"Beautiful, intelligent," he appraises, looking her over slowly. "As far as I can tell, anyhow." After all, if she can be happy here, isn't there the argument that others are able, as well? And yet, he doesn't believe that he'll be one of them. He's not the same, he's never been the same, and now a place is trying to make him think that he is.

"That was your ability?" he wonders at the cruelty of it. "Then you must be very happy. I, however, have been robbed of the things that define me."