“So,” she said. “Show me what you can do.”
“You sure?” I said. “This may hurt.”
She shrugged slightly, and dropped into a relaxed position. “Proceed.”
Pain, I pushed out toward her, taking a step in her direction. Pain —
She mirrored my step, swept her leg around through mine, completed the turn on top of me just in time to add some force to my skull impacting the pavement. My eyesight was full of stars, my head full of (yes, I got the irony) pain, and as I blinked and looked up I realized her knee was on my chest, one hand fingers stiff inches above my throat.
“Is that all?” she asked.
“It’s usually enough –” and on the last syllable, I rolled left, swinging up an arm, trying to roll atop her. Instead, she simply let the roll pass under her, then set her knee — hard — into my back, driving my face into the wooden floor. In the same motion, she caught my right wrist, twisted it around behind me, and held it at a painful, and immobilizing, angle.
“You do not associate with a very notable group of enemies,” she suggested.
“I — it — ah! — no, I guess not. But, then, none of them have super-duper strength and defenses and other stuff like you.”
“True, though there are plenty of potential adversaries out there who do. But I used none of my powers, only fighting techniques I was taught.”
I sniffed. She was right — there was none of the sweet flower scent that accompanied her powers in real combat. “That’s — ah! — great. You’re making me feel much better.”
She stood up, letting go of the hand, and managing not to push her weight onto me as she went. She reached down in a more civilized fashion and pulled me from the floor as I rolled over again. “If you consider, that is actually a promising thing for you.”
I cocked an eyebrow. Then smiled. “Meaning I can learn to do what you can do.”
She shook her head. “No. That took a decade of daily training. But there are things you can learn, for when your empathic powers do not suffice to take down your opponent.”
“How did you avoid feeling that?” I asked.
A small smile now, the first from her since we’d begun. “I did not. I simply did refused to let it distract me from my task.”
I grunted, frowned.
“For what it is worth, the pain was considerable. It may have caused me to rush slightly. But it will not suffice to win the day at all turns. You will need to further develop your abilities, too, defensively and offensively, beyond being able to punch and kick.” She glanced up at the clock. “You have three hours until your next appointment, from what I recall. That should do for a beginning.”
I sighed. This might not have been such a good idea.