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- [00:00]
Lexi
My wife won't stop talking about Jerry. Jerry says he saved us money on car insurance.
- [00:06]
Nicole
Mine too. Found her a better rate and didn't waste her time. Who is this guy, babe? Jerry checked again and found us an even better rate. Pulled 20 quotes from top insurers, showed them side by side, and helped me switch policies in the app.
- [00:22]
Lexi
It's a car insurance app? Yep.
- [00:24]
Nicole
Let's just never happened. Do yourself a favor, visit Jerry AI Acast. Welcome to Get Real, the show for the reality TV obsessed and stands of the Hulu verse. Find it wherever you get your podcast and stream new episodes Thursdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. This May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to celebrate our own journeys to better understand ourselves and to realize that no matter what we're going through, we we don't have to do it alone. If you're looking for a licensed therapist to start or continue your mental health journey, Better Help is a fantastic tool to help you find the right fit.
- [01:10]
Lexi
Better help makes finding your therapist so easy. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences and their 12 plus years of experience and industry leading match fulfillment rate means BetterHelp typically gets it right the first time. But hey, if you aren't happy with your match, switch over to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recommendations.
- [01:29]
Nicole
Something I've been doing in therapy for, I wish I could say only the last few months, but really it's for the last three years, is learning how to find work. Life balance isn't the right word, but it's learning how to find myself out of work again. And one of the big things that I'm doing is making sure that I end work at a very specific time so that little brain, that little mouse in my brain doesn't go, oh, but you could do more. You could that. It just loves to do that. So one of the things that I'm working on with my therapist, T. Taylor, is I actually have a alarm that set that goes off every single night where it's like, hey, no more. You're done. And it's been so helpful. And then I get to go cuddle with Rue. And by cuddle, I mean get bitten. But you know what? It's, it's part of my finding myself outside of my work. And I love it.
- [02:15]
Lexi
You don't have to be on this journey alone. Find support and have someone with you in therapy. Sign up and get 10 off@betterhelp.com that's betterhelp.com FFG.
- [02:38]
Nicole
Welcome welcome welcome to Fantasy Fangirls Podcast where two sisters dive deep into beloved fantasy lore, character themes, theories and more.
- [02:48]
Lexi
I'm Lexi, older sister and Fantasy Lore nerd.
- [02:51]
Nicole
And I'm Nicole, younger sister and romantic at heart.
- [02:55]
Lexi
Today's episode is covering everything you need to know before Ballad of Falling Dragons, which releases on May 19th. It's a sequel to when the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker.
- [03:05]
Nicole
We're going through a book recap. We're going to go through basic world building characters where everything leaves off for everyone for the plot and all the things that we are keeping an eye out heading into the next installment of the Moonfall series.
- [03:19]
Lexi
With that said, spoilers Spoilers Spoilers for When the Moon Hatched. If you want a spoiler free guide to this amazing world and characters to orient yourself as you're reading, you're in luck. We do have another fan guide episode that is safe for you to listen to. That is spoiler free. That is not this episode.
- [03:37]
Nicole
So if you are listening to this and you don't know what the phrase I need you and why it makes us weep, please go finish the book. Do jump over to that other episode. Link is in the show notes. We will be here when you are done.
- [03:51]
Lexi
Next, we at Fantasy Fangirls are adults who say adult things about adult books. In other words, friends, this podcast is
- [03:56]
Nicole
rated R. We have a certain bet that we always make before any new release and you bet we're making it today. So please be mindful of those little listening ears.
- [04:07]
Lexi
Additionally, we are so excited to see you at upcoming live events. We've recently announced our September Live Show Tour starting in Chicago on September 9, Charlotte, North Carolina on September 24 and New York City on September 27.
- [04:23]
Nicole
All VIP tickets have sold out, but there are some general admission tickets left. But they are going fast, fast fast. Link is in the show notes. Additionally, we also have some really fun upcoming release parties for the plethora of books coming out. We have the Ballad of Falling Dragons release party on May 18th in Denver, Colorado. Then both for ACOTAR 6 and ACOTAR also in Denver, Colorado. We're doing a midnight release party for both of those books. Tickets have just gone on sale. You can find the link in the show notes.
- [04:55]
Lexi
Then of course we'll be at the Dragon Gauntlet in Boyne City, Michigan September 11th through 12th.
- [05:01]
Nicole
And last but not least, we are going to lancon in Edinburgh, Scotland July 16th through 18th, 2027. And tickets just went on sale for that con links to all of these events are in the show notes and on our website.
- [05:16]
Lexi
Last thing before we jump into this when the Moon Hatched episode. If you love Fantasy Fangirls and want more events, more content, more community and so much more, please check out Fantasy Fan Club.
- [05:27]
Nicole
We have six membership tiers that you can join and three that are Fantasy fangirl specific. They include everything from our Boppin Discord live Q&As, community events like Trivia. We just had when the Moon Hatched Trivia recently. We also have book clubs, promo codes for live events, we have full full episode outlines, ad free episodes, behind the scenes content, welcome gifts and so much more.
- [05:52]
Lexi
So join the party and get details on all of our media network tiers@fantasyfangirls.com fanclub. The link is also in the show notes. And really and truly, thank you so much for supporting us as we've turned this podcast into a media network and it's a dream come true.
- [06:07]
Nicole
It is all because of you and now Lexi. You are fire and Brimstone. I am shattered ice. Together we are your one stop shop for everything you need to know before Ballad of Falling Dragons. That's the quote, right? I think that's the full quote. Absolutely. And in reality, we're actually totally swapped. You're definitely Ice. I'm definitely Brimstone. I know.
- [06:34]
Lexi
All right, so as we always like to do, Nicole is going to share a recap that this time of the entire book when the Moon Hatched. So if you need a refresher on what the heck happens in this book. Fantastic. Listen up.
- [06:48]
Nicole
Before the events of our story, there were five gods. Boulder, Rain, Claude, Ignos and Kahless. While the first four creators used their power to craft the world, Kahless is scooted off to the side, radiating jealousy like it's his full time job. They, the other creators, discover that it is Kahless who is to blame for the moons that began falling. So they trap him in a sterling diadem. And to this day, that is where he remains. Moons have since stopped falling. Well, except for the first time in 5 million phases. 23 phases ago, another moon fell. Our story begins with Rave disguised as Komori Daffodone, a traveling bard. Absolutely not. An assassin who who's at the Hungry Hollow to track down Tarik Relikin. After seven hours of singing, Rae starts her long walk home and Taric Relikin follows her. But when the dumbass pushes her into the wall, he's not expecting her to fight back or have the air ripped from his lungs. Or have his hand cut off. Or have his crimes literally carved into his chest and have his throat slashed and his body yeeted into a hole in the wall. Surprise, motherfucker. Cut to a diary entry. 9 year old Elowyn Navon writes about how it's a load of spangle poop that she has to wait until she's 18 to have a Moonplume dragon and how she doesn't want to wear that silly stone that her mom wears. I mean, who would want to after watching your mother try to scream and rip it off? Emotional damage. Back to present day shopping. After collecting the list of items for Essie and ordering a few things for herself, Rave is summoned by the evil Serene where she gives Rave some bad news. Wreck Zaros has been hired by the Crown to hunt down the rebellion and Rave is forbidden from targeting him. Cut back to Elowyn, who writes in her diary about how she worries that her brother Hadeon is preparing to leave to steal his own Moonplume egg and she doesn't think he's coming home. So what does she do? She sneaks into Hadean's sleigh. Cut back to the present, but this time with Khan. Khan sits in a pub and he's spiraling hard. Who was that girl who sang for seven hours? And why does she look just like my ex? But that's a problem for later. He is here to meet with his daughter. I mean his niece, Kazari. She needs help. She can hear Kahless, God of Aether, from within the Aether stone and wants to set him free because she's fallen in love with him. But Daddy, I love him. Ha. She's in love with a stone. So great to Rave. She wakes up after sleeping the day away to discover the worst possible thing ever. Her roommate Essie has been attacked. Rave activates a parchment. Lark Knee return to Cinderfold. And for her final act, she lights a cloth on fire, completing Essie's final wish. So new quest unlocked Killrecht Zorros as revenge for Essie's death. But oh, it's not Rave who's walking out of the house. The other other stalks through the Undercity and finds Rexaras. Retaliation has its final laugh because when he touches the other, she bites his finger off. Although Rave is captured. Diary entry Elwyn finds Hadean at the bottom of a crevice unable to move his legs. So she crafts a snow hut around him and takes over egg sitting duties. But after some time Elwyn makes it home, all thanks to a big mama Moonplume. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Hadeon is alive, but he'll never walk again. On the bright side, Hadean and Elowen both have moon plumes now. Present day Rave wakes up to find herself shackled to an unknown room with an iron pin in her shoulder and a stringy thing in her teeth. Rexaro steps in front of her and decides to whip her back into shredded cheese. Rave wakes up again, but this time in a cell and has booked an all expense paid trip to the Guild of Nobles trial. Things are getting mighty interesting in the cells as a Rooney joins the party. Why hello Conveygor. To say is confused is an understatement. I mean this dude is acting like he clearly knows her. But Khan has to wait because it's time for her trial. The vote is in. Prisoner 73 will die by dragon in Coliseum next Aurora Rise. Go big or go home, I guess. Diary entry time Jump. Elowin is now 18 and the king of the Burn is visiting with an agenda. He wants to marry her to his son Tyroth Fagor. Thankfully Elowen's father tells him to fuck right off. Elowen also continues to work on her brother Hadeon's Moonplume's wing. And she can fly. She can fly. She can fly. She can fly. Enough Peter Pan. Back to the present day. Up in the Colosseum, Rave is bound to a wooden stake, but movement in the imperial box catches her eye. The Queen of the Fade is trying to stop the execution. It does not matter because a new dragon crashes the party and proceeds to scrape scoop Rave up directly into its mouth. And plot twist, she's been rescued by King Khan. Diary entry Things take a catastrophic turn for Elowen. Late in the night, her mother, father and brother are all murdered and before she can even begin to process or grieve, she is forced to don the ether stone. At the family funeral, Hadean's dragon makes a devastating choice to scoop up her bonded and give herself to death Ra rather than live an entire life without Hadean. With her entire family gone, it now falls to the Tri Council to decide Elowyn's fate. Present day Khan and Rave land in the Burn and Khan immediately decides to yeet her directly into a pond with zero warning and zero manners. But hey, the pool has healing properties. First though, that pin in your shoulder really needs to come out. Khan leads Rave to a cute cozy little cottage, the perfect vibe for anyone plotting your escape. And Khan cooks. The man makes soup, but apparently it's good Soup. With her first attempt to leave thwarted by Khan in his nakedness, the only logical exit now is a window and down the trellis like a normal person. It works. She's out. She's free. But before she can make it to the bottom of a cliff, something collides with her head and it lights out Rave. Rave regains consciousness and is yelled at by strangers. Rude. And a huge silver beast steps in her path. Welcome, welcome, welcome, Fate Herder. Rave is brought to the Jakul tribe, and it turns out Rave is part of a prophecy and her offspring will tether the moons to the sky forever. Yay. Oh, and they're also hosting a Tuca trial to decide who will be the father of that child.
- [13:31]
Lexi
Yay.
