Ah. [You know, his last chat with Aang ended with... well, that's only fair. The guy should be leaving his ivory tower anyway, and so he keeps a pretty blase face through all of it, smiling with a slightly forced, but even smile

"Shall I call the man, or is this a family purview thing?"

No wait, before that. He crouches down to Ikki's level again, lightly taking one of her shoulders to turn and face him]

Ikki, I personally would love for you to be Soren's partner. Because it means I could train with you. [He might as well be upfront with that] Similarly, I think he's made it clear that he would love for it to come to pass as well. But... you're under no obligation, to either of us. Soren can find a different partner, with some help from my comrades. The choice has to be your own, and for your own purposes. [He feels like he's berating her to reiterate this again.

But to be honest he's mostly doing it for Katara's benefit]