I have returned.
How many times had I fantasized about proclaiming those words to an awed, intimidated, prostrate audience?
In between my reincarnations as an earthworm that renewed the soil and terrified small children, a caterpillar that ate the crops of poor farmers, a butterfly that delighted a budding natural philosopher, a bee that pollinated orchards, an oyster that did whatever "ecosystem engineers" did, and then during my reincarnations as a catfish that fed humans and advised a dragon king, a turtle that improved a barony and took down a great demon, and now a sparrow that influenced the affairs of a whole kingdom, I had fantasized about this. About reclaiming my former, rightful glory.
And now I had – partially. For I was not yet a fox. I was only a fox spirit's mind trapped in a sparrow's body borrowing a star sprite's glow. The satisfaction was great, but the triumph was incomplete.
Well, there would be time later to work on that. For now, I had a passel of demonlings to cow.
Sphaera, my child, do you covet a crown? In toppling a kingdom, do you seek to prove yourself my worthy successor?
"Is this not what we foxes do, Great Lady?" she countered.
At least, I thought it was a counter. It could have been a genuine question, disguised as a counter. Curse this light that blinded me too and kept me from reading her body language!
Can you dim the light a little? I hissed at Flicker.
"Only if you want them to be able to see us," he whispered back.
Never mind.
I'd been a blind earthworm before. I could function without vision. Hearing would do. And my hearing told me that I hadn't yet heard the thumps that accompanied people prostrating themselves. That needed to be fixed.
I injected deep disappointment into my voice. Sphaera, my child, what we foxes do goes so far beyond the coveting of crowns and the toppling of empires. Our ambition is vast, limited only by imagination itself! Our thirst – our hunger is endless! Do not shackle yourself to the emulation of past deeds!
There – that sounded inspiring enough. And indeed, a silence followed that I imagined was awed.
Then I heard a muffled sound outside the tent that might have been a snake struggling to hold back giggles. If sparrows could blush, I would have turned as pink as a rosefinch.
Feeling self-conscious, I strove to recapture the character of Piri, Nine-Tailed Fox, role model and wise mentor to little foxlings. Therefore, ask not how you can equal past deeds, but how you can surpass them!
"Surpass them," murmured Sphaera, and this time I was certain that she sounded appropriately overawed. "How can I surpass them?"
The question might have been rhetorical, but I chose to answer it. By creating something great.
Her tone brightened. "So I can tear it down later? When it reaches its zenith?"
That wasn't precisely what I had in –
"As you did with the Empire?"
Oh. Oh! Here was an idea! Precisely. What glory is there in quashing petty kings and queens who can barely hold their own kingdoms together?
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...
