I have a problem that I cannot explain
I have no reason why it should have been so plain
Have no questions but I sure have excuses
I lack the reason why I should be so confused

I, I know, how I feel when I'm around you
I don't know, how I feel when I'm around you
Around you

Rozemyne rubbed her temple as her aides opened the door to her office for her. Any visible sign on her face had been healed with magic, but that didn't help the headache she got from lack of sleep. She hadn't been able to rest at all that night, tossing around as she either mulled over the events of the previous day or drifted off to sleep just to start having dreams involving herself, Ferdinand and all sort of sleep-depriving things.

After eating and preparing for bed, exhaustion quickly got the best of her and she fell asleep straight away. She dreamed to be in front of the gods, but this time Ferdinand was with her. When he got asked by Sterrat if he wanted to marry her, he started running his fingertips from her arm to her back to her lower back, saying that he couldn't wait anymore to dye her. She and Ferdinand were then suddenly back on his bed, already married, and Dregarnuhr was taunting Ferdinand saying he shouldn't be so eager, since he had already completely dyed her. Despite having the gods and their retainers as an audience, Ferdinand didn't shy away and, while caressing her lips with his thumb and holding her close with his other hand, he kissed her.

The imagined touch of his lips on hers made her wake up with a start. Her heart was beating like crazy and her lips were actually missing the feeling she had experienced in her dream. It took her a while to convince herself that she was alone on her own bed, with no retainers, no gods ...and no Ferdinand. His absence left her with a strange mix of feelings: relief and longing, desire and repulsion, as if she wasn't already confused enough.

Her body felt a distinctive pull toward him, her lips in particular seemed to be very displeased with the interruption of her dream. But the idea of being attracted to Ferdinand felt somehow wrong to her, as if she was breaking some taboo. She wouldn't go as far as to say it was like being attracted to her own father -she had never seen Ferdinand as a father, and besides, three fathers were already enough- but it still felt equally wrong.

But was she really attracted to Ferdinand? Couldn't be that she was simply going through puberty and her body just wanted to experience certain things? It happened to her when she was Urano, as well. She had no one she would call special to her back then -not even a popular actor, an idol or whatever, as she was always immersed in a book after another- but at some point she had been curious about what it would feel like to kiss somebody, touch and be touched, to have sex. Even as a teenager, though, she had dismissed that natural call as just a curiosity spurred by all the novels she had read. Besides, even leaving aside her unpopularity with boys, finding herself a boyfriend to explore that call would have been just a waste of reading time.

Maybe she was going through the same phase as Rozemyne, with the only difference that in this life there was someone special to her, so her teenager's desire had found a specific target in Ferdinand. Still, things felt very awkward. Had their relationship been a novel, they would already be at the last page, where the couple had gotten married and the two were about to 'live happily ever after', yet she felt like she was at the very beginning of the story, when the heroine had yet to figure out she was in love with the hero -well, in her case, if she was in love with the hero. She had no doubt the hero of her story was Ferdinand, but was it really a love story? If that was the case, it was all jumbled and out of pace... On top of that, her complete lack of experience from her previous life -not even an unrequited love- left her with no means to find her way.

She was utterly lost in the middle of the ocean with no landmark, no compass and not even the Sun or the stars to navigate.

The fact that she somehow did consider Ferdinand as 'special' was an ulterior source of confusion. The way she felt for him had not really changed since her time as a blue shrine maiden. Ferdinand was her mentor, the one who protected her, scolded her, gave her unreasonable tasks, manipulated her to get what he wanted, praised her when she worked very, very hard, gave her gyu when she was feeling down. He was the one that pushed her past the edge and the safety net that infallibly saved her when everything and everyone else couldn't. He was all those things and many more, his presence in her life was so overwhelming that it was utterly impossible for her to imagine living without him... and yet, none of the roles he had in her life had an ounce of romance in them. She couldn't even say that she considered him as her best friend, and even getting engaged to him was something that happened by chance.

Despite it, her body went and started yearning for him.

Was it just lust, maybe? She had read somewhere that after a scary experience, it was easy to mistake the excitement due to fear for arousal, and erroneously think to be attracted to someone. And well... it was true that she had never been so scared as when she had seen him disappear, not even when she had seen that man turn into a feystone in front of her; that had been shocking and had actually given her a phobia, but the gut-wrenching despair Ferdinand's disappearance had caused was on a whole another level. To make a comparison, the first was like one of those high ocean waves the surfers were so fond of, while the latter was the Tohoku tsunami.

