?What is this Judge Burkhardt like?? Fionna had asked Riley Lo the same question at least five times in the course of the past week, but as the date of their hearing drew closer, she found herself growing more and more nervous.

Fair, she?d been told. Focused on what?s best for the family. We did well in the draw, really. Just relax and answer his questions, and everything will be fine. Easier said than done, but she was resolved to do her best. Except ? what if her best wasn?t good enough? This was the thought that kept popping out from behind the bushes over the past week, and pecking at her when she wasn?t looking like that damned Silkie, Chook-Chook when she was careless gathering the eggs. What if he decided she wasn?t good enough?

Then screw him, she?d finally decided. They?d had enough judges in three years, with or without the title, and they?d fought too hard ? with family, friends, Shade, the Society ? to let one man in a black bathrobe tell them they couldn?t be a family now, after everything they?d been through. Screw that.

She gave Ali?s hand a squeeze and was about to ask him what time it was when the door between the judge?s chambers and the little anteroom they were waiting in opened. Lirssa and her court advocate emerged, followed closely by the clerk.

?Mrs. al-Amat, the judge would like to speak with you next,? the clerk announced. Fionna glanced to Ali, renewing the squeeze with one last bout of nerves as she rose, and then tried to read Lirssa?s and the advocate?s expressions for any sign of how things had gone. The advocate, who had been introduced to them as Ms. Shelbinder, smiled pleasantly at them but had a poker face that would have driven Perish around the twist at a game. Lirssa, however, ducked her head in a grin and thrust two thumbs up at her.

?Just be yourself,? Riley advised from an adjacent seat where she?d been holding Raza and whispering conspiratorially to him about his stuffed lion, Ba. Raza had no advice but a drooling smile.

So.

She took a deep breath and followed the clerk into the chambers.

It wasn?t what she expected. There was no high courtroom bench, no witness stand, no empty jury box. Just an older man in wire-rimmed glasses sitting behind a mahogany desk with an arc of cushioned chairs ranged in front of it.

?Please, have a seat,? the judge said, his gaze still fixed on the paperwork in front of him.

?Thank you,? she said, and did so, settling straight-backed and poised, hands folded in her lap one over the other.

?Mrs. Helston ??

?Al-Amat,? she corrected him. He glanced sharply down at the paperwork again.

?Would you mind stating your full name??

?Not at all. It is Fionna Grace Arens Helston al-Amat.?

He gave her an obvious double-take, the only reaction before he glanced back down at the papers in his hands. ?According to your marriage certificate, you originally planned not to assume your husband?s surname?? It wasn?t a question, the way he asked it.

?It is the custom in Egypt, where he is from, for women to keep their family names.?

?Yet you are using it now?? That was a question.

?We aren?t in Egypt,? she fanned her fingers over her knee. ?I have a daughter in school here and a son that will be, at some point. I serve in public office. It was confusing to people.?

?I see. But you have not legally changed it??

?If you prefer to call me Mrs. Helston, your honor, you may. I?ll answer either way.?

?It won?t confuse you?? Now he was testing her, or teasing.

She chose to laugh. ?I know who I am.?

He tapped a gold ink pen against the stack of papers that made up their file as he studied her. ?Mrs. al-Amat, I understand that you and your husband wish to adopt Lirssa.?

?That is correct.?

?And she has lived with you for over a year now?? He glanced down again to confirm his facts.

?Since mid-October in 2009.? She could tell him the exact date, if he pressed.

?She?s not a young child,? he said. ?It?s unusual for families to take in a child of that age and to proceed to adoption after so long.

?She just turned fourteen,? she answered, ?this past October 18th.? With the glance she got, she clarified. ?She didn?t know how old she was, or her birthday, when she came to us. The best we can estimate from things she does remember and her physical condition is that she was maybe thirteen when Ali found her. And she chose the anniversary of that date as her birthday.?

?I see,? he turned the pen over and over in his fingers. ?Thirteen is a difficult age for young girls in the best of circumstances. That cannot have been easy for you and your husband. You were still newlyweds, as I understand it??

?It wasn?t easy for any of us, including Lirssa.?

?But now you want to adopt her.?

?We worked through it. That?s what families do,? she shifted in her seat, brows lowering. ?Your honor.?

?I see,? he said again, thwapping at the papers for three more beats. ?And what would you do, Mrs. Helston, if I told you I planned to deny your motion??

She froze for a moment, inside. ?What do you mean??

?I mean, if I told you that I would not permit the adoption, what would you do then??

She stared at the wall past his shoulder as the words filtered through and her heart sank. ?Nothing. I mean ? we?d all go home, and continue on as we have been.? She shifted her focus to meet his eyes, defiant. ?We love Lirssa, and she loves us. None of that would change. She?d be our daughter whether you said it was legally so or not.?

He nodded to himself and jotted something down, finally. Without looking up at her again, he spoke to the clerk. ?Adoris, would you see Mrs. al-Amat out and ask her husband to come in, please??