- [13:32]
Nicole
Hawke wins, and she is rightfully appalled. Instead of accepting her fate, Rave decides that she's going to fight for herself. During that fight, Hawke plays dirty and throws a snake at Rave. My nightmare. Whose venom then impacts her ability to fight. Although Fate must be on her side, because King Khan has arrived. Khan and Hawke battle, and it is rough. But after dropping Hawke's head at her feet. Nice. Khan scoops up Rave and carries her away as she promptly passes out. Diary entry. In the middle of the night, the Tri Council comes for Elowen. And on her way to the Burn, her moonplume sleep, Lattrua follows her, even though Elowen begged for her dragon to stay behind. Present day Khan flies for three days to get a very unconscious Rave to the Imperial stronghold in the Burn. After kicking everyone out of the dining room, Rave is laid on a table and Agni, a flesh thread, gets to work. Alone with Agni, Veya, Khan's sister, learns that Rave is covered in scars from past healing. But there's one that stands out. A silver scar over her heart that is in the perfect location for a killing blow. Dun dun, dun. This is when Veya decides she's going to the Shade in an attempt to find Elowyn's personal diary. Because, yeah, did I mention that Raven Elowyn are the same fucking person. Diary entry. A beautiful man scoops Elowyn up and she's horrified that Slotra just lets him. Together, the man and his sister Veya take care of Elowen in a way that no one has since since her family's passing. Present day after getting her iron shackle removed, the storm outside continues to grow, and no matter how hard she tries, Rave cannot block out Raine's song. But unlike in the Fade, Rave is not alone here. Khan wraps her up in his arms comforting her with her calming song. I need this man to stop being so fucking perfect. Khan leads Rave deep into the imperial stronghold. And down, down, down a ton of stairs. Instead of a crusty, dusty basement, Rave discovers a beautiful cavern full of moonplume carvings. In the center is a massive silver moon Slatra. Khan tells Rave that he believes this dragon cradled her for a hundred phases in the sky before she fell. Not so subtly implying that Rave and Elwyn are the same person. Maybe not the best idea, my guy. Ra collects her things and is prepared to leave the burn altogether. But something here is drawing her to stay. Eight days later, Vey is on her way to Gore. For one reason and one reason only. She left a Bengal here over 100 phases ago. And by left, I mean she dropped it down a rubbish chute straight into the hands of a velvet trog. Womp, womp. But the trog allows her to trade the Bengal for her mother's Malmer. Diary entry. It's been seven slumbers since Elowyn seen Khan, but he's back, not only with a new scar and a new necklace, but his songs are back too. And the two finally share a kiss. Fast forward just a little bit and elowen is now 19, watching Khan during the tithe. Khan has grace and acts with fairness that Elowen knows would make him a worthy male that her father would have respected. And she decides, fuck it, I'm going to tap that. When the next aurora fall comes, there's no carving, there's no meal. There's only a parchment lark for Elowyn with a rusted key. Following the lark, Elowen finds a hidden, hidden dwelling carved into the cliff. And it can either come with or without Khan. Always with Khan. Always. Present day the great flirt has arrived with her mask on and intentions for the stay decided, Rae finds Pyrok waiting to escort her to the celebrations. They enter the cold Netheren themed dome and decide to take their chances with a game of Scrippy. But now it's Khan's turn to play. And instead of playing for gold, they make a wager. The game does not last long and much to Khan's dismay, Rave wins. Together, Rave and Khan dance under the aurora and Rave lets down her walls just enough to give Khan a few kisses. Finally, diary entry. Elowen is now 20 and life with Khan is good. But their time has come to an end. As King Osteron forces her to bond with Tirath. He knows that she's been canoodling with Khan and if she lies about the father of her unborn child, she can keep it. What an ass. Present day Rave wakes up in Khan's arms and he convinces her not to erase him from her memory. Huzzah. But they need to have a serious conversation, one that Rave intends to delay for as long as possible. And bang. Bang. Banginity bang. I said it. You're not erasing me. Bang. Rave dreams of her time not with Khan, but with the Scavenger King, when he would burn her with his twisted way of calling her a fire like Bleh with. Once she's awake, Khan goes to deal with Rex Zaros, who's arrived in the burn, searching for Princess Kazari, who's missing. Uh oh. When Rey finally opens up to Khan, telling him that Rek murdered someone she loved, then he whipped Rave repeatedly. Khan tells her that she must go chase Death Moonbeam, AKA Go kill the douche canoe. Speaking of Rexaros, this slimy fuck is in Bethaim looking for Kazari. But unlucky for him, Rave finds him. Or more accurately, the other finds him by wreck. Veya arrives in Erithia in the shade and disguises herself as a servant. But gasp. That particular servant is carrying Tyroth's bastard child. Oh dear. However, Veya does find Elowen's old journal and learns everything. Final diary entry. Elowen grows weaker the further she gets into this pregnancy, to the point that she can hardly grab onto her journal anymore. She can feel a battle is coming and she can feel it in her bones that she's not going to survive. Well, she's right. Cut to a new character, the Scavenger King, AKA Arcann Vhagor, AKA Khan's half brother, who's hiding deep in a cave hideout. Also, the fuck has Kazari. He plans to soon claim the Bronze Throne of the Burn for himself. He sends a lark signed by Kazari to Khan as the father. First part of his plan. Oh dear. But that's not the only lark in these caves. Knee lands in Kazari's lap, dutifully returned to its sender.
- [20:01]
Lexi
Wow, Nicole, that might have been the longest whole book recap.
- [20:05]
Nicole
I think that takes the cake.
- [20:07]
Lexi
So thank you so much for refreshing everyone's memories. With that, we're going to take a quick break for a word from our sponsors. Let Nicole recover and we'll be right back.
- [20:17]
Nicole
I have a scary story for you guys. Picture this. It's Sunday night and you get that rumble in your tummy.
- [20:24]
Lexi
Grr.
- [20:25]
Nicole
You go to the kitchen for a healthy snack. But all that's there are chips. For me, eating healthy is not a willpower problem, it's a setup problem. Until we found factor, my family and
- [20:37]
Lexi
I know yours does too, absolutely loves factor. Not just my immediate family. Those factor meals go so fast because my husband and I just love them so much. But also my brother in law. He's obsessed with factor two. Our parents will get them every now and then as well.
- [20:53]
Nicole
My sister in law kids.
- [20:54]
Lexi
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- [21:31]
Nicole
This spring one of my favorite things is that there's so many different types of flavors with factored. I got a Southwest chicken and rice meal and then I got a oh I got this like Thai like peanut sweet potato power bowl. That was so good. I love the variations that you get with factor.
- [21:53]
Lexi
We use factor and you should too. Head to factor meals.com fantasy fangirl 50 off and use code fantasy fangirl 50 off to get 50% off and free daily greens per box with new subscriptions only while supplies lasts until September 27, 2026. See website for more details.
- [22:15]
Nicole
This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. I remember long, long ago when we first started ffg. One of the best decisions we made was putting some real time and attention into our website. Websites are an essential part of any small business success. That's why we at Fantasy Fangirls are obsessed with Squarespace. I know I just made my author website with Squarespace and you know me
- [22:41]
Lexi
with my marketing brain. I have very high standards for website tools and Squarespace delivers in every way. One thing I especially love is their integrated Squarespace SEO tools. Every website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions, an auto generated site map, and more. So you show up more often on search engines and bring in more of your ideal customers.
- [23:02]
Nicole
We love to see it. Plus Squarespace's email campaigns give you all the tools you need to engage clients, promote your services, and of course grow your business. There's all kinds of automations and email scheduling that take the mental load off staying in touch with customers and most importantly your community.
- [23:22]
Lexi
Check out www.squarespace.com FFG to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code FFG. We all have those seasons in life where maintaining healthy eating habits just is not easy. But it's still so important to make sure that we are meeting our daily nutrient goals. Get peace of mind knowing you can still hit key nutrient goals with a daily multivitamin from Ritual.
- [23:49]
Nicole
I know for me hitting a probiotic goal is near impossible when I can't have things like yogurt with milk. And having the probiotic from Ritual has been a game changer. I also love that it's like this vanilla mint flavor which like I never knew I needed my vitamins to taste yummy. Like I feel like a kid again.
- [24:10]
Lexi
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- [24:30]
Nicole
Like Nicole was just saying, instead of striving for perfect health, aim for supporting foundational health. Save 25 off your first month at ritual.com FFG that's ritual.com FFG for for 25% off your first month
- [24:49]
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- [25:19]
Nicole
AI welcome to Get Real, the show for the reality TV obsessed and stands of the Hulu verse. Find it wherever you get your podcast and stream new episodes Thursdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney.
- [25:35]
Lexi
Hi, it's Hannah from Giggly Squad. Bottomless apps for $9.99 are back at Buffalo Wild Wings so you can mix and match favorites like fried pickles, onion rings, hatch queso and chips and salsa. It's perfect for a girls night, a double date, or just a full on yapping session. Order your apps and keep them coming While you spiral on the same gossip from every possible angle. So grab your besties or your frenemies and head to Buffalo Wild Wings to get bottomless apps for $9.99 while you still can. It is time to talk about some basic world building for this series. We've noticed that when you have the general idea of what everything means, you're in pretty good shape to focus on the story itself as you read. First up, let's go over how time works in this world. Get it? It's time for time.
- [26:23]
Nicole
That's good.
- [26:25]
Lexi
I'm so funny. Anyway, the planet and its sun are positioned where the northern territory. The burn gets a whole lot of sun. And the southernmost part of the planet, the shade, does not get any sun. Aurora ribbons, which are the silver ribbons in the sky, determine what time of day it is. It's day spelled D A, E. When the ribbons are not in the sky, one aurora cycle is equivalent to our 24 hour day. So at least that's the same for all of us. One phase is 1,000 aurora cycles. So you can think of phase as like a year, but it's 1,000 days instead.
- [27:03]
Nicole
Moving on to the world's version of the gods, which play a huge part in this world, AKA the creators. The creators got some drama between them. There are five different creators, and over 5 million phases ago, they used their songs to literally create the world. Boulder, the God of ground, created the globe and sculpted almost everything. Rain, the goddess of water, coated the world with frost and water. Note, Rain is in love with Boulder, but that is an unrequited love. Claude is the goddess of air. Her soft words rustled the leaves. She created wind and her shrieks churned in the sea. She's chaotic, Claude, we love her. Ignos, the God of fire, loved Claude. Another unrequited love. But he loved her so fiercely that he did everything to impress her. From blazing jungles to volcanic blasts that she could dance in clothes like, I'm
- [28:03]
Lexi
just living my best life. I know, right?
- [28:06]
Nicole
I love her now. While the world was taking shape, there's a fifth God. His name is Kahless. And this is the God of Aether. He watched in complete jealousy of all of his other siblings who could be physically felt or seen. Aether is not so much that Aether is like you related it to the Force from Star wars. And honestly, I can't think of it anything different. That is just ether from the.
- [28:32]
Lexi
It's like the abstract.
- [28:33]
Nicole
Yes, yes. The way that Sarah describes it, it's the emptiness where Life blooms. It's from people to all sorts of creatures, like dragons. It's like the molecules in the air, but like magic. Now, when the dragons of this world, there's three different types that we'll go through later. When they're ready to die, they fly into the sky and curl up into balls. They curl up into giant hanging dragon balls, and they calcify themselves into moons. And it was said that Kahless, in all of his jealousy, wrote a silver book, which we both think is going to be very important and valid. And here's what we know about this book. Others fell upon a silver book. Some say Kahless wrote in his desperation to be heard, who found a different form of power in those runes nobody could read or pronounce. Discovering that strange markings could be wielded, could mend bones, charm blood, glamour objects really quickly. Side note, glamour objects like glamour the fae, the way that Veya's bangle glamours. Oh, I think that's a Kalis Bengal.
- [29:35]
Lexi
And the mind weft who gave her the bangle knows how to read the Book of Void.
- [29:40]
Nicole
Yes, exactly.
- [29:41]
Lexi
Yes.
