"Hard to say. I've only suggested it to one person before Kioh. She did live, though."

Nod.

"The Emperor took all nine elements," she adds. "Forty-eight hours in total. That's where he got the power to build a flying city."

"It does seem like it might be difficult."

"No one else in the world can do anything like it. No one else has ever survived that strong a self-dedication."

"I'm not surprised given your description. About how many humans are there?"

"...I don't know. I'm sure someone does; you could ask after census records if you do end up visiting Skygarden."

"More like tens of thousands, or millions?"

"I don't know. Millions? But that's just a guess."

"All right."

"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful about some of these things," she adds. "We're fairly isolated here, and we prefer it that way, but it does make us a poorer introduction to the rest of the world than you'd get from somewhere more cosmopolitan."

"That's all right. Is this language spoken everywhere?"

"Yes. You might find a few places where they speak something else too, but none where they don't speak this one."

"Convenient."

She nods.

"I might travel once I have more of a handle on the language."

"You really are learning it astonishingly fast."

"Thank you."

Smile. "I'm afraid there aren't very many more books, if you've finished with those ones already."

"I am. Oh well."

"I'll see what else I can find."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"How do people get to Skygarden, if it flies? Can you only live there if you can fly?"

"There are flying ships. They build them in the big port cities. The nearest one is Southport, north of here by the mouth of the Rocky River."