The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

In Heaven:

What is wrong with me? Aurelia asked herself as she stumbled away from the rusty grate that divided Flicker's office from the back hallway. Why does everyone abandon me in the end? Why can Piri wreak merry havoc and keep her friends, no matter what chaos she throws their lives into, while I try my hardest to be fair and kind and lose my friends one after another?

It had always been so. Back on Earth, she had been the responsible ruler, the one who'd tried to rein in frivolous spending and non-essential corruption – basically, to make the Empire function. And everyone had claimed to honor her for it. But as soon as Piri had showed up with her flashy gowns and calculated tears, the courtiers had defected en masse. Even Marcius, her last ally, on whom she'd counted to back her up to the very end, had deserted her. The message that he'd deluded himself into believing his public suicide would send had not lasted two hours, and then she'd been left to counter Piri on her own.

When the Jade Emperor had deified her, she'd believed that she'd found safe haven at last. The gods would be generous, loyal, loving, compassionate to a fault. She'd never need to worry about anyone stabbing her in the back ever again.

Then she'd seen not just Marcius, but also Cassius at the New God Orientation, and she'd gotten an inkling that perhaps Heaven wasn't the paradise she'd envisioned after all. And then Cassius had seduced one of her lieutenants and maneuvered his way onto the Committee of Directors and Assistant Directors. She hadn't been able to relax since, except when she was with the one person she trusted not to want anything from her.

Who, for reasons she couldn't comprehend, no longer wanted anything to do with her.

Why do they always leave me? What am I missing? What am I doing wrong?

From the far side of the building, through two sets of walls, drifted rhythmic footsteps. Guards!

I have to leave before anyone sees me here!

It was one thing for Heaven to whisper about her dalliance with a star sprite, another entirely to be caught at his place of employment after he had rejected her. Suppressing her glow as much as she could, Aurelia hurried down the hallway.

The footsteps grew louder, almost like they were coming for her.

The Peach of Immortality! They found out! But how? Who would have ordered a count over my head?

Hiking her skirts to her shins, Aurelia broke into a shuffling trot that was the fastest she could manage in a cramped space designed for imps and star children. The footsteps drew closer and closer. She shuffled faster and faster. Her heart leaped into her throat when they stopped. A loud crash, and then they were charging into an office.

Oh, thank the Jade Emperor, they weren't after her! Bracing a hand on the wall before she remembered how dirty it was, she bent over double to catch her breath and calm her heart. That was when she heard a voice that froze the starlight in her veins.

"What a sad day when the rot of demonic corruption taints even Heaven itself."

Cassius! What was he doing here so late? She could have sworn that Lady Dan had left work early to dine with him. Maybe the crane maiden had finally seen through his mask of charm and broken up with him, Aurelia thought with savage satisfaction. Maybe he'd come back here to hide from the humiliation.

But if he were here, she really couldn't be. Hardly daring to breathe, she gathered up her skirts and scarves so the silk wouldn't whisper against the walls and tiptoed down the hallway. Cassius' fake-sorrowful tone, the one he'd picked up from Piri that always set her teeth on edge, followed her.

"How long have you been in league with the nine-tailed fox demon, clerk?"

What?

"I have not – " Flicker's attempt to defend himself cut off with a meaty smack.

She knew that sound. That sound had been the last she'd heard on Earth as a human woman. Her body curled in on itself, and her brain shut down. When she could think again, Cassius was ordering, "Take him to the Goddess of Life. She'll get the truth out of him."

Oh no. The Goddess of Life only had one way of getting the truth out of anyone – and that way would leave Flicker as scraps of starlight that would blow away and get reabsorbed into the sky. They might not be a couple anymore, but Aurelia couldn't stand by and watch him die.

Think! Who could help? Who would help? Who was so deeply indebted to her that they couldn't help but help?

Faces of gods and goddesses tumbled through her mind, but try as she might, she couldn't identify a single one who would risk themselves to save a clerk.

Heaven is broken! she thought furiously. If no one in all of Heaven will lift a pinky to save someone as good and decent and hardworking as Flicker, Heaven is broken!

"Heavenly Lady," said a cracked, creaky female voice, and Aurelia lifted her head to find the Superintendent of Reincarnation staring up at her in a way that conveyed the impression of looking down. "How may the Bureau of Reincarnation be of service to you?"

As always, she made Aurelia's presence sound like an imposition of the worst kind, but staring back into the ancient star sprite's eyes, Aurelia felt reassured. Here was a wily old employee, wise in the ways of Heaven! She'd know what to do!

As quickly as hope had flared, it guttered out. Superintendent of Reincarnation Glitter might be, but at the end of the night, she was still only a star sprite, only a step above a glorified clerk.

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"I am all right, thank you," Aurelia replied. She would have left then, but Glitter was blocking the hallway and it was hardly wide enough for a star child, much less two adult women. "I am in a bit of a hurry, so if you wouldn't mind.…"

The hint would have sent any other star sprite scurrying out of the way, but Glitter didn't budge. "They will kill him for allying with her, you know."

The phrasing lacked the proper honorific, but Aurelia was half mad with her need to get out of this building, to find someone, anyone, who would help. "I know that! That's why I need to – "

"They promised to make this Bureau functional. Many of us would like to see it function again."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure – "

"You will find that many would like to see Heaven function again."

"I know, I know – " Aurelia stopped short. What had Glitter just said? What was the old star sprite implying? That the clerks would help her save Flicker? She nearly laughed aloud. Of all the people in Heaven, why was it the ones with no hope of success who were willing to help? "Can you clarify that? Who, exactly, did you mean when you said 'they' promised to change your Bureau?"

