Another theory - the N seems to be oddly fond of Vlad (v. the last pages of _Issola_) - perhaps in _Jhereg_ he was trying to pretend he felt comfortable with her out of (rather rare) courtliness, or just because he felt he owed it to her. Still, most likely the oddness in _J_ is just Vlad having a little joke. Probably Loiosh fell off his shoulder laughing (or whatever the jhereg equivalent is - headbobbing?) when V described the encounter in question.