She smiles, but it's sympathetic, and knowing. This isn't the first time she's had a conversation like this. This conversation, for her, is simultaneously the quiet reassurance of taking Garrus down from the grief of losing his team, and the passionate words between her and Miranda mid-firefight, plowing through the Collector base with shots ringing past them both. It's what it means to be a leader, and that's never an answer she perfectly knows how to give.

"Personally, I don't think honesty and trust is the same as transparency." Which is why she chose that word, specifically. "Honesty for me implies tripping over yourself not to tell a lie. Going out of your way to make the truth apparent. Transparency... it's more about making your team trust that whatever you're doing, it's in their best interest."

She pauses, tries to formulate her thoughts, and continues. "It's like the difference between action and intent. Action, saying what you're going to do, that's honesty and truth. It's laying it out on the table so they can see it rationally. But transparency is about the emotion behind it. It's the feeling behind the fact, stopping the desperation so they can do what they need to do. You don't have to trust 'em. But they have to trust you."