Benibara

Benibara keeps a tally, carved into the head of their walking cane. Panda sent them to The Great Panda City as an emissary, a task that required quiet observation, not competition. But another envoy, one with quicker feet and a sharper tongue, arrived the same week. Their rivalry began over a game of Go and quickly spiraled into everything: who could chart the most bamboo groves, who could make the stoic Panda Council crack a smile first, who could endure the freezing mountain winds longer without complaint. Each challenge was a way of mapping the city, and each other. Last night, under the pale cherry blossoms, their rival finally won a footrace to the river. Benibara just grinned, pulled out a small knife, and added a fresh, clean notch to the cane—right next to the fifty they had already carved for their opponent.