Perhaps he should have just been frank about it. Maker knows he's been teased enough about his relationship by friends to know that it's far less amusing to them if he doesn't seem bothered. This stranger certainly doesn't seem to mean ill, but Dorian's always been a private sort of person, and he's glad when the subject changes.

"Your potions, is it?" He asks with some interest. "There's something I've yet to study." Either here or back home. "I can't blame you for needing to see more, at any rate. Even a city of this size can feel small rather quickly."