Forty-nine days later, I woke in pitch blackness. There was nothing around me. No glow from the color of my soul illuminating walls and corners, no walls or corners or outlines of any sort to suggest the inside of an archival box, in fact.

No! Was this Aurelia’s punishment? Or Cassius’? Removing me from the cycle of reincarnation entirely? Imprisoning me in nothingness for the rest of time?

Flicker! Flicker! Where are you? Heeeelp!

Panicking, I shot forward – or where “forward” might have been if direction had meaning in the void – and struck a plane so hard that I bounced off, flew backwards, hit another plane, and bounced off that too.

Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow!

It took a while to stop ricocheting, but eventually, I came to a stop and huddled in on myself, panting.

Logic returned. As defined by the planes, the size and shape of this void were exactly what I remembered from previous deaths. I was in an archival box. I just wasn’t glowing white or green this time. Did that mean – ? Was I – ? Had I – ? Dared I hope?!

The lid slid back, blinding me. I’d never been so happy to be blinded in my life. Lives. Whatever.

“You’re awake?” asked a star sprite clerk. A hint of surprise broke through her weariness. “You’re – ” she consulted a scroll – “three hours ahead of schedule. Please wait here.” She started to close the box.

Wait! Wait! Don’t go yet! What happened? After I died, I mean?

In a dull tone, she recited, “I am not authorized to discuss the details of your past life. You will have to wait to speak with your assigned reincarnator.”

The lid started to slide shut again. I bunched up and sprang out.

Then I shall wait in his waiting room. It will be no trouble at all, I informed her, channeling all the authoritativeness of the “Emissary from Heaven.”

The clerk was unimpressed. “I am afraid that violates the regulations of this bureau,” she droned. “Now please return to your box, soul.”

I didn’t budge. It’s only another few hours. Surely it makes no difference where I wait. I’m already awake and out of my box. I know you have a lot of other souls to guide to their reincarnators – (“reincarnator” – was that Flicker’s official title?) – so I wouldn’t want to waste any more of your valuable time. I know the way to the waiting room. I would be happy to go there myself.

The clerk stared at me with dead eyes, concluded that, indeed, following the bureau’s regulations to the character wasn’t as important as getting back to her work so she could leave the office at a reasonable hour. She shoved my empty box back onto the shelf.

“This way.”

And she led me out of the archives, down the familiar hallway, and into Flicker’s waiting room. Another black soul was there already, hovering in the far corner. Black Tier souls reincarnated as birds and mammals: Flicker had said that, after my execution all those lives ago, when he explained the tier system to me.

As a whistling duck, Stripey would have been Black Tier.

Might still be Black Tier, after that infusion of positive karma from helping the Jeks and contributing to Lord Silurus’ death.

Dared I hope it was he? If souls recoalesced at a similar rate, then he would have woken before I did. But there were so many clerks, and so many souls. What were the odds that he was also assigned to Flicker?

Well, it was worth asking. It was always worth asking. I edged forward, suddenly nervous. Hi, by chance, are you – ?

The black ball spun around. Rosie! Is that you?!

Stripey! Stripey Stripey Stripey! It is you!

Some vague corner of my mind registered that I sounded as inane as Bobo, but then I was flying at the soul that had been my friend. When I hit him, I bounced off. We both laughed, pulsing and casting blackness around the room.

What happened after I died? he asked. Did it work? Did we win? How is everyone?

It worked, we won, everyone’s okay. My words tripped over one another as I summarized the battle for him, since he’d died before it really got started. At the end, I realized, Oh, I guess I didn’t actually see Lord Silurus die. But he was definitely basically dead. They were calling everyone in the barony to eat him for a feast. Ugh!

Ugh? I hadn’t taken you for the squeamish type.

Well, of course not. What was I – some fainting princess? (Okay, fine, Cassia Quarta had never fainted a day in her life. Or Cassia Prima, who’d taken the throne after their father. Or, I’d bet, the young Aurelia.)

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No no no, “ugh” that his last act was to kill me!

I was going to end up back here anyway, per Aurelia’s command, but I could have departed from Earth in glory. I could have flown into the sky, borne in the hands of the Messenger, revered by all. I could have been spared a painful, humiliating death plus another forty-nine days in an archival box. What a waste of time!

But then again, if I hadn’t died, if I hadn’t spent those forty-nine days recoalescing into myself, I wouldn’t have woken at the same time as Stripey’s soul. I wouldn’t have seen him again before I got sent off to my next life.

My next life…. That was right – I’d done it! I’d made it! I was finally, finally Black Tier again!

I whirled in excitement. Stripey! Stripey Stripey Stripey!

What is it? He sounded amused, the way he did when Bobo gabbled at him.

I’m Black Tier!

Yes, I can see that.

No, you don’t understand! It’s taken me over half a millennium to earn enough positive karma to reach Black Tier! Oooooh, I’m so happy!

I twirled again, then zigzagged all over the waiting room for good measure.

Now I can be a fox again! Stripey, I’m gonna be a fox again!

Uh, I hate to rain on your festival, but you’re probably not. If I recall correctly, you have to work your way up through the birds before you get to reincarnate as mammals. I haven’t gotten there yet, and I’ve been many different types of birds.

