"I'm sorry? Excuse me? Um, if you're busy, I can come back later...," squeaked a voice from the doorway. Lodia hovered there, torn between coming all the way into the room and fleeing.
Now that I thought about it, she'd been trying to get our attention for a while now – she'd just gotten drowned out by my newly-appointed High Priest's theatrics.
Aforementioned High Priest recognized her voice at once – now that he could hear it. "Loddie! Thou hast come!" He spun around, flinging out his arms like a horizontal pinwheel.
I was going to have fix his carriage before I could exhibit him in public, wasn't I?
It was going to be like my Honeysuckle Croft etiquette class all over again. Only this time, the audience would be more discerning and more appreciative of proper etiquette. Plus I'd adapt it to the times, so no one would accuse Katu of being possessed by a fox demon.
Hey, I could learn from past experiences. When I wanted to.
My costume designer was still lingering in the doorway, clutching a codex to her chest. "Hi Katu. Um, Pip, I sketched out some ideas...for the priests' robes," she specified, as if I would have forgotten, "but...you look busy, so I'll just come back later...." And she started backing away.
No, no, no, now is fine. Bring it over and let's have a look.
Before she could run away from having her work critiqued, I landed on her shoulder to lend her moral support. Floridiana cleared off a patch of space on her desk, and Lodia reluctantly set down the codex. Now that I got a closer look, it was made entirely from paper. The sheets inside were the same, thin rice paper that I'd seen in Lychee Grove, which Rohanus had said was so expensive that its use was restricted to official and religious purposes. The cover was a thicker, textured paper. I ran a wing over it, considering whether the craftsmen had left the texture because they lacked the technical expertise to press it flat, or whether it were meant to be an artistic statement. Since they'd also incorporated pink pressed-and-dried flower petals into the paper itself, I guessed it was the latter.
If the use of paper constituted ostentatious consumption in South Serica, then obviously I had to collect Katu's poems into a paper codex. I could put on display in the main hall of the Temple.
"If I might...Pip?" Lodia hadn't dared lay so much as a finger on the book while I was inspecting it.
Yes, go ahead. I hopped back.
Bobo, Floridiana, Katu, and even Dusty, who'd wandered in after Lodia (from the garden, to judge by the leaves he was chomping on) clustered around us. Lodia turned the cover with trembling hands.
The first page was coated with sketches of Anthea. Her head, from different angles. Her full body, in different poses. Her hands, dripping with rings and bracelets and bangles. The next few pages had sketches of gowns and patterns, with notes on the shades of silk and embroidery stitches.
Anthea must have been taking Lodia's talent – or maybe just her own wardrobe – very seriously indeed, if her Junior Wardrobe Mistress got a whole paper notebook of her own in which to jot down design ideas. Once again, I congratulated myself on how well Lodia's career was going.
If only the direction in which it was going weren't towards beautifying Anthea.
Look at the difference I've made in this young human's life, I consoled myself. Think of all the positive karma I'm earning.
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...