- [29:41]
Nicole
Oh, my God. Okay, back to Caitless, though, because I'm getting off track. Okay, so there's five gods. The world's beloved moons, AKA the dead dragons, did begin to crash and fall into the world. And Boulder was like, not on my watch. So the other gods discovered it was Kahless to blame. He was just pissed that he couldn't be heard or seen.
- [30:01]
Lexi
We don't know that. I think that that's an unreliable narrator moment, and he didn't mean to.
- [30:07]
Nicole
I think Kahless is like, with a megaphone in the sky, being like, notice me, damn it. Now, the other four gods. This is Boulder, Rain, Claude and Ignos trapped Kahless, the Aether God in the Aether stone. And to this day, that diadem is where Kahless remains, who? The story behind this diadem slowly did become myth. Until one aurora rise. For the first time in more than 5 million phases, a moon fell. That is Rave Elowin and Silotra. In these past 23 phases, three moons have fallen. We'll share our theories about why now a little later. Orva is a small saber scythe in the burn that fell a little over eight phases ago. A molten maw in the fade that is unnamed crashed into and broke part of the wall that surrounds the fade. And Slaatra, a moonplume who fell with Rave Elowin 23 phases ago.
- [31:06]
Lexi
Next we have the magic system. The Main type of magic in this world is elemental magic, which is magic gifted to individuals from the creators. The more fluent that the wielder is at speaking and understanding their creator songs, the more powerful their magic will be and the more effective they are at wielding it. Most people who can hear the elemental songs can only hear one, so they can only hear one of the creators and therefore wield one of their elemental powers. Maybe if they're lucky, they can hear two creators, so then they will have two elemental powers. And there are very rare cases for people hearing more like three. For instance, the Vagor twins who rule the Shade and the Fade. They have three elemental beads. The Tri Council. They are all tri beads. So the tribe people are where the power of this world is at. Each creator has an associated color with their elemental magic to indicate to others that they can hear one or more of these elemental songs. These colors are worn in the form of a bead on each person. So red signifies the Creator Ignos, which means that this person can wield fire. Blue is for Rain and her element of water. Clear colored beads are for Claude and mean the person is an Air wielder. And brown is for Boulder, the elemental magic of the ground. I always like to think of an Earthbender with this from Avatar, the last Airbender.
- [32:23]
Nicole
Then there are Runies. Rooneys are someone who have learned how to wield symbols. Remember how I talked about Kahless earlier? This Runic language was found in an ancient tomb that some believe we included. Kahless, the God of Aether wrote again in that desperation to be heard, Rooneys wear a white bead and or white cloaks with buttons down the front that are stamped with different symbols that announce the Rooney's talents for different levels of skill. The buttons are made out of different materials. For instance, wooden buttons is like you're alright, but diamond buttons are like you're an expert. There are also other magical abilities that someone can have that are very rare. Like for instance, mind wefts who have the ability to dig into people's minds like a mind reader. We know of two in our story so far. One is Ron, who is the owner of the Curly Quill in Dom and had a whole lot to say about Rave. He knows everything about Rave. He knows that she's Ellon, he knows that she has Kazari, all that kind of stuff. The other is the one that Veya came across and won the bangle from who claimed to be able to read this language and has read the Book of Void, which again we Assume is Kaylis's book this Mind Weft told Veya that with this bingo that she's giving her that she won from her, it will twice be both extremely helpful and extremely painful. More on this later.
- [33:49]
Lexi
Then we have non magical people who are Gnolls. A Gnoll is someone who does not hear any of the elemental songs in the fade and shade. Their ears are clipped to show this and it reflects that they are less than citizens. They don't have the magical abilities that others do. These two kingdoms rulers value strength and power which they consider nulls not to be. So they just don't really care about nulls. But in the burn Gnolls are given opportunities to become Rooneys or apprentices. They are still wonderful useful citizens of the society. So in other words, if you're a null, way way way way better to be in the burn. Which we can probably thank King Kong for giving them these opportunities. All right, so one of our favorite things about the Moonfall series world and all of this here is how rich it is. Creatures as well. And the creatures really do play a large role in this story. So first up we have to talk about the dragons of this world. There are three types of dragons, each of whom are from and thrive best in one of the three kingdoms. So in the north are the saber size. These are the dragons that live in the Burn. They love the heat and cannot survive for long in the fierce cold of the shade. Khan's dragon Rygon is a saber scythe. Then we have Molten moths which are the dragons that live in the fade in the middle. They can travel anywhere in the world pretty comfortably and are the easiest dragons to charm or steal an egg from. They're the charter dragons because they can go in any direction and take people from point A to point B without them potentially hurting their own dragons that might not be able to handle the climate.
- [35:20]
Nicole
They're the ubers of this world in the lift.
- [35:25]
Lexi
And last but certainly not least, my personal favorite, the southern region's moon plumes AKA the dragons that live in the shade. They cannot handle the sun or their skin burns and they will go blind. Elowen's dragon Slotra was a moonplume and so is a smaller dragon Rave has taken under her protection named Liri. I want more of Liri so much in ballad. I'm so excited for her and this bond that she's starting to create with this other moonplume.
- [35:51]
Nicole
Moving on to the other creatures of this world. Starting off with one of our favorites, the Velvet Trog. Large and lanky, these creatures hoard and feast on trash. They consume memories from the bits of trash they eat and purge them as luminous sticky tendles they pull from out of their hands. I think about it like spider webs basically. Like the trash feeds their spider webs. That's pretty much how I take it too. Basically they use these tendrils to decorate their layers. This is the type of creature that Meya had to get her bangle back from at the end of when the Moon Hatched.
- [36:27]
Lexi
And also this Velvet Trog who is located there in Gore that she's getting this bangle from. This Velvet Trog has only bargained with six people and I am convinced that Rave is one of them.
- [36:38]
Nicole
Because when we asked Sarah who are the other six? And she was like, yeah, I can't share. And I was like ah. We also know from Sarah that there are multiple Velvet Trogs that are just spread throughout the land, but we've only met the one in Gore.
- [36:52]
Lexi
Next up we have the Muskin. They are small, knee high creatures that can see into the future, though these visions are sporadic and are subject to change, meaning that what they see is not guaranteed to pass. But for instance, they can foresee when the next great flirt is. And I'm wondering what else can they see, like war that's coming? Or let's say that the twins have their own Muskins, which I'm assuming is just a very nifty creature to have for all of these royals, because we know the Con has one. What if the Muskins somehow tells them that Elowin Navon has returned? Or I really think that there could be some major plot point that the Muskin shares that is going to move the plot forward. Muskins are big wild cards with information gathering and giving in the series. And I'm so excited, I feel like there's something there.
- [37:40]
Nicole
I love this. Then we have the Fate Herder. Talk about creatures that just give a lot of information in this world. The Fate Herder is a large silver feline like creature that is much more legend than reality. Those who have seen it are often considered crazy or delusional, boasting stories about the beast and nudging them to make different decisions than they would have originally intended. Baha, we know better. This creature did show up in when the Moon hatched, when Rave was in the Botanic Plains. And the tribe took that to mean that Rave's offspring would tether the moons to the sky. Haha. Kazari, is that you? However, it grows less and less solid as its intended outcome becomes more and more likely. As we discussed in that episode, it's interesting that the Fate Herder brings Rave to the Jakuhul clan village, and it's just assumed that it's the offspring prophecy and that's why she's here. But Rave had a feeling that it was for some other reason. And then when Khan showed up and made Rave his greater meaning, she now has power over this tribe. The Fate Herder is no longer seen.
- [38:52]
Lexi
That's important.
- [38:53]
Nicole
Oh my God, that is so important.
- [38:55]
Lexi
So pretty much, once when Khan arrived, once when those dominoes set in motion where Rave is now considered his greater, greater than the King of the Burn, greater than their Oa, that's when it starts to disappear. It starts to disappear. And we know that is because it feels like it's done its job. It's like, this is very important for our story.
- [39:17]
Nicole
Now, there's a few other creatures that are introduced very early in when the Moon Hatched that we theorized about, and we would not be fantasy fangirls if we didn't bring them up. First and foremost, the waif, a rare, lanky, fog like creature that haunts drapes of mist where they nibble on souls in exchange for messages from the dead. Okay, hold on. Oh my God. I'm convinced that this is going to be really important in ballad. Two reasons. One, we meet this character very early on, literally in chapter one, and then it's never mentioned again. Mist, though, is mentioned again and it's in Khan's fucking jar of mist in his bedroom, where literally he says, I don't want you looking at my jars of mist.
- [40:03]
Lexi
And he like shoves it in the drawer, right? Yes.
- [40:06]
Nicole
I think that he's been feeding bits of his soul to a waif in order to talk to Elowyn from the afterlife. And he's like, you're here now, so don't. Don't look at my. Wait, miss, I don't want.
- [40:18]
Lexi
This also reminds me how he said early on too, to Rave that you have to behead someone or their spirit's going to come back. So do we know if people who are beheaded do not have the capability of coming back? Hence why Khan made sure his father was beheaded, for instance. But, like, Rave's family was not beheaded.
- [40:38]
Nicole
What if he's been talking to Hadeon and just being like, hey, how's your sister? Can you see her up in the sky? Or. Or honestly, even his. His in laws or his mom?
- [40:52]
Lexi
Yes, yes. Yeah, there are so many possibilities there. So I think that we should keep an eye out for whoever has not been beheaded is fair game for who they might be able to talk to.
- [41:03]
Nicole
Oh my God. But yes, I'm convinced that Khan has been talking to to people. Now what I'm confused about is the waif, the jar of mist or do they. Because I think so. So he just has like jars of waves that I don't understand. That I don't entirely understand either. But I'm keeping an eye out for that. Lastly is one that we were honestly going back and forth of putting in the outline, but we figured why not? And that is the Elding bird. This is a mythical bird like creature born from ashes and flames. Very interesting that the Elding blade, which is the Fjorduath Assassins sounds very similar to Elding bird.
- [41:38]
Lexi
Well, and the glass orb that the Elding blades have like what Wraith had and showed Livy to her detriment. It contains a depiction of the Elding bird hatching in flames. It is literally the Fear Do. Ath's simple. And so also when we're thinking about the Elden bird, like think of a Phoenix, right? Like this is this world's version of a Phoenix. That is important.
- [41:59]
Nicole
That very, very important. Even more interesting that the Elding is the leader of the Fear Dwaff.
- [42:05]
Lexi
So we're going to theorize who the Elding is soon. But I do think that there is something to the fact that Rave was called Firelark in the pits and Elding bird is very symbolic with flames. Again, thinking of a Phoenix there. Those are Firebird similarities and both connected to Rave in different ways. But I don't think that's a coincidence.
- [42:28]
Nicole
Now could it be literary non coincidence or story non coincidence? That's my question.
- [42:34]
Lexi
I think story non coincidence.
- [42:36]
Nicole
Oh, see, I think literary. Okay, all right, let's put a pin in that for later.
- [42:42]
Lexi
So let's quickly go through the three distinct kingdoms and the Tri Council. We've already been talking a little bit about them, but let's lay it all out. So starting north in the burn, where it is sunny and hot, hot, hot. There are rainforests, sandy plains, and large bodies of water here. It storms often in the burn, and it is actually the only territory of the three that gets rain. Burn locations to remember include its capital Dom, which is actually a pretty great place to live, despite what Rave previously heard. We're definitely thinking there's a propaganda from the other two kingdoms making it seem like the burn is a really bad place when it's not. And making the burn seem like the enemy for their upcoming war. Then we have the Voltanic plains in the Burn. This is home to clans including the Takula clan. This is where Rave accidentally wound up in the middle of when the moon hatched thanks to the fate Herder and had to partake in the Tuukka trials. Here is where Khan has declared Rave is greater than he remember with the six pounds on his chest. That was unheard of. That's exactly what this was. I think that's very important for us to remember. Then lastly, we have Gondra, which is the Saber Scythe nesting grounds. It is the most northern part of this northern kingdom. We're hoping to rhymes POV in Gondra in ballad since Khan just dropped him off at this location to go after the great silver saber size eggs. The Burn kingdom was previously ruled by King Austrian Vhagor, a cruel male who valued strength and power. I feel like we're saying that a lot this episode. And now it is ruled by King Conveyor, the King's oldest son. Surprise, surprise. The Burns, a much better place to live. Now should be noted that Khan becomes king after beheading his father. He was very pissed off that his father was responsible for Elwyn's family's death by poison.
