The Teller of Small Fortunes

by Julie Leong

“How much wealth makes a fortune depends on how much one already has, for it will always

more than that,” said Tao. She was rather enjoying getting into character—even if some small part of her shook its head at showing folk what they wanted to see in a mystical Shinn fortune teller, rather than the more mundane truth.

Familiarity could look very much like love from a certain angle, if one didn’t look too hard.

Everyone deserves a home, Tao thought, patting Laohu’s whiskery grey nose. And what was a home but somewhere you wouldn’t have to feel quite so alone?

“People think they want true fortunes, but they don’t really. What they want are lies. Small lies, big lies, entertaining lies, comforting lies.

“What they don’t want is a stranger—an outsider—to see the full truth of them.

“And the suspicion turns to fear, and the fear, as it always does, turns to anger.”

There’s no such thing as greater good—there’s just good, and the more of it we can do, the better.”