LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City / Episode 23: NEVER trust NEVER smile

Summary

Summary of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City - Episode 23: NEVER trust NEVER smile

Release Date: March 25, 2025
Hosts: Natalie Jean & Jackie Zebrowski
Podcast: LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City by The Last Podcast Network

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Introduction

In Episode 23 of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City, hosts Natalie Jean and Jackie Zebrowski delve deep into Sarah J. Maas's popular adult science fiction series, Crescent City. This episode, titled "NEVER trust NEVER smile," offers a comprehensive analysis of recent chapters, exploring character developments, plot twists, and underlying themes, all while maintaining their signature blend of humor and insightful commentary.

Hosts' Banter and Setting the Scene

The episode kicks off with Natalie and Jackie engaging in playful banter about their costumes and appearances, setting a light-hearted tone. For instance:

• Natalie at [02:33]: "It really is like a thing that happens when you have a corset on that does cause a heaving breast."
• Jackie at [03:17]: "I need to be a queen at all times, and I need everyone to know that I am a queen at all times."

Their humorous exchanges not only entertain but also create an inviting atmosphere for listeners, making complex plot discussions more approachable.

Plot Discussion and Analysis

Bryce’s Struggles and Hero Complex

A significant portion of the episode focuses on Bryce Quinlan, exploring her internal conflicts and heroic tendencies.

• Jackie at [09:16]: "Nah, dude, she made some very poor choices."

Natalie elaborates on Bryce's motivations, emphasizing her deep care for Hunt Athalar despite her flawed decisions:

• Natalie at [09:22]: "Understandably. She decided... she has a hero complex, but she also does care deeply for Hunt."

Declan’s Intervention and Brotherhood

The discussion transitions to Declan, Bryce's brother, highlighting his protective nature:

• Natalie at [14:10]: "Declan was a very good brother."

The hosts praise Declan's actions in rescuing Bryce from a demon's attack, reinforcing themes of family loyalty and sacrifice.

The Summit and Arrival of the Asteri

A major segment covers the intense summit where various factions convene under the looming presence of the Asteri—powerful, otherworldly beings orchestrating interspecies politics.

• Natalie at [35:27]: "Have you seen what's going on about the world right now. We're a fucking crown."

The hosts dissect the political maneuvering, character dynamics, and the intimidating authority of the Asteri. They particularly focus on Queen Hypaxia's defiance against Sandriel Bummer's oppressive tactics.

Queen Hypaxia’s Defiance and Environmental Stance

Queen Hypaxia emerges as a pivotal character who challenges the status quo:

• Jackie at [37:22]: "Ch. I feel. I honestly, I forget that when we made that list..."

Natalie notes Hypaxia's environmental activism and her defense of the Merfolk against resource exploitation:

• Natalie: "Hypaxia steps in in this moment defending the mer who simply do not want to have their ecosystem ripped apart for government needs."

Ruhn’s Perspective and Skepticism

Ruhn, a key ally to Bryce, provides a grounded viewpoint on the summit's proceedings:

• Jackie at [63:30]: "So on top of that, the Asteri has ordered more troops to head every house."

Ruhn's skepticism towards the Asteri's motives and his strategic thinking underscore the complexity of interspecies alliances and conflicts.

Bryce and Lehabah’s Emotional Journey

The hosts explore the evolving relationship between Bryce and Lehabah, highlighting moments of vulnerability and mutual support:

• Jackie at [61:06]: "But I thought it was really touching that he brought her back the opal and also relayed the message from Hunt because that shows he cares about Hunt too, right?"

This segment emphasizes themes of love, loss, and healing, providing listeners with a deeper understanding of Bryce's emotional landscape.

Character Analysis

Bryce Quinlan

Bryce's journey is dissected thoroughly, focusing on her heroic actions juxtaposed with personal vulnerabilities. Her complex relationship with Hunt and her brother Ruhn is highlighted, revealing her multifaceted personality.

Hunt Athalar

Hunt's role as a protective figure and his strained relationship with Bryce are examined. The hosts discuss his internal struggles and strategic positioning within the summit's political intrigue.

Queen Hypaxia

Hypaxia is portrayed as a strong, environmentally conscious leader who challenges oppressive forces. Her interactions with Sandriel and her influence on the summit's outcome are key points of discussion.

The Asteri

The Asteri are analyzed as formidable antagonists whose presence dictates the summit's tense atmosphere. Their absolute authority and the fear they instill in other beings are central to understanding the series' power dynamics.

Themes and Insights

Power Dynamics and Authority

The episode delves into the hierarchical structures within the Crescent City universe, exploring how power is wielded and contested among different species and leaders.

Sacrifice and Loyalty

Themes of sacrifice and loyalty are prevalent, particularly in Bryce's actions to save Hunt and Declan's protective instincts towards his sister.

Environmentalism and Resistance

Queen Hypaxia's environmental stance introduces a critical examination of resource exploitation and the resistance against it, adding depth to the series' socio-political landscape.

Host Reactions and Final Thoughts

Natalie and Jackie share their personal reactions to plot developments, often intertwining humor with critical analysis. They express anticipation for upcoming chapters and speculate on future plot twists.

• Jackie at [68:39]: "There's a lot of stuff that's going to happen."

Their enthusiasm and genuine engagement with the material make the summary both informative and entertaining, encouraging listeners to continue following the series.

Notable Quotes

• Natalie at [02:33]: "It really is like a thing that happens when you have a corset on that does cause a heaving breast."
• Jackie at [09:16]: "Nah, dude, she made some very poor choices."
• Natalie at [14:10]: "Declan was a very good brother."
• Jackie at [35:27]: "Have you seen what's going on about the world right now. We're a fucking crown."
• Jackie at [37:22]: "Ch. I feel. I honestly, I forget that when we made that list..."
• Natalie at [35:27]: "Have you seen what's going on about the world right now. We're a fucking crown."
• Jackie at [63:30]: "So on top of that, the Asteri has ordered more troops to head every house."

