Up in Heaven:

The Empire shall rise once more.

Lady Fate’s proclamation sent shivers up and down Aurelia’s spine. Her glow wavered like that of an oil lamp. Next to her, Flicker had dropped to the floor and prostrated himself before one of the great gods.

As for Aurelia, she deliberately met the eyes of the goddess who had decreed the end of her Empire, the one she had worked so hard with her cousin-in-law to save. “Lady Fate. Good day. What brings you to the Office of the Overseer of the Bureau of the Sky?”

Lady Fate’s cat, Regia, flicked a disdainful glance around the room with shockingly blue eyes. Only a cat could make Aurelia almost blush.

Almost. She stood by her momentary lapse in composure. It had been justified. More than justified.

“Good day to you too, Star of Reflected Brightness.” Unlike her cat, Lady Fate, at least, had the good manners to act as if the Overseer of the Bureau of the Sky lost control of her powers and trashed her own office every day. (Although, given the temper of Aurelia’s predecessor, maybe it had happened every day.) “I merely thought that you would appreciate the good tidings. All shall proceed as I foresaw. The Empire shall rise again, greater than it was before.”

Aurelia’s lips twisted, but she didn’t argue. The Empire had been on shaky ground already before Piri’s arrival, and by the time the fox demon was through with it, she was just surprised that the Jade Emperor hadn’t sunk the whole thing in the ocean.

Lady Fate raised both arms. “The Fated One shall reign over a land of peace and prosperity!”

“Isn’t that what you predicted for Marcius?” Aurelia couldn’t help it: The challenge just slipped out. She remembered how hard Cassius’ cousin had fought to save the dynasty, how Piri had stripped away his supporters and the emperor’s trust and maneuvered him into a corner out of which the only remaining path was death. She would never forget the sight of him plunging a dagger into his own heart, to spite the fox demon who had demanded it for her “medicine.”

Lady Fate, on the other hand, was unmoved. “Indeed. His day shall come.”

Implying that, half a millennium ago, when Lady Fate predicted that Marcius would found a new dynasty, what she really meant was that the soul inside him would one day reincarnate into a baby who would grow up to become a man who would found a new dynasty?

“Is there no time limit to your prophecies?” Aurelia couldn’t help asking.

She felt a touch on her ankle: Flicker warning her to stop before she antagonized the goddess of fate herself. Aurelia shouldn’t have needed the reminder, but she just couldn’t seem to help herself today.

Fortunately, all that happened was that she got raked by twin scathing glares from the goddess and her cat before Lady Fate swept back out.

The Empire shall rise once more. The Fated One shall reign over a land of peace and prosperity.

Words that were supposed to apply to the world in which she had lived, as a human, half a millennium ago.

“Where is Marcius now?” Aurelia wondered out loud.

Now that the other goddess was gone, Flicker hauled himself back to his feet, wincing. She assumed it was due to creaky joints or some star sprite equivalent of muscle that had gone to sleep, but in fact, it was due to the answer he was about to give.

“He’s in South Serica, actually. He’s currently reincarnated as a golden snub-nosed monkey, the favored pet of Queen Jullia.”

“Wait. Don’t tell me that the next Emperor of Serica is going to be a monkey!”

In the palace in Goldhill:

Bink the monkey scratched at the jeweled collar around his neck, then hopped from his silk cushion to his carved rosewood swing. He was bored. No one was coming to play with him. The pretty human lady, the one who came every day, hadn’t come yet. The other, less-nice people weren’t coming to feed him either.

His tummy rumbled. It wasn’t a feeling he’d ever had in his whole life.

He picked up an embroidered ball and threw it across the room. Then he threw a pinwheel. Then he threw a doll. Then he threw his water bowl. Then he threw back his head and howled.

At last, the door opened. It was the pretty human lady. Behind her were more human ladies with bowls of cut mango and bell fruit. Chattering, he ran over to the pretty lady and scrambled up to sit on her shoulder. He scolded her the whole time.

She said something that he couldn’t understand, but he could tell she was sorry that she was so late and he was so hungry.

It was all right. He let the other ladies feed him the fruit with their hands, and he let the pretty lady tempt him with a new ball. It had a bell inside it that made a pretty sound.

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At last, full and happy again, he settled down in her lap and fell asleep to her singing.

Somewhere west of Goldhill:

So high above the ground, the air was cool, and the wind blew around me, crisp and refreshing. The land below, dotted with farmhouses and orchards, stretched out like the scenes that Lodia had embroidered on Katu’s robes. (At least, they would have if she’d included the demon encampments. Which she hadn’t.)

With a chirp of glee, I folded my wings and plunged. Chortling, Stripey dove after me. I let him almost catch up to me, then pulled up sharply and shot straight up. He overshot, corrected, chased after me, and overtook me. I pumped my wings harder and caught up, then overtook him in turn. On and on we flew, darting through the clouds and playing our game of tag until we’d had our fill. Then we glided down to earth and landed next to a pond full of wild lotuses.

Think we offended any cloud spirits by flying through them? Stripey joked.

Nope. There’s no such thing.

