Simon straightened a bit in his chair and forgot the dirt for a moment as he listened. The parallels to River's situation were striking despite his initial disbelief. He smiled a little, realizing he'd been a bit like his father in that moment when Gabriel Tam had frowned over a letter from a teacher saying that River was one of the brightest pupils the man had ever taught. ”One of?” their father had said incredulously, ”There's no one like her.”
“It doesn't sound crazy,” he said slowly to Karl, “and you're right it does remind me a bit of River, she always did know things sooner than anyone could expect...” he shook his head a little, mind already scurrying to find all the ways to utilize this new knowledge, possibilities to use it to help River. “You say she underwent some sort of near death experience? That some kind of physical trauma was the cause? But she's coherent most of the time, enough to speculate on her condition? Does it cause her pain?” He realized a moment later how odd the rush of questions must have seemed especially to the seemingly rather laconic man and rubbed his temples for a moment, frustrated, as always, with his inability to get to the heart of the matter quickly enough. “River...underwent some trauma herself. You can see the effects, I'm sure. I'm a doctor and I'm trying to find a way to reverse the damage but I still don't have all the details of what happened to her.” He smiled ruefully, “Though I suppose for now I'm more concerned about how to help her get some 'quiet' here.”