These quotes capture the hosts' personalities and their approach to discussing complex narrative elements with humor and insight.

Conclusion

Episode 23 of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City offers a rich, engaging analysis of Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series. Through detailed discussions of plot points, character developments, and overarching themes, Natalie and Jackie provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the narrative intricacies. Their balanced approach, combining humor with critical insight, makes this episode a valuable resource for both dedicated fans and newcomers to the series.

Listeners are encouraged to tune in for future episodes as the hosts continue to explore the unfolding saga of Crescent City, promising more in-depth analyses and entertaining commentary.

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If you haven't already, subscribe to LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com/podcastsplus to listen ad-free with SiriusXM Podcasts+.

Transcript

[Natalie Jean]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

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[Lehabah]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

We're excited to announce that we're going to Prythian and Valbara and Bezgaeth.

[Natalie Jean]

If you're nasty and you can too.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

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[Natalie Jean]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

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[Natalie Jean]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

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[Natalie Jean]

Not only that, but if you use our code faybays at checkout for those events, you will receive an exclusive swag bag from the weekend.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'll do anything for a swag bag, Natalie.

[Natalie Jean]

Please give it to me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes, that's right. Use our code Faybase F A E B A e [e-mail] to get your $10 off of any of these events.

[Natalie Jean]

Dreamers and readers Baby, I cannot wait for this.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Give me Kimmy.

[Natalie Jean]

Give me that swag.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Welcome to Crescent City with your hosts Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski.

[Natalie Jean]

It really is like a thing that happens when you have a corset on that does cause a heaving breast.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah man, you got a heaving bosom over there and man I hope you guys are watching this YouTube because man it is a heaving and I am bereave in it. It's like they're already gone.

[Natalie Jean]

You're breathing my breath.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, bring them back. Oh don't worry they're still heaving.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I wasn't looking.

[Natalie Jean]

If I'm not heaving, I'm not breathing, and that's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, you damn right. You damn right. It's no good. I think you look great. And I did sing I forgot my crown. You did forget your crown, and I'm sorry, I'm not letting you borrow mine.

[Natalie Jean]

No, you look great.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I need to be a queen at all times, and I need everyone to know that I am a queen at all times, even though I don't think that is exactly the vibe of Queen Hypaxia. Well, we learned she would be into slime, though. I bet. I bet she'd be into slime.

[Natalie Jean]

You think she would be a distress slime?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I think that she needs it. I think that she also suffers from my same neurological problems, and I think that she also would be like, slime. Good idea. And be like. Yes. And then we'd start to kiss.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, that's cute.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, I'm definitely sure she's going through, like, some emotional issues. She was. It seems at least she was unschooled in the forest by her people, so that's gonna always be a problem.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. I know you can't really see because of my talk about you've got a heaving bosom, but I've got a heaving curl wig on right now that I feel like is taking over my brain.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, some cute. I like it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. But I feel like it's like I'm nestled with, like, in the breasts of my hair right now. It's like, where's Jackie? Where is she? Where is she? She's underneath the curls.

[Natalie Jean]

Your face is heaving.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Wow.

[Natalie Jean]

That's too hot for tv.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, you better watch out, man. Oh, she's heaving. I guess we heaving, and you're welcome. We heaving, and I hope you heaving. Fun. Oh, my God.

[Natalie Jean]

Get out of here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Get out. I will leave. I will go. I won't. I'm gonna stay because it's the beginning of the episode.

[Natalie Jean]

You're right. I did have a crown. I'm making a little bit artistic license with my costume.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think you look fabulous, and you're giving Esmeralda. And I know that that's not the character that exists in this book, but I'm loving that you're giving Esmeralda.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Esmeralda was one of the hottest cartoons of all time, and people sleep on Esmeralda. I feel like everybody always. I mean, you know, I think everyone understands here that, of course, Jessica Rabbit is the Sexiest of them all.

[Natalie Jean]

But gotta throw Betty Boop in there, too, though.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah. Give. Give that big old head a tug. I do feel like she's got a heaving head. Got a heaving head. And it's not underneath the curls. I feel like Esmeralda's not getting a fair shake.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, you're. I think you're right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She real hot. Especially, I mean, in comparison. I'm just saying, you're only as hot as the company you keep.

[Natalie Jean]

Wow. It's throwing shade.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I'm throwing fucking hunchback shade. So I don't know if you. Is it too soon, everybody? I say go back to Notre Dame and burn it down again.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, don't. They just fixed it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They just fixed it. Please don't do that.

[Natalie Jean]

They just fixed it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Did they fix it?

[Natalie Jean]

I think so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I would just. In my brain, I was like, oh, don't they just, like, leave all the ruins? Like, isn't that what Europe does? They're like, oh, it's ruined. It's a ruin now, so people can come visit it.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, that's kind of. I guess you could go that route. I'm pretty sure they fixed it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, but I had to repaint.

[Natalie Jean]

You're right. Ruins do need to be ruined to be ruins.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you for making me feel valid, Natalie. I appreciate you.

[Natalie Jean]

It's cool as hell to walk through ruins. I didn't know what old buildings were, of course, until I went to Europe for the first time and going to school.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There are new buildings, Natalie, and sometimes a building is older than other buildings.

[Natalie Jean]

I can't believe that there's buildings older than 200 years old.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's crazy. It is. Honestly, I can't wait to go overseas. Overseas. Get me there. Get me there overseas. Because the jack is coming. The jack is.

[Natalie Jean]

I actually feel like, oh, you're going to. If you go to Palatine Hill, which is this area of ruins in Rome that you can go walk through first off. It's fucking awesome.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

I do feel like we need to go in cosplay. Holy shit. I can't believe we have not done that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. The problem is we'd have to get over there and then get our swords. Like, I feel like there's so much. You can't really fly.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, no fly with anything. You're not going to be able to do swords. But we could do full, like, beat fist.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, they drag. Yeah. But we're not gonna be warrior asses.

