you would think that shrewd would have kept an eye on galen’s skill lessons given how desperately the six duchies needed a functioning coterie and the fact that shrewd knows galen is a half-trained skillmaster, but nope! like before fitz started his training, burrich warned fitz that he heard galen was ‘a very hard teacher,’ even he had an idea of galen’s brutality! shrewd knew about galen’s use of privation and pain when the reasonable method was guile, and he let galen have complete control over the skill lessons?? knowing that galen didn’t have the best track record in teaching since he hadn’t initiated anyone into the skill in his 15 years of being skillmaster?? the majority of the skill training was literally during winter when there were no raids and verity didn’t have to be vigilant 24/7; if shrewd couldn’t keep an eye on the skill training, he should’ve made verity since they would be his coterie. but sure, cede any say in the training of the kingdom’s defensive force!
shrewd just watched how miserable and broken everyone was in their silent table in the dining hall and was like they’re going to make a great coterie😆 their battered bodies means good team bonding the isolation is working🩷 remember when burrich saw a welt on fitz’s face but couldn’t do anything and that’s when fitz realized he was galen’s now, and galen knew it. like um. shrewd gave fitz to galen on a silver platter fully aware of how galen despised fitz and how vulnerable fitz would be in his skill training. but of course it’s not surprising that shrewd didnt give a fuck about fitz. you know what was surprising? that shrewd didn’t give a fuck about AUGUST. his nephew. his dead sister’s only child. actually on second thought that’s typical shrewd behavior, but wow. shrewd let august be physically and emotionally abused by galen. he didn’t bother to realize something was deeply wrong with august after the skill training, shrewd’s folly caused august’s skill-burn and eventual death. do you think merry farseer had asked shrewd to look after august. do you think shrewd thought about how he failed his sister. august was the youngest child in galen’s lessons :( he was polite to fitz before galen :( and verity also failed august because you’re telling me verity saw how galen crippled fitz’s skill ability and didn’t think hmm let me check in on august…“August was Skill-burned and never recovered. For him, I sometimes thought it a mercy. The Skill was leading him down a path ill-suited to him. I think I suspected then that Galen had done something to the coterie. But I had so much to do.” <- words from verity’s mouth. a mercy, he says. when it literally didn’t have to be this way.
