[He's a professor, Sansa. He's used to being attentive to other people's needs, their comfort levels. Used to being attentive to his conversational partner in general, looking for all the things that might be left unsaid, as students are wont to do. Of course he would ask.]

One of the only people with enough authority to make calls on the subject, my lady. [He says, with a soft smile.] That is to say that it was our Seelie Marshall, Sir Lancelot, Knight of the Golden Cadre. I had come to him hoping I might be able to help, in some way. There are...particular talents I possess, you see. [He isn't sure whether he should just come out and tell her he's a wizard. She seems...delicate, in some ways. He does not want to scare her off.] Talents I would rather have put to the use of building up the defenses of such a structure, than using them against my fellow man. If I can help it, that is.