Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 7)

They reached the parlor and Bay once again held the door for them. Gaius sank into a chair, tucking his maimed hand deep into the folds of his cloak and gripping the chair's arm with the other as he stared intently at the unlit hearth, still breathing very quickly and quietly.
Bay remained standing, nearly at attention with his hands clasped behind his back. "So," he said. "You're Ky Ruiarc. I've been asked to speak with you as a potential trainer."

“Yes, sir.” Ky watched Gaius, alarmed. What had happened to him? Did she even want to know what he’d seen down there? Was it what Bay had done, or had something else happened? She turned back towards Bay, forcing herself to square her shoulders, but still feeling very, very small as she looked up at him. “I’ve been learning the short sword… but only for a few weeks so far.”

"What's giving you trouble and what's easy for you?" Bay asked.

That question did take her a bit more off guard, and she had to think about it for a moment. None of it came easy to her whatsoever. “I’m fast enough to dodge maybe half the time, but I have a hard time holding on to my sword when I have to actually block an attack rather than just jump out of the way.”

Bay nodded and paced to the hearth, piling up some logs and preparing to light it. "And what do you want a trainer to do for you?"

She was grateful. It felt less ominous to be watching him from across the room rather than to have him standing over her watching her. She wasn’t sure how to respond. Saying she wanted a trainer to teach her how to fight was the obvious answer — what was he expecting her to say?

“Um…” She glanced at Gaius, not sure what the right answer was. Then she looked back at Bay, feeling like she was grasping at straws. “I… I’m not sure… I’d like to be able to protect myself, eventually. Ka’Nor has been teaching me basic defensive maneuvers so far… I guess I’d like to learn some offensive strategies, eventually, once I suck less.”

"Defense always comes before offense," Bay mused. "Once you've mastered that I'd be more inclined to teach offensive. What makes you comfortable?"

“How do you mean?” Ky asked.

"What sort of teaching style are you looking for? What upsets you?"

“Oh.” Here he was, asking the hard questions again. She supposed she should know this. And yet she’d very much just let Lady Barraster and then Ka’Nor teach however they felt like and accepted it as world class training. She supposed she should pay more attention as to what, specifically, she liked about their teaching styles. “Um… I find it helpful to get a lot of feedback. I don’t need praise, but it’s good to hear what I’m doing well and what I’m doing poorly and how to improve on that… swordsmanship isn’t intuitive to me, so it’s helpful to have that sort of feedback.”

Bay nodded again, lit the fire, and sat down gingerly on one of the couches. "How did you find the other candidates?"

“All of you are wonderful,” Ky said quickly. Was she supposed to sit down now, since they both were? She didn’t want to. So instead she strode forward and stood behind one of the chairs, resting her forearms on the velvety back. “It’s going to be a tough choice, no doubt.”

"Do you have any questions for me?" He hadn't changed his expression through this whole time, and Gaius hadn't moved from his spot either.

Ky was equally anxious through all of this, as well. “Um… how would you describe your teaching style?”

Bay thought for a moment. "I've never trained anybody before," he admitted. "I think I'd approach it as a learning experience for myself as well. I'd do my best to move at a reasonable pace depending on a student's abilities."