Fire Horse

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 7. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Snake).

Horses need to be moving, even if it is just a different route home. The phrase let us wait sits badly with them, so they would rather start running and correct the direction later. Enthusiasm arrives fast, three things get lit at once, and something shiny can pull them off course halfway. They come across as open, brisk, unable to sit still. The fear underneath is not exhaustion but enclosure: a room without an exit rattles them more than a long day on the road. Ask them to describe next year and you get a shrug and a list of places.

The sun is directly overhead, shadows pull in under the feet, and the horse stands there with heat rising off its back. People like this are openly fierce: liking and dislike sit on the face, readable at a glance. They work in momentum, one push to the end, and are most irritated by being stopped halfway for a discussion. Straight light forgets the other shadows. The saving grace is no grudge; once it burns over, they turn away themselves.