Sweat. And salt. And perfume. And lust. And a thousand years of half-melted sugar. 

Every breath is heaven. She smells it in the air. She feels it coat her tongue until it's all that she can taste. This cocktail of theatricality, secrets, and romance. Redana's hair is lush and soft against her face. Her skin is wet and supple against her fingertips. Their mouths are deliciously dry and their bodies are filled with warmth. A glowing ache. 

Bella is a long time before she finally rises to her feet. She glides to her feet with a luxurious stretch; hands above her head and all of her sweet curves rising, stretching, rolling with the tides of her body. Every tiny pop as her muscles shift back into alignment from the cramps that were ruling her form is a tiny burst of ecstasy. Something warm and soft that reminds her afresh of the blissful ocean still lapping at her insides.

She is not quick to dress herself either, preferring to take her time sorting her clothes from Redana's in the awkward pile they all wound up in, and tossing the Princess' down on top of her. Each one draws a fresh squawk of protest that makes Bella laugh in turn, but where these exchanges should naturally be followed by flustered glaring, Redana's eyes remain worshipful. Every time, her head turns and her mouth falls open a little. She watches without comment. The flickering, constantly shifting lights of cinema splashing across her Bella's naked body. Her Bella. [i]Her[/i] Bella. Bella Bella Bella, only Bella.

After everything they'd seen of each other, everything they'd done to each other, their whole lives and again the last two days, to see eyes like that on her can't be called anything other than a miracle. Bella's body flushes with a sudden heat and color, and she quickly pulls her dress on overtop of her head. 

Her body is lighter than air. She could fly among the Azura ships the way she feels this moment. She could climb the walls of the Palace in a single bound, she could, she could, she could...

"We're gonna need a bath after this, Redana. Of all the places for you to lose your head, why'd you go and pick this one? Now I'm never going to be able to remember that movie."

Or anything else, for that matter. The thought strikes her like a thunderbolt. Her insides suddenly tangle themselves into knots trying to crawl through each other. Bella stiffens, and awkwardly pulls on her socks. The smells in the air are all the same, but they've taken on slightly different qualities. As if they'd suddenly become old and dusty. Dead things, all around her. 

"Dany, I..."

She bends low, without warning. Her hands dart out faster than a pair of arrows and pluck her princess off the ground. She lifts Redana as easily as if she were a bucket of amphitheater concessions, and pulls her close enough to bury her nose in that beautiful golden hair. The warmth, rival to a star and yet more gentle than the insubstantial wings of the garden's butterflies. The smell, purity itself. Slowly, she unclenches. Slowly, she lets Redana down. Not enough to let her feet touch the ground, but free enough for them to wrap their arms around each other, and for their love-parched lips to find each other once again for one last lingering kiss in the half-darkness.

And then, to smile.

"Hurry up, you useless thing. Don't keep your mistress waiting. This place goes on for fucking ever and I don't want to miss any of it. Come on. Let's go make some memories worth forgetting."