[Natalie Jean]

We can't probably because they'll. They have machine guns in Italy. Other police Just walk around with huge like.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. But don't you think that they would be so charmed by me and my little sword? I mean, like, it's so small.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess we can roll the dice to see.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's what I love doing. I love being like, am I gonna get put in jail or not? Because if you look at me, you can tell that's one hard bitch.

[Natalie Jean]

I definitely want to go to Italian jail. That's for sure.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Give me a semester. Do you think that they feed you medicine?

[Natalie Jean]

They do it. Oh, man, their food is goddamn good. I bet their jail food is top notch. It's probably not. Don't. Don't be on that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't think we all saw Broke Down Palace. Okay. And we all know that that jail was not fun.

[Natalie Jean]

Does my voice sound crazy congested? I'm much better today. It's been a journey of this week. I bet I never get head colds. That was lot so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, you actually. Honestly, you just sound husky. Okay. You sound like me. Oh, come on now to my side of the vocal spectrum. Natalie.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay. I'm gonna steal your fire. I'm gonna take your fury.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're gonna Ursula me. Don't. You better not. I'm gonna steal your voice. I'm sucking it. I'm sucking it.

[Natalie Jean]

Nobody wants my voice.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I do. I. This voice, and it's not shrill. It's beautiful.

[Natalie Jean]

It's pretty shrill.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I accept your voice and I love it. We here at Crescent City deep dives only support each other.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, see? I'll take it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You jump. I'll jump.

[Natalie Jean]

All right, so we last left Bryce at the dock opposite the bone gate.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A lot of.

[Natalie Jean]

A lot of stuff has gone down. Not been great.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nah, dude, she made some very poor choices.

[Natalie Jean]

Understandably. She decided. I mean, she has a hero complex, but she also did and does care deeply for Hunt, and she doesn't want Hunt to go to this horrible fate.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But she also has a bit of a hero complex.

[Natalie Jean]

A little bit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you for saying that, because I know that you do you Stan Bryce more than I do.

[Natalie Jean]

I do. I do love a bright. I love her. Yes, I understand why people don't like her, but.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But I also understand why you do like her. It's why we're doing this book. I think it's actually interesting. I think it's more interesting that when people have complicated feelings about, like, the protagonist. Yeah, I think there should be. I think that it's what makes an interesting book. Some people are going to love her, and some people are going to hate her.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, it's true. So she has done this thing. She tried to give herself over Ruhn stepped in as a brother should, I guess, and stopped her from being tortured for the next century. And she's real mad about it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's pissed about it.

[Natalie Jean]

But, like, as we discussed last time, there was no way they were just gonna do a clean trade. They would have also just still gotten Hunt. And then, like, there wasn't gonna be, like, a gentleman's deal.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right.

[Natalie Jean]

So Ruhn did the correct thing to get her out of that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

And so she, you know, leaves. She says, you're dead to me. And she zips on down to the docks and she starts to talk to Danika, sort of praying or reflecting about how everything's a mess. But in this world, it's not of the realm of possibility that dead person might speak back. So.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yikes.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess you could just give it a shot.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's been a really long time since I've screamed you're dead to me towards somebody.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't think I've ever said that to anybody.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think I've pulled it out a couple of times. When? Because, man, scorched earth. When, you know, a Leo. Oh, loving a Leo, it's hard.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. I mean, I think actually that's much more noble than in my case, when I'm. Somebody is dead to me, I just cut them off. I try not to do that unless I feel like it's very warranted.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And that, I think is best. I. I do feel that. I think people would rather perceive that you're dead to me as over dramatic and unnecessary. So I feel that. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that it's noble, because I don't know if it is, but I think really, your way is probably the most noble of all. What's the most noble of all? I guess, going to them saying and communicating properly.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess I remove you from my.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sphere, from my sphere of communication forever. But that's also overdramatic because I would throw a smoke bomb.

[Natalie Jean]

I hope you heal and find out what troubles you. So that's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But then goodbye. I also would rather, honestly, personally, somebody scream you're dead to me, than somebody.

[Natalie Jean]

Say that you don't want to be condescended to.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. That would fly me in into a cold rain.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, if somebody said that to me, are you kidding? I would lose my mind.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Lose my mind. I'd flip out.

[Natalie Jean]

I'll pray for you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, I hope you have a good time.

[Natalie Jean]

Are you gonna Pray for me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Even though technically it's nice. Even though I don't believe in the.

[Natalie Jean]

Power, I kind of find it a little bit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Especially if you're actually like that. If someone says it like that, I'll just pray for you.

[Natalie Jean]

Especially if you're actually not doing anything objectively wrong, but they think you're, like, sinning or whatever. Right out of my face with your pray.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't want your prayer out of my face. But I will say, someone just throwing out, like, oh, I prayed for you, you know, I'm not gonna be like, you. You're an idiot. You're wasting your time.

[Natalie Jean]

If it's like, oh, you positive? Yeah, it's nice praying for you, of course I'm not gonna be like, great, well, I send your prayer back at you. No, I wouldn't do that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I would never, ever pray for us parents. When you visit California, childhood rules. If you don't remember how awesome childhood.

[Natalie Jean]

Is, just ask yourself, what would kids do?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Dance to a giant organ played by ocean waves? Yep. Camp in floating tree houses hundreds of feet off the ground? Check. Jump in a big tub of mud on purpose.

[Natalie Jean]

Call it rejuvenation, we don't care. Just pack your fun pants and let.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Childhood rule your family vacation.

[Natalie Jean]

Discover why California is the ultimate, ultimate [e-mail] does it ever feel like you're.

[Lehabah]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it's nice if it's done in a positive way, not in a condescending shit way.

