The past few days Azalaïs has spent with Atreides have provided her with far more entertainment than any of her siblings ever have. He's an ideal companion, really - kind, charming, easy to talk to. Naturally she finds herself wanting to be in his constant company.
So when she returns to the border one afternoon to meet Atreides and his grouchy companion and finds them gone, the Hills princess feels wracked with confusion and anger and sadness. Frantically she searches for them, but their scent is already fading.
She manages to follow it to the shore, but it disappears into the tide, leaving her standing there alone and staring out into the distant horizon. She pauses there for several long moments, debating on whether or not to follow. Mother would be furious - every time she'd asked to leave Salem, it had been met with a resounding no. But mother can't keep her chained to this hellscape forever, and now seems as good a time as any to make her debut.
So she throws herself blindly into the sea, with no real idea where of her friend has gone. She ends up on the Crossing isle, carried there by the tides. The sun is sinking low into the horizon when she pulls herself from the water, shaking the brine from her body and hair before setting off into the Commons.
It isn't long before she spots Atreides, his bright white coat like a beacon in the growing dark. But before she can approach him, another mare - a petite tobiano - gets there first. She scrapes her teeth across his skin, and Azalaïs feels jealousy flare through her, hot and bright. She has never seen that motion before, but mother has explained to her before what it means - you're mine now.
Azalaïs surges forward at a canter, intent on pushing herself between them, but stops short and ends up skidding to a halt next to the pair. "Hey!" she demands angrily of the mare, "you can't do that! He already belongs to someone." It's a bald-faced lie and she knows it, but she figures it's worth a shot if it gets the mare to back off.