- [44:25]
Nicole
Next up is the Fade. The Fade is in that middle third of the world and is much colder than the Burn. It often snows or sleets, but never rains. And the territory is encircled by a massive stone wall built by boulder in the creation of the world. And most of the population lives within the wall. Main locations of the Fade include it's capital, Gorr, where our story opened up. The Kingdom of the Fade used to be a creator's blessed place to live. But everything changed when Cadoc became king and only cared about military might. Then we have the Undercity. It's a large divide in the ground directly below Gorr, beneath the Wall of the Fade and in an abandoned Dragon Bloodstone mine. The Undercity has become basically the slums of Gor and is known as the most dangerous place to live or visit. Then we have the Wall. A massive stone wall that encircles the Fade almost like a belt running parallel east to west as far as the eye can see. This is where most of the Fade population lives. And I mean like lives within the wall. Like there's apartments and houses built within the wall. The segment of the Wall that is dedicated to the Fade's army is called Drelgod. It houses the fresh conscripts. And then also in the Fade we have Boggarth. This is the Molten Maw nesting grounds. The middle region of the world is ruled by King Caddock Vhagor. Caddock is twin to Tyroth Vhagar and son to the late King of the Burn, Ostrin Vhagar. He's also brother to Khan Vhagor and brother to Vea Vhagor. Caddock is married to Dothea Vhagor and they have a son, Prince Terun Vhagor, whose current location is unknown. Susan we know. I 10 out of 10 think we're going to see Tarun in Ballad. Since taking over the throne, Caddock has been focused on growing the military might of the kingdom. This is his ultimate goal. Right now. The main way he has built the military so quickly is by conscripting young elementals as soon as they start hearing the Creator's song. He literally uses Truth tunes in order to see if people are hearing the songs or not. In the Fade there is a rebellious group called the Fyre Du ATH who are working to counteract the tyranny with a focus on the Fade. This group is run by the Elding, a mysterious unknown person I think we're going to know at the end of Ballad. This is the group that our FMC Rave works for as an Elding Blade, AKA she's an assassin. Her boss is Serene, a high ranking member of the group. Remember, Serene has a little vial that she wears as a necklace that can control Rave and the other Elding Blade. And their headquarters is somewhere called the Flourish, which all we know is south of the Fade.
- [47:12]
Lexi
I've been leaning toward the Flourish is where Slotra's Crater is. However, I'm also realizing their headquarters needs to be inconspicuous, which her crater would most likely be a very well known location. So I keep coming back to the Flourish might be in the mountains, even near the Pits of Kindard where the Scavenger King is. And that just brings me right back to my crack theory that the Elding is the Scavenger King. The third and final kingdom is the Shade. As the southernmost third of the world, the Shade is forever cast in darkness, with the only light being from the Aurora ribbons and the Moon Plume moons. It's very cold in the Shade and always covered in snow. Main locations in the Shade include Netheren, which is the nesting grounds of the Moon Plumes, the furthest south location, and then the Shade's capital which is pretty close to the northern border of the Shade. And that is the Shade's capital, Erythia. The Shade used to be ruled by King Odric and Queen Edora Navan, parents of Hedion and Elwyn Rave Navon, the maternal side of this family is tied to the Ether Stone. The Shade is under King Tyroth Vhagar's reign, who rules alone since his Queen Elowen died. He is twin to Cadoc Vhagor, who rules the Fade, and brother to Khan Vhagor, the King of the Burn. The princess of the Shade is Kazari Vhagor, who is actually the daughter of Khan and Elowen Rave, but nobody knows that, so everyone thinks that she is Tiroth and Elowen's daughter. Then there is the Tri Council. This is a council of ancient people comprised of Tri beaded Elementals, which again are Fae who can hear three Elemental songs echo extra extra special and rare. And they are very knowledgeable Rooneys as well. These Tri Council members hold some sway over the kingdoms because of the Council's power and sometimes intervene in political matters. Like for instance, when Elowen's family had died and they came up with, oh, hey, the Princess of the Shade should marry the Prince of the Burn. And I definitely think that King Austrian had some influence in all of that. But that's okay. They're supposed to be neutral, so I think that's another plot line as well. Moving on. They reside in Bothane, a neutral city between the Fade and the Burn that does not fall under the rule of any king or queen. How very interesting that we know of at least one character going to Bothayn so he can, quote, get a look at that book. Rhone, who is Pyrox Brother, is an alchemist, and while we have not met him yet, we can strongly assume we will next book. When we asked Sarai Parker if there was anything she could say about this book that he is wanting to look at, she told us, quote, I can tell you absolutely nothing about any of this, but I can promise you're going to get these answers. Invalid. We are both convinced that this has to be the Book of Void, especially given how Rooneys, who are wildly skilled are in the Tri Council. They might know how to read the Book of Void. They might be the gatekeepers of this information. Which means that mind weft that ve interacted with and got the bangle from. Did she have special access to this?
- [50:17]
Nicole
I wonder if she was a member of the Tri Council and then she just like aged out.
- [50:22]
Lexi
I hadn't thought about that.
- [50:23]
Nicole
I don't know.
- [50:24]
Lexi
I don't know either. I don't know.
- [50:25]
Nicole
There's options.
- [50:27]
Lexi
So all of that is the world building of when the moon hatched. Now let's dive into the story itself and where things leave off at the end of book one so we can all be ready for book two. War certainly does seem to be looming in this world. The Fade and the Shade are working together against Khan because their rulers are twins and they have their eye on the Burn, which has valuable untapped bloodstone, among other reasons that they want to invade the Burn. Dragon bloodstone is the ore that is mined from the ground in areas where dragon blood was spilled and then fossilized. It's the currency of the Fade and the Shade, and it is used in all three kingdoms for its medicinal properties, which Serah has told us prolongs long lives. We don't know much about Tyros army in the Shade or his military might, but we do know a lot about Kadok. He has spent at least 125 phases building up a military and only caring about strength and power in the Fade. Good news, the Burn does have its own army that can almost rival the Fade and the Shade. It's taken Khan a long time to build up his forces because unlike at least Cadoc, he does not believe in forcing his citizens into conscription. This war will be detrimental to the whole world and as Khan puts it, a battle would puncture our world and scatter the skies with many more moons. It's unknown when this war will break out, but Veya has made it clear that if Ravelyn being alive, comes back to the twins, they will use Kazari against her and bottom line everything up and ignite this war that they are all so carefully dancing around right now.
- [52:06]
Nicole
Okay, when do you think the war is going to break out?
- [52:08]
Lexi
I think that'll be a Book three thing. I think we will get to like the pinnacle of it. I think that.
- [52:13]
Nicole
Oh, pinnacle. Book three.
- [52:15]
Lexi
Yeah, I think that it'll kind of be building up to that and then the war will be part of the cliffhanger that will be coming in book three. I keep thinking back to when you had asked like, do we think that another moon is going to fall? And Ballad of Falling Dragons. I wonder if a moonfall is going to set things in motion or cause some issues with like where is it going to land? Right?
- [52:38]
Nicole
Yeah.
- [52:39]
Lexi
What if it lands in the Burn and it makes them weaker so then the bad guys can come in? What if it lands right there on Caddock's military?
- [52:47]
Nicole
My day, it would be so sad
- [52:50]
Lexi
for all of the innocent scripts, but
- [52:52]
Nicole
yeah, at the same time.
- [52:54]
Lexi
Like, I do wonder if a moonfall will expedite, like, the plot in some way. Like, be a really good triggering for that war to happen next. Or it'll cause issues with the current war's motion. Right now.
- [53:07]
Nicole
I wonder if Kazari's capture is going to be what. What triggers the war? Because what if Tyroth thinks that Kazari's with Khan and that's why, and he invades.
- [53:18]
Lexi
Well, Wreck was already looking there.
- [53:20]
Nicole
True.
- [53:21]
Lexi
And then he said, nope, I don't see her here. Well, now comes back. And now Wreck is dead.
- [53:25]
Nicole
And now Wreck is dead. And he was toting a white flag, so that could be considered a world war, even though the death happened on neutral. So. But he doesn't.
- [53:33]
Lexi
I was gonna say that was the whole point of her not killing him in the burn.
- [53:37]
Nicole
So he left, and now he's dead. So we don't know if Tyrone.
- [53:41]
Lexi
That's not Khan's problem.
- [53:43]
Nicole
It's not his problem that he died. It would be Khan's problem if Tyroth is convinced that it happened in burn soil and Khan's just covering it.
- [53:53]
Lexi
But it really does happen on neutral soil.
- [53:55]
Nicole
There are, like, it does.
- [53:56]
Lexi
And all of that kind of stuff.
- [53:57]
Nicole
But that's. That's a. Like, it happens on neutral soil. But does Tyroth know that? Or is he gonna use that as the triggering point for Caddock and Tyrone to invade, believing that.
- [54:06]
Lexi
We also know that the Scavenger King is sending Parchment Larks to Khan.
- [54:11]
Nicole
Yeah, we don't know what that. More later Parchment Lark says. Cool.
- [54:16]
Lexi
Okay.
- [54:16]
Nicole
There's a lot of options. I think the war is going to definitely be started next book. I don't think it's gonna reach its pinnacle by any means until book book three, but I do think that the triggering event is going to happen next book. Okay, so we.
- [54:29]
Lexi
So I was going to say the pinnacle of what then tips over and starts the war.
- [54:33]
Nicole
So it's the.
- [54:34]
Lexi
It's the beginning of the war. Yeah, we're on the same page.
- [54:37]
Nicole
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. Let's talk about the Fade Queen. Because Homegirl maybe makes one or two appearances in when the Moon Hatched, but she feels like she's going to be a main key player. The Fade Queen has not been heard of since Rave escaped her execution. This is only after her husband Caddock caught wind of her trying to stop the execution. She tried to stop a prisoner of the Fjordu ATH being murdered, and Caddock has now since made it where this Queen has not been seen. I am worried about this woman. I hope she's okay. We also know that she used to sneak people out of of the Fade and assumably into the Burn, but she hasn't now because she's missing. Have I mentioned I'm terrified for this woman? By the end of the book, we still don't know where the Queen is. We don't know if she's alive. Do you think that she's alive? I'm gonna ask this question.
- [55:34]
Lexi
So all we know is that she has not been seen or heard of and it is presumed that Caddock is keeping. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely do think that she is alive. Like.
- [55:45]
Nicole
Like.
- [55:45]
Lexi
How dare you even say that. I don't think she is in good shape and our crew will have to help her out somehow some way.
- [55:53]
Nicole
Do you think she's with Tarun? Not if he's not. If he's the fucking Elden Blade.
- [55:58]
Lexi
I do think that she is essentially locked away in the Fade, but I do not think that Turin is there in the Fade or in gore at least.
- [56:07]
Nicole
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Oh God, I'm worried for her.
