The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 88: Plans, or the Need Thereof

Incredibly, those two political naïfs seemed to believe that by telling me their side of the story, I'd report it to my superiors, Lodia's mother's name would be cleared, and I would be reassigned to spy on someone else. Imagine their shock when I went on living in the Kohs' house and eating their rice!

"Lodia, pay attention to thy food," Missa scolded.

Lodia's spoon had just tilted far enough for her rice porridge to splat back into her bowl, which made her jump and squeak. It was the second time it had happened this breakfast, and both times it was because she was distracted by tracking my movements.

As for what I was doing, I was twisting my neck around to preen my back. So when Missa followed her granddaughter's gaze to the shelf, all she saw was a normal sparrow, doing normal sparrow things.

"Forgive me, Grandmother." Watching me out of the corner of her eye, Lodia scooped up another absentminded spoonful of rice porridge.

"Is something the matter with Pip?" Rohanus asked. "Thou keep looking at her. Has she fallen ill?"

At the question, Missa's eyebrows rose. She strode over to me, bronze seal swinging at her side. Like Floridiana, she strung it on a cord and hung it from her belt. It must be modern mage fashion.

"Pip looks healthy to me. Has she exhibited any unusual behavior lately?"

Even as she spoke, she was dabbing her seal into a dish of seal paste and stamping herself between the eyes. Then she held out a finger so I could hop onto it and examined me from all angles.

I glared at Lodia, silently commanding her not to say anything.

The girl swallowed, harder than a mouthful of soft, mushy porridge required. "No, Grandmother.... She has...not."

Personally, I thought she paused too long before the "not," but Missa seemed satisfied. She held her finger up to the shelf so I could hop back onto it, and then she returned to the head of the table.

However, I didn't trust this to be the end of the matter, so after breakfast, I tailed Lodia down to the front door. And it was a good thing I did too.

Fidgeting, she asked, "Grandmother? Father? Um...."

"Yes, daughter? Is something the matter?"

She toyed with her fingertips. "Um, about Pip...." She trailed off and darted an uneasy glance around the foyer. But I was hiding on a rafter in the shadows, and she missed me.

Both adults waited for her to go on, Rohanus more patiently than his mother.

"Um, she's a little – don't you think she's a little – " Lodia checked the foyer one more time, taking a deep breath as she prepared to spill my secret. This time I flapped my wings to draw her attention. Her eyes widened, and she choked back the rest of her sentence.

"Pip is a little what?" Missa asked. "Lodia, how many times must I tell thee? Think of what thou want to say before thou begin to speak."

In the face of the scolding, all of Lodia's courage left her, and she hung her head. "Forgive me, Grandmother."

At this point, her father intervened. "Is something the matter with Pip?" To his mother, he pointed out, "Lodia has been acting odd around the bird lately. Perhaps it is unhappy in our house? It is a wild creature, after all. Lodia, would thou like to go down to the market and pick out a proper, tame songbird instead?"