Parchment...that would mean something written, something on paper...a written request" Jennie said to herself then looked up to Lisa.
"Yes, very good deduction Miss. Kim."
"Please, I think we are past the Miss stage don't you think?"
"I was merely according you some respect."
"Speaking of which, why did you not let me finish telling my father we knew each other?"
"Because in truth Miss Kim, we do not. It behooved me to save explaining to your father that his daughter went to an unknown woman's home under the pretense of granting sexual favors or that I seduced his daughter into such a predicament."
Jennie blinked her eyes as her mouth hung open then closed and opened again.
"Would you prefer that I had not intervened?"
"Uh...no...that's okay, it's over. Uh, now we've been formally introduced so ...um ...yeah."
"Shall we continue then?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea...so...um...paper...yeah a written paper request" Jennie nervously stammered trying to get her bearing around this woman who made her emotions go in every direction except under her control.
"I am unfamiliar with this gallery, are there many documents or parchments of requests?"Jennie's brows furrowed in thought and she unconsciously bit her bottom lip in thought, "Well there's the parchment of Helios, the writ of Aristotle, the scroll of some Mesopotamian King and that script for Hequit" she counted off on her fingers.
"Well, shall we go and locate each one of these in hope that our next clue will be there and yield us a possible answer?" Lisa motioned her arm out towards the halls.
"Only one way to find out..." Jennie replied as she rose from her seat and headed towards the first set of documents.
"Okay, the second clue you read, can you re-read it?" Jennie asked as she leaned down to read a description plate.
"Of this immortal, no one claimed possession."
Jennie shivered as Lisa's voice seemed to be right at her ear but looking down and behind her, she could not see her on either side.
"Of this immortal...what do you think that means?" Jennie asked.
"God or Goddess is what lore defined as the immortals."
"Okay, so this God or Goddess...no one claimed possession...claimed possession, hmmm. Possession as in owned you think?"
"No, I do not think they meant as in owned. Claimed possession, as one could not own a God but could call a God their own; such as the Greeks calling Zeus or Hera or any other deity their God."
"That's true and it fits, so this God or Goddess did not belong to a particular culture. Well Helios belonged to the Greeks so he's out and Aristotle was a Greek philosopher so he's out."
"He also was not a God"
"That's right, so he's definitely out" Jennie agreed, "So it can't be the Mesopotamian King because he wasn't a God either so it only leaves the Script of Hequit."
"Shall we revisit that location again then?"
As they walked towards the script, Jennie felt she needed to ask Lisa a question that was in the back of her mind "Why did you pick us up?"
"Basic need of human nature and curiosity" Lisa said succinctly.
"Curiosity? Of what?"
"Not of what Miss Kim but of whom?"
"Sakura? But you said she turned you off with her drinking?!"
"Yes indeed Miss Kim, she did."
As Lisa did not expand on this reply, it confused Jennie to the point of furrowing her brow and once again biting the outside corner of her lower lip, as she had not answered her question.They walked in disconcerting silence though the other quests were all talking in seeking an answer to their clues.
"Here we are; the script" Lisa stated, "and the third clue states 'Of the lesser of the two was their species'"
"Species...well we are talking about humans, immortal ones but human nonetheless. So lesser species in humans ...of the two...male and female...it's often said woman is the less of the two, so I guess we were right in it being Hequit's parchment and here's the cipher."
What they both saw taped on the glass display was a sheet of paper with large font letters "PHWDQRLD."
"Oh" Jennie looked at the paper and the sound escaped her from having no idea what to do."For every cipher there is a key, we need only find the key to crack the code" Lisa stated.
"Look, there's small print on the paper..." Jennie pointed and stepped closer "The original cipher code was invented by this salad." Jennie shook her head, "A curator's bad sense of humor."
"Or another clue to the answer we seek; a salad can not invent things correct?"
"Of course not!"
"But what if a salad was named after someone who invented it?"
"What?" Jennie looked at her like she'd just lost her mind.
"Example, Cobb salad, Chef's salad..."
"Oooh, I get it now. But there are so many."
"Let us list only famous or important salads of renown"
"Okay, Cobb, Chef, Chicken..."
"Pardon me Miss Kim, but should we not concentrate on those with names versus type?"
"Okay, well then there's Waldorf, Olivier, Nicoise, Pazanella, Louise, Cobb, and Caesar."
Lisa looked at Jennie and cocked her head just a bit that it gave Jennie pause and a sudden embarrassed flush, "I, um...I like to eat healthy so I know about salads...Okay, Waldorf is a building and it was created by a chef so that never created a cipher, Olivier by a Russian chef and Nicoise named after the city in France Nice also did not invent any cipher that I am aware of, Louise well, he was the self absorbed King or the chef in Washington , Cobb by Bob Cobb at the Brown Derby and Caes..."
