Sarafina looked up from the laptop as she heard a heavy impact. In the arena, Regan was stumbling backwards. Cesca advanced on her slowly, with dainty, delicate steps. Sarafina looked at the laptop screen again. 

'What does it mean?' she said. 'How could Regan preempt Kai's movements?' 

'Regan has a terrifying power for a fighter,' said a voice behind her. 

Sarafina turned and saw that Ashcroft had approached while she was watching the video. 

Bennet nodded. 'As I expected, you noticed already.' 

'You've been busy, Bennet. I see you took my offer of independent movement and ran with it.' 

Bennet made an irritated noise and looked at the arena. 'Nothing I've done was outside the scope of what you allowed me.' 

Ashcroft looked at Sarafina. 'I saw it when we were in my office. Have you noticed how Regan has a very direct way of looking at you?' 

Sarafina saw Forester touch the bruise under his eye from his training session with Regan. 'Yes,' he said. 'It's like being under a heat lamp.' 

'Regan isn't just staring at you. Watch the video again and look at the way she watches at Kai during their fight. Look at the way she mirrors the tiny movements he makes. She's reading him.' 

'Are you saying she's a psychic?' said Forester. 

Bennet gave a short, barking laugh. 'Idiot.' 

'Don't sulk, Bennet,' said Ashcroft. 'It's unseemly for a squadron commander.' 

Bennet uncrossed her arms and sighed. 'There are a number of different crafts that let their user feel other people's thoughts to a greater or lesser degree. What they all have in common is that they're slow. It takes time to interpret neural impulses into something coherent. Regan's craft is different. It seems to happen almost by instinct.' 

'She's not reading thoughts,' said Ashcroft. 'She's reading her opponent's killing intent.' 

Sarafina looked at the laptop screen where Regan was frozen I mid-step. 'So when Kai was getting angrier--' 

'It just made the idiot easer to read,' said Bennet. 

'That's why her craft is terrifying for other fighters,' said Ashcroft. 'The longer a fight goes on, the more time she has to read her opponent's unique patterns. With every attack directed at her, she becomes stronger.' 

Sarafina looked at Bennet. 'You worked all of this out on your own?' 

'I had some suspicions after I saw the video, but the results of Cesca's medical exam banished any doubts I had.' 

Ashcroft looked at the ground. 'You don't know what sort of person you've invited into your home, Sarafina. The craft on its own would be formidable, but Regan has honed it through years of killing, until it's given her that perfect timing and distance she displayed against Kai. Her skills were bought with other people's lives.' 

'So why is Cesca beating her?' said Forester quietly. 

Sarafina looked at Forester. His face was grave. In the arena, Regan looked like a dog that had encountered an unknown creature. There was a bruise on her cheekbone and she was breathing heavily. She kept her distance from Cesca, eyeing her warily. Her gaze was fierce, but she made no move to attack. 

Sarafina watched Regan shift her grip on her wooden sword. 'Cesca's skill level is much higher than Kai's, but it's more than that. Regan shouldn't be having this much trouble. Is it a craft?' 

Bennet smiled and shook her head. Her grin was wolfish. 'Cesca is unique, and she's the worst opponent that Regan could possibly have. Cesca doesn't want to hurt people. When she fights, she's completely empty inside.' 

Sarafina looked at Cesca. Even as Regan stalked around her, she was still smiling. 

'She's a natural fighter who hates fighting.' said Bennet. 'There's no aggression in her for Regan to read.' 

Sarafina watched Cesca move like a dancer as she skipped forward and slipped around Regan's sword. Her fist caught Regan on the jaw and sent her spinning backwards. Regan caught herself and jumped out of range as a metal covered fist whipped past her face. 

'Well done!' said Cesca. 'I thought I was going to get you with that one.' 

Regan rubbed the back of her hand against her jaw. 'I'm glad you're having fun. You're grinning like a kid on a sugar high.' 

'I'm just pleased you're doing so well. There's not many people who would last this long against me. You're almost certain to be accepted!' 

'Is that why you took this fight?' 

Cesca's porcelain brow furrowed as if she was performing a particularly complex sum. 'I don't understand.' 

'There has to be more to you than that vapid grin.' 

Cesca cocked her head. 

Regan dropped her sword and started to circle her. 'Do you know what you learn at the edge of death?' 

'I can't imagine.' 

'You learn what's really important to you. There are no illusions when your body is starting to go cold, and the darkness begins to grip your vision.' 

'That's very philosophical of you.' 

'No one is the person they think they are. It makes me wonder what you would think of if you saw your blood spilling out of you. What would you regret?' 

For just a moment, Sarafina saw Cesca's smile waver. 

'I hope I never see that.' 

Regan was moving around Cesca like a predator now. Her footsteps were slow and deliberate, as if she was stepping carefully around a sleepwalker. 

'No one smiles like you if they haven't experienced despair. I think you you've felt the kind of deep seated sadness that feels like a thousand little cuts every second of every day, and I think you've painted a mask over the top of it because smiling every day is easier than crying.' 

'You're a very nasty girl sometimes. You're saying some very hurtful things.' 

Cesca was still smiling, but Sarafina noticed that it had a forced, wooden cast to it. It was as if a light was starting to dim inside her. 

'You're a broken little porcelain wind-up doll repeating the same chirpy phrases over and over. Is that why you haven't told Forester you're hopelessly in love with him?' 

Sarafina was in a position to see Cesca's face as Regan was speaking. The blood drained out of her cheeks until she looked like a creature made of wax. 

'Please, don't.' 

'Do you think he doesn't know already? How could he not? You look like an abandoned puppy if anyone even mentions his name.' 

'He doesn't--' 

'I'm not sure why you're fixated on him. Perhaps it's just an attraction of the broken to the useless.' 

Cesca started to sway. 'Please stop. You're making me feel sick.' 

'Eventually, he'll find someone though, and then you'll just go back to being lonely, sad and broken on your own. That's the difference; you need him far more than he could ever need you.' 

Cesca put her hands over her ears. She winced as if she was listening to a piercing noise that only she could hear. When she spoke, her voice was husky. 'The things you say, I think it's time you stopped saying them.' 

She opened her eyes. The look she gave Regan was savage. 

Regan gave a vicious smile. 'Look at that. Perhaps we're more similar than I thought after all.' 

Cesca took a step forward. Her eyes were wild. 'You speak down to me like you have any concept of the things I can do.' 

'Are you ready to fight seriously now?' 

Cesca stopped. 'Seriously?' 

She tried to take another step forward, but it was as if her feet had been clamped to the ground. She looked at her feet angrily, as if they had suddenly betrayed her. 

Cesca shuddered, and the hardness in her face began to melt. 'No. I don't think so. There was a time I was like that, but I don't do that any more.' 

It was almost like watching the phases of the moon. The anger drained away from Cesca's face, until not even a trace of it remained. Sarafina saw her shoulders slump as if she had suddenly become overwhelmed by exhaustion. 

Cesca shook her head. 'I realise what you were doing now. Had I attacked in that state, you would surely have struck me down. You have an admirable talent for uncovering weakness.' 

'Apparently not as admirable as I'd hoped. You stopped yourself.' 

'No. It's my loss. If we continued, there's too much of a risk that I'd go back to being something I don't like,' she looked up at Regan and smiled. 'I'm much happier the way I am.' 

Cesca raised a hand and turned to the stands, where Pohlman and the rest of the spectators watched curiously. 'I forfeit,' she said loudly. 'Regan wins.' 

'I've decided about you,' said Regan, as Cesca started to walk away. 'You really are a fool.' 

Cesca smiled. 'I know. Thank you for a wonderful fight.'