Page 301 of Commander’s Mate

Her jaw tightened.

“Will anyone call me that?”

“No.”

“Will family search use it?”

“Only if you choose.”

She thought.

“Keep hidden.”

We created another distinction.

LEGAL EVIDENCE IDENTITY.

LIVING IDENTITY.

The language felt strange.

Right anyway.

A rescued Farseekan objected.

“My clan name matters.”

“Then keep it.”

“My daughter was renamed by Sargans.”

“Then she gets to decide.”

“She is thirteen.”

Silence.

Nora spoke.

“Then she participates according to age and capacity. You do not erase her voice because she is young.”

The father looked angry.

Then frightened.

I recognized that.

Love pretending to be authority because authority felt safer.

Zared did too.

He did not speak.

Good.

The father eventually nodded.

“Ask her.”