Redana sits, awkwardly, in the palanquin, with its protective curtains[1]. Once again, she’s where her mother (the goddess) once sat: listening to her generals and advisors argue about an impossible situation. The difference is that Nero/Hermes/Mommy would see through the attempt to trick her. She’d just flex her brain and everything would fall into place; she wouldn’t just see right away what the plan was, she would see the pieces of the trap and know how to take them apart.

But there’s nothing but sand trickling through her thoughts. The procession winds its way across the sands of Sahar, and there’s no way for her to see if Bella’s down there among them, as companion or prisoner, trophy or sacrifice.

She needs to say something. She needs to make some royal pronouncement. She needs to show that she’s not useless. But her thoughts keep slipping, impossible to hold onto. Tumbling down into the dark. Into the Rift. Into oblivion.

When two stray thoughts finally clash strongly enough to cause a spark, she latches onto it, and turns to Lacedo of First Fleet, whose outfit is… interesting[2]. “She’s expecting us to go for the [i]Plousios,[/i]” she whispers. “Because she’s left it unguarded. But that’s a trap! She might have left commandos inside, or set the reactor to blow remotely, or any number of things! So we need to land our shuttles between her and the [i]Plousios,[/i] but not [i]too[/i] close!”

And the princess sits back, relaxing her shoulders ever so slightly, relieved that she came up with [i]something[/i] useful to say, while Lacedo raises her voice and speaks on Redana’s behalf to everyone outside the palanquin[3].

Hang on, Bella. She’s coming.

***

[1]: not because they are armored. They are simple, everyday curtains. But it’s best to have redundancies in play to make it easier on Alexa.

[2]: it’s very… colorful. And jingly. And there’s so, um. Well! Not a lot of it! And Lacedo keeps picking at it and adjusting it and then leaning closer to Redana and it’s not [i]helping[/i] with trying to think! Is it some sort of Alcedi fashion? Or did she pick something up from the Azura? And why in all the worlds was she wearing it while stuck in a palanquin with [i]Redana[/i] of all people, with nobody to look at how she’s showing off? Because as it is, Redana’s the only person to get to see it and, um! Well!! Um!!! Can she really be blamed for having her thoughts blank out when Lacedo stretches next to her and takes a deep breath??

[3]: redundancies.