Flights of Fancy

Xander's realization that having his humanity beaten out of him at least acknowledges he has humanity is very telling. Have you ever seen the Planet of the Apes movies, especially the ones after the first one? There's an alternate Earth where the apes are servants to people, and I remember a scene where a human says, "I've always let them pick their own names" and hands a book to the ape. The ape, who has full intelligence but is unable to speak (I don't remember why) flips through till he finds his own name and points it out.

The cruelty of Leshar and Lirowaus is horrific and crushing, but not as ultimately soul-killing as being treated as something sub-sentient.

Damn good stuff, my dear.