The connection between Halena and Marlene comes with a slight hiccup.
The moment their minds interconnect, Marlene would begin to hear a strange, haunting, but beautiful melody coming from the young girl. Her thoughts spark across a cosmic blanket of nebulous stars and streaks of emotion, filling the darkness of her mind with a light so profound that one who sees into it would seem to be looking into a jewel of infinite depth. There are dark parts, with dull thoughts so shadowed they are unfathomable, and sparking flashes of errant emotion and thought that flare into existence and just as quickly vanish. And each and every one of these thoughts was accompanied by a note, and those notes made up the song that represented Halena's being, her psyche and her personality. It was a sad song, a horribly beautiful tragedy.
There is no quieting or calming such a storm, but after a few moments, Halena is able to maintain the connection by apparently detaching herself from her own mind. The ability to compartmentalize and partition off parts of herself in such a way is frighteningly reminiscent of an AI, to the point that the fragment that she separates in order to properly participate in this communion between them isn't even aware of the separation between it and the rest of her mind.
Once in this realm of emptiness, even that fragment of her mind became as active as a celestial storm. It quickly became apparent that the girls mind was ravenous for knowledge and information, and began to devour the "voices" as they came, scanning them, investigating them, pouring over every single syllable with such scrutiny it would make the owners of those thoughts blush as though they were naked in public.
The static snow was information as clear as daylight to her mind as she began filtering through it at a truly terrifying speed. But the moment Marlene spoke to her, with that connection clear to her mind, without the delay, without having to wait for the older woman to catch up, Halena's concentration broke and her emotions flooded out of her. anger was there, but overshadowed by relief, sadness, and joy. Halena's face changed, no longer a smile, no longer a mask. The girl broke down and cried as, for the first time in her life she was able to reach out and touch someone, to connect with them, to feel them and have them feel her.
It was a short lived miracle, as the shockwave that hit the realm struck her as well, and she instinctively began analyzing it and Marlene's words that followed.
Take the first step Halena tumbled over those words with a speed that even her own people would have great difficulty in following.
She glanced down at the candle, it ignited once more, and burned merrily. Halena turned and looked right back at Marlene, a true, honest and sincere smile on her face, showing the child she really was. "I did it!" She said in excitement.