Prudence, at least, is from a provincial enough community that she's unlikely to know all the nuance of a noble family that don't affect her directly: Rutyer from Dragonmount is enough to ring a bell, to tell her she's in the presence of someone important. It's for this reason that she's reassured by his answer, and manages to relax slightly, but only slightly.

"What brought you to work with Riftwatch?" she asks, out of genuine curiosity and an additional need to fill silence.