'I need to calm down and rationalize that feeling,' she reasoned, 'then maybe this attraction I'm feeling toward Ferdinand will go away...'

Though... that made her feel guilty. The only thing Ferdinand had ever openly showed desire for, she was going to deny it. She had been ready to give up her life for him, had accepted the Star Knot without missing a beat, as it was just anticipating something that would happen anyway... but she couldn't bring herself to even think about being intimate with him. Think... Because what her body wanted -or seemed to want- was another story...

~~ 'I'm just happy that you're not... completely against the idea of being his Geduldh.' ~~

Justus' words came back to her mind, giving her pause. Could he be right? Could it be that a part of her didn't dislike the idea of being Ferdinand's lover? Rather, considering her dream and the sensations it left behind... shouldn't she be a little more honest and say that a part of her wanted to be his?

Rationally speaking, she was never going to find a man that loved and cherished her more than him. Nor she could ever hope to find someone who excelled in everything as he did, even in the looks department -although, he should really try relaxing his facial expression. And well, since she was trying to be rational... if she ever wanted to have children, Ferdinand was the one and only man in the whole Yurgenschmidt who had enough mana for her to be able to conceive.

He was the closest to perfection a girl could ever hope to find, the incarnation of the knight in shining armor, the sage, the musician... But then, why did the idea of being his lover seem so utterly wrong?

She sighed loudly. She was very tired and badly needed to sleep, but her mind kept running in circles thanks to a certain Demon King and her own treacherous body. With a sudden movement, she threw away the covers and stood up. She had to clear her head and sleep if she wanted to be able to go back to the house of Lords in the morning, so she decided to go for a chilly tour of her balcony. Alexandria's climate was much warmer than Ehrenfest's, but not so warm that it would feel pleasant to go outside, on a winter night, clad only in her bedclothes.

As soon as she stepped foot outside, the crisp air of the night gave her goosebumps all over her body, making her instinctively hug herself. She fast-walked to the railing, deeply inhaling the sea breeze and trying to make out the outline of the sea, faintly illuminated by the border. She had seen the daily view many times, but thanks to the cultural resistance to a lady going outside at night -even just on the balcony- this was the first time she was seeing the stars reflected on the sea.

In her previous life, those few times she had lifted her nose up from a book and watched the stars, there was always so much artificial light that the stars looked like a few sparkly dots scattered here and there. In this world, though, especially on a moonless night such as this one, it was difficult to find a spot of the sky that wasn't enlightened by stars.

It surely was a sight to behold. For the first time in two lives, her mind had an inkling of the magnificence of the cosmos.

A shiver ran down her spine, caused both by awe and the chilly temperature. She quickly went back inside, thinking that Ferdinand would be mad if she were to catch a fever from staying outside at night. Maybe next time they should prepare appropriate clothing and stargaze together. She wondered how far had astronomy progressed in Yurgenschmidt, if they had constellations based on myths just like on Earth, if Ferdinand was also an astro-

She stopped in the middle of the thought. Wasn't she trying to clear her mind from thoughts of Ferdinand?

Grumbling under her breath, she reached the bed and got herself under the covers, still warm from before. The outside trip seemed to pay out, as the fatigue from the previous days, combined with the warmth, made her quickly fall back asleep.

She dreamed again. This time she was in a place that could have been the literature club of her high school. The advisor teacher, a young man with light blue hair loosely tied behind his nape, black-rimmed glasses hiding light golden eyes and a white turtleneck, was reading aloud a book about the constellations and the ancient myths they were related to.

She found herself staring at the man as he spoke with emphasis of Perseus killing Medusa and petrifying the whale with the wand of Verführenmeer to save Andromeda, of the great hunter Orion who was killed by a Scorpion sent by the god of hunting Schlageziel, of Hikoboshi and Orihime separated by a river created by Flutrane. His words and the myths themselves were mostly lost to her, because her mind was too occupied with the image of his hand holding the book, the movements of the other hand that he used to emphasize the stories, the subtle way his hair fluttered as his head moved, the unbelievable sexiness of his turtleneck clinging to his lean but solid body...

That man was hot. An irresistible mix between a bright mind, vast knowledge, a deep voice, an handsome face, a sexy body and who knew how many other good points.