"Caesar" Lisa interrupted Jennie.
"Yeah but not by Julius Caes..."
"Caesar's substitution cipher, it has been in use since Ancient Rome. Julius Caesar invented a very simple yet efficient cipher that served him well" Lisa took a pen from within her coat pocket and began writing on the paper, "Caesar's cipher was three places removed down the alphabet in position, thus A would become D, B would become E."
Jennie watched as Lisa wrote the Alphabet in very elegant precise script then under it, the same three placed moved.
"So, taking the clue PHWDQRLD, we transpose the letter to those of the cipher and it becomes METANOIA" Lisa froze.
"Metanoia? I've never heard of that word" Jennie looked up from the writing to Lisa's profile.Lisa was stark still and not breathing.
"Ms. Manoban? Ms Manoban, are you alright?" Jennie placed a hand on Lisa's forearm bringing her around to the moment.
"Yes, thank you. It is Greek for change of heart."
"Oh, you...you know Greek?"
"Yes."
"Well, we've solved this cipher. Let's head back and see if we've at least managed not to come in last" Jennie joked.
Lisa turned and motioned for Jennie to precede her, then took once last glace at Hequit's script 'What is it you seek of me now Jisoo Hecate?' she said in an inaudible whisper.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I ask you please make your way back to your tables?" the curator requested over the announcement system.
After all the guests were seated he began, "Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen for this evening. As this event was to raise donations for renovations on the hall of lesser renown, I'd like to thank each of you for your kind donations in purchasing tickets for this charity. It is with great pleasure that I announce tickets for this evening's event raised Ninety Thousand dollars." The guests applauded.
"And donations by several generous companies have raised that total to One Hundred Fifty Thousand!"
Another round of applause was given.
"That will truly help cover the costs of renovating the hall and maybe a little on the side for future works. Now I'd like to turn this over to the director of Eloquence Marketing, Mrs. Brigle, to announce the winners. Mrs. Brigle has kindly donated two all expense paid voucher for two to the exclusive Intuition Resort."
The curator stepped away from the podium and applauded with the other guests as a middle aged lady dressed conservatively approached.
"Thank you Curator D'Everoux and thank you guest; I know it is late so I'll only take a moment of your time. Eloquence Marketing is its name sake, we market everything with Eloquence and we look forward to working with all companies, big or small, with the same drive and desire to achieve that you require of an outcome. So thank you for this opportunity to address you this evening. The concept for this evening's entertainment was created by one of our team members, Mr. David Mex. Thank you David for a job well done."
She and the guests applauded a young man standing by a column as he gave a slight wave and stepped back.
"And now, the winners in tonight's hunt; having worked out all the clues and ciphers correctly; the set of number 17, Ms. Kim and Ms. Manoban"
"Way to go pumpkin!" Jennie's father said proudly as Jennie rose and walked towards the podium for her voucher.
"Ms. Manoban has kindly donated her prize to be given to a randomly selected couple out of the community and has offered airfare for the couple as well."
The audience applauded as Jennie did a double take at hearing of Lisa's decision as well as looking around for her. Lisa's table looked about for her as well, but both seats were empty as she had already gone for the evening.
Jennie received her voucher and made her way back to her table, "Thank you" Mrs. Brigle announced and allowed the curator to return to the podium.
"Well Ladies and Gentlemen that concludes this evening. I hope you all had a pleasant evening and thank you once again for your kind donations. Good evening to you all" the curator stepped back from the podium and applauded the audience as they did in return and everyone began rising to leave.
"Way to go honey, so you and Ms. Manoban figured it out huh? I got stuck with Miller Tovington, man couldn't find a clue if I bought it for him!"
Jennie laughed, "Sorry Daddy. Yeah, she's a very intelligent woman. Just very quiet, not one for much talking and it was weird; she just took off like that."
"Well, she could probably buy Eloquence Marketing ten times over honey and she can go wherever she pleases. I wouldn't expect anything less of her really."
"Oh well, I guess you're right."
"So who are you going to take with you? Your friend Sakura?"
"Oh no, no way! She has got to learn some things about me and proper etiquette before I take her anywhere."
"Oh? Something wrong?"
"No, just morals...nothing you have to worry about Daddy." She reassuringly said while patting his arm.
"Alright honey. Come on, let's go home. This old man of yours is tired and I've got tee off at 6 a.m. with the boys."
...
A/N:
..Lisa speaking proper english..
y'all: