Merwen gives her a wistful smile. "I live, lived with my family in a silkhouse on the raft Raia-el. It is made of the living walls of the raft tree and seasilk spun by ourselves. I miss the feel of the sea beneath my feet already."

And her lovesharer, and their three daughters, and her eldest daughter's lovesharer.

"I would never claim the place I slept is uncomfortable or uninviting, but it did not feel like home."