She could hear her clubmates -sitting around tables as if having a tea party- squealing, ogling at him, fainting. Some knights brought the defeated young women to the nurse's office. Next to her, her classmate Elvira in her school uniform was writing furiously on a notepad while waving her Schtappe.

The lesson ended with Ferdinand-sensei embracing his guitar and singing a story about the queen of Egypt Berenice, who sacrificed her beautiful midnight hair as an offering to the gods after she managed to save her husband through the Ditter. As the surviving club members fell one after another, the sensei-turned-singer fixed his heated gaze on her, wordlessly expressing his raging desire. She stared back, mesmerized by the intensity in his eyes, and when the song was over the distance between them had shrunk almost to nothing, as they were both standing in front of her desk.

His eyes never leaving hers, he touched her ribs with his fingertips, tracing down the sides of her body until his open palms were caressing her hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers into his hair. Suddenly, she felt his hands grab her tights and lift her up until her bottom was resting on the table. Her open legs on both sides of him, he dove his head to give her an open-mouthed kiss as he ground his erection against her feminine core, covered only by her thin, Earth-style panties.

A moment later she found herself staring at the canopy's top, once again saved from and deprived of Ferdinand's ministrations.

"Was... was that really Ferdinand?" she asked to the empty room.

No, she rationalized, that Ferdinand was just the product of her treacherous mind, but... did he really have the potential to be that hot? The Demon King, the one with the perpetually blank face... could that person really be so devastatingly sexy?

She swallowed hard, feeling that all her sensations were tangled together in her lower abdomen. 'Am I... horny?'

After a brief moment of hesitation, she moved one hand down to her throbbing core. She couldn't even reach it, though, because when her finger moved over her pubis, the slight pressure was enough to send a jolt through her whole body. She quickly moved her hand away, as if she had inadvertently dipped it in acid. Such a strong reaction, just by grazing the outer part of it? Was that normal? Did people really chase sensations so intense and so scary?

Once again, she cursed her old self for her lack of interest in such matters that left her current self so lost.

Her body was asking for more, but she felt too frightened and disoriented to do anything. What scared her the most, though, was not her body's reaction -she never expected anything of that magnitude, but she still knew that genital stimulation would have an impact on her- but the knowledge that she could feel so aroused because of Ferdinand! A dream of Ferdinand!

The one she had declared with finality she would be family for!

What kind of woman was she? Would she be dreaming of having sex with her father next?

An image of a topless Gunther with a smut expression found its way in her mind. "No! No! NO! AAAH!" She nearly jumped out of the bed. It was only his upper body, but she was not going to wait until her mind formed the rest of the image!

She activated the light magic tools in the room, frantically searching for anything to do to keep her mind occupied. Reading would be the best option, but in her greediness she had all the books she usually kept in her room (mostly study materials) brought to the House of Lords, and going to the library at night was not an option. The balcony... rejected, least she wanted a repetition of the previous dream. Ferdinand's cloak to embroider... rejected, she'd rather do something that would not make her think of him. The Harspiel... rejected, only Rosina would approve of her practicing in the dead of night. Reversi... rejected, it would make her think of him, plus it was no fun to play alone...

"Alone? A solitaire!"

She quickly went to retrieve the cards, beautifully made in the paper that Lutz and the others had developed in Illgner. Thinking of Lutz, she wondered if he and her family had heard anything about Ferdinand's disappearance or her going to meet a goddess, and for a moment pondered whether to write a letter to reassure them. A family picture -including Ferdinand, of course, but also Lutz, Benno, Mark- came back to her head, making her smile fondly.

Next thing she knew, Ferdinand was wearing an illegally sexy turtleneck, her father was shirtless, and she didn't even know about the other men, because she had already cast a Vaschen to her own head to wash her eyes and clear her mind of that image.

Setting the cards back, she went for her hidden room, where she had some sleeping pills. The ones that made you sleep like a log for a bell, then wake up with a nightmare. She had always thought they were a perverse way to get rest, but desperate situations called for desperate measures. She went back to her bed and took the pill, anticipating the chance to sleep without having sexy dreams.

And her sleep was indeed sexy-free, but the nightmare she had really made her regret choosing the sleeping pill instead of overwhelming embarrassment, for she dreamed the only thing she had wished to never have to face again: Ferdinand had disappeared, but this time there were no gods calling her and no threads to repair, only that insanity-inducing despair due to the knowledge that the most important person in the world for her had vanished into thin air... Not even died, vanished... And just like his physical body disappeared, even the memories in everybody else's mind were disappearing one after another... Her own memories of him...

