I smiled as he finally seemed to return to his usual self; placing a hand on his shoulder, I nodded reassuringly. "Of course you won’t. You’re probably the smartest Dwarf I know."
"I’m the only Dwarf you know," Gennady snorted.
I shrugged over exaggeratedly. "It’s true."
He laughed, raising a hand to smack me in the back. I braced myself for it, but was caught off guard when he lightly patted me instead.
"So," he started, changing the subject, "is that all you wanted to see me for?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I’ve known ya for a bit, lass. I know how you operate. You like to do as many things at once whenever you can. I highly doubt you came here just to check on me and cheer me up with gold— which, I appreciate by the way."
I folded my arms and faked a pout. "Hey! Are you saying I don’t have empathy! Because I do have lots of it!"
Gennady rolled his eyes. "Coming from the girl who tried to kill me when we first met."
"That’s… fair." I exhaled deeply, then glanced about— making sure nobody was nearby. When I was certain that we had our privacy, I spoke up. "It’s about Lisa," I said.
"Jack’s partner?" I watched as the Dwarf’s brows furrowed in his forehead. "What about her?"
"I don’t trust her." It was an empty statement; I was suspicious of her ever since she barged into my room without a sound. However, after catching her in her lie, I didn’t feel the least bit reassured since I had no idea what to do now. "She lied to me. It wasn’t a terrible lie, but she definitely isn’t who she seems to be."
"Quit skirting around the subject! I don’t quite get what you’re saying, lass."
I sighed; I was not sure how to explain it. The way she acted— she seemed both honest and fake at the same time. Her interest in me did not seem fabricated, but her demeanour certainly was.
"I don’t know," I admitted. "But unlike Ginah’s Crew and Jack, I don’t think she has any reason to dislike the Elise. She could betray us for any number of reasons."
Gennady didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he looked at me for a few seconds, and I blinked.
"What?"
"Don’t ya think you’re being paranoid again?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I’m not paranoid," I said simply. "I’m just—"
"—erring on the side of caution, right," Gennady finished for me. "You’ve said that before. But I think this is a little too extreme. Just because someone doesn’t have any reason to hate your enemies doesn’t mean they will betray you."
"I don’t think she’ll betray us," I corrected him, "I just don’t trust her entirely."
"You know what I mean." The Dwarf squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Melas, I don’t want to pry information out of you, but why are you so afraid of trusting people?"
"I have my reasons," I stated flatly.
"I know you do. Everyone does. However, that doesn’t mean you should automatically assume the worst in people."
I shook my head. "Not just regular people. Criminals."
"And so are you for being a heretic," he pointed out the obvious.
I knew that; I was aware that I could very well apply the same kind of prejudice against myself that way. I wouldn’t blame anyone if they found my secrets and my nature to be suspicious— not trusting me only seemed to be the smart thing to do. So I said it.
"I wouldn’t trust me either."
Gennady just stared at me for a moment, almost disbelieving. Then he gave me a resigned look. "So what then?" he asked. "You don’t think the person we hired is trustworthy, but we aren’t working with her anymore. What are you going to do?"
"I don’t know," I said, earning me a facepalm from the Dwarf. "Listen— and don’t stare at me like that! I wanted to speak with you specifically to discuss this. I... am not sure what to do."
His gaze bore into me for a moment longer, then he lowered his arms. "You don’t know what to do because there isn’t anything to do."
He gestured away from us— in the direction of the pirates.
"If you tell them Lisa might betray us to the Elise, they’ll ask you for proof. If that proof just amounts to her lying in your face, they’ll laugh at you and treat you like a child— which, now that I think about it, isn’t exactly the best metaphor to use with you. But you get what I’m sayin’, aintcha?"
"I understand the gist of it." I raised a hand, stopping him from continuing. I felt my lips draw into a thin line. "But I can’t just do nothing can I?"
"‘Course not," he said, matter-of-factly. "Just keep an eye out. Maybe gather more evidence if there’s something leading you to really believe she’ll betray us. Other than that, there’s nothing for you to do."
"Shouldn’t I at least tell Ginah?" I asked, cocking my head. "Or Jack."
"No. You barely even know them, while they’ve known Lisa for who knows how long. Disclosing it with me is fine, but otherwise, you should keep it to yourself. Telling it to them now will only alienate them from you."
I brought a hand up to my chin, considering this. "I… understand."
"Good," he said, this time slapping me across the back; I was not prepared for it, and nearly doubled over. "Now if that’s all you wanted to talk about, I’ve gotta run. There’s this kid who wants to take a look at some of my equipment. Seems like he’s a self taught Tinkerer— perhaps you might find yourself with a rival apprentice."
"As long as you don’t replace me, I can deal with not
