Commentary: I don’t normally look at the tags on stories, but this alternate version of “In Self Defence” was written after reading the tags for Robert’s “In Between Minds” story, which this story is a sequel to. In the tags, I saw the question: mentor or attacker? That gave me ideas for another interpretation.

Personally, I like this better, though for reasons I can’t explain right now coz it’s still morning here and I’m not a morning person.

I wonder if the telepathy thing is really a wound, or it’s just how the protagonist sees his/her condition, and the guy just saw it and decided to play with it to get the protag easier.

I think I’m gonna like this series.

This has more meat on the bone and gives good reasons for the defense and makes you root for the hero. Well done!