She will learn, if she hasn't already, that while he can make himself unreadable, even under considerable duress, he rarely does so in private. His tells are just very subtle, instead. There's the slightest bit of softening around his eyes when she seems surprised at his words, perhaps a bit of knightly instinct under there, to protect her, even though her loneliness and hurt is in the past.

"Many things have changed very quickly," it's a politic understatement, but it isn't as though she doesn't know the full extent.of what has happened and why. "We could all use more allies." He considers her request about society and his lips actually curve into a very slight smile,

"I confess, I may not be the best guide in such matters. I know how to comport myself as a knight and as a Commander and could certainly teach you such things, if you were willing, but I have little and less knowledge of what becomes a young lady of Ishgardian society. I am sure, however, that a tutor could be provided for you."

"Or perhaps..." he adds, after a moment, and it is hard to pinpoint what exactly has changed about him, but there is something undeniably more boyish about him, something about the light in his eyes or the lilt of his tone, but she gets a rare glimpse into the more delicately subversive side of him, "you would rather go armed and armored at my side. There have been standing bets among my knights and the noble houses both for years about whether or not Lucia and I were to be married. You would hardly raise eyebrows as knight instead of lady."