Things You Never Noticed V: Your Familiar

[Vinyadan]

It looks like a bad moment to do that: Belkar's strength was in dragging Miko in a number of traps and ambushes, and pulling her sense of honour to damage herself. And his nose is pretty delicate. So he might simply have had his personal interest in mind ("save the nose"), but he might also have wanted to steal stuff from her and attack her thereafter.
My point is that, in general, an enclosed space looks like a bad place for attacking Miko.

EDIT: Or maybe he wanted a chance to "study his prey"