Everyone had a future, but not everyone had a fate — at least, that was what their mom liked to say. Only parts of certain ‘favored’ families got fates, witnessed at the moment of their births by every oracle on every planet.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: Akos describes the differences between fates and futures as described to him by his mother. Although oracles, like his mother, can see the future for everyone, it is only the children of the fated families, like that Kereseth, Benesit and Noavek families, who received fates. It is believed that the future of a person can change, but their fate cannot be altered.

I screamed, louder than I had ever screamed in my life, and Ryz’s voice joined mine, almost in harmony. The dark veins had brought pain; the darkness was pain, and I was made of it, I was pain itself. / He yanked his hand away, but the...
-- Narrator (Chapter 5)