- [56:10]
Lexi
Another important plot that we're sure will continue in ballad. Back in the burn, Agni, the skilled royal flesh thread with dragon sight, tells Veya of the silver scar above rave Elowen's heart. This silver scar was not mended by a flesh thread and would have been a killing blow no matter what. Like the flesh thread would not be able to heal that in time. Which that's not what everyone, including Ve and Khan, have been led to believe about Elowen's death. The world was told that Elowen died in childbirth. Recognizing the silver scar and a killing wound on Elowen. And Tyra's story about how she died in childbirth not adding up. Veya sets out to find Elowen's diary and figure out what truly happened. You all. We can feel it. Spring is here. As soon as things start to warm up, we are just so ready to be outside. And every year that shift makes sense. Me realize I need fresh new clothes in my wardrobe to match that energy. But refreshing everything for spring, that can get expensive fast. But this year, Fabletics has our backs.
- [57:16]
Nicole
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- [57:48]
Lexi
When we were just recently in Seattle, I wore my red maroon athletic set for the very first time. You all the compliments that I got on it and we you tie with it and I felt like such a queen and I just appreciated all of your compliments and everything. I like, I feel amazing in this outfit and I could just wear it anywhere, even like whether I go to the gym or whether I go to lunch with my husband.
- [58:13]
Nicole
Right?
- [58:13]
Lexi
So I just love it so much and like I finally feel really cool and trendy when I'm wearing clothes now.
- [58:21]
Nicole
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- [59:20]
Nicole
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- [59:51]
Nicole
So really quick because I realized I didn't add any other stuff in this outline because I think it's just so ingrained in both of our minds that the other is Slotra. Yes, amazing. So we can also, I believe, agree on the fact that Slotra gave her life to Life Force somehow to elowyn here in this silver scar. And that is how Rave is alive first and foremost. But that's why this scar looks not like anything Agni has ever seen before. So I think we both agree, and I am willing to die on this hill. That silver scar is entirely from Slatra giving her life force. And that is why Rave has the other within her. Cool. Just needed to make sure we agreed on something other than the Queen and
- [60:37]
Lexi
her safety by the end of when the Moon hatched. This is what Veya learns in Elowen's diary. Elowen and Khan were very much in love when she left him for his brother and left him the note that said Tyroth would be a better male for her to bond and have children with. But what Elwyn's diary revealed is that Austeren, Veya's father and then King of the Burn, threatened Elowen into sticking with the plan to bond Tyroth. Tyroth bonds with the sole heir to the Shade. He becomes King of the Shade, and then the three cruel Vagor men, father and twin sons, will rule the three kingdoms of this world. Elwyn does not want to leave Khan. She loves him so much she wants to spend her forever with him. But she had to, and she had to pretend like she wanted to leave him or else Ostren would go after Ve and Khan to keep Elowin in line. King Osterin also forced Elowen into keeping the true father of her unborn child a secret from everyone, including Khan and Tirath. During Elowen's pregnancy, she quickly started fading away, her body getting drained of energy from the ether stone on her brow and the baby growing within her. In the final diary entry, Elowen writes that a blood lace is coming to presumably test the baby once when she's born to confirm who the father is. And that's not gonna be good because Khan is Kazari's biological father. Now, that was the last diary entry, so we have no idea what happened after that. But blood laces are able to detect someone's bloodline. I think that is extremely important for our story. And it was like one little line mention, we don't know who killed Elwyn, but we can gather she did not die of childbirth. We also know that Khan did witness Slotra scoop Elwyn up and fly into the sky and to become a moon together for a hundred phases. So he would have been somewhere there in the Shade at that time. I am convinced that the blood lace confirmed Kazari is not Tyros And Tyroth found out and stabbed Elwyn in the heart for her unfaithfulness to him. Then pretended Kazari was always his and that he was mourning his love, his queen, ensuring that much more his position as King of the Shade. And I think somehow Veya might be connected to Elowin's tragedy, and that is the missing 30 cycles, but I don't know how yet. We'll theorize about that a little later. And like Nicole said, we also believe that Rave came back to life because Slotra bonded on a soul deep level, giving her life to Elowin slash Rave. I also think that Kaylis might have had a little something to do with her truly coming back too, with their moons falling and she's alive over a hundred phases later. Why are you giving me that look right now?
- [63:12]
Nicole
I. I don't think Kahless was like, here's your mop. Like, I don't think she's done that.
- [63:18]
Lexi
Okay, so I think that the rebirth was like 90% slotra binding herself to Rave. And the way that this impossible truly was able to happen is this like extra 10% of Caelis's ether magic of everything and nothing.
- [63:34]
Nicole
I think Kazari wielded Kahless magic somehow, some way, by sheer want alone to have her mother by her side. And that's when Rave fell from the sky.
- [63:44]
Lexi
I agree. But she also might have somehow, some way, like between using Kahless's magic and Slotra with the bond that is what so uniquely brought Rave back to life.
- [63:57]
Nicole
Oh, interesting. I think it's all Slotra giving her life for her.
- [64:01]
Lexi
100%.
- [64:02]
Nicole
Like 100%. But I see where you're coming from now. Interesting. All right, let's do a quick tldr on Kazari's relationship to Kahless. Kazari has been able to hear the creators since the day she was born. This is not normal. She always wore a iron necklace to block them out. But eventually, when she was about 98 phases old, she took off said iron necklace and began listening to and learning the Creator's songs, specifically Kahless. When she listened, she learned way more than she expected to. Yes, that is Las Vegas, she tells us in the book. And eventually she fell in love with the God of Aether, and now she wants to set him free. We have very differing opinions about this relationship. I feel like Kahless is playing Kazari in order to get himself freed. I think that he is manipulating her to fall in love with him so that she will find a way to free him, and then he can do whatever he wants as retaliation on the four creator brothers and sisters who locked him in a fucking diadem for 5 million years.
- [65:12]
Lexi
Meanwhile, I think that he is misunderstood. I think that Kahless never meant for these moons to start falling, and it was just a consequence with his magic that he didn't mean for it to happen. And so now someone is giving him attention. Someone is listening to him, and he is so happy about that. And so I do think that there is this weird love between the two of them. I don't think that he's purposefully manipulating her. And so I do think that once when he is freed, I don't think it's going to purposefully be as malicious as everybody kind of thinks. Khan says at one point that the creators must have had a reason to put him in there. There is so much foreshadowing that it is simply a given that this is what happened. And I really do think that a huge part of Kahless is how misunderstood he is and how everybody doesn't understand him or his magic, like Ether. Nicole. And I think that it is going to come back and he's going to get a redemption arc because he never meant for any of this.
- [66:16]
Nicole
We are making a bet right fucking now. Okay, I'm trying to figure out how to phrase this, but it is basically, Kaylis is purposefully manipulating Kazari in order to be freed. I say yes, you say no.
- [66:30]
Lexi
Yes. There's a lot of fine print with all of that, but yes.
- [66:34]
Nicole
Okay. Kayla's is purposefully manipulating Kazari and does not love her. And does not love her.
- [66:41]
Lexi
So he can be freed for malicious intents. He has malicious intentions.
- [66:46]
Nicole
That is purposefully manipulating in a nutshell. Now, here's the deal. If he's purposefully manipulating her, but he fell in love with her at the same time, this is null and void.
- [66:58]
Lexi
Yeah, because then that makes me right.
- [67:00]
Nicole
No, no, we're both right. If that's the case,
- [67:04]
Lexi
you guys are malicious. He's not malicious.
- [67:07]
Nicole
Purposefully manipulating. If he is purposefully manipulating Kazari and
- [67:13]
Lexi
at the same time, maliciously manip.
- [67:16]
Nicole
If he maliciously manipulating is with malicious intent.
- [67:20]
Lexi
Lexi, I need that in the document.
- [67:23]
Nicole
Nicole. Oh, my God. Okay. Kaylis is maliciously purposefully manipulating Kzari and does not love her in order to be freed from the diadem. Nicole says yes. Lexi says no. Shocking. Yes. I think the only time you say yes when it involves making a bet is when you finally sign off on the Bet and say yes, that works for me.
- [67:47]
Lexi
Or that someone's dead.
- [67:52]
Nicole
All right, so then, okay, going back to Kazari's timeline with Kayla's here 23 phases ago. So when Kazari was around 100 phases old, two phases after she started understanding Kaylis's language, that is when Slaughter's moon fell. And this is the first moon to fall in over 5 million phases. It's only when she started understanding Kayla's language when moon started fucking falling. Let me remind you of our very first bet. Lexi Kaylis is not purposefully making moons fall. Lexi said he is not purposefully. Nicole said it is on purpose. How can you agree with that, with this timeline?
- [68:31]
Lexi
Because I don't think I'm talking about like that goes back to. He's misunderstood and he's not being malicious. Like he's. He's not purposefully meaning for these moons to fall. It just happens to be some of his magic. That is unfortunate.
- [68:46]
Nicole
I think he is so angry at being locked in a diadem for 5 million phases to the point where he is like, I. I want to fight back. And the second someone starts understanding his language, a moon falls. Are you kidding me?
- [69:03]
Lexi
I think that's what they want you to think.
- [69:05]
Nicole
Well, good. Good job, I guess. Khan has spent the last 23 phases tracking down all of Slotra's moon shards and bringing them back to his shrine in the burn. He now has almost all of her pieces, but a small section in the back. I hope he gets to finish Slotra's shrine. That makes me. That would make me really sad if he didn't. Because he can't stand to know that she isn't whole. And he knows that Elowen would hurt so bad. Does he know that Elowyn would hurt? Because he's been talking to the waif in his jar of mist and he's been chatting with Elwyn.
- [69:37]
Lexi
Okay, see, like, what if he can't reach her though? Because she's been in this weird in between of life slash death.
- [69:44]
Nicole
Well, what? No, no, because she died for a hundred years. So I'm wondering if only 23 phases ago he's been trying to communicate with her and she can't talk back. And he's been like, what's going on?
- [69:57]
Lexi
That's all right. I'll make a bet with you. I don't think that he's talked to Elowin in Whoa.
- [70:03]
Nicole
At all.
- [70:04]
Lexi
Okay. Yeah, I don't think that he's talked
- [70:06]
Nicole
to her, has not spoken to Elowin via Waif. Lexi.
- [70:13]
Lexi
I never get that impression throughout the entire book. Like, he's been so desperate to talk to her, but I don't think that he ever was successful with that.
- [70:22]
Nicole
Okay, I think he has, but 23 phases ago, it stopped working and he's been like, what the.
- [70:28]
Lexi
We also do know that the Scavenger King raided Slotra's Crater and took a bunch of shards when Rafe was also extracted from this crater. And Rave remembers seeing these shards from her cell, like, get carted off. So I am still wondering if Khan knows more about the Scavenger King than we currently know. I don't think that he knows that it's like, his half brother or anything like that, but maybe he knows of the Scavenger King because he might have needed to infiltrate and get all these shards, or. This is definitely a more likely thing. I'm not making a bet over this, Nicole. He tracked them down after the Scavenger King sent these shards off elsewhere, like, to sell them or whatever that might have been there.
- [71:10]
Nicole
I definitely don't think Khan knows about the Scavenger King, because I also wonder
- [71:14]
Lexi
if he did somehow, let's say, Raid. I've been wondering. What if Khan accidentally and indirectly helped Rave escape? Like, he was essentially turned in to be a distraction, had no idea that she was there already, obviously. But when he was getting the shards and the Scavenger King was focused on him, then that's when Rave left. Okay, again, I'm not willing to make a bet on this. That's another one of my crack theories.
- [71:41]
Nicole
I like that crack theory. That feels plausible, like many of your crack theories do. So we know about Slatra falling. That was was 23 phases ago. We also know that eight phases go orva, which is a small Saber Scythe moon, that is that fell in the Botanic Plains and the Jaco Clan moved into its crater and now honors that small little moon. Now, we don't know if these other two dragons that fell, Orva, the Saber Scythe, and the unnamed Molten Maw. We don't know if they were also special to Kazari or if they were just random. Her mom, though, falling from the sky, I assume that was not random. But we don't know if Kazari knows her mother's particular moon fell.
