The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 165: All I Wanted Was a Nice Beach Vacation

"Always give your subordinates their just desserts" was the latest addition to the foxling's notebook of Piri's Pearls of Perspicacity. It was the sentence I uttered right before my friends ran across the beach and splashed into the warm, turquoise waters of the Western Sea.

Steelfang, whose reward this was for pacifying Flying Fish Village's demonic neighbors, led the pack. Bunching his hindquarters, he sprang up, sailed through the air, and crashed into the water far from shore. The rest of the wolves, including One Ear, followed suit.

Not to be outdone, Dusty charged in until the water was too deep for his hooves to touch the bottom before he switched to swimming. "Come on! Stop drawing and come in!" he neighed back at Floridiana.

The mage reluctantly set her sketchbook on a large rock and fell in step next to Lodia. The girl was picking her way over the rocks with the speed of an earthworm, possibly because she worried about spraining an ankle, probably because she was afraid of the ocean.

"You're really not coming in?" Floridiana called over her shoulder at Den, who hung back at the edge of the village.

He shook his head. "It will be a breach of the Dragon King of the Western Sea's border if I enter his fief without permission. But if I request permission, he'll know that I left my fief without permission. That would be...bad."

Floridiana must have known or guessed his logic already, because she didn't look surprised, only regretful. "That's too bad. Your pond is too small for me to go swimming with you."

"You could always shrink yourself, you know." He perked up all of a sudden. "Then you could see all my caltrops! From below, I mean! The effect is completely different."

"Yep yep! It really is!" Bobo chimed in. Rocks clattered as she surged the final few feet into the waves.

I can attest to that, added Stripey. He strode in regally on his tall crane legs, while I glided in circles overhead, low enough for the surf to splatter my belly. That was as close to swimming in the ocean as I was willing to get.

Bobo's bright green body flashed just below the surface of the water, making loops and squiggles. Her head popped back up, and she grinned at Stripey and me. "Wheeeeee! This is ssso fun! I wisssh you could come in, Rosssie!"

It's okay. I'm having fun watching you have fun.

I didn't think sparrows could swim, and while I was getting tired of this body, there was still too much to do to risk a premature end.

She dove again, exploring the bottom this time. "Lots of fisssh, crabs, and pretty rocks down there!" she reported. "Sssphaera! Your Imperial Majesssty! Are you sssure you don't want to come in?"

Ensconced on her litter under a palm tree, the foxling sipped at a coconut, reviewed her notebook of my sayings, and declined to answer.

Just leave her, I advised. If she doesn't want to have fun, no need to force her.

Stripey's long neck suddenly darted forward. His head re-emerged from the water with a small fish in his beak. He tipped his head back, opened his beak, and gulped down the fish. A little queasily, I watched the bulge progress down his throat.

Are you sure you should be eating that? It's dirty. It still has all its scales. And the fins are sharp. They could have cut up the inside of your throat. And –

Piri. Relax. It's fine. I'm a crane, remember? I grew up with my parents feeding me fish. His eyes glinted wickedly. And since I grew old enough to feed myself, I've even eaten...frogs.