"There are big regional languages and smaller regional languages for smaller regions but there aren't any languages the size of the whole continent and there aren't any languages the size of a person."

"That doesn't entirely--make sense But--you're not just shapeshifted. Are you."

"I'm not what? I'm a unicorn."

"You're--normally shaped like that."

"Oh. Yes," he says. "I've been shaped like this my whole life, except when I was younger I was smaller."

"I think we're farther from home than we thought."

"How far from home did you think you were? Where's home?"

"We were worried we might be on another continent. But I would have heard of a continent with non-human people and weird language habits."

"...There's only one continent on this planet," says Sunpatch. "And most of the people on it aren't human."

"Then we're on another planet."

"I didn't know there were other planets with people on them! I thought it was just Imbria and Heaven and the Pit!"

"Well, I thought everyone had languages. You learn something new every day."

Sunpatch giggles.

He's adorable. ...Can she even begin to feel close to him, or anyone here, when it's going to feel like everyone's holding her so far at arm's length that they won't let slip even a word of their own language.

"We're not far from the Tree, if you wanted to come in and introduce yourselves and try to find guest rooms somewhere," he adds. "Since you probably don't want to sleep outside."

"Not my favorite thing, no. What's the tree?"

"It's a really big tree with a city in it. Sort of the capital of the Forest, like Heavensgate in the Blessed Lands or the City of Light in Manafall."

"The capital? What's the government like?"

"Oh, you know, they solve disputes and debate laws and stuff. I don't really know what governments are like anywhere else so I'm not sure how to explain."

"We have an Emperor and three levels of nobility."

"Sort of like Faessaya? Faessaya has a king."

"Is Faessaya the only country with a king?"

"I think so, but I don't really understand how the Blessed Lands work and there might be some kingdoms in them."

"Huh."

"If we go to the Tree, are there any--procedures, or anything, for having entered the country surreptitiously, even if we didn't mean to?"