The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 117: In Which I Resolve Tragedies to My Satisfaction

"That doesn't follow!" cried Floridiana. "You – how – we don't have the resources to establish a Serica-wide system of temples to the Kitchen God! We don't even have the authority to do it!"

Of course we do. We're doing it, hence we have the authority.

"That is not how it works!"

Of course it is. Look. Is anyone else trying to set up this Temple? No. Has anyone else tried to set up this Temple? No. Does anyone else even have the VISION to set up this Temple? A hundred times NO! Hence no one deserves to have authority over it but US.

(Me, actually. But I didn't say that.)

Floridiana raked her fingers through her hair until it fell loose from her bun and straggled down around her face and shoulders, making her like some kind of she-ghost. "There's something wrong with that logic. There is definitely something wrong with that logic."

If there were, I'd like to see her find it. Perching on a stack of codices so I could look down at her, I waited.

And waited.

She did sputter for a while about limited resources and proper authority, but she made no cogent arguments refuting my logic, so I decided to ignore her. I had bigger problems to deal with anyway.

Namely, whether the robes or the priests should come first.

In the end, it was Bobo and Dusty, of all people, who solved that conundrum.

"I don't underssstand. Why do we have to choossse?" she asked.

"Yeah, if it's so complicated, why can't we just do both?" he seconded.

Do both? I gasped, stunned at my own lack of vision.

"Uh-huh! Why can't we find sssome, um, ssstarter priesssts, and Lodia can sssew robes for them ssspecially, and at the sssame time ssshe can alssso make extras for future priesssts?"

Bobo truly put me to shame. How had such an elegant solution not occurred to me?

Yes! That's brilliant! You're a genius, Bobo!

I flew at her and flung my wings around her neck, and she grinned happily.

"Hey, what about me?" complained Dusty. "Why does she get to be the genius? I helped come up with the idea. I'm a genius too."

Before he could swing his head our way and slobber all over me and Bobo, I landed between his ears. Clinging to his forelock with my claws, I leaned down and stroked his forehead with one wingtip. "There, there, you just keep thinking that."

He snorted and tried to blow me off, but no matter how he craned his neck, he couldn't hit me with his breath.

And then two tragedies struck, in quick succession.

Everything had been going so smoothly – much too smoothly – so of course Heaven had to counterbalance it.

It began one breakfast when Floridiana announced out of nowhere that she and Dusty needed to start their return journey to the Claymouth Barony soon. I knew that she'd only come along for the summer – that I'd only allowed her to come along for the summer – but somehow I hadn't drawn the connection between the passing of the weeks and the approach of autumn.