“... and the only thing I really wanted,” Ace was explaining, “was a character that wasn’t going to be blatantly male or female. I thought I’d see if I got lucky on Fate before creating a golem or elemental or something similar on the Path of Identity. Since I was guaranteed that and was guaranteed a better than rare class, I accepted the offer. And now here I am, with all my friends thinking I’m creepy.”

I winced in sympathy. “It wasn’t your little golems that Becky disliked, was it?”

Ace shook their head and sniffled, wiping their eyes again -- this time with no attempt to be covert. I gave her another patented pixie-sized hug (well, fairy-sized, but with additional alliteration).

I honestly didn’t know what to say. You don’t want to dis someone’s friends, even if they deserve it. But you also don’t want to utter meaningless -- and probably false -- platitudes like “everything will be okay,” either. So I had to hope the hug was perhaps sufficient.

But sufficient or not, it would have to do.

Fortunately (perhaps), Fate intervened. Before the situation could become more awkward, we were interrupted. Not by someone coming up to us, or bumping into us, or yelling at us, or anything … but rather by reality -- such as it is in a virtual world -- bending and shifting around us. The street turned to silver cobblestones, and the rest of the surroundings were lost in a heavy, swirling mist.

“W-what’s going on?” Ace exclaimed, looking from side to side as the city faded out.

“Well, hello!” A cheerful voice echoed out of the mists, seemingly coming from all around. “I didn’t know you two knew each other. How convenient!” To our right, the mists swirled and parted, and the androgynous figure of Yama Destina materialized. This time, however, she was dressed in a Chinese-styled gown of silver-embroidered, grey silk.

“What? You’re not going to say ‘It must be Fate?” Ace asked. “Rie, or … her player … is my big brother.”

Desi laughed. “You got me! No, no. We don’t see anything outside the Great Veil, so pre-existing relationships are opaque to us, though they become clearer as we see how the community divides into groups.”

That was interesting, and maybe something to file away for later, but we certainly had other more pressing questions, namely ….

“Why did you summon us, Desi? I thought you were just a character creation guide, but we’re past that point now,” I asked.

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“Hmm? No, I had said that I would be your guide, not that I was a guide,” she replied cheerfully. “Usually, that’s handled by the Umi clan: Cifi, Lani, and Indi. I just take a few people on Fate here or there.”

“Why?” Ace asked.

“Why not?” Desi countered, still sounding cheerful. “You looked interesting. That’s all. You both had very, very focused but extremely vague desires. That’s not like most of the people that walk the Path of Fate. They usually either have a desire specifically for power, and they don’t care who or what they are to get it. Those people are boring and pretty much don’t need a guide. And most of the rest have no idea what they want, but have too many ideas what they don’t want. They usually end up backing out and choosing a different path.”

“Then why us and not my friends?” I asked. “Both Susie and Mika wanted a specific role, but neither of them cared much about the details.”

“And did they get what they wanted?” Desi asked.

“Yes. Maybe not what they thought they would have got, but they Ette’s a crafter and Mikachu’s a shieldwall.”

“Then that’s why,” Desi said. “They didn’t need a finger on the scales of Fate. You both did.”

“Huh?” Ace asked.

Desi smiled and looked at them. “You, for instance, wanted a character that was neither male nor female. Nothing else really mattered, though you were hoping for ‘something neat’ as a class. If Fate had played out as it was scheduled, you would have got one and not the other.”

“What do you mean?”

“You would have had a pretty rare class, a Soul Cartographer. That counts as ‘something neat’ in most books. There’s only been fifteen of them accepted so far across all the community servers. On the other hand, your race and appearance would have been blatantly, unambiguously female and feminine -- a Nereid. You would not have been happy with it. Let me show you.”

Desi opened her arms wide and spun three times around, gathering the mists around her. They resolved into a hazy silhouette around her, then started to develop color, albeit indistinct and washed out. The form the mists took was that of an attractive, long-limbed woman with prominent curves, long flowing hair, and iridescent fins running the length of her arms and legs. She was garbed in a flattering, one-piece swimsuit and carrying a sextant and spyglass.

I glanced over at Ace, who was frowning. “You’re right,” they said, “I would not have been happy to have looked like that. I would have gone to the Path of Identity and found something else instead.”

“And you would have found something you could live with,” Desi said as she dismissed the phantasm. “But it wouldn’t have been as interesting.” She fluttered her hands. “And I like interesting.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” I said, “but what about me?”

“Coincidentally, Fate had you marked as a Nereid as well,” Desi said. “But you wanted to be a healer and support your group of friends. The class you were Fated for was, well, it translates as ‘Shackles of the Abyss.’ That’s about as opposite of any healer as possible. So, yes, you probably would have given up that Legendary class and gone on to be a simple druid, beastkin of some sort. Happy as a healer, but again, not as interesting.”

She clapped her hands, “And now, both of you are still interesting.”