Elena POV
The registrar's office was smaller than I expected, tucked into a quiet municipal building that had somehow survived the last few months of the city rebuilding itself around it.
"You want to add a middle name," the clerk confirmed, reading the form I'd filled out twice already, unsure the first time whether I actually wanted to go through with it. "That's fairly straightforward. Do you have documentation for the name change reason?"
"It's not a legal requirement, is it?"
"No, just standard for the file." She glanced up. "Most people put something generic. Family preference, personal significance."
I looked at the blank line for a long moment.
"Personal significance," I said. "That's accurate enough."
She typed it in without further question, and I watched the screen update, watched my name resolve into its new, complete shape.
Elena Aurora Cruz.
"There," the clerk said, printing the confirmation. "Legally, that's you now."
