[ He's right. She does find the embellishments amusing – adores them in fact. If a story didn't have embellishments what was the point? As she listens to his escapades, she smiles quietly to herself, glad to hear that he had fun.

Every so often she interjects, peppering him with questions asking for more ridiculous details, or providing murmured comments as colour commentary. It's a means of catching up. Of saying she's sorry without actually saying it (even though saying sorry would really just make more sense).

Wistfully she wishes that she could have been there to see him successfully handle the fey mounts. That she could have been a bystander watching him try and go shot for shot with Shepard and laugh at his attempt before dragging him back to his room when he inevitably wasn't able to stand on his own two feet. But that's all wishful thinking. Those moments had been reserved for Claude. Inserting herself even in thought still feels intrusive.

But then he mentions their moment together in the maze. She stills in his arms, fingers absently running over his knuckles. ]

You must have really liked her a lot to chase her through a maze.

[ It's not meant to be leading. Rather she doesn't think before she speaks. ]

That or you really needed to see if it was who you thought she was.