[He noticed. The drawing back. He'd been watching Mal so closely. He let the blade vanish in a wash of purple smoke and the light went out of his eyes. He looked sad. Was sad. This was what he really was, what he always had been. And it was a thing that gave Mal pause.] I'm...supposed to just get used to my powers. Learn them, I guess. There's gonna be more from what he said, and then, like...take over some day. Me and my brother or sister, whoever they are, he wouldn't tell me.
And... [His voice rose a little: a combination of disbelief and even anger.] You know what else he told me? That...everything I've been through, right from the start, was supposed to make me better at it. That he set it up that I'd have a shitty life just so- [He cut off with a little catch in his throat, sinking teeth into a suddenly trembling lower lip, a heat growing behind his eyes. He swallowed hard a couple times and tried to go on, and had to look away because he didn't want Mal to see him like this, but there was nowhere else to go. His next words came out raspy and uncertain.] He wanted me broken, so I would...like, want the power, I think.