"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."

"Are they magic?"

"Yes, of course."

"Of course."

"...is it possible to build flying ships without magic? How?"

"You need a lot of things I think this world has not invented yet."

"Well, that explains it, I suppose."

"Yes. It could have been that those inventions just weren't available here, though."

"Yes, I see. Well, instead it turns out that the answer is magic."

"How much of what kinds do you need?"

"I'm not sure, never having built one myself. Sky and the full third tier are probably best for it, but I don't know if you need both, or whether you need to have most of them self-dedicated or only a few or maybe even none. It might depend on whether you're trying to build the flying ship by yourself."

"That makes sense."

She nods. "—oh, in case no one's explained, the elements don't stay strictly inside their own domains; there are combinations that give you a little extra. Fire and Ice add up to something with motion and lightning included, Light and Shadow together give you more things to do with the senses, and if you have the whole third tier you can enchant objects. Completing the first or second tier has similar benefits but it's harder to explain what they are, since I imagine it won't mean much to you if I say that it gives you a more complete command of that tier's domain."

"Yes, I'm not sure what that means."

She shrugs. "Land and Sea and Sky all together are... the world as a physical thing? And Life and Death together are... all the same things they are by themselves, but with fewer gaps in between."

"Hmm. Does Life and Death allow you to bring dead people to life again?"

"Not that I've ever heard of. But it's very rare to have one of those at the self-dedication level, let alone both, and I can't imagine you could do it with any less."

"The Valar bring dead Elves and orcs to life. It doesn't work for Dwarves because they don't have the same kind of soul, but they want to figure it out one day."