"I've been here since November," Cassie replied, tackling the first question right away as it was the easiest. But even then, she realized, it wasn't that easy. It had taken her a few weeks to really get used to the new calendar (at least the weather had helped with that; it was hard to think it was June when it kept snowing outside), but she didn't even know just when Jake was from. "I mean, I've been here about three months. Almost exactly."
His second question (and third and fourth) were a little more complicated and she hesitated for a moment before diving into it. "But, ah... yeah. Yeah, there aren't any Yeerks. I could hardly believe it at first. I didn't know what to believe, really. I looked into it more, looked online and spoke with some other people..." She paused before adding, "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of being some character in a book, but that's such a common thing here that I feel like I shouldn't be shocked."
Cassie's eyes lingered on him and she wondered if she should ask him if he wanted something to eat or drink or whatever. She hadn't ever been very good at any of that and seeing him here for the first time left her feeling a bit amiss.