All Awakened can form mental links, or bands, that allow for one-on-one communication. It isn't what the Unawakened would call Telepathy, but it does allow sending images and ideas, not just words.

  It is easy to be the recipient of a band, you just accept it. The challenge is learning how to initiate one.

  ~ * ~

  They finally left the coffee shop when it started to fill with the afternoon crowd. Neither of them had mentioned Awakened society or life after they stopped laughing, instead keeping to lighter topics. Books, TV, Internet Doom-scrolling were all easy choices. Their jobs, some sort of token managerial position for her while Seb avoided details by just referring to his as "IT Consulting".

  All in all it made for a much more enjoyable afternoon than poring over Awakened Records and Seb was surprised by how reluctant he was to bring it to an end. But eventually there were no more easy topics and too many noisy students.

  "Do you live very far from here?" he asked as the door swung shut behind them.

  Lisa looked around for a moment to locate the street signs then nodded. "I'll have to get a taxi, I could take the bus but I don't feel like getting stared at."

  "I can wait if you want. I'm just around the corner." She nodded while fishing out her phone. Seb glanced around, shivering slightly despite the warm day.

  "It looks like I can have one here in about-"

  "There you are Princess! Not very nice of you to sneak out without giving any of the guards a chance to see if you were still safe on your own."

  Seb would have sworn there was no one nearby a moment ago, yet when he turned towards the voice he saw one of the Holding guards, an Elite member by their uniform he thought, towering over the both of them.

  "That is not your decision to make Guardsman." Lisa's tone was back to the arrogance she had mocked earlier, but this time it held true bite. "I attended court as was requested and took my leave."

  "You're not the Heir out here, girl," the guard responded with a sneer. "No one misses you and I know all the guards would be much happier if you stopped pretending you were better than them."

  Seb took a step back even as Lisa did, not that there was anywhere to go. "So here's what we'll do. We'll have a friendly spar and then next time you go to Court you'll let everyone know you're coming back home to be the model Princess." The brief pause before his next words was enough to send Seb from nervous to worried. "Or there might be a few accidents."

  Glancing around Seb noticed the block was surprisingly empty, there were still cars passing by but it was unlikely they would notice anything in time to help. Who was he kidding, if this guard was an Elite then he was probably fast enough to make it look like Seb fell in front of a car in a very fatal way. Maybe even do the same to Lisa. Hoping she had an idea he looked at her and saw his worries echoed on her face.

  Pointing a few feet behind the guard he gave the only suggestion he'd thought of, even though it was a bad one. "There's an alleyway right there. No one will see if either of you do something impossible."

  "Perfect," the guard snarled, stepping to the side and gesturing for them to take the lead. "Witness cleanup duty is a pain."

  For a moment Lisa glared at him before straightening her shoulders and marching towards the alley. Seb rushed to catch up to her and leaned as close as he could without slowing. "I couldn't think of anything, at least the alley means no one else will end up involved."

  "I know, I just wish-" Shaking her head she interrupted herself. "It's not your fault, you shouldn't be caught up in this."

  ~ * ~

  As she turned into the alleyway Lisa's thoughts were racing. She hadn't fought in months, she hadn't even really trained in months. This wasn't just another guard, this was one of her mother's Elite. Not even her trainers were their match if you believed what you heard.

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  Seb was right though, there wasn't any better choice than the alley when it was clear this fight was going to happen. She unbuttoned her court jacket and handed it to him with a smile. "Keys, wallet and phone are in the pockets. I expect them back."

  Finding a moderately clear area just far enough from the main street to avoid easy view she turned to face the Guard while Seb walked a bit further, doing his best to get out of the way. Smart of him, he wouldn't stand a chance if he ended up involved.

  "So I'm assuming the usual sparring rules?" She was pretty sure she knew the answer, but it didn't hurt be hopeful.

