Deep Waters

was Leighton Pitt, who sat in a dark corner, huddled over a martini and an extra-large plate of cheese-drenched nachos. Leighton looked even worse than Elias felt.
    At least he had companions, Elias thought. Newlin, Yappy, and Ted shared his table. Leighton was alone. It was the first time that day since Charity had abandoned him in the women's room that Elias had seen anything that was even remotely positive in his situation.
    Newlin wrapped his hands around his bottle of beer and studied Elias with disconcerting intensity. "So, if you're some kind of martial arts expert, how come you let that guy stomp you this morning?"
    "Who says I'm a martial arts expert?" Elias asked.
    Newlin scowled. "Jeff Collings told me about what happened out at your place last night. Said you took on two guys and never even got a scratch on you."
    "That explains it," Yappy offered. "Elias, here, was probably tuckered out after last night's fight. Didn't have any strength left for another round today."
    "That right, Elias?" Ted set down his beer bottle and leaned back in his chair. His T-shirt du jour read No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
    "Damned if I know." Elias eyed the T-shirt. For some reason it seemed remarkably apropos.
    "That guy who decked you," Newlin said. "Did you know him?"
    "I know Ms father."
    Newlin brightened. "So that's maybe why you didn't flatten Mm, huh? Friend of the family?"
    It occurred to Elias that Newlin was very intent on discovering an explanation for this morning's poor showing. "I don't think the family considers me a friend."
    "Still, you know 'em and all." Newlin looked satisfied.
    "I know them," Elias agreed. Always study your enemy's reflection in the calmest water. Yes, he knew the Keyworths very well. It was himself he didn't recognize today. The realization sent a cold chill through him.
    Yappy eyed him thoughtfully. "Sure upset Charity to see you bleedin' all over the floor."
    "You think so?" Elias took a swallow of beer.
    Ted frowned. "Yeah, she was upset, all right. She's been through a lot lately. I mean, there was the murder and then that big fight at your house last night and now this."
    Yappy squinted. "Heard she was with you when those two guys broke into your place last night."
    There was a short, tense silence. Elias noticed that the others were watching him expectantly. Slowly he put his beer bottle back down on the table. "She was with me. What about it?"
    "It's your business," Ted said. "Yours and Charity's. But none of us wants to see her get hurt."
    Elias jerked a thumb at Ms black eye and the Band-Aid on his jaw. "In case no one has noticed, I'm the one who's been getting hurt around here lately."
    "Yeah, well, that's different," Yappy said.
    Ted and Newlin nodded in somber agreement.
    Elias could not think of a response to that so he took another mouthful of beer. The other three followed suit
    After a while Newlin fixed Elias with a peculiar, searching look. "Did you use that Way of Water stuff on those two dudes who broke into your house last night?" Elias glanced at him. "Who told you about the Way of Water?"
    Newlin shrugged. "Charity mentioned it a couple of times. So did Yappy and Ted."
    "Hayden used to talk about it a little," Yappy explained. "Always meant to ask him more about it. But I never got around to it."
    Elias studied the thick glass mug in his hand. It was clouded with foam and smeared with beer and fingerprints. Everything he could see through it was blurred and fragmented. "There were somethings that I never got the chance to ask him, either."
    "About this water thing," Newlin said hesitantly. Elias took a swallow of beer. "What about it?" Newlin looked uncomfortable, as if he was trying to gather his nerve. "Well, Charity said you might be willing to teach it to me."
    Elias was briefly startled out of his underwater dream world. "She said that?"
    "Yeah." Newlin was ill at ease but determined. "So I was just wonderin' if you would."
    He had always been the student, Elias realized. The thought of himself as an instructor struck him as marvelously strange. "I don't know if I can teach the Way."
    "Well, could you, like, try?" Newlin asked. Elias thought about it some more. Instructing Charity in a few simple self-defense moves was one thing. Teaching the whole of Tal Kek Chara was something else again. "I don't know. Maybe."
    Newlin's smile completely altered his thin face. "Hey, thanks."
    Elias forced himself to swim through the currents of the dream. He looked at his