BY FRANK DAVIES

 WASHINGTON -- Janet Reno on Thursday discussed a range of thoughts and
 emotions about the seven-month Elián González saga: satisfaction that father
 and son are together, a wish that they were in a free country, and a regret that her
 breach with the Cuban-American community may be too deep to heal.

 ``It's a mixture of so many different things,'' said Reno at her weekly press
 briefing. ``A little boy who lost his mother, a country that is not free. It's a story of
 families that have disagreements. It is a story of so much of human life. And yet
 in the end he is with his father, and I am glad of that.

 ``I just wish he were with his father in a democratic, free country.''

 Because of her decision to take Elián by force from his Miami relatives, Reno
 conceded that she may not be able to help heal the wounds of a divided
 community in her hometown:

 HURT GOES DEEP

 ``I don't know whether I can. I would like to think that I can. Some of the
 messages I get from [Cuban Americans] indicate maybe I can't. But I am devoted
 to that community, and I am going to do everything I can to heal it. I say to all of
 those who are speaking sharply and feeling hurt, I would like to talk to you.''

 ``This hurt may go too deep, which I will regret,'' she added. ``But I still have to do
 what I think is right under the law.''

 Reno reiterated that Elián's father, Juan Miguel González, had opportunities to
 seek asylum while in the United States. She recalled a meeting in her conference
 room with González, his wife and baby son soon after they arrived in April when
 the issue was raised.

 FATHER'S WISHES

 ``The subject came up -- he was sitting right there -- and he said he wanted to go
 home,'' said Reno.

 The father's Washington lawyer, Gregory Craig, said on NBC's Today  that
 González showed no interest in defecting: ``We talked obliquely about it. There
 was no evidence ever . . . that he wanted to explore that option.''

 The saga of the 6-year-old boy focused attention on unaccompanied children who
 enter the United States, and Reno said that her department, which includes the
 Immigration and Naturalization Service, is reviewing how to handle asylum cases
 involving children.

 ``I'm just asking the general issue, because it is clear that, where do you draw the
 line between the 6-year-old and the 12-year-old? How do you make these
 judgments?'' she said. ``We will be looking at it to see if there is any lesson
 learned, anything that should be done.''

 NO LESSONS

 But Reno avoided drawing any large lessons from Elián's case, ``because I don't
 think we'll ever see anything quite like this again.''

 Reflecting on the controversy, Reno recalled how she first learned of Elián
 González during Thanksgiving weekend, when she was in Miami:

 ``I looked at a copy of The Herald reporting on how he was pulled from the water,
 and I thought: `What a remarkable little boy. And what a sad situation, a
 tragedy.' ''