She woke up just to find she was crying her eyes out and snot was running down her nose. Elvira would probably disown her if she were to see her right now, but the thought didn't give her the strength to compose herself, rather, it made more and more tears fall down. And that was how Amelie, one of her few adult attendants and former Ahrensbach, found her when she opened the canopy of the bed.

"Milady!" she called out, surprised and alarmed to see her in such a state.

"Ferdinand... Is Ferdinand safe?" Rozemyne breathlessly asked as soon as she saw her, still crying.

The aide looked at her, not really sure how to answer. The previous afternoon she had been suddenly informed by an Ordonnantz from Hartmut that their mistress had returned from meeting Dregarnuhr and would probably soon return to Alexandria. Shortly after, Justus sent her another Ordonnantz saying she would have to prepare Lady Rozemyne for bed after dinner -although for some reason she had come to eat in her chamber- but as Lady Rozemyne was not in the mood to talk, the only thing she knew was that Lord Ferdinand was safe.

"As far as I know, nothing happened during the night, Milady. Lord Justus would have sent word if some problem had arisen." Amelie said

Rozemyne took in her words. They made sense, but things could often go wrong in ways that one would never be able to foresee. For instance "...what if Ferdinand suddenly died and Justus didn't have the time to say anything because he died as well?"

Amelie frowned. "Milady, even if I am your attendant, you shouldn't let people know who gave their names to who so freely..."

"Ah..." Rozemyne brought an hand in front of her mouth, realizing her blunder. "...sorry."

"It's not me you have to apologize to..." Amelie contemplated her charge, who was looking at her with a messy face and eyes begging for reassurance. If something had happened to Lord Ferdinand and she held his name -something very likely, in Amelie's opinion- she might have picked the change in his magical power -thus explaining why she was such a mess. Still, it was too far-fetched to think that nobody managed to inform her because everyone in his entourage had shared the same fate. Her desperation had been caused by nothing more than a bad dream -which was understandable, considering that he had been about to disappear- but Amelie somehow doubted that simple reasoning would be enough to calm her.

"I suppose the only way for you to make sure is to personally check on Lord Ferdinand... I'll ask-" "Wait!" having been abruptly interrupted, Amelie stared at her charge. Did she not want to know how her betrothed was doing?

Seeing her aide's questioning look, Rozemyne stared back at her for a while, not sure herself why she had stopped the older woman. She wanted to make sure Ferdinand was all right -she needed it- but still she didn't feel brave enough to face him. She was surely going to embarrass herself one way or another if she were to see him with the memories of the night before and of her dreams still so vivid. So, she tried to explain -or rather, tried to make up an excuse that made sense without revealing what kind of dreams she had been having.

"This whole ordeal must have been very tiring for Ferdinand and everyone else... I'd rather not bother them, I've calmed down already..."

"Milady, you'd be much more convincing if tears weren't still falling down your eyes..."

"Ah..." Rozemyne brought an hand to her eyes, confirming she was still crying. She took a deep breath and cast a Vashen over her face, using that short time to try and calm herself. "See? I'm okay!" she declared, as more tears were pooling in her eyes.

Amelie sighed. "Milady, did something happen between you and Lord Ferdinand? That's why you don't want to see him despite you being so obviously not okay?" she stressed the last part to make her understand she wouldn't be able to fool a three-years old with that act.

Rozemyne looked at her aide. So much had happened between her and Ferdinand that she wouldn't be able to pick were to start even if she wanted to talk about it -and she surely didn't. In cases like this, 'smile and deceive' was the only course of action. At least, she hoped the thing she had plastered on her face looked like a smile and not like a grimace. "Nothing happened, I just don't want to be a bother."

'So she says with the grimace of someone who stepped on a sea urchin...' thought Amelie. She decided to probe one last time to know what her charge really wanted to do, as that was her job as an attendant, and if she kept saying she didn't want to check on him, then it would be her job as an attendant to drop the subject. That is, if the mistress says that the sky is red, sometimes you have to play along.

"So you are no longer worried about Lord Ferdinand?"

Rozemyne flinched. Of course she was still worried, but it was not the role she was currently playing. Smile and deceive, smile and deceive. "Yeah, it was just a bad dream... As you said, if there had been a problem someone would have told us."

