diff --git a/simd_aarch64.S b/simd_aarch64.S
index 609ac37..d1fd561 100644
--- a/simd_aarch64.S
+++ b/simd_aarch64.S
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 // SIMD operations on potentially-indeterminate Node16::index[16] bytes.
-// Written in assembly so msan doesn't track the loads, and so that loading
-// and operating on indeterminate values is well-defined (unlike C++). The
-// caller is responsible for masking the returned bitfield to [0, numChildren)
-// before using it.
+// Written in assembly because loading and operating on indeterminate values
+// is undefined behavior in C++ ([basic.indet]) but well-defined in assembly.
+// The caller is responsible for masking the returned bitfield to
+// [0, numChildren) before using it.
 //
 // Unlike x86-64 (which has pmovmskb), AArch64 has no single instruction that
 // produces a 1-bit-per-byte mask. Each function therefore returns a 64-bit
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@
 //   w1 = uint8_t key         (find_eq_16, find_ge_16)
 //   w1 = uint8_t begin       (mask_in_range_16)
 //   w2 = uint8_t end         (mask_in_range_16)
+//
+// These functions are only ever called directly (never indirectly), so they
+// do not need BTI landing pads; the object is still marked BTI/PAC/GCS-aware
+// below so a -z force-bti link keeps BTI enabled for the whole binary.
 
     .text
 
@@ -24,7 +28,6 @@
     .globl find_eq_16
     .type  find_eq_16, %function
 find_eq_16:
-    hint  34                 // bti c
     dup   v1.16b, w1         // broadcast key
     ldr   q0, [x0]           // load 16 bytes (may be indeterminate)
     cmeq  v0.16b, v0.16b, v1.16b  // 0xff for each match
@@ -39,7 +42,6 @@ find_eq_16:
     .globl find_ge_16
     .type  find_ge_16, %function
 find_ge_16:
-    hint  34                 // bti c
     dup   v1.16b, w1         // broadcast child
     ldr   q0, [x0]           // load 16 bytes
     cmhs  v0.16b, v0.16b, v1.16b  // 0xff where idx[i] >= child (unsigned)
@@ -56,7 +58,6 @@ find_ge_16:
     .globl mask_in_range_16
     .type  mask_in_range_16, %function
 mask_in_range_16:
-    hint  34                 // bti c
     dup   v1.16b, w1         // broadcast begin
     dup   v2.16b, w2         // broadcast end
     ldr   q0, [x0]           // load 16 bytes
@@ -71,8 +72,9 @@ mask_in_range_16:
     // Declare AArch64 branch-protection compatibility, matching what the
     // compiler emits for -mbranch-protection=standard (BTI + PAC + GCS). This
     // keeps the object indistinguishable from C/C++ translation units for
-    // linkers enforcing BTI (-z force-bti); the functions above only use
-    // `bti c` and no stack, so PAC/GCS compatibility holds trivially.
+    // linkers enforcing BTI (-z force-bti). The functions above are only ever
+    // called directly, so they need no BTI landing pads; PAC/GCS compatibility
+    // holds trivially since they use no stack.
 
     .aeabi_subsection aeabi_feature_and_bits, optional, ULEB128
     .aeabi_attribute Tag_Feature_BTI, 1