They both watch her to see what her point is.

"Would you have any objections if I ate this right now?"

"Of course not! It's yours."

"You bought it."

"We saw you do it."

"Okay. Good to know. Do you have a..." Sesati has a word for gods but English doesn't seem to. "Do you have an immensely powerful ruler, possibly someone of a different species than you and possibly someone who can do magic or something, but even they're neither of those things, do you have an immensely powerful ruler?"

" - not really?"

"The President is Barack Obama. He's all right."

"He's definitely the same species as everyone else. He had to say it on the nighttime news because people were asking questions during the primaries. And I don't think he can do magic. I don't think magic is a thing."

"I would like to make a good-faith effort to contact the President to inform him of my arrival here. Is there a convenient way to send him a letter?"

"- I guess you can address letters to the White House."

"I think he doesn't read them but his staff probably does, to answer some of the cute ones for PR reasons."

"How would I go about addressing a letter to the White House for the staff to read?"

"You'd put it in an envelope and buy a stamp and put the stamp on the envelope and write 'the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, District of Columbia' on the envelope and then put it in any blue box labelled "FS Postal Service"."

"That's convenient. Your country is impressive in some ways, including this one. Thank you for all your help, I expect I'll be okay now."

"Well, we'll ask arrestees if they kidnapped you and let you know if we find the one who did it."

Yeah, right. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

"You're a weird kid but I hope things work out all right for you. Good luck."

"Thank you. You too."

And now it is time for her stolen lunch and then a walk around town to look for a place that might sell writing supplies. Or might give writing supplies away under the misapprehension that they sold them.

Costco sells writing supplies! If she'd rather go to Target instead, or Safeway, or Walgreens, or CVS, those are also options.

Sure. Costco writing supplies. That's fine. She writes a letter.

To the President of the FSA or whatever form of address is appropriate (I beg your pardon for not knowing the appropriate titles to use in this place), from Teru of Leopard Hill,

It is likely that this is the most important letter that will be addressed to the President of the FSA today. The reason it is so important is because I told someone the sky turned purple with orange polka dots. I arrived here today, not of my own will, and will be doing what I need to in order to remain alive and return home. A policeman was able to identify my home as perhaps being located within Russia. It is a very different place, one where anyone could say they were the king (but all but one of them would die if they did). I suspect you (I again apologize for not knowing the local etiquette) will understand. I don't intend to provoke anyone who is not a servile cognitively impaired nonperson. I don't intend to do serious harm to the FSA. I expect you (I again apologize &c) know exactly how much my saying so is worth, but I don't know what else I can do to avoid a fight I don't want. I am very lost and confused. I intend to return home to my wealthy family some members of which are in the army. Please (I again apologize &c) contact me if you (I again apologize &c) have questions or concerns, would like me to do anything differently, or would like to inform me of anything.

And... now to figure out where to put it.

There are, as promised, blue boxes in lots of places, with FS Postal Service written on them.

Well, hopefully a box will get it where it needs to be before the ?god? in charge of this place gets mad about all the lying and theft.

Next up: can she identify a residential building, ideally a nice one?

Is she looking for a tall skyscraper or a nice two-and-a-half-story detached single-family home?

Sure. Yes. Absolutely. How are the buildings so tall.

The skyscraper seems like it could fit more people in it and would be more disruptive to steal. She'll take the two-and-a-half-story one. Or, well. She'll observe it first for signs of people still being awake at this hour. (Is it still or already? She has no idea.)

There's no signs of life at first, but as the sun starts to go up, a light goes on. Visible through the windows, a woman pads down the stairs in a bathrobe. Turns on another light.

She knocks on the door.

The door opens. The woman is wearing silk slippers, holding an empty cup, and looks irritated. "What?"

"How many beds are in your house of what sizes and how many people are expected to sleep in them in the next few nights?"

"- well that's a very rude thing to ask a stranger! We have a queen in the master bedroom and a queen in the guest room and twins in the two kids' rooms." She attempts to slam the door.