Earth Horse

Lunar New Year fell on Jan 27. 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.

Geng is iron with an edge, Wu the horse that does not slow once it runs. The soil here is the shoulder of the road, packed by wheels and hooves until it is hard and a little dirty. People like this are durable; they take the jobs others refuse and finish them in one trip. Their speech is direct, sometimes blunt enough to stun a room. When tired they do not complain, just stand at the roadside, take one breath, and go on. They would rather make the first trip themselves.