"You shall wear this gown," Ze says as he steps forward and grabs a purple dress from my closet. "It suits you the most."

"Has anyone told you that you're awfully bossy?" I grumble, though I accept the gown and head for the bathroom.

"It is the nature of my position. I command, and others follow," he continues as he follows me, about to enter the bathroom, too. But I'm faster as I close the door in his face before he can step inside.

"Privacy, Ze. That's why doors exist," I call out as I take off my clothes to put on the purple gown.

"I hate doors," he adds grumpily from the other side.

I smile to myself, surprised to realize that his odd brand of bossiness did, in fact, accomplish the mission. Without even realizing, my sadness turned into good humor, the past promptly forgotten in favor of the much more entertaining present. If he keeps this up, Ze might very well get his new boon.

I shake my head at that absurd line of thought, but a small part of me may not think it's that absurd.

It takes me a couple of minutes to get ready. As I exit the bathroom, I find Ze pacing around my room with a deep look of concentration.

"So, where are we going?" I ask as I plop myself in front of him.

He suddenly stops his maddening pace, swiveling to meet my gaze.

"I have changed my mind," he declares.

"What do you mean?"

"I have, of course, planned an entire itinerary for today. I do not want you to think I would have come unprepared. But I find that there is one more pressing matter to take care of."

I blink in confusion.

"Are you canceling on me?" I ask, bewildered.

"Of course not." He pins me with his gaze. "But there will be a change of plans. Come." He takes a step forward and grabs my hand, pulling me into his arms. In the blink of an eye, our surroundings change.

A bleak landscape stretches out in front of us, the land barren and desolate as far as the eye can see. There's one narrow road in the middle of the rusty desert-like terrain, accommodating thousands of people as they slowly walk in a death march procession toward an unnamed destination. The sky is perpetually dark and unwelcoming, red clouds gathering here and there to obstruct the little light that exists.

"What's this?"

Ze places himself at my back, his hands on my shoulders.

"This is P'asala. The intermediary realm through which all souls pass before they head into the afterlife, and that is the Road of all Woes."

"But... It's so...so..."

"Simple?" he offers.

"I would rather go with sinister," I mumble drily. "Even good souls have to walk through here?"