( Kylo doesn't reply immediately or offer any actual indication that he's heard her, though averting his gaze somewhere to the left of her might indicate that he hasn't actually gone deaf or mute in the last two minutes. It isn't as if what she's describing is unheard of, but unusual is putting it in more simplistic terms than he would assign. Their last entanglement isn't so far in the past that he can't remember how hard he pushed and how much of himself he poured into trying to break down her defenses and take what he was after. Meeting her surprising focus and fortified defenses had meant that he had to push harder and harder until there was a crack in the armor. It just wasn't her armor that cracked.

Knowing that Skywalker had been privy to the situation explains a great deal, but it makes him feel less comfortable about what's unfolding here, which is saying something considering he's not comfortable with the fact remotely. If Skywalker could pick up on her connection with Kylo before she even brought it to the table, then it stands to reason that Snoke will be more than capable of honing in on it and either questioning his loyalties through his own brand of interrogation or priming and polishing it to be used against the Resistance. He isn't uncomfortable with the latter, but the fear of further failure, of being unable to pierce Rey's mind and either coax or locate her at Snoke's behest makes his hand tighten further around his lightsaber, the quillon digging into his knuckle. )

You throw your weight behind the saber like you would a staff or a club. ( He hasn't seen her in action with that particular piece of equipment, but one of the other Knights favors that over heavy artillery and her fighting stance isn't dissimilar. Talking about her fighting style seems a safer path of discourse than stopping to consider the reality of everything else that she's trying to lay on the table in front of him. ) You are a quick learner - ( He has to concede, at the expense of his pride and his face, but he doesn't have to sound happy about it. ) - but that will hardly make a difference when push comes to shove. Skywalker might be a master at his form but you have to find your own niche, and if advancing like some kind of savage desert rat is what you're good at, then you need to learn how to utilize it, how to best acquaint it with the Force and your innate ability to wield it.

( It hangs there, between them, that unspoken I could teach you that was so implicit between them before. Kylo knows that she won't take the bait, that he's not prepared enough to persuade her now and that she is too steadfast in her convictions to ever actually consider his tutelage. Likely what she called him here for has nothing to do with curiosities about his personal academia and more to do with what's occurring between them, how easily he might be able to peel back her mind and dig inside for images of that island, all that green in the rolling white caps of a slate blue ocean; or the acrid, harsh bite of the Jakkuian sands, dust storms raking against fortified shelters and years spent alone. And landscapes aren't all that he's seen in stretching his reach out through the Force, whether to search for her in a last ditch effort before touching down to finish his training or out of curiosity. He get snatches of Organa's perfume and quick, fleeting glances of dark skin against the drab white of a medbay gown, impressions of her guilt and her longing, the knowledge that even though she is surrounded now by hands and embraces and reassuring words, the path she walks is still a solo journey. )

Does it disturb him to know that his only remaining pupil has a dark-sider in her head?