Story:
Starfate had seen how she would die: alone, freezing to death within a cabin ruined by snow, laying beside a human's corpse as everything faded. Within Starfate's clan, many had scried their own deaths.
Her clan lay beneath a township in the snowy mountain ridges. Like many clans of that type, they scavenged and lived off the refuge of the town all while plotting to overtake it someday and lure a dragon to roost. To this end, the most revered members of the clan were the Fateseekers. These magically inclined kobolds practiced the art of scrying, to varying degrees of success. But invariably, some aspect of their predictions came true, if only in metaphor. They were very good at one thing: predicting death. Death came in visions too clear and too cruel. These were treated as immutable truth. And so at the age of two, Starfate was guided by the current Fateseeker (Thraenthisj/Airspeak) to scry her own death. It was promising: no other dead kobolds, one dead human, and the ruination of one of the human's structures. It offered a long life ahead of her; she became a Fateseeker.
The nature of a scavenging clan meant everyone had to brave going topside to gather, even the prized Fateseekers. Of course, only those with deaths unlikely to come true in that time were allowed. The other Fateseeker unfortunately saw her death at the end of a gallows; Starfate went to the surface. Meek and frightened, she tried to steal from a librarian's house. However, she was caught in the act. Thankfully for her, the librarian was merciful, kind even. She was sympathetic to the little lizard and gave what she could for Starfate to bring back. The little kobold was moved by the genuine act of good; her haul may have gotten her prestige, but she felt more rewarded by that human. That human... Against the wish of Thraenthisj, she scried her own death again, hoping for more clarity. In the vision, the human was now turned the other way: it was the librarian.
Fearful for her friend, but knowing how kobolds were seen, she stewed with this information. She continued practicing her scrying, hoping for any way to rewrite this fate. One day, she and Thraenthisj joined in scrying and predicted an awful fate: in the next two days, an avalanche would come and completely bury the town. There were arguments in the clan about what to do: could this scrying be so precise? if it were, what could be done? Some of the clan did have their deaths determined to be by avalanche - either way, a destroyed town was not one they could take over. The agreement was made that they must abandon the den before the town was destroyed. Even though she would save her clan from ruin, Starfate slept poorly that night. In her dreams, she saw more visions: of that town she had scarcely been to, of people she never knew, of the librarian who aided her. She saw everything destroyed by the avalanche. She saw people huddled in their houses, calling out for rescue. She saw again herself and the librarian. The kobold awoke in horror: she couldn't do nothing.
When Thraenthisj found her, she was about to sneak to the surface. Thraenthisj gave Starfate an ultimatum: they would be leaving in the morning, and if Starfate wasn't with them, she would be left behind. Thraenthisj reminded Starfate of her foreseen death. Starfate didn't care and went to the librarian. Waking her at dawn, Starfate described to the librarian what she was and what she had seen. The little kobold didn't like what she saw, and she sought any way to prevent that fate. The woman took the kobold's words to heart and pulled out a tome of her own. She introduced herself as Melina Torgood. Together, they scried. The avalanche was soon to be upon them. There wasn't time to waste: together they rushed to the lord mayor. The mayor was aghast to see the librarian in cohorts with a kobold - demanding to know where the others were. The two insisted again about the danger - the mayor was unconvinced.
But in the gleam of the morning sun, it happened: a deafening boom, the first sounds of instability, and then: a torrent of snow came hurtling down the mountain. The guards were mobilized, some were evacuated, but the drift was soon upon the town. Starfate remembered the sights she had seen, and urged the guards to check there first. Despite orders from the guards, Starfate and Melina followed the rescue efforts, even as more snow threatened to follow. The kobold's guidance saved many, but a second wave of snow followed and caught the team off guard. Starfate and Melina were knocked into the bar as it became covered in snow. The vision Starfate had seen so many times was coming to pass. Afraid and scared, she checked on Melina - unconscious, she was yet alive! Gathering what she could, she did everything she could to keep her warm. But it was growing cold, and soon it would be dark... she curled up against Melina, her fate fulfilled...
And then a light beamed from above.
The rescue team had found them. Her fate was averted.
Starfate became a hero of the town: the little kobold seer who saved countless lives. As the settlement rebuilt, Melina invited Starfate to live with her: as a novice wizard, she would teach the lizard the ways of the craft. The future came easy to Starfate; she would continue to warn the town of trouble, and her legend grew and spread to other towns. They asked for aid; Starfate was eager to see the world.
She now travels and studies her craft, heart warmed by the feeling of giving aid and averting fate. Perhaps in some ironic manner, she considered this her destiny. She had seen her death, but now she sees her life.
