Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian
What I want to see is how all this matters to their trading. The deal's obviously off, but Abe doesn't look like she's worried about a single lost opportunity. Perhaps their dealings will be seen as siding with the higher-ups and treated the same.
While I agree with your view of everything else you said, I did not see that exchange the same way. Abe was terrified. This was her chance to make a name for herself, and finally get the respect she believes she deserves, and obviously didn't get from the wealthy merchants at the meeting. Horo and Lawrence got a great deal more respect from the guild head.

Part of that is due to Abe's haughty and poor attitude. She's fallen nobility, and while Horo plays it quite well by acting gracefully, Abe acts like she is merely slumming with the rabble. She deserves better, she's had a hard life, she will overshadow her former buyer/husband.

This is everything she was hoping for, destroyed in a single moment. While she's playing angry, she's panicked and terrified.

This was going to be everything to her, just like losing the statue/salt deal was before this.