He tipped from side to side, a soul’s version of his signature wing shrug. I was so disappointed that I plummeted a foot before I caught myself.

But anyway, Bobo’s all right? he asked. She didn’t get hurt or anything, did she?

No, no, I reassured him. She never got close to the fighting.

What a good thing we’d assigned her to babysit the Jek children. She’d have tried to save Stripey and me, and then she’d have gotten killed too. Although both of her closest friends had gone and died on her, leaving her all alone in the Claymouth Barony.

No, she wasn’t alone. She had Den and his bunch. The Jeks and Masters Gravitas and Rattus. Plus she was a openhearted, cheerful spirit. She’d make new friends. She’d be okay.

Oh, but the rent on her bamboo stand! The only reason she’d been able to pay it was that the duck demons helped her. Was she going to get evicted now?

Ugh! This was all Aurelia’s fault! If she’d given me notice that she planned to recall me, I could have prepared! Arranged a permanent, salaried position for Bobo at the school or something. Now I had to trust Den to look out for her, and she wasn’t even one of his vassals.

Premature death was the most inconvenient thing ever.

Where do you think they’ll reincarnate us this time? I wondered. I didn’t hold much hope that Glitter would assign me anywhere near the Claymouth Barony. Oh! Hey, Stripey! Let’s pick a meeting place and go there, wherever we reincarnate! How about back at Honeysuckle Croft so we can check on Bobo?

Uh, I hate to keep raining on your festival, but we’re not going to reincarnate as spirits, Stripey reminded me. At least, I’m not. Once I’m reborn, I’m not going to remember who I am, or who you are, or what we talked about. I’ll just be a dumb, mortal animal until I make it to a hundred years old and awaken. If I make it to a hundred years old.

Which he probably wouldn’t. If it were that easy to awaken, Serica would be overrun by spirits.

But that also meant there was no way for me to find him, because even if I ran into him, he wouldn’t be himself. I wouldn’t know what kind of animal to look for, either. And, most likely, his lifespans would be different from mine, so we’d die and reincarnate at different times. Only if we happened to die within a couple hours of each other would we ever meet again.

And – a horrible thought – there was no guarantee that I would continue to be reincarnated with my mind. What the gods granted, they could take away. If I, too, went back to reincarnating as dumb, mortal creatures, it would be even harder to find Stripey on Earth. For the rest of my existence, I might never talk with him again like this.

As he came to the same realization, we sank into silence.

Well, let’s pick a meeting place anyway, I said at last. You’re bound to awaken someday. When you do, go there. I’ll do the same.

Hmmm. I couldn’t read his tone. Why not. It’s worth a shot.

Honeysuckle Croft?

Sure.

After that, he asked for more details of the battle against Lord Silurus, and I recounted them as best I could, until the office door opened. At the sight of us bunched up together and chatting under the sign that read, “Respectful silence is requested in the waiting area,” Flicker groaned.

I rather thought he deserved it.

“Soul Number 782832,” he stated.

Well, this is me, said Stripey’s soul. But he didn’t make any move towards the door.

Um, yeah, I guess. Oh! I know! I can come in and keep you company while you reincarnate!

“Piri,” sighed Flicker. He rubbed his temples. “That’s forbidden.”

I shrugged. So much of what I’d done up to this point was forbidden, and look where it had gotten me? To Black Tier!

Well? I asked.

To my surprise, Stripey’s soul rotated from side to side in a “no.” That’s all right, Rosie. Piri. Well, I guess this is goodbye.

Only for now. We’re going to meet again at Honeysuckle Croft.

Yeah. Yeah. We will.

As he floated across the waiting room and through the doorway and on to his next life, I called, Hey! Thanks!

My last glimpse of him, right before the door not-quite-slammed shut, was of him shrugging. And then I was alone, for the first time in a very long time. There was no Taila to demand that I play with her or check her math homework, no Mistress Jek to consult me about the state of the school, no Floridiana to avert her eyes and pretend that she hadn’t seen me, no Bobo to pester me about the progress of our plans to kill Lord Silurus (because he was dead – ha!). The waiting room was quiet, except for the rustle of footsteps in the hallway and the murmur of passing clerks.

All of a sudden, the waiting room felt impossibly vast and empty. I listened as hard as I could, but I couldn’t hear a word from Flicker’s office. I considered barging in, the way Cassia Quarta/Maila’s soul had during my reincarnation that time, but I opted not to. For some reason, I had the sense that Stripey wouldn’t appreciate it. And Flicker certainly wouldn’t.

See, Flicker? I can exercise self-restraint when I want to.

For a while, I drooped in a corner, awaiting my turn or the arrival of the next soul, whichever came first. But it must have been a quiet day on Earth for Flicker’s souls forty-nine days ago, because no one came.

Eventually, I realized that there was no particular reason to wait in a corner and floated to the center of the room. There I pulsed, sending out a wave of blackness. Then I spun in a circle, admiring my black, black sides, and getting more and more excited with each revolution.

This was no time for moping! What was I thinking of, wasting my time moping when I could be celebrating?

I’d done it! I’d made it!

I was Black Tier again!

Black Tier!