"She's doing well," Doctor White said with a nod towards the visibly-overwhelmed girl, not looking up from the display on his scroll, "Aside from it being almost pure white, nothing odd about her aura, and that's not 'odd' so much as 'distinct.' White is as common as any other color, people just tend to notice it more by how much it contrasts with everything else."
"Excellent," Ironwood said, moving to stand, only to get pulled up short by Haruka's grip on his hand.
And it was a strong grip now; certainly nothing he couldn't overcome, but definitely more than such emaciated muscles could manage by themselves. Settling back down to study the girl's expression more closely, Ironwood saw that it wasn't just the sensation of her Aura that was overwhelming the girl; she was barely holding back tears, and unlike before, there was no smile to offset the visible emotional strain.
"Doctor," Ironwood said, concern tingeing his voice, "I'm fairly sure this isn't a normal reaction to Aura awakening."
White leaned in, and winced a little when he caught the girl's expression, before glancing back at his display.
"... Unless her Aura is rejecting the painkillers," White said, "I can't think of anything physical that caused this. I'll—"
The girl burst into tears, and almost yanked herself off the bed trying to close the distance between herself and Ironwood. A Huntsman's trained combat reflexes warred against his conscious control for a moment, before Ironwood let her pull him in closer.
Haruka wrapped her arms around his chest, and started bawling.
"What's… dammit," Ironwood said, scowling at the continuing frustration of the language barrier, before cautiously wrapping his arms around her in turn, then looking meaningfully at the doctor.
"That's emotional, not physical," the Doctor said quietly, "She's been alone for a long time."
Ironwood nodded, and just held her.
Three hours later, two of Atlas' senior researchers, one military staff, one contracted from the Schnee Dust Company, entered the hospital room. Peter Green, the staff researcher, chuckled a little at the sight of Ironwood using his scroll one-handed, the other hand trapped in the grip of a sleeping girl; Midori Kaze, the SDC researcher, just looked confused.
"There's something wrong with her bones," Ironwood said with a shrug, before setting aside his scroll, "Doctor White wasn't confident of being able to break her grip without breaking her hand. You have a report on her ship?"
"Yes sir," Green said, throwing the sort of semi-casual salute "support" officers in the Atlesian military tended towards, "We have a longer written-up form, but the long and short of it, is we're not getting anywhere without her help."
"The language issue?" Ironwood asked.
"That's not entirely true," Kaze said, glaring at Green a little, "We're not getting very far without assistance in navigating the vessel's control systems, but we have been able to confirm a number of things, which suggest quite a few more."
"Such as?" Ironwood asked.
"The ship's hull uses alloying we've never seen before," Kaze started, shifting into the posture of a long-time lecturer, "Most notably, there is no Dust content in the samples we examined. I've sent the samples off to the SDC labs for higher-detail study, but I suspect we will discover that there isn't even the trace quantities of dust you find in any device constructed in a foundry powered by Dust. This suggests a radically different industrial base on the part of whoever constructed this vessel."
"Suggests," Green emphasized, "Radiology also indicates that the vessel has been in space, but we have no solid idea of how long for. Whoever constructed the vessel has clearly found alternatives to dust-based power sources, but unless you want us to start cutting it apart before we understand the language, we're not getting any further than materials analysis."
"I disagree," Kaze said sharply, glaring at her counterpart, "While the outer hull appears to be of monocoque construction, the internal paneling of the cockpit has clear and simple fasteners keeping it together; a non-destructive study of a number of internal components is entirely possible."
"Non-destructive, perhaps," Green said with a sigh, "But again, we don't have the reference points to do more than speculate about far too much. We don't even know how to distinguish characters from numerals in their written system, or if the language has such a distinction!"
"Calm down!" Ironwood said sharply as Haruka shifted in her sleep, his voice low but deadly serious, "I'll not have an academic spat in a sickroom!"
"Sorry sir," Green said quietly, wincing and snapping to attention.
Kaze just scowled, looking away but saying nothing.
"This young lady's name is Haruka," Ironwood said gently, "And I awakened her Aura earlier today. According to Doctor White, she spent years aboard that vessel. Combined with the language and technological differences, we are currently acting on the operating assumption that she and her vessel originate from off of Remnant. Given this, it is important both that we understand how and why she came here, and that we neither damage the only technological sample we have, nor spoil potential relations by abusing trust should more be coming after her."
Ironwood paused for a long moment, staring back and forth between the two researchers.
"It's not official," he continued, "But it would be best if both of you thought of her as a diplomatic envoy, and that vessel as being as politically sensitive as the Amity Colosseum. Once we've begun to overcome the language barrier, I'm sure this young lady will help us learn at least a few things from her vessel, if for no other reason than to help her keep it operational. In the meantime, we are in Atlas, the safest of the Four Kingdoms. We have time, gentlemen; do not spoil things through impatience."
"I understand sir," Green said, throwing a substantially crisper salute.
"I can see why upper management considers you such a formidable man," Kaze said begrudgingly, "What do you want us to do while we're waiting on the human element?"
"Follow up on the materials analysis," Ironwood said, "And start compiling a list of equipment and personnel needs for once we've started getting past the language barrier. I have a language specialist, or the closest thing we have, coming in tomorrow."