“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. It was just a thought.”
“Well, could you elaborate a little? C’mon, Butterfly! Don’t drop a line like that on me without some kind of an explanation to go with it.”
“It’s really none of my business,” he shrugged, “but I couldn’t help but notice during your story that you seemed to be living your life reacting to crisis rather than having any real control over things. Your old partner and mentor got dropped in your lap and the two of you teamed up to stop someone who might try to assassinate either of you next. It was Aahz who forced you to try for the job as court magician, and ever since then you’ve been yielding to pressure, real or perceived, from almost everybody in your life:
Tananda, Massha, the Mob, the Devan Chamber of Commerce . . . even whatzisname, Grimble and that Badaxe have leaned on you. It just seems to me that for someone as successful as you obviously are, you really haven’t shown much gumption or initiative.”
His words hit me like a bucket of cold water. I had been shouted out by experts, but somehow Butterfly’s calm criticism cut me deeper than any tonguelashing I had ever recieved from Aahz.
“Things have been kind of scrambled . . .” I started, but the financier cut me off.
“I can see that, and I don’t mean to tell you how to run your life. You’ve had some strong-willed, dominating people who have been doing just that, though, and I’d have to say the main offender has been this fellow, Aahz. Now, I know you’re concerned about your friendship, but if I were you, I’d think long and hard about inviting him back into my life until I had gotten my own act together.”