"Hm, I should probably ask him about that then," she said.
"You should." I barely got the words out before Lisa called out to the Dwarf who was chatting across the deck from us.
He strode over, a bottle of alcohol in hand, already halfway through to its finish. "What do ya need?"
"Well, I was wondering if you could situate Jack and I with—"
I glanced past Gennady, at the young man following him. Sevin was one of the few people in Ginah’s Crew who voluntarily wanted to come with us. He was fascinated with technology and tinkering with it, so it made sense that going to the biggest hub of innovation in the world piqued his interest.
"Hi, uh, Melas." He had a hint of hesitation in his voice— a pretty blatant hint. He scratched his cheek as he greeted me, still uncertain how to approach me.
He was obviously feeling awkward; that I knew. So I had to break the tension, that was all. I lightly punched him in the arm. "Hey, thanks for giving me your Shock Pistol. It works great— it really helped me out."
He blinked a few times before slowly nodding. "Right, I did give you that, didn’t I?"
It was a while back, but I didn’t get the chance to use it proper until we sprung our trap on Lilith. I made sure to use the stun bolts when I was fighting Lisa, Ginah, and the others so as to not hurt them while keeping up the illusion that we were actually fighting for real.
"Yes," I said, gesturing at the gun holstered on my belt. "I don’t know how you even did it. It worked so seamlessly."
Sevin grinned and began to loosen up. "Oh, well, as I told you I took an Inferior mana crystal and…"
By the time Sevin was finished with his explanation, he was talking to me like normal once again. Lisa left after pestering Gennady for a while, which freed him up to join in on our conversation and brag about how we would be amazed when we got to Jahar’taw. Some time after that, it was night and most everyone headed to sleep.
I didn’t go to sleep. Instead I went to the bow of the ship, and just stood there, taking in the night sky. The darkness that hung overhead was tranquil— almost calming. I could see the storm clouds forming in the distance, already threatening this peaceful weather, but it had yet to come. So I simply enjoyed the current gentle night’s breeze.
A set of heavy footsteps approached me from behind, and I didn’t even turn around as I greeted the man. "Gennady, what are you doing up so late?" I asked, arms crossed and leaning on the wooden railing of the ship.
The Dwarf stopped right next to me. "I was going to, but I saw you leaving your room to go up here. I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, aren’t I? I can’t let you get swept up by the waves."
"Come on, do you really think I’m not careful enough to avoid falling into the ocean?" I faced him with a mock glare.
"No," he said. turning to meet my eyes. "But as you would say— better safe than sorry, right?"
He chortled and I joined him in his laughter. After we stopped, we stood there basking in the moonlight for a minute, until I decided to ask him the question that was weighing on my mind.
"I made a lot of promises to Ginah, Lisa, and the others," I said, looking up into the storm clouds ahead. "But do you really think I can keep them?"
Gennady considered this. He placed a hand on his chin and glanced heavenward in thought. Finally, he shrugged. "Don’t know if you can keep them," he answered truthfully. "But I’ll help you try and do just that. I may not seem like it, but I’m a pretty important Dwarf after all."
I raised an eyebrow dubiously at that, and he folded his arms indignantly.
"I am."
"I know, I know," I said, grinning at him. "I was joking. I have a sense of humor too, you know?"
He snorted. "Could’ve fooled me."
I sighed wistfully as I rested my head on my forearms, leaning slightly off the edge of the ship. "I just hope everything works out."
"Don’t worry." Gennady patted me on the back, and gave me a reassuring grin. "Just have faith, will ya?"
I nodded and said nothing more. We stayed there in silence once again, letting the sounds of the waves and the wind fill the moment.
"Sorry, by the way," I added.
"For what?" he asked.
"For almost killing you when we first met."
"Oh please, there’s no way ya would’ve killed me. Can ya imagine what the headlines would be back in Taw if they found out I was killed by a little girl? It would’ve been—"
I watched on and smiled as Gennady told me of all the ways him dying to me would’ve sullied and disgraced the Dwarven Kingdom so there was no way he would’ve allowed it— he simply let me catch him off guard or something or another excuse.
Whatever the case was, I enjoyed the moment for what it was with my friend. Because while there might not always be bright days ahead— even though it might not be smooth sailing from here on out— at least I was making progress. At least I was finally going to get to the Jahar’taw.
Maybe there I would finally be safe.
"You’ve got to see this!" the young fisherman called out to his companion as he hauled the net back to the boat.
"What is it?" the older man
