...Yes. That is what I mean, and I'm sorry you had to suffer through that... it tends to leave marks that go deeper than simply physical scars.

[His eyes seem terribly far away as he speaks, his hand nervously rubbing his wrist where his other should have been. But then he simply shakes his head, rousing himself from whatever memory was playing in his mind at the moment and turned back towards his companion.]

It is good they did not see them. [For it would have simply been another knife for them to cut him with if they had.] But that is cold comfort, I'll admit. I wasn't grateful for it myself until it was already decades behind me.

[He supposes it would have been too much to ask for to have only been one or the other. It made his blood boil, knowing it had been done to one so young.]

How did it come to pass that you found yourself in such dire straits, if you do not mind me asking?

[And his voice makes it clear that he will not press the issue should the boy mind it.]