He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth, ready to retort with incredulity--but her honest words brought him up short and sent a blush to his face once more. He looked away, then back, then away again, a new expression on his face each time, then finally settled on embarrassed curiosity. "Thank you. I mean, they did? Who?"
But he waved away the question as soon as he said it. "Never mind." It didn't matter, after all: he hadn't been looking at them, and there was no one they'd met on their travels he would have particularly cared about if they had. There was only one woman--

"I won't deny you could stand to learn a little more worldliness," he teased her with a gentle smile, his ability to play along clearly improved by the week or so he'd spent apart from the group. "But you're a lot wiser than I think you give yourself credit for. And a lot more beautiful." He met her gaze openly, and although his cheeks held a faint tinge of red in them it was clear his ability to pay compliments had made great strides as well.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it's suspect to me because I just got here and everything is happening at once, or maybe I'm just not seeing the whole picture. If there's one thing Gods have to have, it's perspective. So maybe the whole Church going crazy is a little bump to them where to us it's a mountain." He shrugged helplessly. "It's all a little out of my expertise."

A brief shout rose in the town, then fell. Another group apprehended by the Paladins, perhaps, or a fight erupting. He fidgeted, stroking his burned chin.
"Waiting here is making me antsy," he sighed. "But it's worse knowing you're going to have to fight him without me." And the look on his face was miserable.