- [72:21]
Lexi
All right, so now let's dive into where our characters leave off at the end of when the Moon Hatched, as we head into ballad, starting with My love Khan. Luke Vhagor is the oldest legitimate Vhagor sibling. Khan's pa, Ostren did not treat Khan well at all when Khan was a child and it was discovered that he could only hear two of the Creator songs, which for an average person is a cause for celebration. His father instead shipped him off to the Botanic Plains to live with the Chakuul clan, claiming that if Khan survived, he might earn his father's respect. Well, that backfires against Ostren.
- [72:56]
Nicole
Haha.
- [72:57]
Lexi
And after climbing up the clan ranks all the way to the top as Oa, AKA the King of the Chokol Clan, Khan goes back to his father and cuts off his head before feeding it to his dragon, Rygon. This is when Khan takes his place as King of the Burn and starts implementing changes for the better. Why did Khan kill his father? Well, there's plenty of reasons, but the main one is that Khan found out King Ostren was behind Elwyn's family's murder and Kahn sought revenge on her behalf. Last we see of Khan, he is in the imperial hutches with Rave, where he tells her that he will arrange everything for her to leave. He also points Rave to the neutral city of Both Ain, where she can lie low, waiting for Wreck to come back through there. Instead of kill Wreck here in the Burn and launch everyone into a war. Khan is really trusting in that phrase. If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's meant to be with his line of literally quote, come back to me, Rave to us. So he's assumably waiting for Rave to come back to him. He's in the Burn. And oh, another quick thing to point out with him too, is he and his dragon Rygon are Daga Mort, which means that they have a connection where they can kind of like feel each other's emotions. He can wield fire, he can wield his dragon's fire, and he can kind of channel a little bit more of his dragon's strength. Huge deal that they are bonded in this way. Nobody else's.
- [74:21]
Nicole
Yes, definitely. Next we have Elowin. Rave, Elowin Raven, is the former Queen of the Shade, bonded technically to Tyroth Vhagor, but Elwyn died during childbirth or as. As we will later learn, she was murdered. Had a killing wound over her heart after Kazari was born. Backing up a little bit. When Elwen was 18 phases old, her ma, pa and brother Hadean were all poisoned after her father refused to marry
- [74:50]
Lexi
her off to Tyroth Fagor.
- [74:52]
Nicole
Well, happened anyway. After her parents died, Elwen was severely depressed and forced to move to the Burn while Tyroth took over in the Shade, it was on the opposite side of the literal planet that she's used to. It is in the Burn that she meets Khan Vhagor and together they have a whirlwind romance that ends with a note where Elwyn tells Khan that Tiroth is a better match for her. But little does Khan know that this was the only way because his father threatened the life of Khan and Veya, that Elowen agreed to bond with her older brother. We also do have confirmation from Sara that Khan does not know Kzari is his child. Fast forwarding a little bit. Elowin gives birth to Kazari in the Shade and somehow it ends up in her death again. It's notable that that blood lace is called to the Shade most likely to to test Kazari's blood. It would not be good if it led to Khan's blood and not Tyrone.
- [75:50]
Lexi
I am convinced that Tyroth killed Elowin or at minimal had her killed. He is responsible for her death.
- [75:58]
Nicole
I think Khan, if he learns that
- [76:02]
Lexi
he's already so mad he is gonna once when he learns about her runes. Because Agni did not tell him. Because Agni and Vey are like, let's not tell the old. Let's not tell the boys. They're a little high strung right now. This will only make things worse. But he will find out very, very soon, I think.
- [76:20]
Nicole
Yeah, I think so too. After Elwyn's death, the Ether Stone is placed on Kazari's brow, literally as a baby. And Slatra scoops up Elowen, the dead Elowen, and together they fly into the sky and become a moon where they stay there for a hundred years. But for reasons we do not know, their moon falls and Elowen wakes up
- [76:40]
Lexi
as Rave Kazari learning Kahless language, that's what.
- [76:44]
Nicole
I could not agree more. For a while, Rave is in a cell held captive by the scavenger King, AKA Arkin Vhagor, where eventually she attacked, escapes, we still don't know how, and she finds her way to Gorr. That is where she meets Serene and joins the Fyre Duath.
- [77:01]
Lexi
So Rave has no recollection of Elowyn or her past life. But there are little glimpses like that her name is Rave. That was Elowyn's middle name. Ra just thinks that she came up with it or something along those lines. No, no, no. That was a deep set older memory. Or how she is so drawn to Khan that we have been talking all about during our our deep dive. Her memory flashes, especially once when she's in the Burn. I could go on and on and on. By the end of when the Moon Hatched, Rave has accepted that Elowyn used to exist, but she still doesn't know who specifically Elowyn was. All Rave knows is that Elwyn had a moon plume named Slotra. She was in love with Khan and loved their home in the Burn. She had secrets and that she left Khan and their happiness to bond with someone else. In other words, she still does not know that she is of the famous Navon line. She used to be Shade royalty. She was married to Tyroff and has a daughter named Kazari with Khan.
- [77:59]
Nicole
At the end of the book, Rave is in Bathame after she kills Rex Zaros while under the control of the Other. And there has started to be a relationship forming between Rexaros, Stolen slash Charmed, Moonpoom Liri and Rafe.
- [78:13]
Lexi
And Liri is still located in the Burn. She was very severely wounded and she is healing. They're under like shady protection and all of that, right?
- [78:22]
Nicole
Yes. And that actually brings me to another question. When do you think Rave and Khan are going to be reunited? I think pretty early on.
- [78:29]
Lexi
I think on the earlier side too. Yeah. Yeah, like, I hope so. Maybe like a quarter of the way through the book at most. Let's talk about this Other that we keep mentioning and including. We were just talking about moon plumes, so now it's great time to talk about the Other. This Other is the beast that lives deep inside Rave in her icy lake. It's like a metaphorical, but not really metaphorical layer within her where she puts all of her emotions and all of the things that she wants to repress. And I will bet my e arc of Burn of the Everflame, I promise we don't have it yet, but I would bet that. That Slotra is the Other.
- [79:05]
Nicole
Yes. Yeah, I was like, whoa, whoa, where is this going? That's a big. That's a big one. But yes, I agree. I would. I would also make that bet.
- [79:13]
Lexi
Yes. Like, I would bet many, many things that I. I love very dearly. That's lunchtime. As the Other. Anyway, the Other can take over Rave's body and even use the Creator songs while she does so. But when this happens, Rave gets shoved down into herself and doesn't know what's going on, leaving her with amnesia for the duration of the Other's takeover. The Other is lethal, vengeful, and will bite off body parts and slaughter all the people pissing her off. In her path. Yes, we know that the Other is a she as well. From Sarah. She did confirm that or might have accidentally let it slip. I'm not exactly sure. And it is not confirmed, however, who or what the Other is. But again, we highly, highly, highly expect we are willing to drive dramatically on hills, on mountains, that the Other is Slotra and this is the deep connection that she and Rave share. Slotra gave her life force to Elowen to Rave. Their souls are bonded and Slotra basically lives within Random grave now.
- [80:10]
Nicole
All right, let's head to the burn. We have some members of Khan's imperial court. First up is Pyrock. Pyrok is the brother of Roan and is known as the unhelpful member of Khan's council. Even in his glossary entry, it just says, quote, a not very helpful member of King Khan's imperial court, sibling of Roan. I disagree. Justice for Pyrock, but that's just me. Also, I feel like he's been told his entire life that he's not helpful. He's not helpful. He's much less helpful than his sibling to the point where he believes it so deeply that he now says it to cut to the chase before others can point it out. Justice for my dude, Pyrok. Pyroc wields Ignos. Interesting that his name is Pyrok, AKA Pyre, and always has a drink in his hand. By the end of the book, we know that Pyrock is is still in Dom and Khan has sent him a parchment lark to move Vran, the only mind left in Dom, to a safe house. That way, Rave cannot have Ron erase everyone from her mind.
- [81:15]
Lexi
Honestly, fair Roan is Pyrock's brother, who we do not meet on the page in book one. But ho ho, we think he's coming back in book two with the Easter eggs we get in book one. Roan is a very talented alchemist and he is currently in Bothane, the neutral city where the Tri Council is. He went there to try to get a look at, quote, that book again. He's certain there are more pages that haven't been transcribed and released to the public. We strongly believe that this book is the Book of Void, which was Kalis's book. And I'm so curious about these more pages that have not been transcribed and released to the public. Again, that's going back to like this gatekeeper of information that is so popular in fantasy books.
- [81:57]
Nicole
Yes. Do you think Rave can speak Kahless?
- [82:00]
Lexi
Probably, but I don't. If she wanted to maybe. Or maybe she only would learn his language.
- [82:06]
Nicole
She would have to learn his language. But like, what if it's somewhere deep within her? Maybe. I don't know.
- [82:12]
Lexi
I don't know either.
- [82:13]
Nicole
I don't.
- [82:15]
Lexi
We don't know for sure though, what this book is, but Sarah herself has confirmed we will learn in ballad by the end of when the Moon Hatched. Rowan's been gone for weeks and Khan is getting very worried about his advisor. That feels very important and what a great opening as we head into book two.
- [82:31]
Nicole
Lastly, we have Grime, who we do know is going to be a POV character next book. Grime is Khan's second in command. Last we see of him in when the Moon Hatched. He asked Khan if he could take leave so he can attempt to steal one of the eggs rumored to be laid by the great, great silver saber scythe, Ara. Lexi, you brought up a great theory in episode six about how he's not going to bond an egg, he's going to bond Ara herself. I love this theory.
- [83:01]
Lexi
Thank you. I really appreciate that you bet against it, even though you love the theory.
- [83:06]
Nicole
It's one of those where it's like, I bet against it for the bit, but I really hope you're right. I really hope so.
- [83:12]
Lexi
The reason that I think this is it's almost war. There is no time to take care of hatchlings. I love the babies so much, but we got other things to do right now. We need epic legendary dragons part of the story. And this tee up is too perfect for Grime not to bond with this great silver saber scythe that was foreshadowed in all of when the Moon Hatched.
- [83:35]
Nicole
Yes, we can also infer that Ara is part of the song that is called the Ballad of the Fallen Moon. Moon. Considering next book is called Ballad of Falling Dragons, we feel like this is important. So let's do a quick tldr on this song story. Ballad of the Fallen Moon tells the tale about two dragons. But when the black female saber scythe became a moon in the dark, assuming the shade, a moon plume curled around that saber scythe and fed her her own light and thus turned the saber scythe's scale white. But then the moon plume fell from the sky, sadly dead. And now the white saber scythe searches along the plains for her friend, looking for shards across the rock and snow. Definitely in the shade, trying to piece her together. Kind of like Khan and sadly failing to do so. So we do wonder if Grimes silver saber scythe, if he can bond the silver saber Scythe or even an A. I wonder if Silver Saberside say that five times fast can fly in the snow. I think that they can fly in the snow and travel to the Shade. So they're the uber dragons.
- [84:46]
Lexi
See, here I am thinking that this is literary symbolism and it's poetically beautiful for the story.
- [84:52]
Nicole
Oh, I. Okay, another bet. Silver saber scythes. Not the greats, but any silver saber side can travel to the Shade and be fine.
- [85:02]
Lexi
Yeah, I'll make that bet.