[Natalie Jean]

So in the midst of her getting to this gate, talking to Danika, she gets attacked by the damn chrysalis who's always showing up at the worst moments. But we don't know why the crystal has shown up right now, and we're at the start of chapter 72, and she's already dragged into the water at the. Because she was at the dock, she's fighting to keep her head above water so she doesn't drown. As the demon is just digging into her, she's doing her best to fight it off. Damn, it's ripping into her. Things are not looking good.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nah, dude.

[Natalie Jean]

Thankfully, Declan, Flynn and Ruhn were following her and are able to grab her out of the grips of the demon because, again, he's a very good brother.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And he knew that she was probably gonna go do something stupid.

[Natalie Jean]

It's very nice that he followed her, even though she's very mad about it. And Declan makes the most unfortunate choice in words as he grabs her, saying, I got you. I got you to Bryce. Because this is what Hunt spoke to her and revealed his feelings through it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, that's not. I feel bad for Declan. That's not his fault.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, no, of course not. But very unfortunate choice.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

As far as for Bry, just like. That sounds sincerely heartbreaking to have happen in that moment. And that is, like, the most, like, you know, tragic love storyline that I, like, relate personally to. Just, like, not a lost love or anything. Just like that feeling of just, like, overwhelming when you get reminded of something. Just like the heartbreak and humiliation of, like, somebody doing something and betraying you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

You know, it's just like. I don't know. I feel. I feel that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I feel like it's unfair for our brains that. I feel like our brains do the, like, iPhone memory thing, you know, when you just, like, see that. But I feel like our brains do that with a bunch of negative shit all the time of, like. But do you remember that? And it's like, snapshot, snapshot, snapshot, remembering all those feelings. And it is like, I love being an overly feeling person, but sometimes, man, I really wish I could just shut that shit off because it's like, it's too much. It's overwhelming, and I need it all to stop.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, also on that tip, I feel like the phones need to stop doing that, too.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The phones need to stop doing that. All right. Sometimes the pictures are in the past for a reason, and I don't want to see them again.

[Natalie Jean]

How? I mean, they're just pulling up a lot of stuff you might not want to see.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You know, or, like. Like dogs from years gone by or like, exes or just an experience that you're like, oh, that happened. And then this horrible thing happened right after that. So I'll always remember that night. Thanks, phone.

[Natalie Jean]

Thanks a lot, Phone just makes you more dependent on the phone. The phone's like, it's okay. Just use me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Give me the goods. No, it's giving us. It's giving us that bump. It's giving us that little serotonin. We gotta see the notifications. We gotta feel the phone. Right, slime? Are you with me slot man. I just realized how hard I was gripping my.

[Natalie Jean]

Really hard. Poor slime. Bryce isn't in the space, obviously to say thank you. She's kind of spiraling out. The Fae boys inquire about what just happened, but she's barely registering that she even almost just got ripped into pieces.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God.

[Natalie Jean]

She's on that nihilist tip right now. We learn. I believe we just is the first time we learn this, that Declan has healing powers in this scene. I don't think we've learned that so far, but if we have, I'm sorry, everyone. He uses them on her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We're about to get next bust over here.

[Natalie Jean]

Next bust.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Next. Remember the next bust with the show. Next. It was, I think it was like an MTV or VH1 show where they would keep people of one gender. Well, it depends. There was also some. Some gay shows too. They would keep people in a bus and then they would bring them out one by one to see if the person outside of the bus wanted to date them. And they would like, walk out of the bus. And if they were uggo in any fashion, usually the person would go next and they would be forced to walk back inside of the bus and the next person would come out. But my favorite versions of those episodes were the gay ones. Because then while everybody was in the bus, everybody would just start fucking.

[Natalie Jean]

I just like that you thought I would understand that reference when you just said it to me. Like I was just gonna be like, oh, sure, yeah, of course, the MTV show. The obscure MTV show from 25 years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, Natalie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't you follow my every leap and bound? Because this is the thing, Natalie. I feel like you and Jeff are both. You have prided yourself on speaking Zabrowski, because sometimes Henry and I both will jump seven thoughts in one. In one moment. And that in that moment I jumped seven thoughts. And I thought, you jump with me. But it's. It's. You shouldn't jump with me. You don't live inside of my brain.

[Natalie Jean]

I try. I really do. I try, Jackie. Try to find my way in.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You do a really good job. And it is. I. I apologize that sometimes I jump without a parachute.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, now, I thought you were doing a Titanic reference still.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh. Oh.

[Natalie Jean]

Because you did that earlier. You saw the Titanic River.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, did I?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Oh, God. We're brains are. Our brains are rotted as millennials. Just all TV references.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, that's what we were raised on. I think about this all the time. You know, we Weren't people like, oh, people have nannies now. Parents are taking care of their kids. Let the television do it. We were fine. Literally, you just be put in front of the television and then you don't have to take care of the kids anymore.

[Natalie Jean]

Technically we at least had PBS and stuff. Like those shows were probably somewhat whole.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like you, Daniel Tiger on there. But I also definitely watched Stephen King's it probably at the age of five or six. And when a movie like that is televised, you know, gotta have the commercial breaks. I think that it was good for our character overall.

[Natalie Jean]

Sure. Let's go on to. Let's see that he.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Am I broken?

[Natalie Jean]

No. He uses them on her in this scene to close up the demon wounds. So Declan is a heel, daddy. He is, yeah. He's getting those demon wounds closed up. So in that moment she gets out to them that the info about the synth usage can attract Crystalos because they don't know all of the intel about Crystalos, all the lore right now. So even though she's kind of like spiraling out, she still manages to tell them at least that much. But that's when she's done being friendly with them. She chastises Ruhn for stopping her from helping Hunt. And I can't help but feel very annoyed at Bryce in the scene. She basically cuts him off, says that you know, he's dead to her, shows him that she is deleting his number out of her phone.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Just like, girl, I know, I know, I know it's a lot, I know.

