Maybe it was for the best that they couldn't really talk as they otherwise would have if those other people hadn't been around. Maybe it only would have devolved into violence if it had just been the two of them and Jackson knew, for his part, that he could do without that right now. With everything else as uncertain as it was the last thing he needed was another conflict. Having one other dominant male in town he had developed a rivalry with was enough, he neither wanted nor needed to add a second to that. Whether or not it was the same for the other wolf Jackson couldn't say, obviously, but it wasn't like they could find out one way or the other. The situation was what it was and there would be no changing it. For the time being it was best to leave things ambiguous and get through the encounter without causing any kind of trouble.
"Student or teacher?" he asked, still aware of the dog by the other wolf's side and the fact that the animal could prove just as dangerous as a fellow werewolf if things turned sour. "It was a dance of some sort, from what I heard. There were some teachers inside but not all of them." Jackson couldn't even be sure if he was trying to reassure the other wolf or if he was talking just to carry on the conversation but the words were out there now and he had no desire to take them back, whatever he had meant by them.