Amelie off-handedly noticed that her charge really needed to improve her acting skills, but she pretended to be convinced nonetheless. "If you are fine, then I'm going to finish preparing the bath." as soon as she was facing the other way, she added, in a overly dramatic tone to make sure the Aub would understand she was dropping an hint "Ah! If only Milady held Lord Ferdinand's name, it would be so easy for her to make sure he's safe..."

Rozemyne's eyebrows shot up. Amelie was right, she had a way to make sure about Ferdinand's condition without having to interact with him! Good thing he refused to take back his name yesterday...

Now she could satisfy her need to know he was safe, she only had to ...uh ...do what, exactly? Did she need to materially hold his stone? Or maybe concentrating on his magical power was enough? Should she search on the Book of Mestionora? No, no... Amelie won't take long to prepare the bath, and if she started reading she would surely wast- use up all the time she had.

Concentrating on his magical power seemed the safest choice, and so she did. She tried searching for it, but she wasn't even sure where she should search. In the direction of his chamber? Inside herself? Probably the second, otherwise she wouldn't be able to check on him if they were too far apart. Wait, did it mean that she could check on him even from the House of Lords? If that were the case, it would be a very handy trick...

She searched inside her magical power, still not sure on what exactly she had to concentrate. At some point she felt a power extraneous to hers and, with some effort, she recognized it had all attributes, but on an unconscious level she felt it was not Ferdinand's, so she pondered it must have been Eglantine's. She kept searching and, as her concentration increased, she was able to feel what she guessed were Hartmut and Clarissa, then her mednoble retainers, but she didn't manage to find Ferdinand's magical power.

She started to get anxious. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't the strongest magical power be felt before every other? She tried to concentrate again, but somehow it crossed her mind that their colors might be so similar that she couldn't even tell him apart from herself. Which in turn gave her pause: what kind of sappy thing was it, befitting the most sugary lovey-dovey couples?

She shook her head. It wasn't the time to get embarrassed.

What if she tried to send him a little mana, just like she did when Dietlinde had him trapped in Ahrensbach foundation? That time she was holding his stone in her hands, but at least she knew what to do, so it should be easier than trying things blindly. She imagined sending him a little mana, and was finally able to find and feel him. Relief washed over her as he seemed to be safe -alive, and exsisting, at the very least. She held one hand on her heart, as if Ferdinand himself was there and she could touch him, hold him close.

She was starting to see the advantages of holding onto her beloved's name. Besides...

~~ 'You can't ask me to go back to a life without you, Rozemyne.' ~~

...for the first time since she had known about name dedications, she had been able to relate to the feelings of someone willingly giving his name, to know what really made Ferdinand want her to practically hold his life in her hands. Although, while she was happy to be able to understand what went through Ferdinand's heart, becoming familiar with such a mindset felt also a little scary to her.

Amelie poked her head from behind the canopy. Her mistress had a much more relaxed expression, she must have been able to confirm Lord Ferdinand was safe and sound. She felt a little bad for suggesting her to do something that confirmed she was holding her betrothed's name, but an Aub couldn't be possibly seen crying like that. Later she'd have to bribe Justus into giving her more details.

"Milady, the bath is ready." the girl looked at her, smiled politely, then moved to leave the bed only to suddenly bring both hands to her cheeks, as if she was embarrassed. 'What now?' wondered Amelie.

As she set her feet in her slippers, Rozemyne stopped dead in her track. '...Didn't I just think of Ferdinand as my beloved?"

After that, mused Rozemyne as she entered the office, she must have had a processing error just like Ferdinand did when she explained revolutionary concepts to him. She had absolutely no recollection of what led from Amelie telling her that the bath was ready to her sitting in front of her table while Olivie, another adult aide, served her breakfast. She marveled at how used she must have gotten to being dressed by others if she could go through the whole process without even realizing.

"Lady Rozemyne!"

The overjoyed voice of Hartmut broke her out of her reverie. Rozemyne noticed his pleased smile as the young man stood from his seat and rushed to kneel in front of her, praising Dregarnuhr for giving them the chance to meet. He kept rambling, throwing this or that god in the picture as he was probably declaiming how marvelous she was for some reason or another. ...When did it start? Since when had she taken the habit of blocking Hartmut's rambling out just like she skipped all the unending strings of euphemisms in her mother's books? Rozemyne did her best not to sigh. She had done her best to finish breakfast as soon as possible so she could fill the foundation and go away without meeting Ferdinand and embarrassing herself, she wasn't going to waste time listening to Hartmut's ramblings. Not to mention, she lacked the mental fortitude needed to do it.

