“I guess so,” I said without enthusiasm.
He had raised this point several times since learning about Frumple. Each time he did, it gave me the same feeling of discomfort.
“Something bothering you, kid?” Aahz asked, cocking his head at me.
“Well . . . it’s . . . Aahz, if you do get your powers back, will you still want me as an apprentice?”
“Is that what’s been eating at you?” he seemed genuinely surprised. “Of course I’ll still want you. What kind of a magician do you think I am? I don’t choose my apprentices lightly.”
“You wouldn’t feel I was a burden?”
“Maybe at first, but not now. You were in at the start of this Isstvan thing; you earned the right to be in on the end of it.”
Truth to tell, I wasn’t all that eager to be there when Aahz confronted Isstvan, but that seemed to be the price I would have to pay if I was going to continue my association with Aahz.
“Um … Aahz?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“Just one more question?”
“Promise?”
“How’s that?”
“Nothing. What’s the question, kid.”
“If you get your powers back, and I’m still your apprentice, which dimension will we live in?”
“Hmm. To be honest, kid, I hadn’t really given it much thought. Tell ya what, we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it, okay?”
“Okay, Aahz.”
I tried to get my mind off the question. Maybe Aahz was right. No sense worrying about the problem until we knew for sure it existed. Maybe he wouldn’t get his powers back. Maybe I’d get to be the one to fight Isstvan after all. Terrific.
“Hey! Watch the beast, kid!”
Aahz’s voice broke my train of thought. We were leading the war unicorn between us, and the beast chose this moment to act up.