Mairon may not be the best person to trust (and is actually one of the absolute worst people to trust), but for the moment, he means her no harm. While, as Mairon said, the way isn't far, they do have a crowded marketplace to travel to, so he speaks to her conversationally as they walk.

"You spoke before of spirits—do they often interact with humans in your world?" He has learned something of the ways of speaking in Empatheias—for instance, to say humans instead of Men.