Dear Dad,

  Today was a pretty good day! I didn't have to go jogging and we found another safe place to sleep tonight!

  After we left the priestess’ house, we followed the map she gave us to a lovely little glade that was empty where we could eat, then we found our way to a cluster of houses in the middle of the map.

  There were loads of people here, well, maybe a hundred, and they had built their houses between the trees, but on purpose.

  So all of the houses were on the ground, however, long ago, but now they’re all at least a foot or two off the ground.

  And all the people like it that way! I got to talking to a lovely woman named Eballia. She said they did it cause they liked the challenge. Since there’s nothing they have to do, like finding enough food for everyone and making clothes, they can spend their time making their homes safe even though there is nothing but floorboards keeping the bottoms up.

  The young people live in the highest, oldest houses, and the old and feeble live in the ones almost on the ground that are newer and thus safer. I think it’s insane, but everyone is super happy, and there’s not really anyone with any real injuries to show it’s a bad idea.

  They saw that we were uncomfortable. Well, some of us, Riley and Zunair, made it a contest to sleep in the highest of the houses because I guess most homes are fluid? But we mostly ended up sleeping closer to the ground, where you didn’t have to climb too much to get to. Reese said, “Ain’t no way you could pay me to get up there, nope.” and then found the house closest to the ground to sleep in. Most homes have woven mats or hammocks to sleep in, and while there was enough for everyone, many of them opted to sleep more or less where they fell.

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  Which I admire. I mean, I like having something padded to sleep on, but if this is how they live, more power to them.

  It’s a little admirable to have this kind of freedom in their lives and use it to make these beautiful birdlike houses and pretty weird ornate clothing. There’s not a lot of dyes and stuff, but they showed us how they made some dyes out of seeds and pulps and roots and stuff, and even helped Riley and Grace dye the bottoms of their hair with some of the roots. It was silly and fun. I wish my hair was light enough to do it.

  Oh well.

  So we’re going to keep on. Lilandra showed us some places we could get out of the valley, too, so we’re going to try for one of those and then see how far from the city we are.

  I heard Zunair talking about maybe staying here a little longer and seeing if we could meet more of the makers and creators around here. I think it would be cool, too, but I’d rather get home first. Or, at all, actually. It’s interesting, I’ll give it that.

  But home is better.

  I know your hair isn’t light enough, but have you thought about dying it before? What color would you dye yours? What would mom have dyed hers?

  Hopefully, I can ask you in person soon, but I get the feeling it will be a while till I get an answer.

  Love, Jack