Ideal response
I'm writing a novel in which one of the characters (my protagonist's paternal aunt) is beaten and raped by her husband, who then disappears for a while. Later in the story, he'll be caught and suitably legally punished for what he did to her. Actually, he's going to be executed for it.
What I want from the community is your ideas as to how her family (brother and mother) can best respond to her. They both believe her and take her side and want to support her and help her heal, her brother especially.
The story is a fantasy story involving magic, and set in a made-up world with a late-medieval-Europe level of technology, except for the magic, which is fairly advanced and includes magical healing. None of these three characters are magic users, though.
If you had an older brother who wanted to support you in your healing, how would he act? What could he do to help you most? He's already seen to it that she gets medical care in the immediate aftermath and the only time he touched her, he took her hand and swore to her that he'd make sure her husband is caught and punished. Oh, and he has the power to see to justice because he's the king. If it matters, he's two years older than she is, so they grew up together and are just about best friends.
If you had a mother who wanted to support you, how would she act? What could she do to help you most?
Where I am now in the writing process, this has all just happened and the victim is still in shock and won't talk to anybody. She had to be sedated for the Healer to examine her and find out exactly what the hell happened. I'm just stuck as to how these characters ought to behave.
What would you want your mother and brother to do for you?