It's the first time in many years that I've not had a contingent of guardsmen at my back always.

[That confirms for him a private suspicion he's nursed for some time, though he is careful not to voice the thought. That she's chosen to reveal this much to him is a gesture of trust, intentional or otherwise; he'll respect it.]

I suspect our superiors here have thought better of sending me to any such thing since my disastrous entrance into the field at the temple Solasan.

Forgive me for enquiring, [he begins after a pause,] but it seems to me that a lady in your current predicament could benefit from some practical experience handling a weapon of some kind.