Dany comes close to taking Bella right out at the knees. Fortunately, there is a stabilizing and wide-based Synnefo right there who helps everyone involved avoid a croissant tragedy. She holds her Bella - bigger, older, but still a child - as Bella cries. And isn't this familiar territory for everybody?

And perhaps she can be forgiven if there is a sniffle or three on her part. It's been a very big day. She's had to see things that were worse than anything she'd ever experienced growing up, and who can say whether Bella experienced anything quite so awful herself? With her face hidden in the folds of Bella's skirt, it's quite impossible to say. A mystery that will never be solved.

Ember does not. Ember watches, and aches, and sits alone. Her eyes turn to the door, to the source of that howling, mocking laughter. Getting down off the counter isn't so hard at all, not compared to everything she's already been through. It would be nice to hold her Bella, but the best outcome for the mission - as far as she can articulate to herself, which has never been Redana's strongest suit at all - is for [i]Redana[/i] to hold [i]Bella[/i] by the end, assuming that there's still enough of Bella who wants this.

Who wants to hold her and praise her under the moonlight.

Who wants to build a home together.

"I'll get the recipe from you later," she says to Dolce. Okay, fine. Croaks at Dolce. Happy, pedants? It needed to be said, just in case. Just in case Redana remembers later to do it, and manages to learn. Manages to earn Bella's love over again. Manages to make a golden-brown, flaky croissant for the woman she loves, no matter what comes between them.

No matter what's on the other side of that door.