"Oh, she's a clickfly. She seems to be with me. We have many of them on Shora. They are useful. They send messages, or remember them for us. Without her hive she must spin her own home, poor thing."

Merwen clicks her tongue at the insect, which clicks back and then continues what it was doing.

"On Shora, where I am from, when someone decides she is ready to be considered an adult and join the Gatherings, she gives herself a selfname. A selfname should be a sister's greatest weakness, and by giving herself that name, she acknowledges it, and commits to trying to outlive it."