Surely Glitter hadn't be referring to –

"I think you know to whom I referred, Heavenly Lady." Glitter's dark eyes were as emotionless as the night sky itself. "Should you wish to bring change too, you will find many willing to help."

"I don't want to bring change!" Aurelia burst out, frustrated beyond courtesy. "I'm not here to bring change! I just want to save Flicker, so if you're not going to help me do it, then let me pass so I can find someone who will!"

Glitter inclined her head. "As you wish, Heavenly Lady."

She vanished out a door that Aurelia hadn't even noticed, with an air that made the goddess feel like a child reprimanded by her governess.

For lack of any better ideas, Aurelia went to her Director. The Queen Mother of the West had always treated her fairly, with the distant sternness that was the norm among aristocratic parents on Earth. Maybe, just maybe, that distant sternness masked maternal sentiment. And maybe, just maybe, that maternal sentiment would extend to those Aurelia loved.

This late at night, the Queen Mother of the West had retired to her private chambers in the Azure Palace, and Aurelia had to wait what felt like an eternity before she received permission to enter. The Eldest Weaver Maiden escorted her up to the roof, where the Queen Mother of the West was gazing out over Heaven, accompanied by a single lady-in-waiting.

That was odd. Where was the rest of her retinue?

When Aurelia drew closer, she realized who that single lady-in-waiting was, and her footsteps faltered.

"The Star of Reflected Brightness, Heavenly Majesty," announced the Weaver Maiden. She bowed and drifted back down the stairs, leaving Aurelia alone on the roof with her Director – and Lady Dan.

What was Aurelia's own lieutenant doing here? The crane maiden's face was as unreadable as a porcelain mask, but she met Aurelia's eyes with none of the respect due to her nominal mistress.

What's going on? What am I missing?

Every one of Aurelia's instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong, that Cassius was up to something, that if she didn't flee now, she was going to die again, horribly and finally. But protocol demanded that she bow to the Queen Mother of the West, and that was what she did.

"Come here," commanded the Queen Mother of the West, in the same voice she always used when addressing Aurelia.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe Lady Dan is just here because – because –

But try as she might, Aurelia couldn't come up with any innocuous reason Lady Dan would be here instead of in Cassius' or her own quarters.

Obediently, Aurelia joined the Queen Mother of the West at the railing, standing on her other side from Lady Dan. The Queen Mother of the West didn't so much as glance at her.

"Look out, and tell me what you see."

Perplexed, Aurelia stared out over the upturned roofs of the gods' palaces. Warm yellow light spilled from windows, and music drifted up from late-night garden parties. The main boulevard was dark and deserted, save for the occasional street sweeper imp. If she sharpened her vision and looked further, she could make out the narrow back paths, the squat warehouses, the blocky dormitories that housed the star sprites. Flicker lived in one of them, she knew, but he'd never told her which one, and she'd never thought to ask.

Flicker!

Pull yourself together! she commanded herself. "Heavenly Majesty, I see peace and well-being, with nary a petal out of place."

The Queen Mother of the West's answer came like a whiplash. "Nary a petal, you say. And what of the fruits? Do you claim that not a single fruit is out of place?"

Fruits.

Peaches.

She knew. She knew Aurelia had stolen a Peach of Immortality. But how? Lady Dan certainly hadn't known. Aurelia had made sure of that. Not a single person in Heaven knew but Flicker, and even if he'd betrayed her under torture, there hadn't been time for Cassius to send Lady Dan to the Queen Mother of the West.

"Speak up! Do you claim that not a single fruit is out of place?" The Queen Mother of the West stabbed a finger at the orchard that surrounded her palace. Aurelia's eyes followed, drawn to the branch where she had plucked a peach. The emptiness there accused her.

Except that wasn't where the Queen Mother of the West was pointing. Her finger drew a straight line to a completely different tree, where three stems terminated in nothingness. What in the name of Heaven?

"I trusted you. I raised you up from nothing, from a junior star to the Assistant Director of my own Bureau. And this is how you repay me? By stealing my Peaches of Immortality?"

"I – I – "

She had to defend herself! But how? She couldn't come out and say, "But I only took one Peach! Not three!" The theft of one Peach alone would get her expelled from Heaven. She couldn't bring herself to lie, either, and deny all knowledge. And even if she did, she was still guilty of negligence, as the one who oversaw the orchard in the first place.

Who could possibly have stolen the other three? The only people with access to the orchard were the Queen Mother of the West, the gardeners who had ministered to the trees since the dawn of time, Aurelia herself – and anyone with access to her office and her seal of office.

Slowly, she raised her eyes from the tree where three Peaches should have been growing to meet Lady Dan's cool stare.

"If not for this faithful crane maiden, I would never have known," said the Queen Mother of the West.

"You – " breathed Aurelia. "You did it – "

"Heavenly Majesty…." Lady Dan turned pleading eyes on the Queen Mother of the West, who stepped in front of her as if she were the one who needed protection.

"Lady Dan did not make the decision to report your treachery lightly. She agonized over the choice, but her sense of duty won out, as it should have, as yours should have, and she reported the three missing Peaches. Imagine our surprise when we counted and discovered not just the three she knew of, but four Peaches missing!"

The skies seemed to wobble and tilt. This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening.

Aurelia didn't realize she'd spoken out loud until the Queen Mother of the West replied coldly, "It is. You are hereby stripped of your position as Assistant Director of the Bureau of the Sky. You will be tried for theft, and when you are found guilty, you will be cast out of Heaven. Guards! Seize her!"

Guards burst out from behind clouds and rooftops. As they charged her, Aurelia did the only thing left for her to do. Flinging herself over the railing, she streaked down for the capital of the Empire and the only person who was both cunning enough and reckless enough to save her and Flicker now.