The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 171: Lodia's Decree

In the morning, a happy group of friends had run down to the beach and plunged into the water. Well, Steelfang and his wolves had plunged in, anyway, Stripey thought. Floridiana had needed to be dragged away from her sketchbook, and Lodia had needed a lot of encouragement before she dared so much as dip her toe in the water. It was a sadder, wetter, much more injured group who returned to Flying Fish Village.

And they hadn't all returned.

"Oh, Ssstripey! Ssshe's gone! Ssshe's gone again!"

Heedless of either of their injuries, Bobo flung herself at him and wrapped her body around him from neck to tail. She bumped his wing, and he squawked.

"Oh, sssorry! Sssorry! Are you okay?"

She unwound the top third or so of herself so she could lean back and scan him. That was when he got a good look at the long, shiny, melted lines that crisscrossed her scales.

Bobo! What happened to you?

She shrugged, which, considering that she was wrapped around him, felt more like being choked. "It's not a big deal. The jellyfisssh ssstung me, that's all."

"That's all"? he repeated incredulously. What do you mean, that's all? You look – you look –

"I sssaid I'm fine! I'm alive, aren't I? Rosssie's gooooone!"

She burst into tears. Her sobs wracked her body, which in turn jostled all of his bruises and cuts and broken bones. Working his good wing free, he patted her on a part that looked less melted.

There, there. It'll be okay. It's not the first time she's died on us. She'll find us again. She promised she would.

A sniffle. "Did ssshe? Did ssshe sssay ssshe would? Did ssshe promissse ssshe would?"

Yes. Right before – he quickly changed what he had been about to say – the end. She looked me in the eye and said, "I'll find you. No matter where or what I am, I'll find you." There, see? Nothing to worry about. Now, if you could loosen yourself a bit –

"It was my fault!" wailed a new voice. The latest human girl whom Piri had adopted, Lodia, ran up to them. One of the village elders had already splinted her arm, and she cradled the sling to steady it. "I'm so, so, so sorry! She wouldn't have died if it hadn't been for me! It was all my fault!"

At the sight of someone in greater distress, Bobo immediately let go of Stripey and slithered over to Lodia. Taking much more care than she had with him, she draped a coil over the girl's shoulders and rubbed them soothingly. "It's not your fault. Of courssse it's not your fault. How could it be your fault? It was a misssunderssstanding. They thought we were invading. They didn't give us time to explain that we jussst wanted to play in the water."

The girl hunched over as if she were trying to disappear into the sand. "It was, it was, he said it was. He said I offended a goddess, so he was here to kill me. This was all my fault!"

Stripey felt as if a tidal wave had just crashed over him. He said you offended a goddess, he repeated slowly. Each word felt unreal. A goddess.

"Yes! A goddess! I don't know how anything I do is important enough to offend anyone, let alone a goddess!"

Stripey rather thought that taking up the mantle of the Matriarch of a temple that was collecting offerings solely for one god counted as "important," but he didn't have time to argue with her right now. Listen to me, Lodia. I need to know: Which goddess?

"He didn't know, he said he didn't need to know – oh! But Pip said something! Just before – you were there too! Something about a star?"

Stripey shook his head regretfully. I was too far away to hear. Do you remember anything else about the star?