Before he reached the common room, Master No heard a bellow followed by the crash of a fist onto a table.
“Where can he be!”
“I’m right here,” said Master No walking calmly into the room.
The innkeeper, who Master No now knew was Bul Kogi, was in the common room sitting at a table. Also in the room were his two men still at the inn. He gave Master No a truly dark and foul look.
“If he hasn’t killed someone within the next ten minutes, I will be amazed,” thought Master No.
“Not you—” he was ready to ignore Master No again.
“Your special customer?”
Bul Kogi looked at him with full attention. “Yes! My special customer. What do you know of him? He should have been here hours ago.”
Master No pulled what looked like a clay pipe from his belt and puttered about as if looking to start a smoke. “Oh, I know that he’s not coming.”
“And how do you happen to know this?”
“I stumbled upon his trail a day’s walk east of here and there it vanished.”
“And how do you know it was the trail of my special customer?”
Master No looked directly at Bul Kogi, who was looking hard at him.
“He must clearly be a special person or you wouldn’t be so concerned about him. I saw a wealthy prince traveling back roads with seven identical richly-attired guards, and later I saw his trail vanish on the slopes across the valley from here. Vanish, not a trace.”
Master No stopped his puttering and leaned directly into Bul Kogi’s face.
“What you seek, whatever it is, is not coming here.”
Master No said this with an honest face because it was true: The lamp was not coming, it was already here.
Bul Kogi grinned a deadly, wicked grin. He was ready to kill, “What do I seek?”
“Riches, I presume. But I fear all you will find here now is trouble.”
As he spoke a horse galloped to the inn entrance and in came a breathless bandit scout. He walked quickly to Bul Kogi and whispered in his ear. Master No would not have thought it possible but Bul Kogi looked even angrier.
“You three! Get all the men here, now!”
As the scout and his remaining two henchmen quickly vacated the room, Bul Kogi pulled his knife from his belt and advanced on Master No.
“You! … have five minutes to tell me all you know about my special customer.”
It was over in an eye blink—Master No made one, quick motion across Bul Kogi’s throat with his “clay pipe” and the bandit’s head and neck lay on the floor.
“Now that was extreme. … Let’s try for something unusual as well,” muttered Master No.
Master No lifted Bul Kogi’s head by its hair and set the lamp in front of it.
“I think you were seeking … this.”
Bul Kogi’s eyes registered understanding for just a moment; his mouth opened and shut like a fish’s. Master No let the lips kiss the lamp, then carried it over and put the lamp into the body’s hand, and moved the fingers so they were rubbing the lamp.
“What are you doing? You’ll lose control!” said Al-Gebra, looking very concerned as he came out of the lamp.
“I doubt it. I think something else will happen, instead.”
Bul Kogi’s head tried to shriek, but instead a misty, ghostly form rose up from the body.
“This body without a head can’t wish,” said Master No, “but the lamp magic is so powerful and the will so fresh and strong that something must happen. I have created a ghost that will haunt the inn for a while. It will help the inn’s business when word gets around.”
“Fascinating,” said Al-Gebra. “You humans are most inventive.”
“Now we must attend to the primary problem: Getting the bandits to leave. We can do that best by leaving ourselves. Back in your lamp, if you please?”
Al-Gebra went back in his lamp and Master No went back to his room.
Master No listened as the bandit band came into the common room and found their leader headless and ghostly. That plus the scout’s report of Gung Ho-Jo on the way was enough to rout them. With nothing there for them, they got on their horses and rode off south, back to familiar ground.
Master No composed himself and meditated for five minutes, then said quietly, “Al-Gebra?”
The genie appeared.
“This has been a most delicious adventure, Al-Gebra.”
“It has indeed, Master No. You handled that situation masterfully.”
“Thank you. And now I know what I want from you. I am ready to make a wish.”
“Oh really? So soon?”
“My wish is two wishes, actually. The first wish is for me. I wish to grow younger instead of older for a while. Specifically, I wish that when I wake up rested after a night’s sleep that I am two days younger instead of a day older. I wish this to happen until I reach my biological sixteenth birthday. Then I wish the wish to end and that I grow older normally. I want to see what happens when centenarian wisdom is matched up with teenage raging hormones.
“I could make you that age instantly.”
“No … no … approaching teenagehood slowly will be much more interesting, I’m sure. The journey, not the destination, you know.
“My second wish is that you learn humanity even better than you think you must. I foresee that a time will come when magical allies will be of great benefit to humanity, and if you understand humans well—if you know our good side as well as our bad—that will help us. So, specifically, I wish that you go back to your previous master … what was his name?”
“Aladdin.”
“Go back to this Aladdin lad and help him get into a happy story. In some subsequent incarnation, I want to hear the exciting story of Aladdin and his Magic Lamp and clap with glee at the happy ending.”
“You want me to invent a story for humans, by having real people do real things?” Al-Gebra scratched his head. “This is like no wish I’ve ever had before.” Still confused, he sighed. “You won’t be satisfied with a simple chest full of gold?”
Master No laughed. “No, I won’t. My wish is to help humanity and help you. And clearly you need a little more help with your human studies. By the time you finish this assignment you will know humanity inside and out.”
“This wisdom of yours is truly wonderful! I have watched you handle your own situation masterfully. And now you would make my self-imposed task a challenging one, truly worthy of my genie cleverness.
“In return I am going to help you.”
“It is not necessary,” said Master No.
“Not necessary, but my pleasure. When we first met I offered you a visitor’s tour of Heavenly Perfection. I have connections with some beings who live on that plane. Now, instead of a tour, I will see to it that your next incarnation is a great magician.”
“I am honored, and that will be helpful.” Master No bowed.
“To make your wish happen, you must lose control of the lamp,” said Al-Gebra, “and that means I will disappear, and there will be no more wishes for you.…”
“I understand. And I wish you the best of luck in your researches, Al-Gebra.”
“I wish you the best in yours, Master No. This has been an eye-opening adventure for me as well.”
Master No took the lamp off his belt and handed it to the genie, “Make my wishes happen.”
Al-Gebra took it, grinned, and gestured. The scene around Master No first turned neutral gray, and then cleared. When it did, he was standing in front of Park Aye-Bee’s house.
“Oh, good! I forgot to ask for that!” Master No laughed, and knocked on Park Aye-Bee’s door.
The End