Raising an hand, Rozemyne stopped him. "I'm glad to see you as enthusiastic as ever, Hartmut, but I really didn't do anything heroic, I was just trying to get back someone important to me... Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to fill the foundation and return to the house of Lords before the 'best student' title is taken from me for the second year in a row..." she mentally complimented herself for coming up with the excuse on the spot. Not that she would really mind the title... it would please Ferdinand and earn her his praise, after all.

"About that..." Hartmut started, then paused as his eyes briefly wandered to a point behind her. Before his mistress could start suspecting his behavior, he resumed "...please do your best, Lady Rozemyne! A random student must not be allowed to best the incarnation of Mestionora herself!" he concluded, with his usual emphasis.

'Did he just call Lord Ortovine a random student?' Rozemyne wondered. She would surely get scolded if she called an Aub candidate from the third ranked duchy 'a random student', it was unfair nobody would scold him. ...Wait... as his mistress, shouldn't she be the one to do it? '...how bothersome... ...and time-consuming... He can get away with it for all I care...'

"Sure..." was all she said before walking to the supply room and disappearing within it.

The quoted song is
"Roulette", System of a down, Steal this album (2002)

As for the myths Ferdinand tells during the dream:
Perseus killed Medusa, the monster with a human body and snakes for hair, using a mirror, so that he could see her but her petrifying glare wouldn't hit him directly and he wouldn't turn to stone. He cut off her head and kept it with him. (Monster's body parts probably do not rot...)
Andromeda was the princess of Ethiopia, daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus. Her mother was so sure of their beauty that she declared not even the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Nereus, could compete with them. This angered Poseidon who sent Cetus, the whale, to wreak havoc to Ethiopia. An oracle predicted that only the sacrifice of Andromeda could placate Cetus, but when she was chained to a rock near the sea, Perseus saw her and, after asking her to marry him in exchange for her life, he used his un-rotten Medusa's head to petrify Cetus and save the princess. As punishment, Poseidon sent Cassiopeia in the sky.

Orion was a giant, beautiful, supernaturally strong and skilled at hunting. There are many different version of the story. In Roman mythology he was born of a bull's skin on which Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury had urinated (hence Orion, formerly Urion, from 'urinae'); he was such a skilled hunter that Diana, the goddess of the Moon and of hunting, made him a ministry of her cult. Apollo, her brother and god of the Sun, was worried and jealous of her love for the giant and sent a scorpion to kill him (in other version, he tricked Diana and had her kill the giant with an arrow).
In Greek mythology he was the son of Poseidon and Euryale, a Gorgon. Blinded for having courted the wrong girl, he later fell in love with Eos, goddess of dawn, when she made him regain his sight (in another version he meet her after Hephaestus gave him two 'new' eyes). Being a good hunter, Artemis, the goddess of the moon and hunting, often went hunting with him, fell in love, but was rejected because Orion -he said- was faithful to Eos. When Artemis later discovered that Orion had fallen for the Pleiades, the seven daughter of Atlas (I wonder how did he manage to get their mother pregnant while he was busy holding the Earth...), Artemis sent the scorpion to kill Orion.

Hikoboshi and Orihime are probably know to who reads manga. Orihime was the daughter of the sky king Tentei and the most skilled weaver. She wove everyday by the river Amanokawa (the Milky way) but was lonely because she could not meet anyone and fall in love. His father arranged a marriage with Hikoboshi, a cowherd from the other side of the river. The two fell immediately in love and married shortly after, but started to neglect their work. Tentei, angry, separated them, but was later moved by his daughter's tears and allowed them to meet once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. Incidentally, they can reach each others because a flock of magpies creates a bridge for them.

Berenice was a real -not mythological- queen of Egypt, wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes. When her husband was departing for the third Syrian war, she vowed to sacrifice her hair, whose beauty was known to everyone, to the gods if he came back safe and sound. The hair were dedicated to Aphrodite and placed in her temple, but the next morning the court astronomer, Conon, said the hair had disappeared and that someone with an hair-fetish stole them they had been placed in the sky by Aphrodite.