[He respects her boundaries enough that once she has collected herself, he wades back several paces to bolster the space between them. For a woman to be shy is only natural, and he minds not: it would be cause for greater concern if she were so bold.]

Three months you say? Indeed! Why, unless my memory deceives me it was hardly more than two days ago that I saw you last. Yet still the honeyed freckles upon your cheeks could not have formed in so short a time, and so perhaps you lie not. Is it the sons of Alastair who make a liar of the passage of time?