The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 46: His Most Bored Majesty

And it wasn't. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a gods-cursed good idea. After all that damage to human pride and human profit, killing the catfish demon might be only way the duck demons could make a dent in their negative karma.

After I'd spun an elaborate tale of how we would win over and unify all the powers-that-be in the vicinity of Black Sand Creek and cooperate in a joint operation against our common foe, even Stripey had to agree that it just miiiiight work. It didn't stop him from feeling cheated – although it did stop him from snatching the three silvers and storming out.

Bobo, though.... Bobo was another issue.

Oh, it wasn't that she blamed me for proposing an idea that might get her best friend killed. In fact, I wasn't sure that she believed the duck demon could be killed. She had too much faith in him for that. The problem was that now that he'd accepted the deal, she wanted to do everything within her power to make it work.

And since she herself had absolutely no idea where to start, she kept harassing me to come up with a plan.

I'd be teaching Taila about deponent verbs (you try coming up with a better explanation for why some verbs have passive endings but active meanings than, "I don't know! They just do! Now memorize them!"), and out of the corner of my eye, I'd glimpse scaly green coils twisting impatiently. As soon as I reached a break in the lesson, Bobo would pounce. "Rosssie! Ssso what's our plan? How're we going to do it?"

Or I'd be lumbering towards Caltrop Pond after work, and she'd slither out of her bamboo grove to intercept me with a cry of: "Didja come up with any ideas yet? No? That's okay! Come brainssstorm at my placcce. It's very quiet here. I'll help you think!"

Or we'd be bobbing and swaying on the dance floor, and out of nowhere, she'd thrust a flagon of ale at me and insist tipsily, "Here, Rossshie! Try ssshome o' this! It'll help – hic – you think! About you-know-what!"

By mutual agreement, we'd decided to keep the plot a secret until we had a concrete proposal to present to concrete allies. But I always knew what Bobo was referring to when she said "it" or "you-know-what." There was only one thing on her mind these days – and it wasn't the rent she didn't have for next Settling Day.

Left to my own devices, I'd have procrastinated on attacking Lord Silurus until Taila was older and better trained and safely apprenticed to someone in a profession that would take her far away from Black Sand Creek. Namely, until I'd extracted every possible point of karma from my deal with Aurelia and could end this life without regrets. But Bobo's constant nagging kept the catfish demon in my mind and, more to the point, at the forefront of Stripey's.

Technically, I'd upheld my end of the deal. I'd told him how to earn positive karma. I'd never promised to throw in a detailed roadmap.

But the duck demon wasn't going to let me off with just fulfilling the letter of the agreement. Not if I wanted to preserve his goodwill towards the Jeks and, more to the point, his willingness to cover future shortfalls in their finances.

(In case you were wondering, a shame-faced and empty-handed Flicker did show up the night before the three silvers were due. He apologized that he'd tried everything he could think of but could not gain access to the treasury without a whole chain of permissions and seal stamps. He was starting to raise so many questions about why a third-class clerk in the Bureau of Reincarnation needed East Serican currency that Aurelia had ordered him to stop.)

So anyway, here I was, juggling my teaching obligations, partying obligations (on the rare occasions that I was too tired and tried to beg off, Bobo was so crestfallen that it was just easier to go to Caltrop Pond), dancing obligations (yes, I had a regular partner and set for the Dawn Dance, and believe me, they'd be annoyed if I missed a night and they had to, Heaven forbid, replace me with someone who didn't know the choreography) – and now, on top of everything else, I had to strategize an elaborate military operation!