Alcinas mouth was wide open when the woman had finished. For a moment she was unable to move or to catch a clear thought. Honey? She never was a fan of this sweet substans. Too sticky for her liking and way too sweet. Bela liked honey, she said that she liked the moment, when it touched her tongue and the sweet floral taste unfolded in her mouth. No one ever had compared her eyes to honey. Some said they looked like gold, others thought of amber when they looked at her eyes and she herself? She did not know. There were moments when she asked herself why humans were so attracted to her eyes, but she never thought about what her eyes looked like.
The lady shook her head, trying to organize her thoughts. She clapped in her hands and soon after that a maiden entered the room. She looked a bit surprised to see a stranger laying in the bathtub of her Countess. "Y-You asked for me, my lady?", she asked looking in the bathtub with wide eyes. Alcina could feel how her heartbeat quickened. "No need to worry.",she noted in a strict tone, "She is alive. I want you to get her out of there. Dress her in new clothing and bring her to the chambers near the bathhouse. If you need help, ask another maiden." As soon as she had made her order clear, she stood up, looking down at the maiden who still looked like she was petrified. "Y-Yes, my lady. It will be done right away."

When Alcina entered one of the rooms made for wine tastings, she was greeted by her three daughters, who sat around the table. They wanted to stand up, but Alcina guestured them to remain sitting while she reached out for one of the wine glasses prepared on the table. She poured herself a glass of wine and sat down. No one talked for a moment. The three of them waited patiently for her mother to speak first, but it seemed like she was in deep thoughts. Bela decided to break the uncomfortable silence. She cleared her throat with a soft tone and started talking. "Mother, I don't want to disturb you in your thoughts, but may I ask you how the young woman is doing?", she was careful and tried to not sound like someone who tried to hide his interest. When Alcina Dimitrescu was captured in her own thoughts it definitely meant that something was up and the fact that she seemed to ignore her oldest daughter, made the other two even more tense. Daniela was sitting still, her head was hanging down and she stared at her hands which she had folded in her lap. Cassandra on the other hand was a bit hippy which made her look like an impatient child who wanted nothing more, but to play after dinner, but had to remain sitting until everyone was finished.

Lady Alcina took a sip of the red wine, took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. She had to admit to herself, that the young woman's words were sticking in her head, together with the question: "Why is she not afraid of me?" The Countess knew about the effect she had on most of the humans. Men tended to find her very pleasant for their eyes, because of her body and her ... eyes, but at the same time they would be terrified, because of her height and her dominant, determining voice. She liked that, to be honest. The fear gleamed in their eyes when they tried to run away, their rising heartbeats and the slightly opened mouths when they saw her for the first time. She was so used to the fear surrounding her, so used to the panic in the eyes of the maidens, so used to being respected by everyone without exception. The calm gaze of the woman and her unexpected answer were, however, nearly the complete opposite of all that. There was no fear, no panic, no rising heartbeat, just calmness. Maybe she was still too dizzy to realize that Alcina was indeed no human being, yet her answer to her question was as clear as a crystal.

"She was awake for a few moments.", she finally said and placed the empty glass on the wooden table in front of her. "Did she say something?", Daniela asked, looking up from her hands. "Did she try to run away?", Cassandra asked with a wide smile and got a very dangerous look from her mother. Alcina turned to her youngest and said after a short silence: "No, she did not say anything. She just looked around and fell back into unconsciousness. I decided that she will be our quest for some time, what equals to: no harm will happen to her, understood?", she looked directly at Cassandra who crossed her arms in front of her chest, a disapproving expression on her face, but she said nothing. "Yes mother.", Daniela and Bela answered like well-behaved children. "Very well.", Dimitrescu smiled at her daughters and stood up. "I wish not to be disdurbed until dinner. Send me a maiden with a cup of tea, would you?", she determined while bending down to fit through the door. Again she heard all of the children agreeing: "Yes, mother."

With light crackling the fire in the fireplace came to live, sheathing the wood in its hot flames, growing big and strong. She watched the dancing flames from her old red armchair, the open book in her lap and a cup of tea in her right hand. The wind was blowing restless, making a howling sound, filling the long corridors of the castle. She was not in her bedroom chambers, but in the room next to her bathhouse. It was a large room whose walls were white like perls and decorated with golden flower ornaments. A king sized bed with red curtains, too small for her, was on one side and a closet with a dark wooden desk on the other, the floor was made of white marble and a large red, very expensive, carpet laid in front of the bed and in this bed, dressed in a light, white nightgown the young woman slept peacefully. The blue tone had vanished and left nothing, but flawless, pale skin behind. Her hair was still a bit wet, but the maidens had braided it. A rose gold-colored ribbon prevented them from falling apart. 

