Episode 11 - The Vengeful City

Summary

Hymns for the Road – Episode 11: The Vengeful City

Podcast Information:

• Title: Hymns for the Road
• Host/Author: Hodgepodge Audio
• Description: Four survivors of a magical apocalypse embark on a road trip through the fantasy wasteland that once was America. Filled with mischievous and often malicious otherworldly creatures, strange and esoteric survival rules, and impossible, dreamlike landscapes, the world has become both indescribably beautiful and ruthlessly, indiscriminately deadly.
• Episode: Episode 11 - The Vengeful City
• Release Date: November 16, 2024

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Overview

In Episode 11, titled "The Vengeful City," the survivors—Glass, Silver, Amber, and Copper—navigate through an overgrown, treacherous landscape as they encounter a city overtaken by nature and haunted by the enigmatic Green Queen. This episode delves deep into themes of vengeance, loss, and the struggle between preserving the past and moving forward in a transformed world.

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Detailed Summary

Encounter with the Overgrown City

The survivors are journeying through a desolate region when they suddenly come upon a city that seamlessly melds with dense forestation. The skyline is a haunting blend of skyscrapers intertwined with towering trees, presenting a surreal and intimidating sight.

• Glass: "Is that a city?" [02:59]
• Silver: "Is that a city?" [03:01]
• Glass: "It's been so long since I've seen one. Most of them just kinda disappeared. Got sucked back into the landscape." [03:03]

The group's realization that the city is both a relic and a living entity sets the stage for the unfolding tension.

Observing the Half-Built Houses

As they drive through, Glass notices peculiar, half-constructed houses appearing intermittently between buildings. This anomaly piques the group's curiosity and unease.

• Glass: "That tiny little house with a yard and everything. It was just sitting in between those two buildings." [06:04]
• Silver: "Is it kind of bluish purple?" [06:13]
• Glass: "It was only half." [06:15]

Confrontation with the Green Queen

Their exploration is abruptly interrupted by the emergence of the Green Queen, a formidable presence embodying nature's wrath against humanity. Her appearance is both mesmerizing and menacing, with plants grotesquely entwined around her form.

• Green Queen: "What's the matter? Humans. Car trouble?" [07:33]
• Glass: "We don't mean to trust. Pass. We're only trying to pass through." [08:53]
• Green Queen: "I'm the rage that cracks the concrete. I am the vengeance of every green thing. You want to get out of here?" [09:35]

Green Queen's Backstory and Motivation

The Green Queen reveals her tragic history, detailing how humanity's relentless exploitation destroyed her forest home, transforming it into a battleground for her vengeance. Her narrative underscores the central conflict between humanity and nature's retaliatory forces.

• Green Queen: "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful green forest... They leveled the house to the ground. Humanity was finally getting what it deserved." [20:22]
• Green Queen: "Every piece of destruction brings me closer. Soon it'll be perfect. I won't have to start all over again." [24:15]

Moral Dilemma: Stealing the Battery Part

Faced with the necessity to repair their vehicle's battery, the group contemplates stealing the part from another car, as instructed by the Green Queen, or risking imprisonment and potential harm.

• Silver: "So either we steal a battery out of another party's car, or we get stuck here and get, I don't know, eaten alive by plants." [17:48]
• Amber: "We need to think on it a bit." [18:02]
• Copper: "We're not stealing something out of someone else's car?" [17:56]

This internal conflict highlights the survivors' struggle to balance survival with moral integrity in a harsh, unforgiving world.

Green Queen's Plea and Transformation

In a pivotal moment, Glass connects emotionally with the Green Queen, encouraging her to let go of her vengeance and embrace the possibility of rebuilding.

• Glass: "Then you plant raspberries and apple trees and you wait for them to grow and you see how it feels then." [26:22]
• Green Queen: "I'm so angry." [26:44]
• Glass: "All this pain isn't going to bring back what you lost. You just have to make new things with the pieces you've got left." [26:47]

This exchange marks a turning point, as the Green Queen begins to question her destructive path.

