Anyone (well, fine, anyone who wasn't me) could have predicted what happened next: Tears streaming down her face, Mistress Jek dashed out of the cottage, even faster than that time she learned I'd been Serica's most infamous demon and assumed I was here to eat her children.
After her ran Floridiana, calling, "Vanny! Vanny! Calm down!" much the way she had that time Mistress Jek charged at Lord Silurus.
And on her heels slithered Bobo, who couldn't bear to miss the touching reunion.
Left alone in the cottage, I shrugged. No reason not to go along too, I supposed.
I followed them past Bobo's bamboo stand to Den's pond, where the dragon king himself was standing on his caltrop rosettes – mediating a heated argument between the Jeks and a swarm of firefly spirits. I hid in a tree before the fireflies could spot me.
"We are not toys!" one of them squeaked. "Your Majesty, we demand that you punish these humans!"
"Wait! Please!" Master Jek extended his hands towards them. "I'm sorry! They didn't know you were spirits! We'll make it up to you! What do you want?"
"We want them not to chase or catch us!" shrilled a second firefly. It landed on the tip of his nose and flashed menacingly.
Mistress Jek swatted it off, then planted her hands on her hips. "Nonsense! They didn't mean no harm." In the heat of the moment, her grammar slipped, but no one else seemed to notice. "They were just having a little fun."
"It was not fun for us!" a third firefly sputtered.
"Your Majesty, we demand that you protect us as our liege lord!" said the first, and the whole swarm spread out in an arc around Den and blinked on and off in unison.
Cowering behind his parents and Bobo, Nailus hung his head. Taila, on the other hand, was pouting.
Yes, I could very much imagine that whatever game she devised would not be fun for the fireflies. And Master Jek lacked the strength of will to stop his daughter, while Mistress Jek – well, she was really going to spoil the girl rotten now.
Floridiana's pursed lips suggested that she had to deal with this sort of behavior in school all the time.
Poor Den rubbed his temples as if he were already hungover. "Now, now, Luciolus, everyone, please calm down."
"We will not calm down! This happens every summer! We are sick and tired of it!" squeaked the spokes-firefly.
He flashed on and off in rapid succession, and the rest of the swarm picked up the pattern. Taila's eyes lit up, and she edged between her parents' legs for a better view.
It was quite a sight. Why hadn't I thought of hiring a troupe of firefly spirits to perform at summer garden parties in Cassius' court? They could have flown in choreographed patterns, blinking on and off, while we enjoyed the evening breeze and ate cold desserts and sipped cool drinks. It would have been glorious!
A random thought: Did star sprites serve the same purpose in Heaven?
Below me, Den was very much not fantasizing about garden parties, with or without light shows. "What precisely happened? Can you walk me through it? Just one of you, please."
"We were doing our own thing, minding our own business, the way we always do, when these two human children charged at us and started trying to grab us! That one – " and the spoke-firefly pointed his belly at Nailus and flashed once – "nearly tore Spark's wing off!"
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...
