"I actually don't know, where I'm from humans are the only species of person."

"Wow! Well, okay, now you know the thing about spidersilk!"

"Now I do! What other things have magic?"

"Oh, lots, I wouldn't even know where to start - starmoss glows but you've probably noticed that - owls don't have a thing like spiders do but we get little things of our own sometimes, mine is always knowing exactly where I am, it's real useful. Um. The fey all have stuff, obviously, but I guess that's not obvious to you if you don't have fey, even though you look sort of fey yourself. More fey than anything else, at any rate. Do humans have a thing?"

"To my knowledge no humans have any magic! In fact, as far as I'm aware, Earth doesn't have any anywhere, not even moss! What do you know about where you are, exactly?"

"- I'm not sure how to explain it besides 'where'. Like... if your friends put you in a bag and dragged you around for hours, you'd come out lost, right? But I come out just as un-lost as ever. It works even if I'm asleep. I always know which way and how far to anyplace I've ever been."

"So relative to places where you already have your bearings," she says, "not, some coordinate system, or the name of the location, or something like that."

"Yeah. I wonder what it'd be like if I went to an entire different world - like, is there even an answer to 'which way and how far to Earth from here'?"

"There was a... transition. It was more like falling than like taking a bus but not very much like falling either."

"What's a bus?"

"A mode of group transportation for people who can't fly or anything cool like that."

"Oh. Yeah, that kind of thing is useful."

"Yep. Were you busy? Should I be asking for directions to civilization rather than interrogating you?"

"No, not really, I was just out for a nice early evening flight. What do you mean by 'civilization'?"

"A population center? Possibly with buildings."

"I guess maybe Silver Falls, then? That's the capital city - sort of the only city - they're kind of a Day thing, cities."

"A day thing?"

"Oh - like the Kingdom of Day, I mean. This is the Kingdom of Night. The world is a circle and the north half is the Kingdom of Night, ruled by the Moon Queen, and the south half is the Kingdom of Day, ruled by the Sun King. They have a lot of cities and bureaucracy and stuff, it's terrible, Night is way better."

"Humans find cities pretty useful but maybe they aren't as good for nonhumans."

"Night folk who like cities live in Silver Falls. I've been there a few times. It's nice to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. It's good that it's there for people who want it, though. Things being there for people who want them, that's - important."

"I agree. Where do people who don't like cities live?"

"Oh, everywhere else. Like I have a place with my family in the Moonrise Hills, and I stay with my squad most of the time otherwise - most species have at least one or two places that are just how they like it, and that's where most people of that species grow up, and then when you're old enough to go and see the world you do that if you want to and stay home if you don't, and join the army if you want to and not if you don't, and if you really like the quiet life you move to the mountains where people who really like the quiet life live - the war has never ever ever in the whole history of the world got as far as the mountains, it's safe there. Most other places are mostly safe too, if they're not near the border, but - safe is the point of the mountains, you don't go there if you're the type to scuffle with the neighbours."

"Is there a lot of call to join the army?"

"Well, sure, we're - oh." He shuffles awkwardly on his perch. "We're at war with the Kingdom of Day all the time but I guess there's no reason you'd know that."

"There is not. What for?"