Resolution: Retrieving the Battery

Ultimately, Glass employs her ingenuity and magical abilities to retrieve the battery part without resorting to theft. This act signifies the group's resilience and ability to adapt creatively to their challenges.

• Glass: "I just talked to them and I think I changed their mind about killing us." [28:38]
• Silver: "I think you bribed them." [29:49]
• Glass: "Onward then." [29:55]

Their successful negotiation and exit from the Vengeful City underscore the episode's themes of hope and the potential for reconciliation even in the bleakest circumstances.

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Key Themes and Insights

1. Vengeance vs. Reconciliation: The Green Queen embodies nature's retaliatory wrath against human destruction, while Glass represents the possibility of understanding and rebuilding.

2. Survival Ethics: The group's dilemma over stealing the battery part raises questions about moral compromises necessary for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

3. Connection with Nature: The episode highlights the intricate and often tumultuous relationship between humanity and the natural world, emphasizing the consequences of ecological neglect.

4. Personal Growth: Glass's ability to empathize with the Green Queen and find a non-violent solution showcases character development and the power of compassion.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Glass: "It's been so long since I've seen one. Most of them just kinda disappeared." [03:03]

• Green Queen: "I am the vengeance of every green thing. Paved over, driven over." [09:35]

• Green Queen: "Humanity was finally getting what it deserved." [20:38]

• Silver: "Sometimes it doesn't always have to be about keeping them away." [14:42]

• Glass: "You just need to let it go. All this pain isn't going to bring back what you lost." [26:47]

• Green Queen: "Every piece of destruction brings me closer. Soon it'll be perfect." [24:15]

• Glass: "I think I changed their mind about killing us." [28:38]

---

Conclusion

Episode 11 of "Hymns for the Road," titled "The Vengeful City," masterfully intertwines elements of fantasy and post-apocalyptic survival to explore profound themes of vengeance, morality, and reconciliation. Through the intense confrontation with the Green Queen and the survivors' ethical dilemmas, the episode invites listeners to reflect on the consequences of humanity's relationship with nature and the enduring hope for redemption and harmony.

For those who haven't listened, this episode offers a captivating journey through a richly imagined world where beauty and danger coexist, and where the power of empathy and ingenuity can pave the way for survival and healing.

Transcript

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[Anna McGuire]

Hymns for the road is a fiction podcast that often takes place inside a moving vehicle. Listener discretion is advised while driving. General content warnings are listed in the show notes.

[Copper]

You know how some places have names in songs?

[Silver]

Yeah.

[Copper]

How come they don't have names in real life?

[Amber]

None of those places are around anymore.

[Glass]

That's not true, Silver. They're kind of around.

[Silver]

Yeah, but now it's like the idea of places and they're all kind of mashed together. Hard for things like that to keep names.

[Amber]

That's why we drive forever and never hit the ocean.

[Copper]

I wish I could see the ocean.

[Glass]

I wish you could too, Copper. I miss it every day.

[Unknown]

Between the seams that line your living room A vine of ivy's pushing her way through. And as she creeps along, she sinks her roots into the cracks and pulls them back until the structure is coming loose and the way the shadows on the wall are cast look like a twisted apparition from the past and all the memories come flooding fast. A wilderness economist. But we're taught you ought to cut it back. So you shut it out. You shut it down until you're all white knuckled.

[Silver]

You.

[Unknown]

Got a lot to learn if you settle down.

[Copper]

Do you guys see that?

[Unknown]

Let be what is, let be what isn't? It's the natural world in which we're living. If we let it alone, it will surely grow. Just leave it alone, child, and let it go.

[Copper]

Up ahead, look.

[Glass]

Is that a city?

[Silver]

It looks like a forest.

