Beauty and the Vial: Tested

Epilog ~ Penelope and Montine

A Lamur, Georgia, USA Novel

By Jo Dora Webster

What will be Penelope's reaction
to her Great Aunt Montine's gift and letter?

Epilog ~ Penelope and Montine

Coming home was an eye opening experience and one born out of need. Mother and I called Stephanie and we went emergency shopping because I only had the outfit that I was wearing of school uniform to fit me and I had left the rest of my uniforms in my dorm room at Lamur Preparatory. It was a whirlwind experience done at a high end department store.

First they shopped for an outfit from the skin out and had me try everything on so Mother and Stephanie could learn my sizes. Next Mother and Stephanie divided and conquered and each accumulated a cart full of clothing for me. It was explained to me that we would have a fashion show later and leave the tags on so we would be able to return the items. They also divided and conquered in the store's cosmetics and toiletries areas. Once they were satisfied we all checked out and hauled our purchases out to the car.

Returning home and going thru the previously mostly bare family room was all the high end furniture and accessories which had previously been in Daddy's private Man Cave. We found that the bedroom furniture set and all of my gender neutral belongings had been transferred in to the former man cave, which Momma told me was now their guest room, by Daddy who had been busy! We found Daddy in my room taking down and boxing up the male items in my room. He stopped to give me a hug and explain what had been going on.

"Penny, your mother and I wanted to give you a girl's room so you'll be staying temporarily in the new guest room while I paint and we get purchased and shipped here the furniture for your new bedroom. All your boy's items are only going to be boxed up and left in the garage so if you decide you want any of them for your new life you are welcome to reclaim them. The clothes were boxed up for us to donate as well as us donating your boys clothes from school since you've changed so much that nothing would fit you and that's a good thing."

"Thank you Daddy. Do you think that you could help us move all our purchases from the car to the guest room. It's a huge amount to me but Momma and Stephanie told me that this haul is only essentials to hold me over until we can have a Wardrobe shopping trip later. I love how you show your love by doing things for me. I am overwhelmed by the love that I am feeling now."

"Of course, Penny. Let's get you settled in for the next several days."

Daddy helped get all the things to the guest room while Momma, Stephanie and I hung things up and put things in drawers. While we were working, Momma explained that the four of us would sit down around the computer and pick out what paint color I wanted in my new room and pick out the furniture set that they would purchase for my bedroom. Then we three would have our fashion show while Daddy got back to work getting my room ready to paint.

Several days later the painting was done and the furniture, shipped and set up and all my things moved back into my new bedroom. It was the same time that the emissary of Aphrodite that Great Aunt Montine promised to come visit me arrived. I received a sealed letter from Great Aunt Montine. I was also presented with a box by the Emissary. She left me after her work was concluded which allowed me to ponder both items in privacy. Etched into the cover of the box was the name Daphne in Greek letters. It was a replica of the original box that had contained the items in ancient Greece as was the pouch that held the seeds inside and the scroll that contained the instructions.

Well I decided to look at the scroll and try to decipher it and I saw a picture of the vial held so that it dropped 2 drops under the tongue.
I remember that was the method that Great Aunt Montine had used to turn me into Gail and then Adella. I had no desire to turn into a grown woman form again. I had no wish to remove ten years of age from a kiss from a dryad. I liked myself being just the age that I was now.

I really wanted to know what the writing on the scroll said so I went back to the other item, the letter from Great Aunt Montine, It was a sealed large blank envelope which I opened and found inside an envelope in Great Aunt Montine’s handwriting addressed to me. I began to read parts of the letter.

Dearest Penelope, I want you to know that first last and always I love you and I have felt your love and to know you has given me and I have seen in you great joy. I have treasured the times that we have spent together and know that each time brought us closer. Only you in our family could appreciate my uniqueness and see not only the beauty of the body but also of the soul. I thank you for that and despite our ages I have felt we are kindred spirits. It has been hard knowing that with my not having daughters or children at all when my parents had only a son and a daughter.

The son married and had 3 sons one of whom was your father. They all combined to have 7 sons with you being the only child of your father. I had nothing against the wives but they had joined the family by marriage instead of being born into it as I had been so my condition was especially alien to them and none of them could relate to me as woman to woman.

Not only did having no women in the family except by marriage add to the prejudice against me but also it gave me no one in the family that I felt comfortable confiding in till you turned 6 with your precocious high IQ and your understanding and unconditional acceptance of me. When you gave your permission to become Gail that summer I told myself it was for your good so that you would overcome your shyness and relate to girls your age as you had related to me but I knew that I wanted a daughter and Gail was my daughter for that brief time.

