"Hey woah woah woah, hold up hold up!"

Bella is silent and unmoving. She is staring at her hands where Redana touched her, and can't look away even for a wish from a god. The intensity in her eyes carves lines into her face, and she makes no indication that she even heard the voice that suddenly echoes through the hallway. It certainly doesn't belong to her. She wipes her bloody palms on the hem of her dress as carefully as if she was braiding her princess' hair. 

"I said hold up!" Beljani says, "Don't you go running away just yet, Princess!"

She's spitting sparks. Beljani half-jog, half-stalks her way up from behind Bella, taking a second to squeeze her sister's shoulders as she passes. She doesn't puff or gasp for air, she's in much too good of shape for that now. But even so, her breaths are loud and greedy. She needs them to shout. She is confident, and aggrieved, in the way of someone who has finally managed to express herself a single time and now is much too certain she has mastered the art completely.

"You said you had [i]how many[/i] bodyguards? Excuse me?? One? Two?! Put some gosh darned respect on my name, Your Highness!"

She gets squeakier the closer she gets. Her arms wave above her head for want of something to do with all the energy surging through her body, as genuine hurt, bratty indulgence, and clever insight play across her face in almost exactly equal measure. She doesn't seem to trust her hands enough to actually grab hold of Redana, but she's got confidence to spare to cut in front of her and bar her way, at least for a moment. 

"You really have no idea, do you? How dangerous a life you've been living? Just Mynx! Just Bella! Oh Artemis, save me from sillyheads! Listen here you little dummy, you can't throw a rock on Tellus without hitting someone who wants you dead! Oh, uh, not because you did anything wrong, understand? It's your mom. Erm, your mother. Her Most Regal Imperial Majesty Nero. Put as many pretty smiles as you want on it, give out all the sweet treats you can find, but how many people have [i]you[/i] found on your adventure who love their jailor? 

I'll give you a hint in case you didn't run into any, I honestly have no idea what you've been up to. But... yeah. Take a look at what happened to Mother. Mine, and Mynx's, and Bella's. Beautiful's. Sa... nnno I can't say it out loud. I thought writing it was gonna kill me. Sorry, I-- but you know who I mean! Didn't work out for her so hot, did it? And she was [i]way[/i] better at, erm, I mean, she had a lot fewer people to control than Nero!"

Embarrassment starts to creep into her voice and her posture. Beljani self rubs her arm in a self conscious way, and looks back toward where Bella is standing, as if salvation could be found inside her sister. But all she does is stroke the palms of her hands with her fingertips until they finally stop coming away red. Beljani sighs.

"The... the point is, pretty much anybody you can name has you on their kill or kidnap list. Are you kidding me? Nero's 'pwecious widdle baby?' Honey, she couldn't buy you enough guards if she tried. And she did! I mean like, did you think the Temple was gonna waste rookies like us on the tiny handful of missions that took anybody off planet? Ok yes Beautiful did plenty, but she's the exception. The rest of us were glued to you! Who do you think kept you safe when Bella was too busy crying about being such a disaster that she couldn't show you her painting or whatever it was? Me! Who kept you safe when she and Mynx knocked each other out in training? Me!! Who... look, I don't wanna go on about this all day[1] but I saved your glorious little behind at [i]least[/i] three times that I can count! I worked overtime for you! I got out of bed for you! And I'm not in love with you like Bella is! We're not even friends! I should get a fuh- a ffffffreaking medal for all I've done! And what do I get instead? 'oH, I DiDn'T KnoW I hAD mOrE tHaN oNE bOdYGuArD!' Bah! So if you're gonna... if you're gonna just [i]run away[/i] the least you could do is apologize first! Sheesh!"

"Beljani."

"Gah! Moonlight and oaths, Bella, when did you-- don't [i]do[/i] that! Warn a girl when you're gonna un-coma, please!"

"...I know what you're trying to do."

"What I'm trying to? O-oh yeah? Well what am I trying to do then, Miss Smartypants?"

"It's not going to work. Let's just follow. We've wasted too much time as it is."

"Bella? S-sister, you're... giving up? That's not, no! That's not like you! Just look at how far you've--"

"I asked her. To her face. And all she said to me is that she wanted to talk to Beautiful. I don't know when they would have met, but... I have my answer."

"Bella..."

"Enough. I don't care. If they're safe, that's plenty. It's more than I deserve."

[1]The single most obvious and bald-faced lie in the history of Empire