The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 90: The Many Oddities of South Serica

You need to convince Lodia to finish that mirror cover, I told Katu.

I was riding on his shoulder, on my way to see a princess-of-the-night plant. Katu had mentioned that the white flowers Lodia was embroidering were called princesses-of-the-night, which bloomed for only one, well, night before withering with the dawn. Between the botanical oddity and the old folks' cackling, I had to see it for myself.

"Mmm."

Since Katu didn't sound confident that he could push Lodia to finish the mirror cover to present to Anthea, I pecked the side of his neck. In a gentle, encouraging way, of course.

"Urp!"

Katu startled too easily.

You have to do it. You're the only one who can. And you know as well as anyone – no, better than anyone – that she can't move on with her life until her mother's name is cleared.

Technically, I didn't know that any of that was correct, but it sounded true, and that was what mattered.

"Why are you so devoted to her anyway?" At long last, Katu began to exhibit an inconvenient suspiciousness and sense of self-preservation. "Aren't you a Queen's spy? Why's a Queen's spy acting like a nosy granny?"

A granny???

A granny? A granny? He dared call me a GRANNY? Who did he think I was?! I raised a wing to whack him – and only pulled the blow at the last minute.

Can't hurt a human. Can't hurt a human. Even if no human had ever deserved a wing whack as much as Len Katulus!

He compounded his crime by waving his hands and knocking me off his shoulder yet again. You'd think he'd remember that I was perched on his shoulder and that moving his arm would also move me, but no. No, of course he didn't.

Flapping my wings, I hovered right in front of his nose and glared into his eyes.

He waved his hands some more. "No no no, wait! I didn't mean it that way! I didn't mean you're old or anythi– erm." He cut himself off, realizing that any awakened animal was at least a hundred years old, which was ancient and decrepit by human standards.

Uh huh. Yep. Let's see how he got himself out of that one.

Pulling himself back together, Katu swept a dramatic bow and addressed me in the melodious voice that he used for declaiming love poetry. "Noble spirit, I am certain that you are as beautiful now as you were on the day you awakened."

Flatterer.

Also a jester, to go by the giggles of a passing group of palm civet spirits.

Straightening, he offered me his arm as if I were a beautiful lady at a ball. Accepting the peace offering, I landed on it, and he continued our walk out of the city.

"I do hope you won't be disappointed, Pip. It's far too early in the year for the princess-of-the-night to blossom. At most, we'll see some early buds."

And even if they were ready to bloom, they wouldn't in the middle of the afternoon, so it wasn't like I was expecting anything anyway.

Experimentally, I sidled a few steps up his arm, tipped my head to a side, and slid a sidelong gaze at his face. But when they do blossom, will you bring me to see them?

Hmm. That didn't come out quite right. It sounded less like an enchanting seduction and more like a wallflower's last gasp at finding a dance partner. I really was out of practice, wasn't I?