"It shifted. Sometimes fire, sometimes ice, sometimes - things I have no name for. 'Wrestling a bear' is likewise an oversimplification. But there is a kind of fight, and you die if you lose it."

"How many people die of those who try?"

"Most. More than nine in ten. Shorter is easier - third-tier elements only take an hour each, it's safest to stick to those."

"And of those, how many?"

"I don't know exactly. Something like half."

"Goodness."

"I don't recommend anyone try it unless I think they'll be good enough to be one of the ones who lives."

"Are you better than fifty-fifty at guessing?"

"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."