"There's almost always standing water in the alienage, so I know what that's like. Lots of mosquitoes, especially in summer. I guess the biggest differences are that we have houses--sort of. And apartments. But all of our big celebrations are done outside. We don't have any one building in the alienage that can hold everyone, so we use the common spaces."

She looks at what she can of her braid, and smiles in approval.
"Oh, thank you, it's beautiful."

She sucks her lower lip thoughtfully.
"Would it... be a bad idea to maybe just... try it? See what it's really like for a few weeks or months and... really experience it? Would a clan allow that?"