A shape-shifter struggles to adapt to her newly acquired human form. When she encounters a group of humans, she takes the opportunity to learn more about them. She also falls in love with one of the humans, prompting her to reexamine some of her culture’s beliefs.



In "The Choosing" Selena Thomason takes readers back, long before the events of "Verid" and into the lives of the changlings.
 

Historian’s note: The events of “The Choosing” take place long before those of “Verid".




    There was a chunk of flesh missing from my leg.  Mother would say I had no one to blame but myself, that it had been folly to take a newly acquired form into a potentially dangerous situation.  She’d be right.

    Human form hadn’t seemed fragile on Captain Reese.  She seemed so strong and confident.  It wasn’t until the hungry Targk attacked me that I realized how delicate human form is.  As the Targk’s claws tore into my skin like it was paper, I couldn’t help but wish I was still in Experimentation and could transform into something more formidable.  But I had chosen.  For good or bad, I had chosen human form and was stuck in it.  At least the form is pliable enough to squeeze into a fissure in the rockface and get mostly out of reach.  I was grateful the Targk had only managed to get a snack from me.  

    Although Mother disapproved of my choice, Father was proud of it.  He declared it “courageous” and compared it to his mother’s Choosing.  The comparison pleased me.

    Her name was Sofi and she was the ruler of Kedru before my father.  At the time of her Choosing, she took the form of the Krieg, a violent species unanimously despised by the other inhabitants of the quadrant.  “It was a bold move,” Father told me dozens of times, “one that brought a great deal of knowledge and understanding to our people.”  Before Sofi had taken Kregan form no one had understood the overwhelming fear that the Krieg felt concerning the scarcity of basic resources such as food.  No one knew that the Krieg had nearly been killed off by famine numerous times and had developed a certain paranoia where resources were concerned.  This realization helped my people understand the Kregan predilection for conquering world after world and acquiring more food and resources than their people could conceivably use.  It allowed us to become the first species to establish diplomatic relations with the Krieg.  We are, in fact, still the only species who trade peacefully with them.