"For the most part of a decade, I remained alone," she said quietly. "I built my own dew traps to collect moisture, I caught what I could find to eat, I prepared my own food, and meager as the existence was, I survived. There were times in which I had no water, no food, no comfort, but the desert provides these in plants, in caves, in the kill of a creature that might ease the hunger, tame the thirst. In moments where I thought this desert world might claim me, I kept moving and refused to die."

She glanced up at him, her curl of a smile wry.

"I did not know what rain was until recently and before I became acclimated, the humidity of the place made me ill. There is no open water on my planet, none at all. I was lucky and found a small underground cache, enough for myself and none other. Had I not found it after seeing it in a prescient dream, I should not be here at all. After my first year, that is when I found it, and the cave became my home. It was day to day survival still, but I did not lack water, and I rode the great sandworm, Shai-Hulud if I had a distance to travel. I traded my water for food supplies when I passed the great Fremen Sietches if it was absolutely necessary."

She squeezed her fingers against his wrist gently.

"It is possible to survive anywhere, you just need to want it greatly. It is living that is difficult, that and retaining your own sanity. Contact helps and anchors you. Talking, too." She let out a breath of a sigh and the corners of her eyes crinkled slightly. "As for peace, Gaius Baltar, you must cling to it in the moments you find it. You must cling hard and long and when it passes, you will hold to the last wisps of it until it finds you again. This is all that can be done."