There once was a little girl, whose mother loved her very much. When she was born, her mother was given a gift more precious than silk or gold. She was given a choice. Her mother had been born a slave, as had her father, and their parents, and so would the girl have been had an accident or arrangement of the Fates not seen to it that the girl was born during a time when her mother was both lucid and unsupervised. In the city where the girl was born, no one notices slaves walking quickly with their heads low and a bundle in their arms, not even visiting adventurers. And so, without ever having named her daughter, the slave woman made a hard choice and placed her into the unwitting care of a stranger. For her courage, she was beaten that night, and for her wisdom, she was granted a vision of her daughter's future, and the hero she would become. But she would never again see her daughter after that day, and her daughter would never know her courage.

As newborn babes are wont to do, the girl began crying when, hours later, she awoke in an uncomfortable place, hungry and cranky from being jostled around. She cried her displeasure out to the world until it became filled with light and stillness. The light hurt her eyes, but the stillness calmed her from wailing to merely grumbling. And so she was found, and her new father named her Serendipity, or 'the babe I found when searching my pack one day'. He was no fool, and knew she must have been placed there by someone, but he also knew there must have been a reason for that, and kept her.

She was a precocious child, always into this or that and extraordinarily difficult to keep track of, so her father endeavoured to have her apprenticed to the guilds. The Celestines did not suit her temperament, nor the Tahtetso her rambunctious nature. The Cantors could not cultivate a tune from her, and dracnari are not widely known for their command of Water. And so in the summer of her twelfth year, she was squired to Sir Etiane Inalai.

Serendipity excelled with swordplay, cheerfully and boldly hacking away at training dummies and sparring partners alike. Sir Inalai did not struggle to build her strength or stamina, she did plenty of both on her own, and instead focused his tutelage on honour, courtesy, grace, and artistry in combat. She was a ready enough pupil, if a bit slow, and by the time she reached her sixteenth year, Squire Serendipity Serale was ready to take her oaths.

All that remained before her were to undertake three Trials to prove her worth. She was tasked with demonstrating the Piety, Chivalry, and Courage of a knight. And so one spring morning, she undertook her pilgrimage with nothing but the armour on her back, the food in her pack, and the swords from her rack.

First, she set out across the Inner Sea so as to begin her Trial of Piety. She was met on the shores by a soul long dead, who demanded "Who are you, who sets foot upon the Isle of Celest in our hour of need?".

Now, Serendipity was not bright, but she was driven, "I am Squire Serale, and-" she started to say, but the spectre cut her off.

"Squire Serale? Lord Commander Inalai awaits you at the Pool! I shall take you there straight away, there is no time to lose." The spirit declared as he was suddenly at the end of the road. Serendipity ran to catch him up, but he had moved on before she could reach him. This led on a merry chase until finally they came upon the Central Dais, where the Pool of Stars was once held.

Serendipity's guide vanished once they arrived, leaving the dracnari squire to take a few steps on her own to explore the ruined cathedral. Here, she thought, a Vernal God was raised, and here a Vernal God fell. She could almost feel the power humming out of the scorched pit that was once the Pool of Stars. As she approached the edge of the pool, she noticed something glinting in the basin.

Serendipity may have been selfless, brave, and true, but she was not known for impulse control, and she'd scarcely taken a breath before she was in the shallow pool that had once held such power. She bent down to scoop it up, and discovered that it was a five-pointed silver star on a delicate chain, untarnished even by the weight of years palpably hanging in the air around it. As she stood, she felt a presence behind her, and another in front. Before her, on the edge of the pool, stood the ghost of Lord Commander Dolph Inalai. He held her gaze locked in his own and Serendipity could not bring herself to look away.

"I had no choice," Came the grief-stricken voice of the soul standing behind her. Serendipity didn't need to look to know whose it was. "There just wasn't time to find the right answer."

"Begging your pardon, Ma'am, but it wasn't your fault, Ma'am." Serendipity said, "You had a hard choice to make, and I think you made a good one."

"How? So many were lost that awful day. My actions damned them all. They're damned to wander this cursed island or fuel the Tainted and fallen Magnagora, and it's my fault."

"If you didn't do it, Ma'am, I think it wouldn't have been any better. It was bad, but it was already bad, and doing nothing would've been worse." the squire answered. Dolph nodded, as if her answer was one he was pleased with.

"So my subjects should be happy that I forced them to sacrifice themselves for little more than a reprieve?" the other soul demanded.

"Ma'am, with respect, you were a Princess. An Empress. A Goddess. You had to chose between their souls or their bodies, their children or them. You chose the future over their future. You chose your love of the Light over your the love of your Father. I can't pretend your decision wasn't hard. But I think you picked the right choice." Serendipity said.

There was a long pause in the air, and a pregnant silence. Finally, the soul let out a long sigh and Dolph's eyes released hers. She looked around, but the Princess was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the Lord Commander. Instead, in the exact centre of the pool where the necklace had been there was a chalice of clear crystal.

Alone now, and not knowing what else to do, Serendipity placed the chalice gingerly in her pack and set off to finish exploring the ruins. Through the mists that covered the Isle,  she thought she could see some of the splendour that had once been. That would never again be. But for once, it was not sorrow that weighed upon the Isle, but a sense of profound peace and pride. Celest was no more, but the Light lived on in the world.

And for now, that was good enough.