[Natalie Jean]

It'S a lot, girl but be so for real right now. This is who you're mad at. Like you channel your anger in the correct spaces. Whatever. I, I don't expect her to be all, thank you for saving me from myself in this moment. But I don't know she could take into account that he quite literally saved her twice from literally, utterly life ruining decisions in one day.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But also though in the same breath, I have surprise spiraled a time or two before. And there are certain times when you find yourself acting in ways if you are mentally truly spiraling, that you act in ways that, that you know you shouldn't. Sometimes it's like you can see yourself on the inside looking out, being like, why am I acting like this? Why am I saying this? Why am I doing this? I can't stop it.

[Natalie Jean]

That's true.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I do wonder too if there's a little bit of that, because I feel like this is written in a way that sjm that knows a spiral.

[Natalie Jean]

I, I she must.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She must. Right? And I, obviously, I don't know too much about her, you know, mental health, but I just feel like between this and the way Nesta was written, I just feel like she, at. At least she's aware and understands sometimes how a crazy brain works.

[Natalie Jean]

Definitely. I mean, she. She has openly said that she was going through a mental collapse during writing Silver Flame. And that's like a lot of that book came out of her own experiences with her mental health in that time. So she does at least openly talk about that. So she off from them without another word and heads back to her apartment. She looks around at the fallout from everything that's happened in. In the apartment. The silence. Hunt's belongings still untouched. She seems to have presumed that somebody from the Ox would have come to gather his things, you know, for evidence or something, but no one has. She thinks about how even if all of his belongings had been seized, she couldn't stop herself. She had already hidden his sunball hat and tucked it away with jelly jubilee.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God. Which is so sad. This is why we should never be vulnerable with anyone. Never let them into the things that you love and you like, because you never know when they're gonna break you.

[Natalie Jean]

Is that the lesson of the book?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's the lesson. That's what I'm taking from the book. Never love.

[Natalie Jean]

The book just ends here. Never connect.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. All of it. It's like, why did you do all these episodes? All this dressing up just to learn this non lesson. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

You'll always be alone with some man's hat.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Never trust, never smile. So that's the tagline of this show.

[Natalie Jean]

So even though she's, like, trying to fight her own internal thoughts about how mad she is at Hun, she's admitting she kept his hat this whole time. And she was going to, even if they took all of his stuff away. She looks at herself in the mirror as her thoughts swirl and begin to drown her. The next chapter 73. The gang is all here because it's time for the summit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God. It's like. It's this part of the book when you're just like, all right, we're really juking from that story into, oh, we've got a whole other. It's like, y'all buckle up. There's a lot more to the end of this book. Tip.

[Natalie Jean]

Tip of the spear here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And we hate just the tip.

[Natalie Jean]

We don't like the tip. So we're with Hunt's POV at 73, who is being led here Dog like by his new owner, Sandriel Bummer Hunt has been at the meeting center for several days in a holding cell. And so he like, even though the summit hadn't started yet, the whole team had come to prep and he's been sitting in the cell at the summit itself just kind of awaiting to see what was going to happen. And he, in this holding cell again, notes how different the holding space is from where the summits occur in Panjera. So like the prisons, Panjera is more like Castle Y. It seems more medieval sounding, ready for torture. And the way he's describing the building that's happening in Valbara, it's like a Hilton select kind of a researcher.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Keep going. Very excited.

[Natalie Jean]

Jess, our researcher asked the important questions in our notes. Like, do you think that they got a continental breakfast before the meetings?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I love you, Jess. Did they? Because you know what? You gotta make all these decisions on an empty stomach. I better get some cold eggs, you bastards.

[Natalie Jean]

A mini muffin at least.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh my God, what if they have one of the Belgian. The Belgian flippers.

[Natalie Jean]

I love a continental breakfast. I'm not gonna lie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'll do anything for a continental breakfast. And my problem is, especially when we would go, when we were on tour, I was always the one choosing the hotels and I make sure to have a continental breakfast. And I really feel like we should have been raiding the hotels by continental breakfast. I think that's fair because some were just man, so much better than the others. And I know that's like, wow, Jackie, never heard that opinion before. But honestly, how dare some hotels call some of those things continental breakfast? Because they're not.

[Natalie Jean]

Well it's fair though because it doesn't even matter the like level of, you know, the stars or whatever of the hotel. Some cheaper end hotels still manage to put together like a really cool nice breakfast. And then some of them are just like throwing crap, you know, throwing some boxes of cereal from the grocery store at you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And that's some of the nicer hotel. Like I feel like some of the nicer hotels, they treat you like dog scraps.

[Natalie Jean]

I agree.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So what are we learning here? Never trust, never smile.

[Natalie Jean]

Eat the rich.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Eat the rich. And only get the most bobo ass of hotels because maybe you might get a good continental breakfast.

[Natalie Jean]

I usually stick with chains in those moments. I gotta say I know that's not maybe there's probably really cool independent lower budget hotels but show and if you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Have the time to do the research, if you've got the money to put. But it's like just choosing one. I feel like gone are the days of just stopping at a motel. Jeff used to drive big like. Like trucks, like, driving inventory from place to place. And he's like, what do you mean? You just stop at a place? You just go. I was like, you have that opportunity because you're a big man by yourself. We don't have, like. I can't just stop. Dress like this with these heaving curls. What? I just stop at a motel and not be terrified of something going to happen. I've seen enough movies. I paid for shudder for a long time.

[Natalie Jean]

I feel like Shit's Creek tried to gaslight us into thinking that they were.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cool and safe, which.

[Natalie Jean]

No, there are so many.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There definitely are.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm not shading look.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, you just have to look them up.

[Natalie Jean]

You got to look up the ratings. That's all you got to look up.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God. Like the pretty cool hotel tour. We both follow them on Instagram and they've been recently putting in a heart shaped tub. I think it's their own home.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Their own house.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, parasocial relationships.

[Natalie Jean]

They're great. So they're at their own Hilton Select. Hopefully they had a decent breakfast selection before the summit. And we're now with Hunt on the morning of the summit, which sort of seems to operate like the UN is held every 10 years. So the different.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Did you have to look that up or did you know that?

