The Teller of Small Fortunes

by Julie Leong

“Wisdom can be found in all places,”

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?

But a little luck can go a long way, when it counts.

“Politics,” grunted Mash. “Easy to blame foreign folk for anything going wrong, when they’re not here to say otherwise.

“All cats are slightly magical, don’t you know? It’s why they’re so smug all the time.

But the men—we’d talk to each other about it afterward. Share the load. And it made it a little easier. Easier to carry the weight, easier to go on fighting.

“There Is No Point. Progress Is An Illusion. You Are Better Off Staying Very Still, Like Me.”

I am more than just what I do; I am a person, and I am alive, and that is purpose enough.

We can be nothing, and choose to be miserable about it, like you—or we can be nothing, but choose to be happy, and let that be purpose enough. Which sounds more worthwhile to you?”

And there’s no inherent virtue in suffering.”

“I think,” she said matter-of-factly, wiping her hands, “that the old heroes were probably people just like us. And there’s nothing wrong with being just you.”

“I have learned, in my many years, that doing what’s right may not always feel good.

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

“Fear is the cost of power, Tao.

One could choose to be nothing, or one could choose to be happy.