"Do we actually need to meet every week?"
That question, naturally, came from the Dragon King of Caltrop Pond, because who else would ask a question like that at a taskforce meeting? Let alone a taskforce that had been meeting once a week for several moons now and was firmly entrenched as part of our schedules?
The rest of us eyeballed Den. (He'd given us permission to use his nickname after Taila butchered "King Densissimus Imber" a few times. Personally, I thought he was trying to head off the dreaded contraction to "King Sissy.")
No one said a word, but the little dragon defended himself, "I'm not asking because I want to start partying earlier! It's just that we've already fulfilled all of our goals! No one's trying to hurt Taila or any of the Jeks, and even if they were, the ducks and cats have it covered."
"The rats too," squeaked Master Rattus, the plump, glossy, grey chief of the local rat spirits.
He was the one whom Stripey had approached about spying on Master Gravitas and Boot. We'd added him to the taskforce too, since, as Stripey argued, he already knew about the cats. His rat spirit underlings kept an ear on marketplace gossip and castle chitchat and monitored conversations for anything that might lead to trouble for the Jeks.
At Master Gravitas' glare, Master Rattus bared his long, yellow teeth in a grin. "We're so good, you don't even know we're here."
"Yes, the rats too," Den amended before the cats' and rats' rivalry could derail his attempt to dissolve the taskforce. "But my point is, Honeysuckle Croft is probably the safest place in the whole barony! Honestly, if Sir Black Pine or the Green Frog or the Dragon King of Black Sand Creek ever invaded, I'd rather hole up here than in the castle."
I pointed out, If anyone invaded the Claymouth Barony, it wouldn't be your problem. You'd only have to hole up somewhere if they invaded Caltrop Pond.
It might be completely surrounded by the Claymouth Barony, but Caltrop Pond was a separate fief.
"Well, true, but anyway! My point is that we've fulfilled that mission objective! And the ones about improving Taila's life too. I mean, she's going to school now. She's training to be a mage. What more could we want for her?"
Floridiana smiled.
The loving parents, however, looked concerned. Obviously, they thought their precious daughter's life could use more improving.
To most task members' surprise, it wasn't Mistress Jek but Bobo who spoke up. "But ssshe's not completely sssafe yet! If the neighbors or the Baron get mad again, or if there's another drought.... We can't ssstop watching over her yet! We jussst got ssstarted!"
"I agree with Bobo." Stripey seconded her, earning himself Mistress Jek's eternal gratitude. "We've seen how bad things can get. It'll be a lot easier to maintain the taskforce, keep an eye on the situation, and head off any problems – than to dissolve the taskforce, let disaster strike, and then re-form it to deal with the disaster."
His argument drew thoughtful nods.
"I wasn't suggesting that we dissolve the taskforce!" protested Den. "I just meant that everything is on track, so maybe we don't need to meet every week! Maybe we should change it to once a year, like the Meeting of the Dragon Host."
"Once a year?" exclaimed Floridiana.
All of a sudden, the dragon king remembered that humans dealt with much shorter timescales. "Once a month?"
YOU ARE READING
The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox
FantasyAfter Piri the nine-tailed fox follows an order from Heaven to destroy a dynasty, she finds herself on trial in Heaven for that very act. Executed by the gods for the "crime," she is cast into the cycle of reincarnation, starting at the very bottom...
