_{[ He nodded quietly, glad she seemed to come through her experience. His had not been - well, he would not say not nearly so kind. But it was tinged with something darker, a cruelty and a madness that haunted him in particularly dark times. He frowned after a second, but it cleared and he touched her hand. ]}

Good, I'm glad. We shouldn't let things like that be the whole of us, just another thing that helps to shape us.