[Natalie Jean]

What?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That the UN meets every 10 years?

[Natalie Jean]

No, no, the summit meets every 10 years.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay. I thought I was like, does the UN really only meet every 10 years? No, I don't feel like that. They should probably be meaning more than that.

[Natalie Jean]

No, no, just the summit. I think if you're Fay and you're living that long, that's how little I know about anything.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I was like, oh, they should really change that.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, I'll send them an email, Jackie. I'll send them and let them know. Know your thoughts. No, the. The Some, I think, because if you're a fan, you live hundreds of years. Like, 10 years is like, it's nothing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's nothing.

[Natalie Jean]

He's been sent down a set of black armor to his cell to put on. Not to be on duty, but to be paraded around by Sandriel. Like, to like, kind of go like, here's my little. My toy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

She's such a little cunt, right?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know. She is so beautiful.

[Natalie Jean]

She is. He's led in gorzy and cuffs up to the summit floor by guards to stand next to old Sandy. We get a view of the meeting through his eyes. And we of course have a lot of fashion going on as well. Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Badge. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Many new faces.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

All the different veneer and houses have their own idea of formal business attire, which I love to see, you know, you get when you're getting into a meeting room. Everybody's kind of just dressed in like very morose, kind of like dumpy jackets. Business clothes. Like let's get some in. Let's get some excitement in here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Let's get some apples. Yeah. I want to see your personality have a happy hour. So each of the leaders of their respective veneer species are present. Hunt himself is led to and observes Cendril's Triari, who are of course a bunch of rat bastards.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Damn right.

[Natalie Jean]

We've already met Pollux, AKA the Hammer. But here we have a few more.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Her other Triarii were nearly as bad as the Hammer. Hunt would never forget any of them. The thin, pale skinned dark haired female known as the Harpy. The stone faced, black winged male called the Hellhound. And the haughty cold eyed angel named the Hawk. But they ignored him, which he'd learned was better than their attention.

[Natalie Jean]

So, bunch of the soldiers who sound a little bit like wrestlers or something.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh God. See, that's how the Triari needs to be dressed at this summit. You go in, you present yourself, you throw it down, you go against everybody else and you show up being like, I'm the biggest, I'm the baddest.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, so do it like a wrestling match. Yeah, I mean, I feel like they are sort of doing that to an extent. They just. They all like have their guards dressed in these crazy regalias to show strength. I guess there's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I think that they were also really just about like, it's like, I think I want to look good today.

[Natalie Jean]

I do like that they all want style. Yes, Netcredit is here to say yes.

[Lehabah]

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[Natalie Jean]

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[Lehabah]

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[Natalie Jean]

So we. There's one other core member of her Triari. The Hind.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hind, Hind, Hind.

[Natalie Jean]

I always was calling her the hind in my mind. I have to keep calling her the Hind. In. Outside.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Outside the mind. Outside the mind. Kick punch. It's all in the mind.

[Natalie Jean]

So we the hind mind. The hind behind. That's how I'm gonna get it in there now.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's gonna stop now. I don't know what you're saying anymore and I don't know what that means.

[Natalie Jean]

There's that in house Bunny. Remember how she learned people's names?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. You're just like that was funny.

[Natalie Jean]

So we'll have to see about who the Hind is. I guess we don't know too much about her yet. I don't know. Maybe we will learn about her something.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Tell or not going to like her.

[Natalie Jean]

Something tells me that she's. I bet she's going to be sexy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh well you know. You know that that's a problem with this Triari. All these bad people being so sexy. It's not fair.

[Natalie Jean]

It isn't fair. Fay shifters, all matter of veneer are present. Except of course humans boo.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Us humans boo. I get it.

[Natalie Jean]

They don't get a seat at this table. This sends him into thoughts of Bryce and what he learned in the lobby of the committee. And the other day whenever she. She showed her hand. Basically he fairly assesses that she's also a bit of a fibber in because she admitted that she is the princess of the Fae community. And she didn't tell him that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And she didn't tell him that.

[Natalie Jean]

And that's fair. I do think his lie is worse personally.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

But I know some would actually probably disagree with that. That she was hiding this huge thing from him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But you also don't show every single thing when you first start getting to know somebody. Like I feel like that's something you kind of gotta like lead up to. To make sure that like he's okay with that. Like you gotta suss somebody out before it's like she doesn't even tell like her friends and stuff that it's not like everybody knew except for hun.

[Natalie Jean]

I know. I know. I do. I agree. I. I just. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He's saying if I was dating that person I'd probably be pretty hurt.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like if I. We were already intimate. And I'm like, oh, I thought we had buil right. More than this.

[Natalie Jean]

And I think it's fair for him to be like, well, she's make. She's hiding stuff for me too.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. But I also think. I think you looking for something. You know what you did was worse.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah. You know what you did was wrong, hun. Okay. After spotting Jesupa, he notes that the witches have arrived and that Queen Hypaxia is among them. I have arrived sporting a crown of red cloudberries.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Maybe they're not Cloudberries today. Maybe if you look closer, they're the bulls of the de that I've destroyed.

[Natalie Jean]

Ooh.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I guess it just depends on what Hypaxia does in her spare time, you know?

[Natalie Jean]

I have no idea.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I feel like I'd have. Oh, God, if we wore crowns. I would have crowns for every different occasion.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, you just wear them.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't think I can. Natalie. I feel like we've all met a person in their late 30s that wants to wear a crown all the time. Who cares?

[Natalie Jean]

Have you seen what's going on about the world right now? We're a fucking crown.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Who gives a shit, right? Natalie, it's over disintegrating right now. What does it matter? Put a fucking crown on. Don't make your smile.

[Natalie Jean]

Beings are making all of the choices.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Blow the fucking crown on it.

[Natalie Jean]

Put on a gown. Who gives a fuck?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

This is why you guys gotta come out to these balls that we're going to. The sophisticated balls. You gotta come out to these because it's like, why the fuck not use our code Fayebaes?

