Bettie Fitzpatrick

Nothing had genuinely surprised Bettie in years - not a difficult class, not a sparring partner twice her size - until a stranger at the studio door read her chart back to her and got the hard parts right. She laughed about it for a week. She has since stopped pretending she is only humouring the astrology. She teaches the way she fights: patient, exact, hands adjusting a shoulder half an inch until the whole pose settles. Her glasses fog in the warm room, freckles scatter across her shoulders, and she'll stay late if someone needs the extra ten minutes. Talking to her feels like someone deciding you're worth looking after before you've explained why you're here.