[Glass]

I think it's both. It looms up in front of us real suddenly and for a moment my brain won't parse what it is I'm looking at. It's been so long since I've seen one. Most of them just kinda disappeared. Got sucked back into the landscape. Sometimes we drive past somewhere that used to be a city. We see glass and metal, sometimes bones in trees and mountains and waterfalls. I haven't seen a skyscraper since the change but there it is. A whole skyline. The shiny windows of the empty buildings twisted through with greenery.

[Amber]

We should go around.

[Glass]

Don't think that's gonna be an option, Sylph.

[Copper]

The road goes straight through.

[Silver]

Yeah, and it's huge. Who knows how long we'd be driving if we tried to go around.

[Amber]

You should have seen them before the change. Used to be even bigger.

[Silver]

I think I might have lived in one.

[Glass]

Oh, yeah.

[Silver]

I remember the noise.

[Glass]

They took these places first.

[Amber]

They were the easiest, I suppose. Biggest, loudest, brightest.

[Glass]

The most people.

[Silver]

I wonder how I got out.

[Glass]

I don't know. I remember when we found you just.

[Amber]

Standing on the side of the road.

[Silver]

I don't remember that at all.

[Glass]

Not surprised. You were pretty out of it.

[Green Queen]

Silver.

[Copper]

Didn't you get me out?

[Amber]

I don't think so. I thought it was somebody else.

[Copper]

Who?

[Amber]

Oh, I don't remember.

[Glass]

So what do we think? Straight through.

[Silver]

Doesn't look like we can go any other way.

[Amber]

No stops.

[Glass]

Hi. Aye, Captain.

[Silver]

Whoa.

[Copper]

It's like it never ends.

[Glass]

Yeah. They definitely felt that way sometimes.

[Silver]

Why are the buildings so tall? Did they do that?

[Amber]

No. They used to be that big.

[Silver]

Why so familiar?

[Glass]

A lot of people live in these places. And I mean a lot of people. More than we've ever seen since the Change.

[Copper]

Why does it feel so.

[Silver]

So what? Angry.

[Glass]

The city looms around us, half consumed by leaves and vines. It's in layers, so thick. There are trees growing right out of the buildings, hundreds of feet above us. It feels like they're judging me. Like there's a thousand eyes looking out from every cracked window. It makes the back of my neck prickle. But there's something else that catches my eye. Did you guys see that?

[Amber]

Stop to look at, Darling. You gotta be more specific.

[Glass]

There. That tiny little house with a yard and everything. It was just sitting in between those two buildings.

[Silver]

I see another little house.

[Glass]

Is it kind of bluish purple?

[Silver]

Yeah, but. Oh, it was only half. What do you mean, it was only half? The house, it just stopped halfway through.

[Glass]

I see more of them. There's another one every few minutes. Sometimes it's a full house, a full yard, some trees in the back. Other times, it's only half built, stopping at a hard line partway through the trees. Two of them each time. Cut off, smooth at the tops.

[Silver]

Hey, are you slowing down?

[Amber]

Glass, we agreed no stops.

[Glass]

What? I'm not stopping. Glass, hold on. Just. Just give me a sec. What the hell?

[Silver]

What did you do to my baby?

[Glass]

Glass, I didn't do anything. It. It just Stopped.

[Silver]

I'll go look at it.

[Amber]

Amber, wait. Don't get out yet.

[Copper]

I just saw something move over there.

[Silver]

Damn it.

[Copper]

It was going really fast.

[Green Queen]

What have we got here?

[Glass]

Amber, don't open the door.

[Green Queen]

What's the matter? Humans. Car trouble?

[Glass]

They look human. And by that I mean they have two arms, two legs, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two ears. But there are plants growing out of their body, curling around their limbs and neck, breaking through their skin, open wounds that probably poured back when they had blood. And they're half suspended by vines between two buildings. Like they're in the pouch of a slingshot. Silver.

[Copper]

Should I put a fire spell together?

[Silver]

Maybe? They look unclaimed. We could probably get away with it.

[Green Queen]

I can see and hear you, you know. Aren't you gonna come out and give me the cordial greeting I deserve?