  "Sparring rules? No Princess, this is going to be until you realize you made a mistake." The guard let out a cruel laugh as he lunged, barely finishing his sentence before he was upon her.

  Six months ago things would have gone differently. She would have easily avoided the first swing and seen the second coming. Instead, she found her breath rushing out of her as she crashed into the wall. Steadying herself she shifted, her side was already throbbing even though she'd done as she'd been taught and moved with the blow once she knew she couldn't avoid it.

  She knew the trainers would pull their punches to ensure no one got badly hurt but she hadn't realized quite how much. Then again this guard was an Elite and from the looks of things a brawler.

  The next volley came as she stepped away from the wall, giving her just enough time to set herself before she found herself weaving this way and that before managing to dive back into the middle of the alley to avoid being cornered.

  "So you are fast. It won't help you though." The guard snarled, charging at her once more before she could even think of trying to take the offensive.

  Finally finding her stride she wove through his attempts to pummel her and managed to drive her fists into his abdomen, side and the inside of his arm. Unfortunately the last strike was one too many as he found the already bruised ribs.

  Pushing herself back to her feet she winced, doing her best not to let the injury slow her but knowing what little advantage her speed might give her was slipping away. Instead she charged in, trying to convince herself that his lack of reaction to her previous attacks did not mean she had no chance to cause injury.

  Somehow she landed a hook to his jaw when he over extended, her knuckles cracking while his head stayed still. This was beyond ridiculous, how was she supposed to have any chanc-

  She found herself spitting out gravel as she tried her best to push back off the ground. The memory of his arm coming around, of him backhanding her away and nearly breaking her neck in the process slowly filtered into place before she slumped back to the ground, the ringing in her ears competing with the blurriness of her eyes to see which was more distracting.

  ~ * ~

  Seb stared on in horror as Lisa skidded across the pavement. When she didn't immediately get back up he glanced up at the guardsman who was clearly content to wait. To Seb's eyes the guard had a wash of colored energy flowing across him, patterns coming in and out of focus as the Husk maintained itself. The whole fight had been a blur of movement, he could see them moving but they were fast enough that the details had been lost to him.

  Taking a chance he rushed over to Lisa, bending down to try and get her attention. She was barely conscious and failing to focus on his words. Desperately he focused on her, not to use his particular gifts but to establish a mental band to her, to try and get through her daze. He'd only been allowed to practice doing so once, his watchers content to establish their own bands with him at a whim.

  Noticing that the guard was getting closer he pushed harder, finally feeling the band snap into place, a sense of Lisa's presence filling his thoughts as though they were alone. Lisa, you have to focus. You have to get up

  Her eyes snapped open a moment later, confusion on her face. Seb? You-. I can't hurt him, I can't beat him. Her desperation hit him like a truck, she was right, she was outmatched.

  I have an idea, but you have to trust me, he sent back as he focused on the guard. Energy flows were patterns and they were systems. Find the right point in a pattern and it unraveled, it broke down. Find the right sequence and you could cause a cascading failure. He could see the patterns, he could see the failure points, he just couldn't do anything else while mapping them.

  Hit him there, those 6 points in order. Along with the words he sent the impression of where to strike. All he got back was a feeling of confusion. I'll explain later. If you can hit those 6 points one after the other without pausing we'll be safe. I promise.

  Even though her confusion didn't fade he felt her acceptance. He had to be right, she had to trust him.

  As he helped her to her feet he did his best to mask his worry. If she couldn't pull it off he doubted he'd be allowed to leave, to tell anyone what he saw. She was barely keeping to her feet but he could feel her resolve through the band. When she charged at the guard, the first time she had taken the offensive, she caught him off guard. Surprised by her aggression the guard failed to react in time and Seb felt as much as saw the first 4 strikes land. The last two came an instant later, a kick then a final punch, even as her other forearm blocked the counter. Too late to stop her from landing her own blow it snapped her arm like a twig even as the guard froze before toppling, his Husk unresponsive.