It was 8:00 A.M and sable was looking at herself through the dresser mirror just as she did every single morning. 15 brush strokes on the right side of her head, and 15 brush strokes on the left. She knew the exact number required to get her straight dark hair as soft as she trained her gaze to behave. 
“Remember. Don’t make eye contact for too long. You’re the virgin. You’re supposed to be innocent”, she chanted to herself as she finished the rest of her brush strokes. 
She looked down at her black buckle flats and noticed a tiny scuff on the tip of her left foot. She quickly polished it out with a slick of saliva on her thumb, relieved that she spotted it before commencement day. She was also relieved her mother didn’t see her rub the scuff away with such a clumsy method.
Those shoes were the same style she wore every day since she could walk.   Her mother, also a Virgo, picked them out for her on her 1st birthday.  She remembered her mother saying “I knew they were your shoes as soon as I saw them at the market. I picked them up, and the wind blew a white silk scarf right in from of me. It was a sign! A sign directly from the stars!”   Sable looked down and solemnly muttered “They look so silly now. Childish.”
She met her mother at the table where she had breakfast laid out for her every morning. Her mother was wearing her favorite white silk button up blouse with, her favorite black knee length pleated skirt. Her mother taught her everything she knew about being a virgo. Sable understood she was lucky to have another virgo as a mother.  It was blasphemy, but she never felt as perfect as her mother.  Her mother has always been behind her reminding her to hold her to “Hold your posture up”, “Don’t gaze around. Us virgos know exactly where we are going without wasting time winding our heads back and fourth”.
The room was particularly silent today. The silver faced clock on her kitchen wall sounded like a dagger slicing each minute forward.  Sable looked up from her meal of warm cereal to notice one of her moms sleves was rolled up higher then the other.  Her mother seldom made mistakes. She knew her mother must be as nervous as she is. 
“Don’t worry mom. I know the Astrologer will see my fate clearly today”. Sable saidShe stood up to carefully and walked over to her mother’s right side to fix her sleeve.          
     On the 18th year of every persons life, they were to visit the great Astrologer to learn the tides of their fate. Everyone’s fate must always stay bound by their zodiac symbol. If she was lucky she would become something like a research statistician for the republics science committee.  If she were unlucky, she would become something like a tax auditor.  
“I know your fate is clear Sable. I’m just not sure you know that.” her mother snarked as she sharply pulled her arm away from Sable. 
“I see the same wandering in your eyes that I saw in my mother, your grandmother.  Her fate was never good enough for her.  She became lost and started doing acts beyond her nature. It got her killed, and I don’t want to see you get killed the same way” her mother pleaded.