"So," he started, "what do you two want?"
"We heard you two are the best smugglers in all of Laxis, and we’d like your help to get us out of this city."
"We don’t smuggle people, Dwarf. It’s too hard, and if you’re wanted by one of the gangs or pirates here, we’d be burning a lot of bridges."
"Of course. But that’s not a problem with us," Gennady said, waving a hand dismissively. "We arrived in Luke just the other day. Ain’t got problems with any of the groups in the city."
"A few days is a lot of time." Jack stared at us as his brows arched darkly over his forehead. "Or did you think I didn’t hear about what you did at the harbor just the other day?"
I saw Gennady gulp, hesitating.
"That was a minor incident," he said. Then he glanced down at the table. "Y’know, we haven’t even had anything to drink just yet." He turned to a passing server and waved them down. "Get me and this lad a drink—"
"I’m not a lad, Dwarf," Jack spat, cutting him off. "And I don’t have time for this. We’ll be leaving—"
"I think we should at least stay for a bit, Jack," a soft voice spoke over him. Lisa glanced at her companion with her smile still plastered onto her face. "It would not be wise to turn down a free meal."
The man hesitated, eyes darting between Lisa and Gennady, then he acquiesced. "Fine," he said. "But I’m only staying because you asked me to, Lisa. The Dwarf better not get his hopes up that we’ll do this job for him."
"Hah," Gennady laughed, "is that a challenge? Ye don’t know how friendly us Dwarves get over drinks."
"I know all too well, little man."
Gennady ignored the provocation; he continued his negotiation with Jack as drinks were served to the table. I just sat in my chair, neither contributing to the conversation nor consuming any of the beverages in front of me.
I watched on as both men got drunker and drunker, while the young woman simply sat there, sipping on a glass of wine. I would have thought that getting inebriated would make Jack more amicable to striking up a deal, but it seemed to have only affirmed his resolve.
"—I don’t care about who you are or if you’re a damned Hunter or the King of this country. I told you, I’m not bringing you to that damned Dwarven Kingdom!"
"C’mon, lad—"
"Don’t call me that! The only reason I’m sitting here, listening to you yap your mouth off is because my partner of six years— who usually has a good intuition— thinks you would be worth our time! But now I’m starting to doubt that even is the case anymore."
Gennady sighed, taking a swig of ale. "Listen," he said, slamming the mug down. "I can offer you twice whatever the usual cost you charge for smuggling goods our size over the same distance we’re asking you. In fact, you don’t even have to bring us all the way to Taw— you can stop at Puer… no, before Puer, and we can depart from there. I’ll even throw in a good enchanted sword to replace that rusty, old blade there." He pointed a tired arm at the man’s waist.
Jack’s eyes flashed, looking down at his sword. I looked at his furious gaze, and I also remembered Gennady’s talk of a Dwarf’s craft; I could almost predict what would happen next.
And I did not like it one bit.
The smuggler opened his mouth, spit already coming out—
"You boys are intolerable," Lisa said, cutting him off once again. This time, Jack looked irritated at his partner’s casual interruption of when he was speaking. But she ignored him, and stared at me. "You haven’t spoken all this time, what do you have to say, little girl?"
I raised an eyebrow at that, but did not comment on how she knew I was a girl. She probably heard about it being mentioned in the same breath as Gennady fighting with sailors in the harbor. A simple extrapolation of events and their associated characters.
"What do you mean by that?" I replied with a question.
"I’m curious," she said, lowering her wine glass. "You and your companion want to leave this country, and we’re not going to do this for you: what do you have to say?"
"If you reject us, we’ll just have to find others to do this for us." I shrugged.
"Interesting." Lisa played with her wine glass, rocking it back and forth on the wooden table, causing a swirl in the lavender liquid inside of it. "And what happens if they all reject you? Suppose we’re the last possible person you could approach to bring us to your destination: what would you do now?"
"Oi, Lisa, what are you doing?" Jack asked, annoyance clearly written across his face.
I peered into the young woman’s eyes, and looked past her smile. "You want us to win you over," I stated simply.
She did not look away. "...perhaps."
Gennady, in his drunken stupor, just seemed confused and could not help me. So I drew in a deep breath, and reached for my sides.
"If you were indeed the last people I could approach," I said softly, "then I would be desperate. If that were the case, I’d offer you this."
I pulled the coin pouch, slightly loosening its string, and slid it across the table. The yellow glitter of gold coins barely escaped the small opening, but it was enough to get a reaction out of the two.
"A platinum and a half," I said. "That’s all I have to offer, yet it is more than you’ve made in a job as simple