Unless you count Lady Nu? The goddess who created humans and patched Heaven when it cracked? She’s supposed to be floating around as a cloud and sleeping off her labors.

Meh. I’m not worried. Are you?

Nope. Hey, these flowers are pretty nice. Don’t think we had so many of them in the Claymouth Barony. I wonder if Den would like some?

I tried to imagine Caltrop Pond filled with giant pink blossoms instead of rosettes of tiny green leaves. The image was off, though. Lotuses were too luxurious and highbrow, when the charm of Caltrop Pond was its humble homeyness. But maybe I should let Den decide for himself.

We could bring him a seed pod, I said. Or rather, we could have Floridiana bring him a seed pod.

Bobo and I had already updated Stripey on how everyone was doing, so he knew that the mage was also in South Serica. When’s she heading back anyway? he asked.

I shrugged, the habit that I’d picked up from him. Then I realized what I had done. I didn’t want Stripey thinking that I’d missed him so much that I’d copied his mannerisms! Trying to hide my self-consciousness, I automatically shrugged again, and cursed myself. Fortunately, he didn’t comment. Most likely he hadn’t even noticed.

She’s probably leaving soon, I told him. The harvest must be done by now, so the children have time to attend school again.

Mmm, I see. Taila must be quite a bit bigger by now.

Oh, she is. She is. Big enough to go around shooting innocent creatures with her slingshot, in fact. The child was truly a menace.

But Stripey had reminded me that I needed to let Floridiana return to the Claymouth Barony and her responsibilities as headmistress and lone person capable of teaching the children there. As much as I hated to admit it, even to myself, I’d miss the suspicious, prickly mage. She was efficient. She had good ideas. She did what I needed her to do – with complaints galore, true, but she did it. And she had a way with the ex-slum-dweller priests, especially the child ones, that I simply did not have. Who could replace her as their supervisor? Who among us was capable of keeping them in line? Certainly not Katu.

I was fretting over so many problems that it took a while before I realized that Stripey, too, had fallen silent. He was staring at the pink lotus blossoms without really seeing them. I nudged him with a wing. Whatcha thinking?

He stirred and shook his head. Mmm, not much. Just thinking that you’ve changed.

I have? You mean, because I have feathers and wings now?

That got a chuckle out of him, one that held echoes of his old, wheezing duck’s laugh. Yes, Piri, because you’re a bird and not a turtle now. No, of course that’s not what I meant.

What did you mean, then?

I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking. I was myself. I had always been myself, ever since I awakened as a one-tailed fox spirit. I’d always been –

Piri.

He’d used my true name just now, whereas before he’d only ever called me Rosie. But of course that made sense – I was back in my natural habitat, the world of politics and courtly intrigue, where a misstep could cost you not only your head but those of all your friends, teachers, and family members for three generations up and three generations down, just to be sure all the evil had been rooted out. I was behaving the way I had back in the Empire, because such actions came to me as easily as breathing. If I’d ever stepped out of character, it was at Honeysuckle Croft.

Wait.

Then, was it a good thing that he had switched to calling me “Piri”? Did he mean it as a compliment, an acknowledgement of my fox-ly skills? Or did he see my name in the same way everyone now saw it, as the emblem of pure evil? Was he using it to hint that he didn’t like the changes he saw in me?

Just as I was about to panic, he answered my question. I haven’t seen much of it myself yet, of course. It’s just – from what you and Flicker pulled off, and what you and Bobo told me, you’re acting more and more like you did leading up to the Battle of Black Sand Creek. More commanding. More focused on the larger issues. Less self-centered, I think.

Whew, that was a lot better than I’d been expecting. “Commanding” and “more focused on larger issues” and “less self-centered” all sounded like positive attributes. Even if he’d felt the need to qualify that last one.

Awww, thanks, Stripey!

But he wouldn’t have been Stripey if he hadn’t slid a sidelong glance my way. Don’t let it go to your head. You’re not really planning to let the Fox Queen destroy the new empire, are you?

What? Of course not! Can you imagine how much negative karma she’d earn from that?!

Yes. Yes, I can. You might have mentioned it once or twice. Stripey’s voice was very dry indeed.

Oh. Yeah. Well, how could I let one of my little foxlings make the same horrible mistake I did and get kicked all the way down to White Tier? What if she doesn’t get to reincarnate as a helpful bug? What if she reincarnates as a tapeworm and stays in White Tier forever?

What if she reincarnates as a really cute bug? he retorted, but I was pretty sure he was just being difficult.

There’s no such thing.

Even bumblebees? Or those really furry white moths? Come on, don’t tell me those aren’t cute.

Ewwwww, moths?! Gross! You have no taste, Stripey! None!

He laughed, dipped a wing in the pond, and splashed water at me. Spluttering and yelping, I dove under a lotus leaf that had a big pearl of water in its center. When he stuck his head under it, I tipped the leaf so the water rolled onto his back.

Then it was his turn to yelp and rear back, bumping into more lotus leaves that swayed and tipped and dumped water on him like a rain shower while he spluttered and I laughed and laughed and laughed.