"Oh," Wash replied when River clarified what Arkham was. And the way she said it, it wasn't a pleasant sunshine-y asylum, either.
"This place is a yi dwei da buen chuo roh," he said angrily. Simon, no matter how worrisome and stuck up he tended to be, was River's stone. To take him away...Wash was in awe of River's strength in her sanity for this long.
"I'm sorry about Simon, River. Listen, you just get in contact with me somehow when the trail is. I'll be there. We'll sort this all out. I'll see if I can find...Zoe. Or...I don't know. I'll see if I can make friends here. Something. Mal wouldn't have let this happen, or Simon. Heck, Jayne probably would have had something terribly unintelligent and possibly deadly to give to the situation. Don't know what I can do, but we'll think of something, huh?"
He looked worried a minute. He didn't have any way of communication here. Not yet, anyway. He couldn't know that weeks later he'd receive a phone from Tony, an incredibly valuable connection, nor that the next time he saw Zoe he'd be so flustered as to not even mention River. But he had good intentions.
He rustled his bag a little then brought out the apple that had rolled on the stage with a sheepish expression.
"Are you hungry?" he asked in a small voice.
((translation: Big, stupid pile of stinking meat.))