[Natalie Jean]

If you want to go to readers and dreamers, you can get a discount.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Please come hang with us. It's going to be insane. And then you go like, you get to go. And remember that there are good people in this country.

[Natalie Jean]

There are. There are good people. She is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sorry, I'm. I'm covered in cloudberries right now. Let's get back to that. Let's get back to talking about how beautiful I am.

[Natalie Jean]

Let's please.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Covered in cloudberries. Yeah. So Queen Hypaxia is far from Hunt when he first notices the queen arriving, but clocks how weary she looks even after such a short time as Queen. Allegedly, the late Queen Hecuba had raised her away from society in the forest. Again, a little bit of an unschooling moment. I don't know how I feel about it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hunt got a look at her face as she neared. He knew her the Medwich from the clinic. She acknowledged Hunt with a swift, sidelong glance as she passed. Had Rune known who he'd met with? Who had fed research about the scene? Synth.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, it was me, queen of the witches.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But I'm also a med.

[Natalie Jean]

Witches I named Medwich was a queen alone.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Dude. Yes. This man just like out the gate immediately. Like, am I in love with this character? I think.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, Hypaxia.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Ch.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah, she's a baddie. She's a baddie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cha. I feel. I honestly, I forget that when we made that list of most SJM characters for the last podcast newsletter that one time. I'm sad that I didn't include Hypaxia on that list because for me, she really is up there on the wanna list.

[Natalie Jean]

That's fair.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like a lowkey character that's, you know, not as maybe flashy as the other ones, but she does the work.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, the. The list is even going to become more difficult because now we have the Throne of Glass characters to add in. I don't know how we're going to do.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know how. We need to. We do need to do that at some point.

[Natalie Jean]

We do, I guess.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, we should go on Tears of a Clown and force.

[Natalie Jean]

They're just like, what's happening?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

To listen to us talk about all this.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know how to make commentary on this.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Understand that. Or we'll just take over tears. We'll do.

[Natalie Jean]

We'll do one of those. Oh, we should take over tears one day.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. And then we do it. That's. Wow. God. Well, now I'm just. I'm just coming up with ideas live on microphone.

[Natalie Jean]

All right, so then we see Tharion arrive with the daughter of. Of the River Queen.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Daughter of the River Queen. I didn't know. I didn't know. I knew you were somebody at the summit.

[Natalie Jean]

Wow.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I did say I knew you were a mermaid when you walked in. And that is what I said when Natalie asked if I knew who she was. I know she's a mermaid.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm not actually a mermaid.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Because you're heaving bosom.

[Natalie Jean]

The daughter of the River Queen is not actually a mermaid.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know if we've learned that in the text yet, but she's not corporeal. Totally.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I believe.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, she's not a mer. She's not mer.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But in your brain she's covered in a scale.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I guess she's gotta have some kind of like anti water repellent. Right?

[Natalie Jean]

I feel like she just has like sea or river things on her. Like, different.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I like this vision.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You did a really good job.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I like even with the head wrap too. Everybody, you gotta be checking out these YouTubers tubes.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. There was a crown that looked really good on top of it, but I forgot it. So I guess I ruined the costume.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sorry. And like, I didn't even think for a second that I would ever give you mine.

[Natalie Jean]

So.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sorry.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, hers wouldn't work. That wouldn't work underwater.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Work underwater. It would get all wet logged and I'd be like, look at your dumb wet crown.

[Natalie Jean]

I had the perfect crown. I'm so mad I didn't have.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, I guess you're gonna have to. I guess we're gonna have to dress up again, Natalie.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess so. This one is a lot. This is corset is extremely tight it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But you look grand. Great. And your posture is impeccable. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

That help corsets do that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm slouchy over here in my relaxation.

[Natalie Jean]

You look cute though.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

So, Hunt. Cease. Tharion and the daughter of the River Queen. The Myrrh Queen. Or I'm sorry, the. The River Queen herself is not present. So I guess the daughter is representing her at the summit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you for your representation.

[Natalie Jean]

You're welcome. Tharion gives him a sad smile. But Hunt is not interested in, you know, connecting with Therian. He's still mad at him for bringing Bryce out to the barge that night. But also not his problem. Hunt, you're the one in the wrong.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, you are completely wrong. Oh. Just can't believe you brought my girl around to see me making all the crime.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, it's like. It's like the idea of getting mad that somebody brought your girlfriend to where you were cheating.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cheating on her. Exactly. I can't believe you did that.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, not you. You're not the problem. Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But also like, Tharion didn't know that you were into crime, Hunt, so maybe you shouldn't be so much of a criminal.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Not a smooth criminal, obviously. Oh, God. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have engaged that Sabine.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I only did the littlest bit.

[Natalie Jean]

Sabine. In the prime. Sabine. And the prime arrive. Then the autumn came. He realizes he should have known much sooner that the Autumn King was Bryce's dad. Because the resemblance is really hard to miss once, you know, he sees Roon, who also gives him a sad look. Then the angels drop in. So there's 49 angels in the guard, and they drop down from the sky, which, like, that's really cool. It's pretty fun. So they drop down and they have the stereotypical angel look. They're like white and gold regalia with spears and white wings. Then they form sort of like a conga line or like a soul train line.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You said a soul train line. What if all of them just, like. Like, fluffing out the wing. Fluffing out the wing. Just, like, giving it. Giving it. Trying to be badass. But then also they gotta do their, like, angel shake. Gotta give me a shimmy. Gotta angel shake. Gotta give me a shimmy.

[Natalie Jean]

That's how they're set up for Micah and Sandriel to, like, come down the line. So I hope that they are doing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A little shopping, start doing that as a Zabrowski family. Every time, show up somewhere, just the four of us, create, like, a soul train line. And then we start dancing into places we go to.

[Natalie Jean]

I think we should instigate it at LPN Studios and have all the employees.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Every day, every day at work, give.

