Haroun wants to demand that Bella clarify what she means, but the wear on the orichalcum guildplate is obvious, if you know that you're looking at wear rather than epic-level disintegrating magic, which nobody else would think of at a time like this, because orichalcum simply doesn't wear down.  Not over anything resembling the lifetime of a human civilization.

"How long ago?"

Haroun wants to demand that Bella clarify what she means, but the wear on the orichalcum guildplate is obvious, if you know that you're looking at wear rather than epic-level disintegrating magic, which nobody else would think of at a time like this, because orichalcum simply doesn't wear down.

"How long ago?"