The Ambassador of Athena

Usually every good story starts with something unexpected. But my story started with an event I was looking forward to: The last presentation for my diploma in Ancient History.
But first let me introduce myself: My name is Florian, 23, and I studied history in Innsbruck, a small university town in Austria, Europe. In case you wonder why this story is written in English rather than in German, it will be explained later.
I was born in Schruns, a small 4000 inhabitant town in a valley in the middle of the Alps. After high school I decided to make my passion my job: I was fascinated by Greek and roman mythology ever since my preschool teacher told us the story about Heracles and the nemean lion. And that day was the last day of my studies, the day when my presentation decided about my future.

I was a bit nervous and clenched my hands, sitting on the benches outside the room. The door opened and a pale-looking guy with greasy black hair peeked out of the room.
"Number 47; please come inside to the council."
That was me, so I stood up, grabbed my case and the small statue I've brought with me as an example and squeezed past the guy in the room. It was built like an auditorium, with a stage in front and benches facing it. In the first row a couple of elderly people, the council, sat in front of a long table, paper and pencils in front of them. Beside them a few other people decided to listen to my presentation, around 7 other students sat in the back rows. I put the statue on a table on stage and uncovered it. It was a replica of the Athena Parthenos, the statue that once stood at the acropolis. An elderly guy, one of the council members, stood up and said:
" You are here to present us your researches about what topic, Mr..."
"Just Florian, Sir" I insisted. I didn't like my last name, and I will not mention it here.
The old man smiled. "Ok, Florian. What is your topic?"
i cleared my throat. "My topic is called >Questioning Athena<"
The old man raised an eyebrow.
"That sounds interesting. Please, enlighten us why you have chosen that topic."
I recognised he had an anchor and seahorse-patterned tie, but I already knew some of the professors were quite eccentric, especially historians.

"The purpose of my presentation is to show that the goddess Athena in a different light; assuming the old myths are true and the Greek gods were real."
The council started taking notes, but now I was in my element, so I continued.
" I will start with an old story about Athena and Poseidon who were arguing about whom of them can become the new patron of Athens. They agreed on letting the citizens decide between them, so each of them made a present. Poseidon created a salt water well and Athena the first olive tree. The Athenians choose Athena as their patron, but the goddess now made the mistake of being to proud. She should have offered Poseidon a partnership with her to make the Athenians the wealthiest and most powerful town in Greece by combining their forces and presents. Due to the fact that salt was very rare in ancient times and even called the white gold the Athenians could have earned a fortune just by extracting the salt from the well. But Athena was too proud to make that offer, and so Poseidon destroyed the well and started to dislike the goddess."
Everyone in the room now paid attention and so I continued with my presentation. I listed some more stories when Athena didn't prove her wisdom and acted proud and unwise, sometimes even foolish, not seeing great opportunities.

After one and a half hours I came to an end, the council thanked me and told me I would receive the results within one week. I have been the last student to present his work, so everyone left.
When I left the room a woman waited for me outside. She looked around 20, had black curly hair, bluish grey eyes and a pretty face with full lips that looked southern European. She wore Jeans and a grey shirt with Greek letters on it that read:
"National and Kapodistrian University of Athens"
I've learned Greek and Latin in school and visited classes at university, so i had no problem reading it.
The woman scrutinized me, and then she said with a slight Greek accent: „I really enjoyed your presentation, Florian. It was... different from the general opinion."
I've been astonished.
"Thank you, Miss...?"
She laughed, which sounded clear and light to me.
"Just call me Palla. I am a Historian myself; I work for the Greek Cultural Ministry as an expert in mythological interests. I'd love to talk with you more about your presentation, so..."
She looked at me as if she wanted something, and it took me a few seconds before I realized she wanted me to ask her for her number.
"Oh, sure, it would be a pleasure for me. Just give me your number and I will call you."
She smiled, pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down a column of numbers. She handed me the paper, said goodbye, turned around and disappeared around the corner.
When my best friend Clemens came out of the presentation room and asked me what happened I woke from my daze. i told him, and he laughed and tapped me on the back.
"It's nice that you finally came over Johanna, after all those years..."
I could resist the urge to punch him in the face and managed a smile. The story of how she, the sister of my best friend, has dumped me after 8 months of happy relationship for no good reason still haunted me.
"Yeah, it's cool" I said with a rough voice. Clemens laughed one more time.
"See you tomorrow at lunch." he said before he left. After a few seconds I pulled myself together and turned around to, heading back to my downtown apartment, still astonished.

Notes