"It wouldn't be so bad if the briars didn't keep growing and moving," Alia explains. She relaxes as Fajah braids her hair, enjoying the attention.

Alia snickers at the mention of seeing uncles set things on fire. "We don't set things on fire, but one of my aunts did find herself up in a tree that used to be a sapling when she got carried away."

And Alia might have accidentally grown her bed to a size that could comfortably hold a fang when she was eleven. That can happen when you sculpt living trees into furniture.