Matron Rus, stern but kindly head of the orphanage, is vexed. A child is gone. Justice missed roll call—again—and this time, she can't find hide or hair of him on the orphanage grounds.

She desperately wants him to give up his search for the family that abandoned him, to let himself belong here. But raising Justice takes more wisdom than she could ever have imagined.

A wistful story about the importance of family and belonging, for everyone who knows—or can imagine—the complications of raising children.

1700 words / shapeshifter science fiction