"Stop!" Sebastian slammed his forearm into the incoming strike and the attacker spun away on the grass, wind cutting through the Ferguson garden.
"You're rusty," Douglas said from the sidelines, voice flat.
"Not rusty," Sebastian said, and pushed the intruder's balance so the man stumbled into a hedge. "Careless."
Joelle stepped up with a thermos and two paper cups. "That's theatrics," she said, handing him a cup. "You didn't need to throw him into the rose bushes."
Sebastian took the tea without looking at her. "You trained him."
"I trained him to test you," Joelle replied. "You're back, Sebastian. The university needs a chief instructor who can walk into a room and shut down trouble before the cameras pick it up."
"I left that life," Sebastian said. He watched the intruder scramble to his feet, face flushing as the household security drones retracted their recording. "I told Arden I was done."
"Arden didn't decide for you," Joelle said. "You have a reputation. They call when the kids need a backbone and the trustees want headlines."
"You're back, and still unbearable," Douglas said.
Sebastian tilted the cup and sipped. Tea steam and summer air mixed. He didn't smile. "Back where I should be," he said.
The intruder glared. He was a lean man in an NSSY maintenance jacket; a Red Fox courier might wear that jacket when he wanted to blend. Douglas put a hand at his hip where a small sealing device
