"Height's overrated, but I'm always learning!" Self-taught was right-- Heather had been molded into what she was by a hell of a lot of experience, but apart from whoever had taught her how to aim a gun and pull a trigger, nobody had ever really shown her how to fight. You picked it up by osmosis when you were the kind of person she was... and for good reason. Maybe her roots had always known what would come on a fateful summer night not long after she'd turned seventeen.

But the feint fooled her, and the jab caught her by surprise. She stumbled backwards, letting out a startled gasp but bringing her hands up defensively against any further blows that might try to come while she was caught off-balance.