Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Della had a flair for physical defense, blending her ability as a
Vanisher with clever sneak attacks. She’d even taught Sophie and her
friends some basic moves back when they were living with the Black
Swan in Alluveterre.
But defending and attacking were two different things—especially
when weapons were involved. And these weren’t weapons that
stunned, like the melders they’d occasionally carried for protection.
These were cold metal blades with sharp points and even sharper
edges. And yes, there’d been times when Sophie had been given goblin
throwing stars to carry in case of emergency—but she hadn’t
necessarily been thrilled about that. Plus, Grizel and Ro wanted them
to master swords and knives and all kinds of other stabby things. And
they wanted them to study hand-to-hand combat, with moves that
went way beyond punching and kicking.
And the thing was: Elves weren’t naturally violent creatures.
Killing could shatter their sanity, stirring up too much guilt for
their sensitive minds to process. That was why the Ancients had
secured peace treaties with the other intelligent species and relied on
them for protection. And even when the Council ordered everyone to
attend special lessons with the Exillium Coaches to hone their mental
defensive skills, no one had excelled, and eventually the program had
petered out.
Plus, Sophie was an Inflictor, and that was where she’d been
focusing her training—trying to learn how to constrain her power and
target exactly who she wanted to take down, instead of causing
everyone around her to writhe in pain.
But so far, she hadn’t made any progress.