He was so used to Snow being such a quiet one that it was really jarring to see her, hear her crying in this way. He understood why, or thought he did, but that amounted to fuck all towards knowing what could be done about it. He felt like he should say something to fix it, being the adult between them. But when he and Vex had fled Syngorn and found their mother was dead, their home destroyed...

"You don't have to," was all Vax could think to offer her, looking at her slight form contorted in on itself from half under the drape of his cloak. "You've just lost somebody you loved, somebody that made you feel safe. There's nothing right or okay about that. Your world has gone and changed, and right now it feels like nothing will ever be okay again," he supposed. "If that doesn't hurt, I don't know what does."