How it all began

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

Question: do you think Gen deduced that the magus would look for Hamiathes's Gift and deliberately landed himself on the magus's radar as a result? His narration midway through The Thief - when he expresses surprise that the man he bragged to in the wineshop ("I can steal anything") was an agent of the magus - seems to suggest otherwise, but I'm not sure I trust his narration. He might have been acting surprised so the magus wouldn't guess who he was. Unless that's altogether too great a risk, even for the master of foolhardy plans?