I came to learn the lesson after you returned, Penelope, that I was as guilty as others of prejudice, judging that having a daughter or niece or grandniece to be better than having a kindred spirit. You also embrace the feminine and are richer for it.

I wished for you to have something of mine as a remembrance of me and of all the time we spent together. I had a difficult task but an easy decision regarding a special object that had been passed down from mother to daughter or at least from aunt to niece or grandniece in our family that truly dated back to ancient times. To look at our family now you would never guess that we were all descendants from a Greek woman’s daughter but we were. The Greek blood in our veins has been diluted to make it almost nonexistent yet it is there. Let me tell you the story of how the box came to be and of a poor boy named Perseus and his friend Helen.

I recognized the story of Perseus and Helen as one that Great Aunt Montine had told me as a child. In fact it is the same story that is revealed in the prolog of my story you are reading. I guess she repeated it in the letter so I would remember it, If you like you may read the story again from the Prolog and return here to continue following me reading Great Aunt Montine’s letter.

As you can tell things work out well for Daphne, Penelope and Helen thanks to the favor of the Goddess Aphrodite in providing the miracle liquid. I as inheritor of the ancient blessing had to decide who would be my successor so that it might be passed on to succeeding generations. Though I willingly would have shared the secret with the wives in the family their rejection of my condition made it likely that they might betray the secret so I withheld it from them and also the box as an inheritance. I was confronted with giving it to one of my seven great nephews in trust for the next generation. Fortunately you made the decision easy by being a kindred spirit chosen by the Goddess Aphrodite to be my successor. I knew I could count on you to see the true value and to keep the secret and pass it on to the right person in the next generation.

I caution you, Penelope, as my mother cautioned me and so on since Penelope and Helen were warned by the goddess herself. The Goddess Aphrodite has given you for your family a vial of the fluid, a few of the seeds to replenish it, and a scroll to explain it. You must keep the secret of the plants safe because unknowing souls would trample the plants and their greed would bring death. Say no more than you have been blessed by Aphrodite. This that is given to you is only Aphrodite’s to give so use it only for your family and its descendants. If your family betrays this trust Aphrodite will take away these gifts of her blessing to you for you and your family. So that you may know all I will now give you the translation of the scroll.

My eyes widened as I read the translation of the scroll. The only way that I would know more would to continue reading Great Aunt Montine’s letter.

As you can see now my magic in changing you to Gail was none other than the beauty fluid. That first evening I used 2 drops under your tongue to transform you which was a temporary dose that made you a girl for a month. I began to realize that you were still bound by your male self-image and for you to really experience being a girl I had to intensify your transformation while keeping it well below the 6 drops that would cause a permanent change. The third drop caused you to finish female puberty and feminized your sex drive so that along with a woman’s body and emotions you had a woman’s desires. I told you that in time I would reveal to you the secret and if you had ever asked again for the magic to be performed on you I would have told you all before proceeding.

Let me make my personal recommendations on how you should use it. Using it on females is covered well in the scroll and in all the centuries not one of our ancestors have passed on any recommendation to conflict with the scroll’s 2 drop for first application and 1 drop per year thereafter. There is an oral tradition on using it on males since the scrolls do not say it and we do not know how much absorbed thru the hands by Perseus is equivalent to how much sublingually administered.

Should you desire to cause a man to become a woman temporarily now I would recommend up to a maximum of 4 drops to become a stunningly beautiful woman. Should you decide to cause a man to become a woman permanently use 6 drops for a permanent transformation and a maximum of 2 additional drops to become stunningly beautiful. The fifth drop administered to a male is in unknown territory.

It may intensify and prolong a temporary transformation but more likely it may start a permanent transformation to a pre-pubescent girl - like state.

Remember that as long as a dose is in effect and another is administered then the result is the same as though both were given at the same time.

I do not know of by my own experience or by oral tradition any substance to counter or weaken the effects of the liquid. If you by accident or design take an overdose your only hope is that for you uniquely the limits may really be higher but please do not bet your life on it. There is an oral tradition of only deaths resulting from females overdosing. (A big enough overdose by a male is equivalent for a portion of the dosage will result in transformation to female and thereafter the same conditions apply.)

If you find someone in an overdose situation this is different from the action waiting until sleep. The best method is to not interrupt the sleep cycle and one will either wake extremely beautiful or dead. Not sleeping causes a chain reaction that consumes the body and results in a horrible death so one can’t avoid the consequences by not sleeping.

I put down the letter at that point with still more left to be read. If I administered one drop each year I would retain undiminished that striking beauty given to me by the forced action of Erida by the three who I had sworn Fealty to: Zeus, Hera and Aphrodite.

