Lana’s conflicting purpose was to be left alone to mourn, to indulge her profound grief. Molian’s fear was that if left alone to sink ever deeper into her sorrow, she might never come back from it. From his readings, he knew that the essential ingredient was confidence. Confidence is an inner strength, the strength of the soul. For anyone who has experienced trauma, especially emotional trauma, it takes confidence to speak the words that name the trauma and describe it, knowing that in so doing one will have to relive it.
Post-traumatic silence is a manifestation of the absence of confidence. Molian understood that if Lana’s confidence were not restored at least to the point where she could begin functioning normally, she might let herself be completely swallowed up by her depression and lose forever any sense of purpose.

The money arrived from the sale of the house in Canada, and from Sami’s life insurance. Lana was considered a rich lady in Mongolian terms. Molian sensed that she and Liu Young could build a house in the village and make a new life. He was craving his sister’s happiness. Knowing well that she would never love another man the way she had loved her Sámi, he nonetheless was wishing for her well being and was sure that she could be happy with an excellent man like Liu Young.

“Liu Young,” he said, “you love her, don’t you?”
“I love her more than anything else in the world. She’s all I want!” Liu Young answered.
“I need your help,” said Molian. “There is very little progress in her condition. A lot now depends on you.”

“Please tell me what I can do, I will do anything.” Liu Young asked.
“Losing your ability to speak is like losing your world, losing your life,” Molian replied. “Lana has had a profound trauma to her soul. Now everything depends on re-entering into normal relationships. She needs a connection. She needs a bridge, somebody from outside of her tragic world to give her a sign, a lifeline that she can grab to pull herself back to safety.

Kim would walk with Lana in the village. Lana showed her Sami’s grave, the forests, the lake, and took her to the hill and made her stand there for a whole hour, but no butterflies landed on her head. Kim was happy for that - no husband, no troubles. Lana had two butterflies landing on her head; she counted them with her fingers before they came and then showed Kim how the formula was working.

From "Mongolia"  By Nily Naiman.