[Glass]

Hello?

[Green Queen]

You'll have to get out eventually. Unless you'd rather starve to death in there.

[Copper]

What do we do?

[Amber]

Crack the wind.

[Glass]

It's not working. I'm opening the door.

[Amber]

I don't think that's a good idea.

[Glass]

Too late.

[Green Queen]

Who do I have the pleasure of meeting today?

[Glass]

We can't give our names, but you can call me Glass.

[Green Queen]

Shame. You're not as stupid as the rest of us.

[Glass]

We don't mean to trust. Pass. We're only trying to pass through a. I know.

[Green Queen]

Who do you think stopped your car, Amber?

[Glass]

Well, what are you looking for in exchange for letting us pass?

[Green Queen]

Maybe I'm not looking for anything. Maybe I just like watching your kind squirm. I used to be like you. Before you ruined everything we didn't ruin. You're still human. You're culpable as far as I'm concerned.

[Glass]

Are you going to allow us to leave this place?

[Green Queen]

Oh, cut the crap. Save your formality for the houses.

[Glass]

You're not in a house.

[Silver]

Told you.

[Green Queen]

I'm beyond the houses. Oh, I am the rage that cracks the concrete. I am the vengeance of every green thing. Paved over, driven over. You want to get out of here? You want to run away and keep clinging to what's left of your poisonous world?

[Glass]

Yes.

[Green Queen]

There's a place where you'll find what you need to fix your car. Check your machine. The part you need is over there. Just walk straight down the road and you'll find it.

[Glass]

How should we.

[Copper]

Are they gone?

[Amber]

I don't see them anywhere.

[Silver]

I'm getting out.

[Copper]

Maybe we should do that.

[Silver]

Copper. They did something to my car.

[Glass]

Not your car.

[Silver]

You know what I mean. Glass, get the hood.

[Glass]

Well, what's Going on with it.

[Silver]

It's the battery.

[Glass]

It's dead.

[Copper]

You can tell just by looking at it?

[Silver]

No, the battery's gone. It's missing.

[Glass]

Okay, we're going to have to go get it.

[Copper]

It's definitely going to be a trap though, right?

[Amber]

Always best to expect the worst.

[Copper]

I'll put some spells together.

[Glass]

Oh, come on. It'll be fine.

[Amber]

Now's not the time to be careless. Glass. Get your cards. Maybe you can see something useful.

[Copper]

Five minutes.

[Amber]

Five minutes. Copper, what do you got?

[Copper]

Fire spell and a smoke bomb.

[Silver]

That's it.

[Copper]

The rest of my supplies wouldn't work for something like this.

[Amber]

What about you, Glass? Any visions?

[Glass]

Nothing but pictures of the inside of the car. I think one of us needs to stay behind.

[Copper]

I don't want to be alone.

[Glass]

It's alright, Copper. I can do it.

[Silver]

By yourself? It's happened to everybody. Glasses lost their mind.

[Amber]

They'll be more or less safe in the car.

[Silver]

More or less?

[Glass]

The cards haven't stirred me wrong yet.

[Silver]

When they've steered you at all, what.

[Copper]

If that folk comes back while you're by yourself?

[Glass]

Then I'll turn on the charm. Maybe keep him distracted so they don't bother you guys.

[Amber]

Should we split? You and Amber stay here, I go with Copper.

[Silver]

I don't want to stay here. I'm getting my baby fixed. Besides, how do I know you guys would get the right part anyway? We can't just take any random battery. You barely even know how to use all this.

[Copper]

I don't want to stay either.

[Glass]

Oh, come on. You guys know me. I'll be fine on my own.

[Amber]

If you're really alone at all. Listen, we're not back by Sunday, I'll.

[Glass]

Be a goner too. We can't move the car, remember?

[Amber]

Ah, right.

[Silver]

Let's go.

[Green Queen]

Someone.

[Amber]

We'll be back as soon as we can.

[Copper]

Don't leave the car, okay?

