"I do not believe there is a single matter that Steven Durante is. So, that goes without saying, really. Even if he knows some useful things at times, speaks very little of any perceived expertise." Hades remarks bitterly, with a wave of his fork before he stabs it into the small remainder of his sfougato.

"Hythlodaeus, do not food push. He will eat if he is hungry--besides your constant need for chatter is more like as not what has been keeping him from eating, than any assumed shyness." His attention returns to Dirk, "but as you were saying? If aught at all, I can explain what I must to Hythlodaeus, if what you are about to say entails what I might suspect."