The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 26: Oracle-Shell Turtle

Back in the safety of Flicker's office, I exclaimed, Whew! That was nerve-wracking!

"I wholeheartedly concur," he replied, dropping into his chair with a loud thump.

That went on record as the third time we'd ever agreed on anything, but I was too rattled to taunt him. I was already second-guessing my decision to swear a formal oath with Aurelia. That she'd hold up her end of the deal to the absolute best of her ability, I had no doubt. But the only actual guarantee she'd given was that she'd try to prevent me from receiving negative karma for incidental harm done to other humans while protecting her daughter, and to wring some positive karma out of the Accountants. Which was roughly the same as if I weren't protecting her daughter and were staying far away from all humans instead. I didn't even know how much weight her words carried with the Accountants.

I don't know why I promised to do it, I grumbled.

"I'm surprised you did too," agreed Flicker, which did not improve my mood. "It was almost altruistic of you."

Ugh. It really was, wasn't it?

"Minus the part where you bargained for positive karma, of course."

Which just meant I should have haggled harder. But there'd been something so earnest and hopeful about Aurelia – and what was a disembodied soul supposed to do when a goddess issued a direct order?

Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Blech.

"If it's any consolation, the Star of Reflected Brightness enjoys the esteem of all her colleagues."

That did comfort me somewhat. Including the Accountants?

Flicker hesitated. "Yes...."

Aaaand? I prompted. Keep going.

"Yes, although I wouldn't necessarily count on their esteem when it comes to awarding karma," he finished reluctantly.

Of course. What else should I have expected? Groaning, I sagged all the way into a puddle on his desk. I'm cursed, aren't I? This is karma. This is fate. This is Heaven punishing me for wrecking Aurelia's life while we were both alive.

Flicker didn't disagree. Instead, he let me mope while he searched his bookcase, rifling through the documents and muttering to himself, "Where is it.... Where is it.... Did I misfile it? How did I misfile something? I never misfile things...oh, here it is!"

He returned triumphantly with a file that had "human" written on the front, opened it, and flipped to the back. Curious now, I popped into a ball and rolled forward to read along with him, but he slammed the cover shut.

"Piri! Don't look at other souls' records! We have privacy rules around here!"

Somehow, I doubted they'd been worded to apply to my specific case. Aww, but Fliiiiiicker, you can't put a document in front of me and expect me not to read it!

"Actually, I can," he said drily. "At least, I would prefer to believe that you didn't read half the documents you approved and stamped as Prime Minister."

Since he preferred to believe that, I didn't correct him. Fiiiiiine. What does it say? What are you looking for?

Angling the file so I couldn't see its contents, he skimmed it. "I was looking for...hmmm – " he leafed through a couple pages – "ah, here we go. Current name: Jek Taila. Current place of residence: Honeysuckle Croft, off Persimmon Tree Road in the Claymouth Barony in the Kingdom of East Serica."