I now was the guardian of this treasure and I made a mental note to see if I could avoid any mishap with the person that I would pass the box to when my time came. I know that Great Aunt Montine had waited in case a niece was born but passed it on to me when I was reborn as Penelope. I was determined to try to pass it on while I lived and could make the recipient listen before they had been given this fluid which was both medical miracle and poison.

The lateness of the hour began to catch up with me and I began to yawn. I caught myself and realized that I was going to have to make do with what was in the house to get started with tomorrow. I knew that the rest of Great Aunt Montine’s letter would be touching and valuable but I put it aside to go to the cedar chest at the foot of my bed. I removed the contents and a false bottom to reveal a number of keepsakes carefully enclosed in boxes of a variety of shapes sizes and colors.

I found just what I wanted, a baby doll nightie and a pair of matching panties that Great Aunt Montine had been so sweet to give me. Prior to that I had been content to sleep in an oversized T-shirt but she told me that when girls become women lingerie is such a treat for the body and soul. I put them on and turned to the mirror. I was as beautiful as ever and I felt nice.

I looked thru the chest and found a few more items, peeking inside the boxes, that I thought that I could use tomorrow. I replaced the false bottom and filled the chest with its former contents and closed it cherishing the aroma that had wafted from inside. I could no longer fight sleep so I climbed snug into bed wondering what tomorrow would bring.

In my dream, I remembered the miraculous summer when I was 13 that I spent with Great Aunt Montine. I also dreamed that Great Aunt Montine had died. She died of congestive heart failure at the age of 120. Even right before her death she looked like a thirty year old swim suit model. As sweet as she was, no one made Dorian grey jokes about her. Her unnatural appearance seemed to deepen the gulf between her and the rest of the family. The only one of her relations who dared cross that gulf was me so it was no surprise that I was willed all of her vast estate. Even though I realized it was only a dream, I was overcome with grief.

With the grief I was allowed release as I collapsed face down on the bed and erupt into tears. I gave voice with a loud shriek to the sadness that overwhelmed me with Greek words which must have manifest from some genetic memory which I could mentally translate into English.

"Oh my Goddess! I have failed you! Thy handmaiden seeketh thy wisdom and beauty. "

Before I could wonder at my outburst, I felt a hand touch and comfort me.

"Be well my daughter. I have come."

Just the sound of her voice calmed me in spite of the sense of awe that enveloped me. I stopped crying and got up to face her. Before me was the maiden from the field that Perseus met before becoming Penelope. It was Aphrodite herself. I prostrated myself at her feet.

"My Lady! Thy servant listens eager to obey!"

"Child your wisdom does you credit. I bid you rise and we must talk woman to woman, Penelope"

I did as she commanded and looking into her eyes, I found peace. All of the many questions fled from my mind and my thoughts were uncluttered as I listened for her next words.

"You are so like that first Penelope so many years ago. It grieved me that there were none found worth in the female line to carry on my purpose for giving her the vial and the seeds so many years ago. That is until the curse of Erida was removed and you have proven a worthy successor, Penelope "

"My lady, thy handmaiden awaits to do thy bidding."

"I call you to be my priestess and to bring my worship to this present age that has forgotten me. I leave you my gift of the vial and seeds for the female line which you join."

"I have much to learn, My Lady, both of your worship and the ways of women. Let it be unto me according to thy will. What is your bidding, My Lady?"

"First, read the remaining part of your Great Aunt Montine's Letter. It reveals the resources that the sisterhood has accumulated for my bidding from ancient times as well as the records of all which you must know to be my priestess. Second, Go to your Great Aunt Montine's home and learn all it's hidden secrets from your mentor and predecessor. Learn from her as well since she has wisdom commensurate to her years"

"I hear and I will obey all that thou hast said, My Lady."

"I leave you now my daughter, knowing that you will serve me well for many years. Go in my good pleasure!"

For the first time since she appeared with me in the house, I felt compelled to take my eyes off her and glance in the mirror. it brought me joy to think that Aphrodite had blessed and chosen me for such an important undertaking. I quickly turned back to where she had been seconds before and she had vanished.

All I really knew that I had some interesting days as Penelope ahead of me to find out the secrets hidden Great Aunt Montine's house as commanded by Aphrodite. No time like the present to be at it so I looked where I left Aunt Montine's Letter. I held it and read it from the beginning to make sure I hadn’t missed anything in the light of today's revelations. I should have been too mind blown to read anything after coming face to face with Aphrodite but the peace the Goddess bestowed remained with me enabling me to read.