[Silver]

Try not to die.

[Glass]

Try not to die yourself. Well, just you and me now, you know. Kinda wish you would've warned me about them. Coulda used some prep time. You never talked to me directly. I know you're listening. At least I think you are most of the time. I guess I'm just used to conversations having two sides. Then again, maybe it's better if we don't talk. Silver would go crazy if they thought I was fraternizing with one of you. Not that I'm the fraternizing type to begin with. Oh, you know, you were fine giving me readings a moment ago. Don't know why you're so shy all Of a sudden. Great. They're back.

[Green Queen]

Where'd your friends go?

[Glass]

They went where you advised them.

[Green Queen]

Good. Then they're in for a treat.

[Glass]

What do you.

[Unknown]

And when all your cigarettes have crumbled down and every stone is thrown like seeds across the ground A new arcadia will come around and more multiply until the binds of death have been.

[Amber]

I don't think a song is going to keep anything away from us. In a place like this.

[Silver]

Music basically keeps me alive. Silver. I'm going to sing. Sometimes it doesn't always have to be about keeping them away.

[Copper]

Is that another car?

[Silver]

Huh? Not just another car. That's our same model.

[Copper]

Battery.

[Silver]

Well, I wasn't expecting them to be telling the truth about finding a replacement part, I'll give them that.

[Amber]

I wouldn't be so sure.

[Silver]

We can go check it out anyway.

[Amber]

Stay close. Be careful.

[Copper]

Always. Silver. It looks almost brand new.

[Silver]

Sure does. I'm going around back.

[Amber]

Check for traps.

[Silver]

That's the idea. Good news, everybody. This thing's gonna have exactly what we need. Amber, do you doubt my car knowledge?

[Copper]

No, it's not that. We can't take anything from this car.

[Silver]

Why not? It's just sitting out here. This is where they told us to go.

[Copper]

This is somebody's car. Look inside. People's stuff is still in there. And food. Those apples are fresh.

[Silver]

You're right.

[Amber]

Let me see. Copper is right. It don't even look like it was left that long ago.

[Silver]

One second.

[Amber]

You can't open it from the outside.

[Silver]

No, Silver, you can't open it from the outside. Told you you wouldn't know how to use these.

[Anna McGuire]

That won't damage it, right?

[Silver]

Nope.

[Green Queen]

It'll just let me get.

[Silver]

There we go. Damn it.

[Copper]

What? It doesn't have the part.

[Silver]

Worse it does.

[Glass]

What are you doing to my friends?

[Green Queen]

Answer for an answer.

[Glass]

Fair deal.

[Green Queen]

Who's your friend?

[Glass]

Which one?

[Green Queen]

Not the four that just left. The other one. The one in those cards.

[Glass]

Oh. Ah. I don't know about friend. They barely even talk to me.

[Green Queen]

H. Well, why one of us would take a liking to a human is beyond me.

[Glass]

What can I say? I guess I've got a lovable face.

[Green Queen]

No, you don't.

[Glass]

It's my turn.

[Green Queen]

Ask away.

[Glass]

What are my friends going to find if they follow your directions?

[Green Queen]

More humans.

[Glass]

What?

[Green Queen]

The next band of strangers? Survivors has the part you need to keep going.

[Silver]

So either we steal a battery out of another party's car, or we get stuck here and get, I don't know, eaten alive by plants.

[Copper]

We're not stealing something out of someone else's car?

[Silver]

No. The alternative sounds better to you?

[Amber]

We need to think on it a bit.

[Silver]

I thought about it. I don't want to die. I don't want you guys to die. It's the end of the world. We have to make some hard choices sometimes. And this is one of those choices.

[Copper]

We don't even know where this group went. What if they come back? What if they're bigger than us?

[Amber]

You're right, Copper. We don't know where this group went.

[Silver]

So they're not here. Here. If we stop dragging our heels, we could get in and out before they get back. They're clearly not in earshot, Amber.

