I don't have parents, it was my-- [ he starts, and then pauses. ] Well, I guess it don't much matter. [ it amounts to the same thing in the end, doesn't it? they were people that should have loved him and didn't.

he turns to smile wanly, apologetically at her. ] That's.. just how things like that work with people like that. With parts of that region, really. Doesn't matter how good a person you try to be, being different's enough to condemn you.

[ he spreads his hands in a small shrug. ] It's why I rejected all of it eventually.