- [85:04]
Nicole
Okay. All right. We also know that Grime has white hair. And when we asked Sarah if she could share anything about said white hair, about his upbringing or anything, because Kazari also has white hair, all she said was that white hair is common in the South, AKA the Shade. I absolutely think that Grime was Raves or Elowin's uncle, or an advisor to her father or something. Like he was an important character in the Shade during the assassination of her parents and her brother. Oh, my God. I just feel like Grime has so many, so many secrets.
- [85:40]
Lexi
I think I'm leaning toward he was an advisor, and then when Tyroth took over, he had to escape and his dragon Inca sadly didn't make it. We know that Inca has been gone, but we don't know for how long. I think that she really was a moonplume if he is from the Shade and Khan does not know how his dragon died or grinding Grime's painful history. So I do think that Inca unfortunately did not make it out when they were trying to escape, and he somehow, some way, still ended up in the burn. And Khan has been keeping him safe ever since then.
- [86:10]
Nicole
We also know that Veya and Grime have apparently been dancing around each other for about a hundred phases, but they have not acted on their attraction.
- [86:20]
Lexi
I want there to be something between them so badly. All right, so now let's go through Veya. Veya is the youngest Vhagor and only daughter, and she was Austrian's least favorite child. Shocking. What fucking asshole. Many, many phases ago, Veya partook in her own tukka trial. And after winning, she gave herself to the creators so that she could not be forced to go through another one. But because of this and the dishonor on her family, her twin brothers whipped her back. We really hate them and so does Veya. She's been so stewing on her revenge for a long time. She has a close relationship with Khan and was very close with Elowyn before Elowyn went and bonded with Tyroth. And Vey has been A little bit upset at her best friend for leaving them like that. And now that she has the diary, she's learning the real truth about why Elowen did all of this in that diary. She also learns that Kazari is Khan's daughter, not Tyrus. That's a big deal. At this point, all we know is that Veya is currently still in the Shade and she has to sneak back out of the kingdom to get back to the Burn. And we are very, very worried about her. One more quick note is that she can only hear one elemental song, which is Boulder. That was another reason that her father did not like her because she did not have enough powers.
- [87:37]
Nicole
Then we have the Scavenger King, AKA Arcan Vhagor, who we only meet in the epilogue. He is actually the oldest son of Astrid Vhagor, though we do not know who his mother is. I twitches. He also is a very bad person who held Rave captive and gave her the name Firelark Bad Arcan. He also like tortured her for an X amount of time. We don't know exactly how long Arkhan wants what he believes is rightfully his, AKA the Bronze Throne, which is the Kingdom of the Birth Burn.
- [88:11]
Lexi
So this is why we're leaning toward Arquin being the oldest Vhagor son. He thinks that the Burn, which used to be his father's, is rightfully his, and it's like he's next in line for it. So that's why we are thinking he might even be older than Khan, because he thinks that this should rightfully be
- [88:27]
Nicole
his as the heir and Khan is the oldest true Vhagor. Yes, sibling. Yes, yes. Arin is also pretty pissed that Khan stole his revenge for himself. We can assume that means the revenge of killing Osterin. My guess is that Austeren made Arin, maybe even Arin's mom as well, an outcast since he's a bastard. But no matter what, Arkin hates Khan. Probably why he had Raven a cell. Did he know it was Elowin? I think so.
- [89:00]
Lexi
I don't know.
- [89:01]
Nicole
I don't either.
- [89:02]
Lexi
He wouldn't have known about their relationship though. I guess anything is possible. But I don't think he would have known about the relationship. But I do think again, that was such a big deal that this moon fell and there's like a woman within it. Like people would know that used to be the former Queen of the Shade. And I do think that he knew who he had, but he literally broke her and obviously did not tell her who she was.
- [89:23]
Nicole
We do not know exactly how Arin plans to take the Burn throne for himself. But we do know his plan now involves his niece Kazari, who he has sign a blank parchment Lark at the very end of the book that he sends to Khan quote and not her doting paw. So it is safe to assume that even Arkin does not know who Kazari's real father is.
- [89:45]
Lexi
Yes, the way that in his epilogue he compares her to his Firelark. And while obviously he never refers to Elowin or anything like that again, I wonder if he does know that Kazari is is Firelark's mother and he just doesn't view Firelark as Elowen because he broke her like he did.
- [90:04]
Nicole
I think so. Even though he's like, yeah, I. Yeah, I think so. I think he does know.
- [90:09]
Lexi
Well, and then we can't forget that Kazari writes within her signature that he made her sign with for that blank parchment Lark. She said like, hit a little note, kill the sadistic as a way to tell Khan she's in trouble. But it seems that the Scavenger King did notice this and he doesn't really care. It's just like, haha, she thinks that she's so clever. I'm sending this anyway.
- [90:29]
Nicole
Yes.
- [90:29]
Lexi
So we're just going to keep our eyes open for this parchment Lark that he is sending, signed by Kazari. Speaking of Kazari, she is the Princess of the Shade, daughter of Elowen Raven, and everyone believes her father is Tyroth Vhagor, King of the Shade. I know we're starting to get a little bit repetitive here, but it's a big book. There's a lot of things going on. Secretly though, Khan is her father. Kazari is the current wearer of the Ether Stone. The Stone holds Kahless, the God of Aether, who Kazari has fallen in love with and wants to set free. She knows something about this creator, something she learned from listening and learning his songs, but unfortunately, we don't know what specifically she learned. That's on purpose, everybody. That's definitely on purpose. Growing up, Kazari was very sheltered to the point where everyone believes Tyroth is just an extremely protective father, but we know better. He's a fucking asshole. And that was not nice, necessarily the case. Kazari had, in her own way, a hard childhood. She was physically punished during her lessons if she was not perfect. And eventually she said enough is enough, and devoted herself to the creators as well as took an oath of chastity this is not good because the maternal line always is the Etherstone wearer. So if she does not bear children, no one would be able to have the Etherstone passed down after her. What a coincidence that she is wanting to set Kaylis free. So therefore there is no need for the Ether Stone anymore. And we have the Fate Herder prophecy that Rave's offspring, which is Kazari, is going to tether the moons to the sky forever. We can assume that between Kzari's travels from Gorr when we first saw her in the book, somewhere along the way, the Scavenger King captured Kazari. He describes it as she basically fell into his clutches. So Kzari is imprisoned now by the Scavenger King, presumably near the Pits of Kindard where Rave used to be held prisoner by the Scavenger King. In the last chapter we also see that Niece finally made its way back to Kazari, cementing that Kazari sent this to Rave and that she is her daughter. If you're like who and what is knee? Knee is a parchment lark, which is the go to form of long distance communication. Parchment larks are runed squares of parchment that have activation lines. So when folded into the shape of a lark, these notes will flutter to the one the message is intended for.
- [92:45]
Nicole
Also important to note that Veya received a blink parchment Lark when she arrived in the shade. Her and Khan send parchment larks back and forth to each other with a very special runed ink that can only be read via dragon flame. We do not know what that parchment lark says though.
- [93:04]
Lexi
So this whole thing with me is a big deal. Because several phases ago, Kazari sent her mother a parchment lark that said I need you. And what do you know? It found its way to Rave, who has no recollection she has a daughter. Then Rave wrote back, no you don't. After Essie died and it arrived back to Kazari when she's locked up by the Scavenger King, leaving all of us like the mind blown emoji. So with the knowledge we know about Kazari being set on freeing Kahless and it being prophesied that she will tether the moons to the sky forever, what does that mean for her desire to free Kahless? Or how she's learning his language, potentially she's the only person in this world. Maybe except for a mind weft Veya knows who can hear and understand him. What kind of power does this mean? Kazari holds a lot. I'm telling you because I know that we've already mentioned this a little bit this episode, but throughout our deep dive, I have been really intrigued by what ether means. It captures space, light and spirit. This fifth element is the abstract. Nicole's favorite word. And I'm fascinated to learn what magical possibilities are in store for those who can wield this power. I'm not going to say it's like a life and death sort of power, but I do think that there is a form of life associated with this. Again, going back to space, light and spirit. It is the abstract element.
- [94:25]
Nicole
All right, we've talked a lot about every little nook and cranny of this book and somehow we are still not done. So let's go into.
- [94:34]
Lexi
Course we're not.
- [94:36]
Nicole
Let's go into the Raptor Rapid fire things that we are keeping an eye out for as we go into Ballad of Falling Dragons. Number one, our dude, Prince Turin. Homeboy, where are you? We do not see him on the page in when the Moon Hatched. All we know is that this Prince of the Fade, son of Caddock, is missing. A prince missing. When we asked Sarah a. Parker, is there anything you can share about him, she said, quote, my lips are sealed. I'm going with. He is with the Scavenger King.
- [95:08]
Lexi
Do you think that he is imprisoned by the Scavenger King?
- [95:11]
Nicole
Yes, I do.
- [95:12]
Lexi
I don't think so. We already have a bet on that. Right?
- [95:14]
Nicole
Okay, we do. We do.
- [95:16]
Lexi
I'm going back to my theory that Prince Turin is the Elding. He could be working to take his father down, but I don't think he knows exactly who Rave is. Because you've been thinking that the Elding does know specifically who Raven is.
- [95:30]
Nicole
Yes, right. I do. I do think that.
- [95:33]
Lexi
All right, so no matter what this Prince, we know that he's going to be coming back into this story somehow. That's never a throwaway line, especially paired with Sarah not telling us anything. We do know that he is a tribe bead, so he is powerful and he has not been seen in many phases, quote, some say he went mad. And rather than make the problem public, the King was all too happy to hide him away. So when the concept of he's been missing, like he's been missing from the public space, like nobody has seen or heard from him in phases. So there is speculation also that he is more competent than King Kaduk. Plus Serene blushed when Rave assumed that she was sucking the Elding's cock. So what if the Elding is a powerful person who hates his father and who wants to Bring everything down. And he's a handsome youngish male, like Prince Turin is the Elding. And it was considered that he was going mad because he was challenging his father, so he escaped.
- [96:31]
Nicole
I do see the he's going mad as challenging his father, Khadak. Just spitting the propaganda. I don't see him and Serene together, though, because in my mind, Serene's like, like our version of like, 60 years old. And Turin would be this world's version of like, like 30, mid-30s. And like, listen, I don't want to yuck anyone's yelp.
- [96:55]
Lexi
I never thought that Impressor was Serene at all. I think she's like, looks like she's in her 30s. And who knows if she even technically is. Maybe she just has a crush on the Elding. Again, this was an unreliable narrator moment with Rafe where she is assuming that. But I don't just have a. I don't know. I don't know, Mom.
- [97:14]
Nicole
All right, speaking of things we don't know, there's so much we don't know about Arken, the scavenger king, AKA Khan and the twins half brother. More specifically, how did Rave escape him? Why is she called Firelark? Why did he want her? How did Fallon die? Who was her cellmate? When we asked Sarah A. Parker if she can share anything more about how Rave escaped, she said that we'll just know when valid. So at least we know we're gonna get more Scavenger King answers. Invalid.
- [97:44]
Lexi
Yes. We also know that Rave relearned how to talk and write in her cell while imprisoned by the Scavenger King. I think I mentioned this in one of our episodes, but I put two and two together, that if Kazari is in those cells, what if she sees, like, this handwriting that she now already has from the. No, you don't. And she's able to be like, wait a second. Why is this handwriting the same? That's such a little detail that I think would just be so cool if it came back. But we don't know if she's in the same cell or not. We do know, however, that Rave shared this cell with someone named Fallon who taught her about the world and life beyond their cell. They drew moons on the ceiling of their cell, and Fallon told her about this beautiful life beyond. We don't know how Fallon died like Nicole said, but we can infer that her love for Rave was part of the cause. Like, maybe Fallon sacrificed herself to save Rave or something along those lines. Rave was a renowned fighter in the pits of Kendard. Called Firelark. And it seems known in circles that the only person ever to escape the pits was Firelark. Like Rex Zaros said when he's like, oh, the only one who's ever escaped from those pits is the Firelark. I think that is somehow going to come back. I know that wreck is dead, but Firelark, having escaped, might come back into the story somehow. And now Khan knows that rave had night terrors about Firelark. So I think that he's gonna put two and two together somehow. Rafe was tortured by the Scavenger King and his flames countless times leading to her with mending runes covering her body, where it is impossible to tell just how many there are or how recently or long ago they were. She escaped after Fallon's death and found her way to Gorr, where she started her new life. But she is haunted by the Scavenger King's torment and the loss of Fallon.
