It's not a particularly pleasant story to hear. Not that Jim's unfamiliar with conflict by any means, but just hearing Odo talk about the war he's involved in is more than enough for Jim to be able to tell it's in a scale much larger than what he's been a part of in the past. Those encounters had been intense and extremely dangerous, but also, all in all, fairly brief and quick to end, even if with casualties.

A war is a different thing. There's more to it for Odo too, it seems, as it's evident how the story alone affects him emotionally. He holds himself back from asking too many questions for now, though. Whatever Odo chooses to share for now, he'll welcome, but more than that... well, he'll be patient.

"Whatever brought us here thinks on different terms than you or I, I believe," he starts, focusing on the all too familiar theme of the portal for now. "It picks up on a feeling of displacement on someone, and then brings them here. In some cases it can be a fleeting thought, but it's still enough for us to get pulled in here. Now, I'm not sure if this'll soothe your worries much, but the current theory is that, if and when we go back, we're put back in our worlds on the same point in time we were taken from. Possibly with no memories of this place whatsoever, either."

It's clear Jim doesn't particularly like that latter part, but he's not sure he can do much to stop it anyway.