Potemkin is nonreactive to the gory hail and the new epithet. Indeed, his decisions did work out in the even if that was not the most straightforward way of handling it. It's the magic that makes him stare for a moment, still holding his hands out. This is new. He can't and shouldn't dwell on this, not when he still has the entire battle to attend to. Even confronting Nora over there demands some nerve (it doesn't look like he'll even listen to anything less). So he tries to return to his focused state almost as soon as he was unnerved to begin with.

"Apologizes, but in this case I claim that the timing was not mine." Potemkin's words are being proven right now, as there was not only one boarder riding the waves and leaping over the rails.