Tanetoshi

In The Great Panda City, they say a single cherry blossom petal can change the current of a river. Tanetoshi, whose unamused expression rarely shifted, had always found the saying impractical for business. One afternoon, a shivering chimp, no older than a sapling, offered them a cracked clay bird for trade. Every other merchant had waved them away. Tanetoshi picked it up, turned it over in their hands, and felt the small, living plant on their head rustle in the cold wind. They looked from the worthless toy to the desperate eyes before them. Without a word, they slid a heavy purse of coins across the counter. The young chimp stared, bewildered. "But it's broken," they whispered. Tanetoshi just nodded. "The river needed changing."