Regardless of request, Benji sinks behind the sand dune upon discovery, and she studies the girl in sympathy that reads rather clearly in her expression. She can also study that shadow, what she understands as a sort of clinging psychic presence of someone else, and it's for both that she sort of wants to reach out a hand, offering reassurance through touch; she suppresses this impulse, especially when the younger girl tries to back away.

She is kneeling not so far away, knees white and just visible beneath the hem of black fabric that may as well be spun from shadows, her avatar always just that step away from being very real. "I won't hurt you," she says, in English; but it won't matter, it will be understood. "Can I help?"

All the while, she keeps her voice quiet, and her ears pricked towards the sounds of the people in the suits, with their strange machines.