Bella smells it before she sees it. Even underneath all that mud. Even with the rain muting everything into a bland haze, she couldn't possibly miss this. The first and only scent her Imperial handlers specifically trained her to isolate as part of her bodyguard training: the sour, vinegar-soaked note of fear. Redana scrabbles backwards. Bella follows into the space left between them.

The smile falls off her face. Her eyes open in obvious shock. She... she sniffs the air, loudly and deliberately. She shakes her head. No. No! This isn't happening! Why? Why now? She hadn't smelled it at all while they were running from Jas'o, not even while he was putting his boot on the Princess' chest and stomping her into the ground. Why now? Why [i]now?[/i] This isn't how it's supposed to be!

"Princess, stop it. You need to let me clear your airway out before you..."

She reaches out with the characteristic fussiness of home, too late realizing she's done it with her bloody hand. She flinches; Redana smashes her arm on a large sharp rock in her desperation to put space between them. Bella's face skips straight past disappointment. Her eyes narrow. Her fists clench. Her lips curl, showing teeth. The growl builds up in her throat, and it feels louder than the thunder. 

"You... YOU MORON! Don't run from me, you idiot! I'm here to save you, don't you get that? You heard him! You know what he was here to do! A million slaves, Dany! A hundred worlds destroyed, just to spite you! Do you seriously still think you can stop a person like that with a knock on the head and some pretty words? So listen to me! JUST LISTEN!"

The muscles ripple underneath her soaked and dripping fur. Her tail thrashes behind her and every step, be it forward or back, is the dull song of her bells. Water falls in waves upon her. Thoughts turn like gears inside her. They hit her all at once, and she... stops. In mid stride, she stops. Her newest breath is still caught in her lungs, and she stops. Her heart freezes in between beats. And then rushing, changing, twisting all at once, it comes. Her eyes narrow. Her snarl morphs into a nasty smile. Her hands squeeze so tightly that her claws break open her palms and add the drip, drip, drip of her own blood to the deluge washing over her every second.

"...I get it. I see what this is, now. You don't care at all if it's someone like him, do you? Perfect, invincible little Dany out on her magical adventure! But not me. Not me. It's 'cause I'm your servitor. Isn't it? ISN'T IT?! Scrub the floors, do my laundry, cook my food, Bella! No thank you, [i]never[/i] thank you, you don't have to thank the silly maid! Well guess what?! I'm more than that, Redana! I'm so much more! I came here to find you! Me! On my own ship! I sailed across the stars just to find you! I slipped free from Odoacer, [i]I[/i] killed Jas'o, I! Am! Strong! Where's my fucking gratitude, [i]Milady?[/i]" She spits and turns her head sideways, "...And by the way? I dressed myself, too. Not that you think I can, apparently."

Bella stands there, tall as she can be, the grin that splits her face and the gleam that lights her eyes as sharp and wicked as can be. Only her ears are pinned back, and her tail wraps around her legs, which pull close together. She shivers, and if it's from the rush or the cold or from fear, she could not say. She stands. She shivers. Her chest heaves. Some thing or some god stops her from reaching out her hand.

"It's over, Princess. That's enough. You don't belong out here. Let me take you home."

Her voice is strained to breaking with something almost like tears, but which must be the raw effort of stuffing her monster self back into a civil shell. Must be. And the same force that held her hands at her sides steals the word 'please' from her lips.