- [99:29]
Nicole
Okay, so then I have a question about the Scavenger King. Do you think he's making it out of book two alive? Because I don't think so. I think he's dying.
- [99:38]
Lexi
I initially would have thought no, I think he's not gonna make it out of Book two. But I also don't think we're going to get much of Caddock this book based on what we'll share soon from Sarah. So maybe Arkin is like the Big Bad of Book two. Kind of like how R was in Book one, but on a way more magnified scale. Because. Because we have all this set up for it. Ah, but there's still so much backstory that we don't know. I'm going to unconfidently, unconfidently say yes, I think he is going to survive Book two and he will survive to the third book. But he will die halfway through third book.
- [100:14]
Nicole
Oh my God. I this it. Hold on, wait. Are you saying someone's not going to die? You know what?
- [100:21]
Lexi
Yes, I am saying someone's not going to die.
- [100:24]
Nicole
Wow. All right. Arcann is dying in Ballad. Lexi says no, he survives. Nicole says yes, he dies. Alright, switching up. We can assume that there's going to be some mixed up family drama next book on multitude of levels. While many people on both Ravelyn and Khan's side are dead, we still don't know a lot about those people. Like whose dragons are still alive. We know from Sarai Parker that we're going to learn if King Osteron's dragon is dead or alive in ballad. Don't worry, we already have A bet about it. We are also going to learn about Tyroth's dragon in ballad. But we're going to have to wait until book three to learn about Caddock's dragon. Which is ominous and I. I think kind of what you were alluding to a second ago, Lex. I think that this means we're not going to spend a whole lot of time in the Fade. We're going to spend much more time in the shade in ballad.
- [101:12]
Lexi
Vey is already there. She still has to escape.
- [101:15]
Nicole
I'm very worried about her. I. I am as well.
- [101:20]
Lexi
Also.
- [101:21]
Nicole
How long does the Bengal magic glamour last? We don't know. Anyway, we also don't know about Elowyn's parents dragons. Are those moon plumes still alive?
- [101:30]
Lexi
That's great question too. And Sarah did say we will learn a touch more about a connection among all moonplumes in ballad. So I'm very curious to learn about that.
- [101:39]
Nicole
Okay, let's move a little bit more to the Burn now. Because there was so much set up with the Jakku clan in when the Moon hatched. And while a lot of people were like this is a side quest, Lexi and I as we were doing the deep dive were like no it's not. It's so much setup. But we have so many questions unanswered. What the hell does Kalu mean? We asked Sarah. She unsurprisingly could not answer. We also know they left the clan with Rave being deemed cons greater if he's the king of the Burn. She's got a lot of power over this clan in the Botanic Plains. Which means she might be able to do things like, oh, I don't know, call them to a war with the Fade and the Shade. Ah, then there's also the Fate Herder. When we asked Sarah A Parker if the Fate Herder brought Rave to the trial for the prophecy the clan believes, AKA tethering the moves to the sky. Or if there was another reason that the Fate Herder brought Rave to the clan. All she said was quote the Fate Herder has reasons. I think that has to be bigger than just Kazari tethering the moons to the sky prophecy.
- [102:43]
Lexi
I 100% agree. She needed to be deemed greater than Khan for reasons we will find out later. And I do think it's going to come back to the oncoming war. The Jakuh clan will fight with the Burn. And yes, another thing about Rave that we have been spiraling over her entire conversation with the Mind Weft Ron. Specifically how he was Very choked up and emotional about how special Rave is. And he said that the answer is within her. If she's only willing to drain the lake within herself, AKA access her memories and past. And that the creator rain is power. Because no one is strong enough to wield snow which covers half the world. But Rave could. She could be the first person who is strong enough to wield snow if she did not tuck sadness into that icy lake of hers. So I think that once Rave faces her inner truths, faces who she truly is and the pain and the sorrow, that will be an epic self healing journey. Then she will be able to tap into her power as a Navon, which they are extremely powerful because they have to be able to withstand the Ether stone plus the cold loving other that is within her, which we are convinced is Slasher to then together have this power like never before seen in this world. And she will be the only person who can wield wield snow. That will be important. I briefly mentioned this earlier, but let's go back to Veya's missing 30 aurora cycles. While she had the magic bangle on for the first time over 100 phases ago, the mind left who gave her this bangle, said that it would serve her in two ways, both painful but necessary. Veya does not remember what happened the first time, but it is clear those secrets are very painful. And Sarah has said that it's probably a good thing Veya does not want to know. But Sarah also said we will find out what happened in these missing 30 cycles within the first 15 chapters of Ballad. In episode six, Nicole and I talked a whole lot about our theories for what happened to Veya during this missing month. And my ultimate takeaway is that she was forced to do something she did not want to. And I really do worry that it had to do with Elwyn, because this all happened over a hundred hundred phases ago. Whenever we hear that kind of timeline thing, I immediately think of Elwyn and all of that backstory there. I do think Tyroth did kill Elwyn. But how poetic would it be if Veya had something to do with Elwyn's secrets and her death that VE is now currently trying to uncover and she finds out that she somehow had some part of it. And maybe during these 30 aurora cycles, Veya went to the Shade, which we know round trips would usually take about 30 cycles. And on her way back she was was terrified of what she had to do. She was scared that she was forced to do it, whatever that might be. So she got rid of the bangle before returning to the burn. And that is why I ended up in Gore.
- [105:33]
Nicole
Do you think we're going to find out about Veya's missing 30 cycles from Veya or from another POV? I'm.
- [105:40]
Lexi
I don't know. You know what? Just for fun, I. What do you think?
- [105:46]
Nicole
I want to say from Vea, but I feel like a lot would have to happen in order for her to understand that. So I'm going to say from Cosmic Khan, because we know that he had to do with her throwing the bangle in the trash suit. So I'm gonna say we're actually gonna learn it from Khan.
- [106:00]
Lexi
You know what? Just for shits and giggles. Then I will say from Fey, although I think that she will unwillingly learn about it again. She's in the shade. Something might go down there where she finds out about something.
- [106:12]
Nicole
Tyros might give an evil villain monologue and tell her about what happened.
- [106:16]
Lexi
Oh, that would be good. Did.
- [106:18]
Nicole
But we would be in Vespov so you would win. Okay, we will learn about Veya's missing 30 cycles from Nicole Kahn's POV. Lexi Veas POV. All right, Lexi, we have a bet that we have not made yet for book two that we always make for our sequel that we always Two sex scenes.
- [106:45]
Lexi
I call two sex scenes this time.
- [106:47]
Nicole
Okay, I say three. So what are we gonna do? Just two or three?
- [106:51]
Lexi
In the past you have said neither of us can take three because that's Whitley's. So we get either two or four.
- [106:58]
Nicole
Fine.
- [106:58]
Lexi
That's why I called two.
- [107:00]
Nicole
Fine. I will do four or more. You'll do two or less. Whitley gets her solid three.
- [107:07]
Lexi
Okay. Wow. We made lots of bets this episode. And at the end of our next episode, at the very end of episode seven, once we have all of our bets, we will go through all of them with you all. And of course, we also do a social post too. We love how much you all like to join us with these bets. And there we have it. Friends, thank you so much for listening to this episode. For everything you need to know before Ballad of Falling Dragons. We have absolutely loved Deep Diving when the Moon Hatched and cannot wait to continue with the sequel, Ballad of Falling dragons.
- [107:36]
Nicole
Next Monday, May 19th. We are wrapping up our when the Moon Hatches coverage with episode seven, perfect timing. Before Ballad comes out on May 19th,
- [107:47]
Lexi
we would love to give the biggest warm welcome, welcome, welcome to our newest feral fans and deep divers in the fan club. Thank you so, so much from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for being here.
- [107:58]
Nicole
Welcome, welcome, welcome, Kiara and Brandy W.
- [108:04]
Lexi
And if you're like, hey, I want my name, shout out on the Plot podcast and be shout with all this love to join our fan club@Fantasy Fangirls.com Fan Club Link is also in the show notes.
- [108:14]
Nicole
Thank you. As always to our Mind Left, AKA our content researcher, Brooke Quick pause. We have had like five outlines in the last two weeks, almost all within different lore. Like, we've had Empyrean, we've had Rights of the Starling, we've had how to Train youn Dragon, we've had when the Moon Hatched. And Brooke has kept up with it all since. So three cheers for our favorite mind weft. And of course our executive producer, AKA our sanity manager who had his work cut out for him in Seattle this last weekend. And of course the co host of Fantasy fanfellas Hayden.
- [108:48]
Lexi
We are very active on social media, so please be sure to follow us on Instagram and slash our TikTok at fantasy fangirlspod. And if you're watching this on YouTube or want to watch on YouTube, pretty please hit that subscribe button to keep following along.
- [109:02]
Nicole
While you're hitting buttons, go ahead and hit that five star button on whatever podcasting platform you're listening on. We're so close to 14,000 five star reviews on Spotify, you all.
- [109:13]
Lexi
That is gonna be the 14,000 first.
- [109:16]
Nicole
That is insane. That is. That is unheard of. I have never seen that on a podcast before. Holy sh.
- [109:22]
Lexi
I haven't.
- [109:24]
Nicole
Can't believe it's ours. Oh my God. If you want to give us an extra heart attack in the back, give us a little love note in that review section. It is one of the most helpful things you can do not only for Fantasy Fangirls but also for Fantasy Fan fellas. Also for Fantasy Fan Reads and any other podcast you listen to. And last but certainly not least, share this episode with your fellow Moonfall friends. If you have a countdown going to May 19th and you just need that extra little brush up on the when the Moon Hatched world, this is a perfect episode to send to them.
- [109:59]
Lexi
All right, everybody, thank you so much. We are so excited for the sequel. Bye. Bye bye.
- [110:05]
Nicole
Really? Everything to impress her, he did. He dribbled hoops. He made blazing jungles to volcanic blasts. Everything.
- [110:13]
Lexi
He dribbled hoops.
- [110:14]
Nicole
He drip. He dribbled. Are you still on nuggets? Think he likes like. Like shot. Shot the shot. The baskets to like impress the girls. That's what they did in High School Musical. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. I remember long, long ago when we first started ffg. One of the best decisions we made was putting some real time and attention into our website. Websites are an essential part of any any small business success. That's why we at Fantasy Fangirls are obsessed with Squarespace. I know I just made my author website with Squarespace and you know me
- [110:57]
Lexi
with my marketing brain. I have very high standards for website tools and Squarespace delivers in every way. One thing I especially love is their integrated Squarespace SEO tools. Every website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions, an auto generated sitemap and more. So you you show up more often on search engines and bring in more of your ideal customers.
- [111:18]
Nicole
We love to see it. Plus Squarespace's email campaigns give you all the tools you need to engage clients, promote your services and of course grow your business. There's all kinds of automations and email scheduling that take the mental load off staying in touch with customers and most importantly, your community.
- [111:38]
Lexi
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- [112:24]
Nicole
Get Real, the show for the reality TV obsessed and stands of the Hulu verse. Find it wherever you get your podcast and and stream new episodes Thursdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney.