Steven is prepared to just be super into Peridot talking about gardens, hoping that it will help cheer her up, but then she goes straight into the actual problem - which is honestly surprising to him. He pauses and looks like he's going to say something, but then frowns and stops.

"Oh. Right." He manages, after tripping over a few other things he could say before they could make it to his mouth. He's just been waiting and hoping that her absence would be brief, but she never really gave anybody the chance to ask. He doesn't even know what she was doing that whole month.

"But... she'll be back, right? Like... the visits home are only supposed to be temporary, aren't they?"