However, the couple had taken their leave in 1987 “to go forth into the world,” as Matilde put it tearfully, when she had hosted “a huge bash” to say farewell to her “children of the sea.” After that came a number of brief mentions of the hotel’s continuing prosperity, and finally full newspaper and YouTube video coverage of Matilde’s last birthday party, with Welf and Kapetria helping to feed over two hundred guests on a bright sunny afternoon last spring.

These careless home videos maddened Fareed somewhat for what they did not reveal, nevertheless he got his closest glimpse of the faces of Kapetria and Welf and his best taste of their voices. Both spoke perfect accentless English, fielding questions about their mysterious appearance on the California beach years before with polite admissions that they loved being a mystery, and part of local lore and the tales of the amazing health benefits of the area for those who sought out the “B&B” for restorative retreats.

“Well, that’s it, there isn’t anything else,” said Fareed finally. “But it’s obvious, the comparisons to the stories of Garekyn found in a Siberian cave.”

“But how did this woman become part of my company?” said Gregory. “She’s been working for me for years. My security should have caught all this. My security isn’t what…”

“Your company’s security is not the issue at hand,” said Seth in a low voice. “It’s imperative we discover what these beings are because they know about us.”

“I’m not convinced on any of this,” Gregory responded, using his most agreeable tone of voice. “I told you, I have traveled this world,” he insisted politely. “I have been everywhere. I have never seen anything like these beings before, and I trust that there will be some very disappointing explanation for all this, and we’ll soon go back to facing the true important issues that challenge the Court now.”

“And what are those issues, if not our own safety?” asked Seth wearily. “This woman’s been studying you at close hand for years; and using your money for her occult enterprises.”

There seemed some deep gulf between these two that Fareed could sense but not fathom. But it was clear that in some way, Gregory looked down on Seth as the resurrected relic of a primitive age, while considering himself the full expression of what an immortal could be. And Seth regarded Gregory as compromised by the immense energy he put into his identity in the mortal world as the resolute chairman of his chemical empire. At times Seth let slip that he was weary of Gregory’s vanity, and preoccupation with worldly power. Seth had no need to be known or loved by mortals. Far from it. But Gregory seemed very much dependent on the adulation of thousands.