She was so darn coherent! It took Wash surprise that he could understand her and she was asking such relevant questions. It wasn't as if River hadn't had her times of presence on Serenity. But those were moments to be cherished when they had actually had linear conversation, even for a few sentences, and he felt that this River was coherent a lot more. So it took him a beat to answer.
"Got here about a month ago. Sorry I didn't try and find you sooner," he said with soft eyes. "Uh, I read you were in jail. I went there to see if I could get you out but you were already gone. They wouldn't tell me where you went."
He scratched his forehead. When River mentioned Zoe Wash's face fell for a bit. He moved his lips for a smile but didn't quite get there.
"Uh...yeah. I did," he let it sit for a second but then brought his head back up. "Hey! Soloist, though? Guess that's good, isn't it? How does that work? Do you get to kick the other dancers with your pointy shoes? I've often wondered if ballet isn't secretly a tyranny...with tutus."