The Return Home – Part 2

River Tam bounced on the balls of her feet, hands held up loosely in front of her, as her opponent circled her in the sparring ring, both of them surrounded by cheering students and instructors. His name was Maston Forbes and he was the best in the program. Well, almost the best, thought River as she waited for his next attack. I’m the best and he knows it. Look at the glint of fear in his eyes. He knows I’m going to knock him on his ass in a second, right in front of all these people. River reached out with her mind and knew what Forbes would do next, knew he would lunge, punch right, spin and swing for her head with his left foot. It was all over in the blink of an eye, his punch hit air, she ducked under his kick and nailed him hard to the chest with her right foot. The fair-haired youth flew back, landing on his back with the air expelling from his chest with a grunt as he struggled to get to his feet. But the weight of River’s foot on his throat, pressing down, cutting off his air supply, prevented him from moving.

“Enough!” shouted a commanding male voice and River released her hold on Forbes. As she smiled and reached down to give him a hand up, there was a smattering of applause from their audience. They were in a gymnasium, at one end, surrounded by many young people dressed in light blue exercise wear. River and Forbes were similarly dressed, barefoot as were the others.

“Good fight,” River said as Forbes gave her a dirty look.

“Next time, Tam,” was all he said, his voice cold and unfriendly as he shrugged off River’s attempt to be magnanimous and began to walk away.

“Forbes! You will bow to your opponent!’ commanded the instructor, a small Chinese man in a white marital arts outfit.

“Yes, master,” Forbes said as he and River bowed to each other.

“And these are the two best, Dr. Mathis?” said a tall man in a grey suit as he approached the crowd. There was a sudden parting of people as the man approached, Dr. Mathis at his side, a large group of officious