The Countess rose from her seating and continued reading. Sometimes she just had to move a bit, especially when she was feeling so restless like now. "Flore arescet", she read in the book, carefully turning the page. 

Also known as "The disease of the rose", Flore arescet was a sickness from the middle ages. It was said that when a human being came across a red rose, which shined like rubies in the sunlight and pricked itself, an awful sickness would spread within their body, making them hallucinate. Unfortunately, the hallucinations would be the most pleasant thing for the damned human. It was said that on cold winter days the skin of them would become a beautiful royal blue and they would turn to stone... 

Alcina stopped reading when the woman started to move again. Carefully she sat down and watched her body moving until she finally opened her silver eyes. A few seconds she stared into nothing, then turning her head to Alcinas side. She took a sip of her tea, when their gazes met. Both of them were frozen for the fraction of a second. Gold met silver, sunlight met moonlight, but it was different this time. The Lady suddenly had a problem to swallow her tea. 

She smiled warmly at the young woman. "Good evening again.", she said calmly. The woman smiled back at her. "Good evening, my lady.", she answered, her voice being more soft and pleasing this time. She straightend up, placed her hand on her forehead and softly rubbed it. "Do you have an headache?", lady Dimitrescu asked her guest. She nodded lightly. "May I offer you a cup of tea, dear?",Alcina offered, placing her own cup to the little table beside her armchair. The womans eyes began to glow with delight. "Yes please. That would be very polite of you." Alcina rose and went to another the desk beside the closet. Another cup of tea as well as a teapot decorated with floral paintings was standing there peacefully. As Alcina poured the lovely smelling tea into the cup the asked: "Do you need sugar or milk or anything else?" After a short pause, she seemed to think about it, she answered with an angels voice: "I would love a bit of honey please."

Honey? The Countess froze for a moment, nearly pouring tea over the edge of the cup. She was relieved to know that her back was facing the woman, so she would not see her surprised facial expression. "Of course.", she said and turned to a little bell, hanging near the door and rang it. Maybe she had forgotten what she had said to her  about her eyes.

Nearly immediately a maiden opened the door and bowed before her Countess. "A glass of honey please.", she ordered. "Yes, my lady." Alcina turned around again, facing her guest. "While we wait how about introducing each other?" The lady sat once again. "My name is Alcina Dimitrescu. I am the Countess of this castle and who are you, dear~?", she tried to hide how curious she was. "It is nice to meet you, lady Alcina Dimitrescu. I would love to tell you my name, but I am afraid I do not remember it." Alcina leaned back in her armchair. "Oh. Well, then let's give you a new name, shall we dear?" She observed the woman in front of her. Her small waist, her curves, her pretty face, the silver eyes, the blonde hair. The tall lady crossed her legs elegantly while thinking about all kind of names.
A careful knock at the door interrupted the silence between the two. "Come on in." The maiden entered the room. Alcina pointed at the cup of tea and then at the nameless woman. Very carefully not wanting to make any mistakes, the maiden took the cup and placed both the cup and the honey on the bedside table. After that she bowed again to her Countess and left.

Alcina watched her taking the spoon, dipping it into the orange liquid, turning it around and then letting the honey drop into her tea. "That's what my eyes look like?", she thought to herself while looking at the sticky, shimmering substance. "I do not know if you remember, but earlier you said my eyes look like honey. Why that?" The smile on the womans face lighted up as she drank a bit of her sweet tea. "I remember it very well, Madame. You see...", she looked around and pointed at the golden ornaments, "Gold shines not as close as beautiful as honey. When you look closely this gold has a dark lackluster shimmer. It makes it look old and heavy while honey in the other hand...", she grabbed the Glas and turned it slowly in her hands. The orange light of the fire went through it and made it look exquisite, elegant, light. "You see the difference, my lady? Honey does look more like liquid gold, than actual gold does. It has a unique glow and this glow is what makes your eyes so incredibly beautiful, like a rare, rare gemstone.",she put the glass back down and drank from her tea like nothing happend.

Alicna was stunned, her ability to seem calm and relaxed at any time seemed to have disappeared into thin air. She stared at the clam woman for a moment than eventually said: "I know how I call you. Melisande. [spoken without the >e<] ", her voice sounded distracted. "What does this name mean?", Melisande asked, taking another sip. Alcina looked at the glass and said: "Honey, dear. I means honey."