She didn't fear him. And he knew that of course, he sensed it at the deepest level. This girl understood he carried a darkness within him but she understood also that he really was trying to push it back, and maybe by helping her, just maybe he stood a chance at actually doing some good on that score. She was staying with his Aunt and Uncle and he understood the logic there. They were calm. Without the cold clear maelstrom that seemed to swim just underneath the surface of Jacen Solo. And of River Tam as well.
She told her story and Jacen listened. There was a trigger in her brain, people that had put it there, changed the make up of her brain to make her their weapon. She'd been so young and she had just wanted to dance. It was cruel but he understood it too, it wasn't unlike something the Yuuzhun Vong would do, they'd done it to Tahiri in a way. Different, but so much the same. He wanted to help River rid herself of the memories, become something close to normal again. She was clever of course, a genius which is why they'd used her.
And the haze. Oh he understood that. "Its too loud isn't it, you try to block out the thoughts, everyone with their own wishes and feelings and internal struggles. You try not to hear but you always do, don't you. You always hear it because its impossible not to. You don't have shields. No way to block what you hear. That's what I'd like to help you with. This trigger, the thing that takes away your free will. I'd like to help you find it. I'd like to see if I can remove it, or lock it away where it can't be found. But first I want to make it easier for you to be around other people. Would you like that? Will you let me help you?"