life at first step up. was it adopted? or born into the life by blood? did it grow up with its kin— or with the family it built from the ashes of the bones of longing? did it ever leave what it once called home, only to return years later to the ruins of what it left behind? to find everything changed— or worse, unchanged? is it still the same person underneath? or have the layers peeled so far back that even the mirror turns its face? it searched the world for peace— but fou