Well, not the first time she's had that question, even before she came here.

"I am," Merwen says. "Despite our differences, in all likelihood we share ancestry, far enough back. I am from Shora, however, and our great-great-grandmothers and further back, who I must imagine were similar enough to you, life-shaped their daughters into new shapes that would suit life on Shora better."

She spreads her hand for him to see. The thin skin of the webbing is slightly translucent and she has no nails, but she also has five fingers jointed just the way a typical standard Earth-human hand ought to be, even if all the bones are just a bit longer than might be considered "normal."

"On the chromosomal level, we share much."