Tahiri nodded. "I know what they did to him, after Myrkr. When we all thought he was dead. He told me all about it, what they did to break him. And you can't --"

She took a breath. "You can't go through something like that and come out the same. Not ever, not as much as you wish or think you could. When you're too broken to put yourself back together, you're at the mercy of whoever decides to rearrange the pieces for you. I should know."

"Don't misunderstand," she went on quickly, "he's still a lot of those things. Still kind, but . . . secretive. There are things I can tell he's hiding. When you're prone to thinking too much, and you have nothing but pain to think about for a long, long time, I just doubt it's possible to see the galaxy the same way as before."