The whole backstory about Cris's hair more or less emerged during the course of this chapter, though I'd always pictured her with that very tight-braided hairstyle (it's part of her whole self-effacing personality; in this universe it really doesn't pay to draw attention to yourself if you're related to someone who has got themselves on the wrong side of the government. Blake's brother and sister were both canonically executed). Rall, of course, likes to picture it as crown/halo, but from Cris's point of view it's just 'get this stuff safely out of the way'.

Then when I was in the course of writing it, the parallel emerged. Poor Cris, she thinks that if Erik can just face his demons, then maybe she can 'fix' him...