the wound on her face has healed fine -- it was never very deep, a shallow cut inflicted in a moment of panic. but blixen is holding firm in keeping ephraim here. she feels bad about it -- nomi'd cared a lot about ephraim, and mal's adoptive father, too -- she wonders if she should have just sent him back to trigeda with the news and avoided all of this. but he'd shown his true colors as a natrona and blix can't.. she can't have that again. not when he has connections to the sound, even if he'd seemed... she doesn't know. she's not clever, but she's stubborn and dealing with a lot.

when she spots blodreina, she hesitates. the woman had been her mentor and mallaidh's, had helped her when she was still striving to be cheka, but they have not spoken in a long while. not since she was eske (does she know blodreina at all, then? -- well -- but she still knows mallaidh.)

after a moment she steps closer and chuffs, not quite willing to break the silence between them, but wondering if the woman would allow blix to walk with her on her patrol.

quietly she joins -- she would stay quiet, for once, feeling uncertain of how to proceed in talking to her former mentor, but blodreina breaks the silence for her. her ears fold back. in trig it seems a little easier to answer, so she returns, "not as well as i should be," her voice brittle. 

she wants to pretend, very much so, that she is doing great. were it not for her hysterics in front of the girl from the sound, the ephraim situation, artaax's absence, and maybe her conversation with aure (who can keep track of timelines) it would be easier to do so. instead she has to be honest about her mental state: not good. very bad, in fact. she'll put one paw in front of the other so long as she has to, but she was never -- "this wasn't how things were supposed to go," she says desperately, looking to blodreina with wide eyes for any sort of confirmation.

blodreina's words are reassuring, though they can't completely take the edge out of her expression. for blodreina and dio and mallaidh her kru who have been here since before her birth, who know how long and deep the history of drageda runs, maybe they don't expect anything of her. but for the others? they only know drageda under nomi. they only know tension -- the sound, wildfire, these petty and grevious wounds. blixen knows she can never measure up to nomi nor should she even try to -- she is a wormana, not a heda. what good is that for inspiring confidence?

still, she is grateful for blodreina's matter of fact assessment, and nods, feeling some of the stress in her shoulder ease. "you're right," she sighs, switching back to common. she assumes ajatar has taken reign, though without close access to the other branches, she can't be certain yet. "do you think we -- do you think i can do this?"