Redhawk Caldera i've hoarded your name in my mouth for months

 nomi explains, and for a beat blix thinks, oh, thank god, because nothing is wrong -- but then the full weight of her words hit her.

 "no!" she snaps, her voice clipping artaax's soft why - she doesn't even realise he's spoken over the roar of blood in her ears. distantly, somewhere, she realises she's definitely crossing a line - a thing she's doing more and more lately - and manages to gain control of her voice volume though her expression remains as stricken as it was. "no, nomi, we can't leave her -" of course she knew mother wasn't well enough to travel when she hadn't even woken up but that didn't mean - they couldn't just leave her here with no way of knowing if - 

if -

"no," she repeats, her expression hardening (in any other situation it would be a slightly-comical rendition of nomi's usual hard-lined stare). there is no way she is budging.