“Aahz,” I said, holding out a folded piece of parchment to him, “I think you should take a look at this.”
Aahz glared at the paper in my hand as if it might bite him. And when someone from Perv glares, it is really something to see.
“And just what is that?”
“It looks like a map.” I shrugged. Actually, I knew it was a map. While Tanda and I had been jumping dimensions, shopping for a birthday present for Aahz, I had been offered this map by a beggar on a street corner. Since Tanda had been, at that moment, off talking to some sort of businessmen of that dimension, I had bought the map for a few coins, thinking it would be a fun small gift. I had stuck the map in my belt pouch, and then proceeded to forget about it because of all the problems with the Big Game three dimensions later. Actually, forgetting about the map was entirely understandable, since Tanda ended up captured and our main focus was on freeing her. And the only way we could free her was by winning the game. So forgetting the map was reasonable. I had had enough on my mind.
But today, while searching through my pouch for something else, I found the map. While I honestly didn’t know what it was, I thought it might be what I needed to bait Aahz into taking me dimension traveling again.
Aahz still wasn’t about to touch the parchment. He motioned to the fire.
“Throw it in there and then get back to your practice.”
“I’m done with my practice,” I said.
“You’re never done with your practice.”
I ignored him and pushed on.
“Besides, I paid good coins for this map.”