"...Arkady brought you here to protect you." Ophidia's voice was quiet, and she lifted her head to look at Charlie once more. "Just like he protects me, like he protects all of us. The world doesn't...it doesn't like people like us."
A pause, and a deep, slow breath. "...He said you'd go mad. That by the time you were fifty you'd be completely feral, that only your 'keeper' would be able to get through to you at all. ...He said...you'd have to be put down. But I..."
Another pause, and this time the breath was shaky. "I don't believe that. I don't believe you...you're going to be lost like that. I can't. No one...no one should ever have to suffer something like that, and I...I don't think it's...right. I don't think he should just expect something like that to happen to you. I think everyone makes their own path, and I don't think that you'll be like that, I don't."
She stepped forward, slowly, and pressed her hand to Charlie's chest, covered his heart with her fingertips. "...There's darkness here..."--a murmur, barely audible.
"But there's goodness, too. I feel it. I know it's there. ...And everyone...everyone has darkness."