“So what,” Redana starts to snap, digging alfalfa out of the pancakes with her fork, “Mother decided I needed some [i]clowns?[/i]”

Then, again, she stops, and considers what she’s said after she’s said it. She looks at Mynx again, properly, and puts the fork down with a sigh. “No,” she says. “She decided I needed [i]friends.[/i] I’m sorry, Mynx. It’s just that... I never would have seen this side of you or Bella if I hadn’t left. You would have fooled me the whole time, and I never would have seen how much Bella [i]really[/i] hated me, or the lengths you’d go to just to keep me safe and miserable in my little cage. And I would have thought everything was fine.”

Around them, the ten thousand nameless noises of the ship as it is stressed by the rigors of travel, slingshotted towards their next destination. The sound of pancakes, chewed. The sounds, too quiet to hear, of the body: the beating heart, the rush of blood, the flutter of breath in and out of the lungs.

“I’m surprised Bella hasn’t jumped out yet with a straitjacket and an ELF,” Redana jokes, trying to plaster over that ache. “Is she too busy chasing Alexa around and lecturing her over letting me run off with her?” And she almost hides it. Almost. Almost manages not to glance over at the door, not sure if she is scared Bella will walk in or [i]needs[/i] Bella to walk in and be coaxed into trying the pancakes, too.

[Redana Claudius flexes her Wisdom for once and rolls a [b]12.[/b] She would like to ask two questions, to be answered truthfully: what can Mynx tell Redana about Bella’s secret heart; and what does Mynx want now, and how can Redana help her?]