"Well, then you make a new family."

"I don't have a lot of choice about that back home."

"Yeah, but you're not there."

"I guess."

"See, whole new family making opportunities!"

"Are you talking about making babies again."

"...No. I mean making-relationships? Connections? Baby making doesn't have that much to do with family."

"Hm."

"Well, you know, you might not take care of the babies much."

"Huh?"

"Wait, humans are always meant to be in charge of the babies they make, aren't they?"

"Not always. Didn't have to hang around Tobias when I had my mom, and there's adoption."

"With mer I guess it really depends how much the baby and the mum want to know each other. Dads are hard to keep track of."

"Mmhm."

"Well, for other mer, I guess." He looks down at his legs.

"You're probably not the first."

"First what?"

"Half-mer."

"Why do you think that?"

"'Cause there's billions of humans and lots of mer and they have been around for a long time and I bet your mom's not the first one who thought it would be nifty to..." She purses her lips.

Michael giggles. "Humans are silly about that."

"Yeah sure, and mer aren't, so."

"I guess so. I mean, Zaneta told me once there were lots of mer around Greece and some sunny island places."

"So, you're not the first."

"Then where are they?"