Hope & Destiny

Chapter 14: Fate

Under a ceremonious cacophonie of music, half-hearted cheers and pompous clatter, Elpis - now known as Hope - was escorted through the saffron South side of the town's square. She gave both Tharre and her mother a bright and cheerful smile, but her hair didn't glow as brightly as she had hoped.

A new adventure lay within arm's reach and yet... Hope was scared. She never had ventured farther than the nearby dens. What lay beyond them was new and exciting, but so very, very frightening.

Hope inhaled deeply. "Let's do this."

With her head held high and her hair cautiously glittering ashen blonde, Hope embarked on a new adventure.

🔹🌱🔹

The world was more breathtaking than Hope could have ever imagined.
Grass held so many different shapes and sizes and there were whole new varieties of flowers, trees and mushrooms ready to be discovered.

She heard birds sing in foreign languages and saw them clothed in whole new sets of feathers. Birds she knew as fully black suddenly appeared with splashes of white and those she knew with nothing but white feathers suddenly had splashes of black.

Her world was turned upside-down and Hope loved every moment of it.

More than once she held up the parade because she had noticed something shiny in the grass.
That shiny thing always turned out to be an insect that needed thorough examination before Hope was ready to move on.

During their first week of traveling, the Elder grew more and more frustrated, but they couldn't leave without Hope. The child was now under their care and Elder abandoning young goddess wouldn't look good on their resume... Besides they had dealt with more horrible fledgling deities before. As long as an entire forest didn't burn down, the Elder considered the voyage a succes.

But one day, the Elder had enough. Their frustration got the upper hand and the Elder marched towards Hope. This time, she was standing motionless, gazing at a lake. No matter what they tried, she did not move.

The Elder fumed. They placed their hands in their sides. "Are you coming, Hope??" They gestured at their timepiece. "We don't have whole day to loiter around."

"Just a few more minutes," Hope said as she signed the Elder to lower their voice.

"What's so special now??" The Elder shoved their face in Hope's, tilting their head left and right, like a chicken demanding for food. "Well??" Their voice cackled. "It's just an ordinary lake, isn't it??"

Hope shook her head. "Look," she said. "Isn't it beautiful?"

What at first had looked like sewer water to the Elder, turned iridescent in the afternoon sun.
Hues of blue, pink and purple rode on the yellow and green tide.
The wind carried soft laughter as the water playfully waved.
It reminded the Elder of an afternoon at the beach, ages ago, when the whole world didn't yet rest on their shoulders and every moment was blissfully care-free.

The Elder stood with Hope and stared at the lake.
A vague memory brought to life so vividly by a moment... spent with Hope.
Maybe Life was worth living instead of rushing? And maybe all we have to do to live it, is to take a moment to appreciate what we've got? Take a moment to just exist?
The Elder sat down on the lakeside and engulfed themselves in the magic found in the ordinary.
The capital can wait, but Life can't.

Their entourage tried to point out the time-line that had been set, but the Elder just waved his hand and dismissed them.
Hope smiled encouragingly and invited their frustrated entourage to sit with them.
Soon dozens of people sat near the lakeside, resting, relaxing and living in the moment, whisked away down memory lane, caught in the charm of Life.

Fate watched it happen helplessly. No. They shouldn't....

She called upon the Elder's Life's cords. She unbraided their Past, Present and Future.

This can't be.

The Elder's Future had changed.

Her eyes shifted from left to right, from up to down, searching for a way to manœuvre out off this mess.

She inserted new situations to get their Future back on track, but no matter what she came up with, their Life's cords ignored Fate's orders and rewrote themselves.

Fate examined the Elder's last couple of days. A golden thread had been thinly waved into their Past and a much ticker one had nestled itself into their Present. The golden thread thinly lingered into their Future as well - ready to wave itself through it - and whenever that thread popped up, the Elder behaved unpredictably.

Fate gasped. No, no, no. Where does it come from?

She followed it to its origins: the town's festival. Meeting Elpis - no - Hope.

The golden thread was fresh, only in a couple of days, so maybe she could still cut? Nobody would know if it remained just a tiny glitch, an eccentric side step before marching back in line.

Let's do this.

Fate concentrated on the arduous task of weeding out the golden thread. She took out her scissors and closely examined the best place to cut it.

Today might be too harsh, but tomorrow will do, Fate thought as she hovered over the thin, golden thread hidden in the Elder's Future.

Around the morning will be just right.

Fate unwound the cord and brought her scissors up to the golden thread, making sure to not damage any other threads in the process.

Her scissors snipped, but the thread did not budge. Fate snipped again. The thread was still there. No matter how hard she tried, Fate was not able to cut Hope's golden thread.

Shuck.