and sighted down the quarrel at the bird. It squawked and tried to fly away, but Bosheer tugged the trigger. The quarrel smacked into the storkron, which staggered back and forth melodramatically a few times across the room before it collapsed to the floor and vanished. Bosheer was over-joyed.
“Tally ho!” he caroled. “You're hired, young lady!”
“I miss having Massha around,” Princess Glory said. “I got used to having magik around the palace. We would love to have you here. Flinna.”
Prince Bosheer strode over and picked the Pixie off the ground. “Marvelous!” he exclaimed. “Infinite numbers of birds to shoot, and not endanger the breeding population? That will be just jolly. Could start a new trend! We could have really big shooting parties. We both love parties. We'll do it. Thank you, Master Skeeve.”
“Just Skeeve,” I said, modestly. “Thanks,” Glory whispered to me.
I collected my fee and left Flinna with her new employ-ers. Everyone was happy. I'd found the best possible out-come.
Not a bad start, I thought, wandering out of the castle. Be-tween Flinna and Marmel, I had been successful twice. Two for two. A few gold coins in the kitty. Whistling, I bamfed out of Whelmet and back into my own office.
To my surprise, there was someone in the office besides Bunny. The curtain to my private office had been pulled back, and someone was sitting in my desk chair. Someone with green scales and yellow eyes and four-inch pointed teeth.
“Aahz!” I cried.
He scowled at me.
“Where the hell have you been?” he asked.
Myth 18 - MythChief
ELEVEN
“Who needs competition?”
MA BELL
As much as I had been looking forward to seeing my old mentor and partner ever since returning to the Bazaar, now that the moment had arrived, I felt strangely uneasy, al-most shy.
To my surprise, Aahz seemed to feel almost as awk-ward as I did. He quickly rose from the chair, offering it to me with a sweep of his hand.
“Sorry,” he said. “I just got back from out of town and heard you were back. Just dropped by to wish you luck, and Bunny said you were off working yourself, so I thought I'd take a look at your new setup. Didn't expect to see you back so soon.”
Like while you were trying out my chair, I thought, then was annoyed at myself for the territoriality of the re-action.
“I didn't think you'd mind,” Bunny said, clearly ner-vous herself.
“No problem,” I said, forcing a smile. “Nice of you to stop by, Aahz. It means a lot to me. Really.” “I like what you've done with the place,” Aahz said, looking around. “Classy, without being ostentatious.”
“Bunny gets the credit for that,” I said. “Interior deco-rating never was my strong suit. Somehow, we never got around to that in my training.”
“Too busy running for our lives, eh?” Aahz said with a chuckle. “Those were the days. Do you mind?” He indicated the pitcher of wine and accompanying goblets we had set out for prospective clients.
“Help yourself,” I said, nodding. “I'd join you, but I've been trying to cut back on the stuff... and definitely not during business hours.”
“Probably a good policy,” Aahz said, pouring a goblet for himself.
“Oh, what the heck,” I recanted. “Pour one for me, too. I just came off assignment, and it's not every day my old partner comes to visit.”
Policy was well and good, but I didn't want Aahz to think I was avoiding drinking with him. Besides, I had just finished an assignment. I lifted the glass and drained it in a toast to my success, and to seeing Aahz again. The wine felt warm going down.
Aahz hesitated slightly, then poured a second glass for me.
“About that visiting thing,” he said as he passed me the wine. “Sorry if I haven't been to see you very often. We've been kind of busy lately.”
“So I've heard,” I said, taking an appreciative sip from the goblet. As with the decorations, Bunny had chosen the wine. I no longer trusted myself to do the li-quor shopping. “M.Y.T.H., Inc. is still the hottest ticket at the Bazaar.”
“We try,” Aahz said with a modest shrug. “It's been tough, though. As you know, we've been a little shorthanded.”
That struck a bit of a nerve, but I decided not to let it bother me.
“That's funny,” I said, carefully. “When I first got back to the Bazaar, I dropped by the old offices to say 'Hi,' and they seemed to have everything in hand. If anything, things seemed to be running more smoothly than I ever remem-ber. As a matter of fact, I cut my visit short since it seemed I was more underfoot than anything.”
“I heard about that,” Aahz said with a grimace. “In fact, it's one of the reasons I stopped by. In hindsight, everyone realizes they gave you a bit of a lame reception. It's just that you caught them flat-footed. I mean, they've stopped by Klah once in a while to see how you were doing, but no one expected to see you back here at the Bazaar. Not per-manently, anyway.”
“Setting up shop for myself, you mean.”
I realized my goblet was empty, which surprised me. Aahz didn't normally pour light. I got up and refilled it. I meant to pour half a glass, but they were small. I hadn't really noticed that before.
“I really didn't mean to throw anyone a curve,” I contin-ued. "It's just an idea that Big Julie suggested to me, and I wanted to give it a shot. It wasn't until I saw how awkward
