[He expected that it was part of her job description, but the second part takes him by surprise, enough to make his eyes widen some. He never talked to Mal, this is the first time he hears about what her home world is like and although he's been in Marina far too long to be surprised, he still is. ]
I'm sorry. That couldn't have been an easy situation to be in. [So much sympathy - he's seen enough suffering to have a pretty good idea of what it must've been like.
There's a pause as he tries to work out a way to phrase what he wants to say, but sometimes it's just easier to borrow someone else's words. Understanding human nature means understanding yourself as well as the people around you, and perhaps that's part of the problem. Too few understand themselves.] "The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself." Ralph Waldo Emerson.