It is a faint product of his own magic, of his connection to the Void and its connection to his world, that brings out the smell of the sea. It's the same reason sometimes his sort of magic sounds faintly like whale song, the same reason his blurred Fade Step looks like the bright blue of whale oil mixed with deep purple and black. It is what his world is, what he is, even before Dunwall. The sea has been there far longer than the city.

And it seems this woman, this Rifter, is of it at least as much as he is.

"It is, perhaps, more complicated than I can currently discuss." Since they're still being attacked by demons and all. "But my world is closely tied to the sea, as am I, and so my magic often reflects that."