Destiny

Just after dinner outside of the Great Hall was a riot of ruby and emerald and reverberating voices as Firenze cantered through the corridor. He peered imperiously around him at the frolicking teenagers all hugging and congratulating one another on surviving to the midpoint of another year. Inter-house couples and friends were hugging and saying their goodbyes in effusive squawks and tears before they prepared to head to their rooms to pack for the morning train.

His pale flanks quivered in the chill of the drafty hall despite the dissipating crowd and the heat their presence brought. It was impossible to make it towards his destination, he would not escape the crush of students without inadvertently harming someone, so he stood amidst them. His blue eyes cast over the crowd to meet with the Patil twins who were gawking at him in admiration. He gave them a low and subtle nod and then closed his eyes in a slow blink.

When he opened his eyes again, the twins and the students were gone and he was alone in the passageway. If this surprised him, his placid face did not reflect it. It was the way of humans. They moved hastily. There and gone in the matter of a blink. Or at least it seemed that way to a comparatively eternal creature such as a centaur. His tail whipped over his flanks as he again trotted towards the impressive wooden doors of the school as he considered longevity, humans, and mortality.

Life is so fragile, particularly amongst those so fretful. All of their little lives spent with such importance, such fury. And yet, Firenze pondered as he unbolted the door to let himself out, no matter how significant a single human may be in the outcome of things, they are allowed only so much time on this plane. Often the more vital the human is, the less time they are allotted.

The snow glowed in the moonlight a luminescent azure. Firenze's hooves penetrated the sharp frost and the ice crunched in protest. He shivered faintly at the chill, but as a creature of the outdoors such changeability in climate did not faze him. Firenze tilted his head up to gaze at the clear expanse of the heavens. Mars was as livid as ever, moving fiercely towards its second dawning of this century signifying this new war. It was a ravenous planet that demanded nothing less than atrocity to appease it. And there would be much atrocity.

His judiciously sharp eyes sought out the patterns he was seeking. It was coming. In the blink of an eye the innocent would strangle and suffer. Evil would demand its own ascension and Firenze saw the place he uniquely held in the undoing of iniquity. His eyes closed again. It could be his ancient blood that would be called; the stars were vague on that point. However, he saw himself amongst the puzzle of constellations, and though it pained him to leave his people, it was what Providence had demanded of him. In destiny he trusted. In fate he believed. It was his part to play, and in fulfilling your calling, there is peace.