She straightened up.

She turned to the woman.

She said something to her, softly and carefully — I could not hear the words over the engines, but I could read the shape of my daughter being polite, trying once more.

The woman pulled one headphone off, snapped a short sentence back at her, and shoved it on again without so much as a glance.

And Maya sat back, and went very still.

I pressed my lips together, and my heart went heavy in my chest, and I very nearly did it then.