The silence that followed Sage's question stretched longer than either of them anticipated. The rotund man sat hunched over, hands clasped at his belly as if afraid they might wander where they shouldn't.
His eyes, small, round, and surprisingly earnest for someone adorned in gemstones, shifted from the desk to the floor and back again, searching for a safe place to rest his gaze.
Sage leaned back in his chair, arms crossed loosely over his chest, studying him with a look that had shed most of its mockery.
The Guild Hall buzzed with the familiar low hum of voices, footsteps, and rustling parchment, but for a moment it felt as though they were sealed off in their own bubble of quiet.
"So you're telling me," Sage said slowly and deliberately, "that you're broke."
"Yes," the fat man replied cautiously. After a weighty pause, he added, "Completely."
