Perhaps she had intended only this.
"I want to see her," he had said to himself.

The relief of the mere seeing had been curiously great.

He had the relief of sinking, as it were, into the deep waters of pure peace on this new planet.

In this realisation every look at the child's face, every movement she made, every tone of her voice, aided.

Did she know that she soothed him?
Did she intend to try to soothe?
When they were together she gave him a feeling that she was strangely near and soft and warm.