“All right, all right,” Aahz grimaced. “I get the message. You can fill me in on the details later. Right now, the kid and I have some big things to discuss . . . and I mean big.”
“Like what?” I frowned.
“Well, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I figure it’s about time we left Possiltum and moved on.”
“Um. Aahz?” I said.
“I know, I know,” he waved. “You think you need practice. You do, but you’ve come a long way. This whole thing with the trouble you handled only proves my point. You’re ready to…”
“Aahz?”
“All right. I know you’ve got friends and duties here, but eventually you have to leave the nest. You’ll just have to trust my judgment and experience to know when the time is right to…”
“I’ve already quit!”
Aahz stopped in midsentence and stared at me. “You have?” he blinked.
I nodded and pointed at the pile of gear we had been packing. He studied it for a moment as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Oh,” he said at last. “Oh well, in that case, I’ll just duck over to talk to Grimble and discuss your severance pay. He’s a tight-fisted bird, but if I can’t shake five hundred out of him, I’ll know the reason why.”
“I know the reason why,” I said carefully. Aahz rolled his eyes.
“Look, kid. This is my field of expertise, remember? If you go into a bargaining session aiming low, they’ll walk all over you. You’ve got to…”
“I’ve already negotiated for a thousand!”
This time, Aahz’s “freeze” was longer . . . and he didn’t look at me.
“A thousand?” he said finally. “In gold?”