The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 51: Taila's New Dancing Tutor

"Jade Emperor in Heaven, what in the name of the Hundred Stars is that?!"

For once, the horrified yelp didn't come from me. I did share the sentiment, though, if not the double invocation of Heavenly beings, because Taila was awful at the Dawn Dance, and Nailus worse. Even Bobo had to agree (in private) that they simply lacked the talent.

It wasn't that the children didn't have choreography memorized. If all they had to do was talk through the figures, they could give me a precise list, complete with the timings. They knew it all in their heads. It was the execution they failed at.

As I watched, Nailus dropped to one knee. He was then supposed to use one hand to lead Taila in a graceful circle around himself, but he forgot and let go, leaving her to flounder.

"You have to hold my hand here!" Plonking both of them on her hips, she glared at her brother.

He gritted his teeth, equally frustrated. "I know! I know!"

Grabbing her hand, he yanked her in the right direction. She nearly tripped before she realized what he was doing.

"Gods and demons, is that supposed to be a genuflexion?" gasped the same voice.

I glanced in its direction – and whisked my head into my shell.

It was the traveling mage.

Stripey and the bandits had been overly paranoid.

She hadn't been hunting the duck demons, but a group of alleged demons. A black cat draped over her shoulders was surveying Honeysuckle Croft, its amber eyes taking in everyone and everything. A normal cat – or a cat spirit?

Good thing I'd prepared the Jeks for this.

At once, Taila dropped all the elegant manners I'd drilled into her. "It's a maaaaaaage! Nailus! Nailus! Lookie! It's a mage!" She ran up to Floridiana, arms outstretched. "Mistress Mage! Hi!"

Apparently, nothing Floridiana had seen in her travels had prepared her for this kind of greeting. She blinked and stepped back.

"Mornin', Mistress Mage." Nailus grinned a grin that was missing a few baby teeth: the very picture of an innocent, fresh-faced country boy. "How can we help you?"

"Not possessed," Floridiana muttered to herself (or maybe to the cat?). She must have performed a magical scan of the children. Switching on a bright smile, she addressed them in a singsong, "Good morning! Where are your ma and pa? I'd like to talk to them."

Taila puffed out her chest, acting like she was about to announce that her parents were being crowned Emperor and Empress of Serica at this very moment. "They're plowing."

"Cuz it's spring," Nailus explained with another winsome grin, obviously assuming that so lofty a personage as a mage couldn't be expected to know anything about peasants' lives.

"Your ma as well?" asked Floridiana.

"Uh huh. Cuz it's extra busy right now. My job is to look after her." He smacked Taila lightly on top of her head.

She gave an exaggerated cry and rubbed the spot until her hair frizzed out all over the place. Then she pouted at him, the traveling mage, and the cat in equal measure.

I was actually enjoying this brother-sister comedy routine, although I did spare a moment to worry about how fast they'd dropped the etiquette they'd learned. Was I going to have to retrain them all over again after Floridiana left? Maybe I should just apprentice them to the Green Frog and let the actors deal with their education.