Patiently the good old Captain waitet for Sonnis answers. Watching carfully as she touched and tried to calm the frightened child. It seemed like ages to him till she spoke again, in that whispering voice of her.
["...there are many painful memories Snow White has of her captivity... torture, abuse, loneliness... terror she was drugged to suppress some of those memories by her captors. I'm sorry to say... she was forced by the enemy's neural-cortex implants to have a part in the torture and death of your human crew of your station... she is terribly traumatized by all the death she has witnessed and been forced to be a part of!"]
["I have guessed something like that..."]
Blake aswered in a whisper "... but hearing it won't make it easier. That they would turn children into tools for their war effords. None of my people or the Orgus would have imagined somithing as horrible as this. May the Lord have mercy with her."]
["Thats indeed unexpected. But, may I remind you Captain, that there were a lot of nations, rebells or sects in our history, that used children as soldiers, for experimentation and other terrible things?"]
Murakami added, also in whispered voice.
Cydonias Captain crossed his arms in front of him, closed his eyes and replied:
["Sure... but litteraly using them as weapons or tools against their own will? I think, as different as we might be, we can be lucky that we have met the Loroi first and not those Monsters."]
["I ...can keep her calm, by calling up pleasant memories, but she will need focused trained counseling to deal with what she has endured. I am not the best qualified for such... among the Loroi crew available, but I will do what I can."]
["We do not have a dedicated counselor or a psychiatrist aboard. This falls in my duties, but I am not sure how... different... the minds of humans and loroi are. Nevertheless, if there is something I can do to assist you, feel free to tell me."]
The good Doctor said.
["There is another issue we need to think about. What do we do, if the next Umiak ship we run into, has another such captive aboard?"]
Blake whispered with a worried undertone.
Snows mind:
"You not hurt me? Will bring me back?" Followed by weak and half forgotten memories of Snow, from a long time ago.
Sonni could not see what was going on or anything at all, but she could sense the other Loroi children and caregivers around Snow, could feel what she had touched, smelled and had eaten.
It took her a while to understand what was going on, but then it became clear that those older Loroi were not caregivers at all. They were warriors and they seemed to have taken the children with them, tried to prevent them from falling in the hands of the enemy. It was easy for her to recognise that Saphire was one of them, holding Snows hand, comforting, feeding and protecting her.
The bond between those older Loroi and those children was very strong, unsually strong. A thought crossed Sonnis mind: Could it be that they might have been the mothers of those kids?
Nevertheless, she withnessed what happines meant for Snow: Saphires hand hold hers, they were walking through a cornfield, the wind blowing through her hair, the sun warming her skin, the memory of Saphires face, snow melting in her tiny hands, playing with the other children, ...