Myth-ion Improbable by Robert Lynn Asprin

The young lady didn’t seem to be at all surprised to see Aahz, which worried me even more. Pervects tended to scare people, either by their looks or their reputations.

I finally managed to find the words I needed to ask.

“How do you know me?”

“She knows you?” Aahz asked.

Clearly he had been too far out in the dust storm to hear her over the blowing wind.

The girl laughed and I got even more afraid of her. The laugh was perfect, sort of gentle, yet free and high, like a soft breeze on a summer’s afternoon. The exact laugh I would expect from a young lady as beautiful as she was, yet never got, at least from the few I had met.

“I doesn’t really know him,” she said, again laughing. “At least not in the traditional sense, or any other sense for that matter. Although I must say, I wouldn’t mind, if you know what I mean.”

I had no idea what she meant. I wanted to ask just how many senses of ‘know’ there were, but figured I’d wait to do that later.

Aahz snorted and Tanda laughed.

She went on. “My father said I should expect a young, good-looking man named Skeeve to come here. I just assumed you were Skeeve, since you are the first person to visit this place in the two weeks I’ve been here.”

I think I was staring at her, stunned. At least that was how it felt. I didn’t know her and I had no idea who her father might be.

She smiled at me and then turned to Tananda.

“You must be the one Skeeve was traveling with before,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ve taken care of the dust bunnies. You know, don’t you, that they’re completely invisible to guys.”