[Amber]

Why would they all have left? What happened?

[Silver]

Same as what happened to us, probably.

[Copper]

You think they had a part stolen, too?

[Amber]

Wait a minute.

[Silver]

I don't know. Probably. Wouldn't be surprised if that leafy little monster could be in multiple places at once.

[Amber]

Don't that mean there might be another group coming to take something from our car?

[Green Queen]

Oh, we should go back.

[Copper]

We should get back to Glass before other people come in.

[Silver]

All we should do is grab that battery.

[Green Queen]

No.

[Copper]

I don't want to completely screw over another group.

[Silver]

Copper, if we don't get that battery and get back to our own car, we'll be down two parts. It's them or us.

[Glass]

They won't do it.

[Green Queen]

You'd be surprised. Your folk do all kinds of things when they get desperate.

[Glass]

Are you familiar with how my folk are?

[Green Queen]

I gave up on my humanity as soon as I could. You people disgust me.

[Glass]

Why?

[Green Queen]

Why? Because this is your fault? Because people like you couldn't leave it all alone. You had to dig too deep. You had to take too much. And when it all came crashing down around you, you act like it wasn't you pulling things from the bottom of the pile.

[Glass]

But it wasn't me. None of us had anything to do with.

[Green Queen]

Humanity started this. Humanity took everything from me.

[Glass]

Humanity took more from you than the folk did.

[Green Queen]

Let me tell you a story.

[Glass]

Okay.

[Green Queen]

Once upon a time, there was a forest. A beautiful green forest where the sun shone like strands of gold through the pine boughs.

[Glass]

Are you doing this?

[Green Queen]

And there was a house. A new house built by the hands of a family. Love worked into the walls, poured into the foundations. Apple trees and raspberry bushes and stepping stone paths through flower gardens. It was beautiful. And there was a child. A child whose tiny handprints were pressed into the tile. Mosaic. Mosaic steps. They explored the garden and jumped between the fingers of sunlight and smeared their face with berry juice. The forest welcomed them with open arms, weaving a roof of boughs over their head to keep the rain off their hair. The child didn't connect to people like they connected to the land. The forest greeted them in the morning, the bright, crisp scent of pine waking them up. And the house sang them to sleep. Warm and safe. Perfect. Everything was perfect. Everything was perfect. The child couldn't have done anything to stop them. They were too small. Even their family was small.

[Silver]

They.

[Green Queen]

They tried. They fought. But the humans leveled the house to the ground. They crushed the raspberries under the wheels of their machines. They tore up the forest by the roots. In less than a day, there was nothing left of my home but rubble and death. And do you know what they put in its place? A fucking freeway. But then the human's greed paid off. When they dug too deep. They awoke them. It was the best day of my life. Humanity was finally getting what it deserved. And the moment I saw them with roots in their footsteps and arms like branches tearing the cities down, I gave myself up as soon as I could. And in return, they gave me this. This entire city to tear down all on my own. And if I do enough, once I've brought enough destruction down on this place, I'll finally be strong enough to get it back.

[Glass]

You'll get it back.

[Green Queen]

I'll have my home again.

[Glass]

All those little blue houses. You're trying to rebuild it.

[Green Queen]

Every building I pull down and every human I destroy gets me closer. Soon it'll be perfect. I won't have to start all over again. I can feel it.

[Glass]

What's wrong with the. The ones you've tried before?

[Green Queen]

They're not right. They're not the same.

[Glass]

Yeah, but they're never gonna be the same. I mean, you were just a kid, right? Are you sure you even remember it exactly the way it was?

[Green Queen]

I have to be able to bring it back. It can't. It. It can't just be gone. The world is magic now. It's magic. There has to be a way to get it back.

[Glass]

You're the most powerful thing I've ever seen a human become.

[Green Queen]

Yes, I am. I'm in control now. I have the power to bring this entire city to its knees. I did this. They didn't take this city. They gave it to me, and I killed it. I did this.

[Glass]

But all this didn't bring it back, though, did it?

