Dear Maria,

The crimson and shining yellows of the sea made of stars continue to amaze me on this planet locals call “Reikistjarna” for short. I am too embarrassed to ask for the real name. I hope I can see you soon because I have already established our hang spot on Reikistjarna. You would absolutely love the place I chose—it’s a very bright alley behind this cafe, Kaffihús, and a three-eyed cat with magenta sequins for fur told me that even though he totally took residence of the space he would let us hang there. Which means if you don’t arrive quickly enough, the cat, Köttur, will definitely become my new best friend. So far, I have had a really great time exploring on my own and being a tourist on what used to be the moon’s girlfriend! The language, Tungumál, is so beautiful and is so easy to pick up that I’ve convinced myself that I became fluent in four days. Everyone on this planet is so accepting of how odd I look compared to them. They are each so beautiful—the baristas at the Kaffihús have been my style icons as of late. They wear skirts made out of opaque bubble wrap, and whenever someone orders a special they pop a bubble on their skirts. Instead of aprons, they wear what can only be described as banana peels drenched in different colors of glitter. When I finally asked a barista named Tsen, she said that the colors represented how many years a person had worked here for. Peach was for newcomers, aquamarine was for people who have been baristas for at least grint-plus years. Grint means two in Tungumál—see, I’m getting the hang of it! All the employees of the cafe also wear roller skates made of gum, which might seem contradictory, but on this planet anything can be fashioned as a pair of roller skates. In fact, that is how everyone gets around here. Creativity is echoed through which wheels they choose to use and where they choose to wear them. The most fascinating pair I’ve seen are made out of musical instruments that make a different noise every time a wheel spins, and later you can listen to the music your feet made on their version of an mp3 player. I long to have the flexibility and grace that everyone here has, but it does dizzy the mind, these colors. Hopefully, you and Max will join me up here on this little slice of heaven soon.

Love always,
Bella

—By Isabella R., 15, Miami