The look of distressed puppy all over Ember’s face melts into confused relief as Bella laughs. She dares to join in with a chuckle, but her brow is furrowed. She might as well be trying to defuse a Vesuvian Crab with a knife. A Vesuvian Crab that she longs to kiss, to hold, to be loved by[1]. That longing is the shape of Ember, and that longing keeps her hoping that she hasn’t done something wrong, something that proves she isn’t the princess that Bella remembers. That somehow even the gods themselves got it wrong, and that other self will come back and apologize for the inconvenience, here’s your real princess, Bella!

And that tension softens as Bella speaks about the Princess Dany, but it doesn’t entirely leave.

“…the first time I saw you,” Ember manages, pulling her hand back, pushing her hair behind her ear, “it was like being punched. Right here.” She demonstrates: her sternum, between her svelte breasts. “I couldn’t get the thought of you out of my head. I sleepwalked through training exercises. I volunteered for scouting missions hoping to get close to you, to be caught by you, to smell you, to touch your hand. And I did. Your pet, your loyal alpha, your Ember. That’s me. But I’m…”

She struggles for the word[2], scrunches her face up exactly like Redana. “…written on top of her. And I don’t know if you can… if I can… the [i]Plousios[/i] was our ship, wasn’t it? I know that. I [i]know[/i] that. And we had a brave captain who was so soft in my arms, and a daring— or was she the captain— and a garden but I was dancing there with a pack[3], and…”

For a moment she almost has it. But it’s as impossible for her to hold onto as the word. She slumps, disappointed, a disappointment. Crab falls limply from her fingers back onto her plate.

But Bella’s seen that exact slump before, a hundred times, a child frustrated that she can’t keep dinner manners straight in her head.

[hr]

[1] [i]Claws of Danger… Maxillipeds of Passion!![/i]
[2] [i]palimpest.[/i]
[3] her cheeks flush, unconsciously, and she shifts where she sits like a flick of a hip.