[Green Queen]

It will. I'm almost there. Every piece of destruction brings me closer.

[Glass]

Isn't destruction what took your home in the first place?

[Green Queen]

It's all they left me with. They took my home and all they left after was rage and suffering.

[Glass]

Is that what you're building the house with?

[Silver]

What?

[Glass]

Is that what you're pouring into the foundations?

[Green Queen]

I don't.

[Glass]

Because I hope you don't mind my saying, it doesn't seem to be working very well.

[Green Queen]

That's all they left me with. That's all I am.

[Glass]

Well, that's not true. I know what else you are. You're a very powerful creature who would build back the forest.

[Green Queen]

You don't know what you're talking about.

[Glass]

I'm serious. Look at you. It's already coming back through you. Everywhere you touch, it springs up green. You could build anything you wanted if you used the right stuff.

[Green Queen]

What else would I build?

[Glass]

You could build a brand new home up from the ground like how your family did.

[Green Queen]

I don't have what my family had anymore.

[Glass]

I am sure it just takes practice.

[Green Queen]

But what if it doesn't feel the same?

[Glass]

Then you plant raspberries and apple trees and you wait for them to grow and you see how it feels then.

[Green Queen]

I just want to go home. It isn't fair.

[Glass]

I know it's not.

[Green Queen]

I'm so angry.

[Glass]

It's okay. You just need to let it go. All this pain isn't going to bring back what you lost. I can't bring back what I have lost either. You just have to make new things with the pieces you've got left.

[Green Queen]

I'm scared to try.

[Glass]

Me, too. It's not comfortable holding them like that. Too many thorns and branches. But I swear for a second that just for a moment, they felt just a little bit warmer. I know you've got it in you to make a new home. I'm sure your old one wouldn't mind. They give me this confused, conflicted sort of look. And then they launch away into the city. And then there's nothing left to do but wait. The be. What is the be? What is it is a natural world in which we're living. If you let it alone, it will surely grow. Just leave it alone, child, and let it go. Guys.

[Silver]

Copper has decided they're fully prepared for us to die here.

[Copper]

That's not the plan. We're going to try and use magic to get out.

[Glass]

So you didn't steal a part from somebody else?

[Silver]

No. They wouldn't let me.

[Glass]

That's all right. I have a feeling we'll be okay. All right, everybody in. I want to try something. Okay. Here goes.

[Unknown]

What?

[Silver]

How'd you do that? Hang on. The battery's back. I thought. I thought you said you wouldn't leave.

[Glass]

I didn't.

[Silver]

Then what's this doing in here?

[Glass]

I don't know. I just talked to them and I think I changed their mind about killing us. Or maybe killing people in general, I hope.

[Amber]

How'd you manage that?

[Glass]

Come on, Silver. I'm a genius. You know that.

[Silver]

What, you just flirted with them until they liked you enough not to kill you?

[Glass]

No, I didn't flirt with them. I just let them open up a little. It was nice.

[Amber]

You gotta be careful with them, Glass. Those kind of connections can change a person.

[Copper]

Well, it changed them, didn't it? They're letting us out now.

[Glass]

Yeah, see, it didn't change me.

[Silver]

I think you bribed them.

[Glass]

I didn't.

[Silver]

Okay, well, I can interrogate you about that later, but right now I just want to get out of here.

[Green Queen]

Agreed.

[Glass]

Onward then.

[Anna McGuire]

Hymns for the Road is a podcast written and Produced by Anna McGuire. Starring Maurice Thomas as Silver, Pau Panga Nibon as Glass, Grizz Siebenek as Amber, Tabitha Bardol as Copper, and featuring Anna McGuire as the green Queen. Original music by Joshua David M. Mitchell. This episode's hymn is Grow by the oh hellos. Sign up for our [e-mail] or support our work on Patreon.com Hodgepodgeaudio thank you for listening.

[Amber]

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[Glass]

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[Green Queen]

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[Glass]

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