Sam listens raptly, but he can't stop himself from shivering at her description. Islands surrounded by water? Nothing could sound less homelike to him.

"Well, it's clear you love it anyhow, and I hope you might find your way back someday. But I'm afraid I could never love it like you do, no matter how many lovely stories you might share. Boats and the sea! Why I'd be scared and sick all the time, and no mistake. That is until I fell in the water; and then I guess I wouldn't be nothing at all."