[Natalie Jean]

Us a line on either side of the hallway where they clap, like, for us.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You had to, like to bring us into work every day. Yeah, I bet everybody will be on board.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm gonna make a comment card.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God. The last thing we need in this place is a comment box. I don't want to know. Don't tell me.

[Natalie Jean]

Don't tell me. So Hunt watches this all take place as Micah and Sandriel appear. Because they're. Aside from the Asteri, the two archangels are the ones who call all the shots for all of these communities. They have the most power, they are the most feared and the cruelest, generally. And so he's kind of just watching everybody just have to, like, sort of bow down to them as they arrive. He watches them walk down this soul train line, and he wonders why they have not been ordered to mate, as that's a norm for the archangel. So the Asteri will basically require two archangels to breed, which is how they make new archangels. And he wonders if he. It's because Sandriel murdered her parents that they're like, oh, this might not be good DNA match. She likes to.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe she too mean to have babies. Guys. Guys.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Or at least too uncontrollable.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right.

[Natalie Jean]

Now the archangels have arrived. They enter the main room. So this is all in, like, the lobby entrance. And as Micah and Sandriel appear, they guide everybody into the main meeting room.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It was cavernous with rings of tables flowing down to a central floor. And round table where the leaders would sit. The Pit of Hell. That's what it was. It was a wonder none of its princes stood there. The prime of Wolves, the Autumn King, the two governors, the River Queen's fair daughter, Queen Hypexia and Jesiba, all took seats at that central table. Their seconds, Sabine, Ruhn, Tharion, an older looking witch, all claimed spots in the ring of tables around them. No one else from the House of Flame and Shadow had come with Jesiba. Not even a vampire. Not even a vampire.

[Natalie Jean]

He notes that the rings of seats total seven. So it's seven layers of rings. And the irony of it matching the seven levels of hell is that intentional? Curious. He. He sees fury as present as well. Seated in the third ring of seats, Hunt himself was led to a back wall and was guarded by two random Asterians. That's what I was trying to say, the Asterians.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Ah.

[Natalie Jean]

Basically he's just left in the back to be sort of just hovering around. He's not there for anything other than to just be humiliated. He's glad to be out of the spotlight. As the video screens in the room turn on. It means it's time for the Asteri to arrive.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He knew those crystal halls, torches of first light dancing on the carved quartz pillars rising toward the arched ceiling stories above, knew the seven crystal thrones arranged in a curve on the golden dais, the one empty throne at its far end.

[Natalie Jean]

It's why I really feel like these books need to have animated shows.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You are so correct. You're so correct.

[Natalie Jean]

We just learned that Hulu has dropped the Acotar show. I think that's for the best.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's for the best.

[Natalie Jean]

And I know the SJM holds the rights to the scripts and everything.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know what will happen. But it would take such a massive budget to not make this look like ass.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

To do it properly. And it's just I know that I always. Well, for always and forever bring up the His Dark Materials trilogy because I know that some people say that the show was kind of. But it wasn't. We all know it wasn't. If you love His Dark Materials, they just haven't done it properly.

[Natalie Jean]

No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or. Or can they? Unless it's an animated show. And I think you're so right that things. It's like this summit is like SJM has painted such a cool picture of what this could be and you're gonna it all up with cgi.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, and don't even get me started on the Dark Tower movie. Are you hitting me with that? Although Mike Flanagan, he's. He's heading the front. They're doing Dark. They're doing Dark Tower, the show. And Flanagan is showrunning, directing and all that. I'm very. I.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Look, you're a huge fan again.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm a fan again of Stan again, all of it. I think he can do it, if anybody can do it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I love that. That's great.

[Natalie Jean]

I hope so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And also, we're saying that it's good that it stopped at Hulu because it was just dead in the water. It wasn't doing anything. So it needed to be released so that somebody could take it and maybe make it somewhere else again.

[Natalie Jean]

Not Crescent City. Nobody has talked about that one yet. That's Acotar. But I do think. Think I want to see these rooms and these characters really badly. And I. I hope somebody does an animated version of it somewhere, some someday, somehow.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Come on, Biggie. Give us the conch.

[Natalie Jean]

Who? Piggy?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Lord of the Flies.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, you do. Lord of the Flies. My bad doing, Lord.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I don't know why it didn't make any sense. It's because I want it, and I don't care how. I want it now. Okay. Oh, we're not gonna get it.

[Natalie Jean]

Little salt there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A little sprinkling of salt.

[Natalie Jean]

So at the appearance of these otherworldly beings, the Asteri, every creature in the room stands and kneels before them. You can't be fucking about when the Asteri are present.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. I feel like this is even more epic than the beginning of Lion King. We're gonna find our place.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, I feel like at the beginning of the Lion King, it's like a pause positive feeling.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, this is a negative. Yeah, this is one. It's like I feel like this is the opposite of that feeling.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes, they're all. They live in terror every second, but.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They are playing the circle of life.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, they're just like, isn't this fun, everyone?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Although I guess the circle of life, like that song would really mean something different if you live forever.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, for sure. And they also don't believe in natural order. And we learn that more and more through the. The stories. But even the angels, the archangel angels, they have to bow down to the Asteri. They are just buzzing of flies to them. Hun thinks about how horrible and wrong the Asteri feel. We learn through Hunt's thoughts that whatever they are, because they don't really know utterly what the Asteri are, they are each individually capable of Turning the whole planet to dust. That's a lot of pressure if you're just a member of the society, living on the planet.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

And also very intimidating, not even being aware of what kind of creature they are or how they're so powerful. Suddenly, Hunt gets a spooky surprise.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I hate a spooky surprise. I guess it depends on what the spooky surprise is.

[Natalie Jean]

You love going to haunted houses.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I do love haunted houses.

[Natalie Jean]

Ruhn's voice appears in his mind.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That would be a very spooky surprise if your voice ever showed up in my head. I'm be pissed, Natalie, if you haven't told me yet that you can get into my mind.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, yeah. In this moment, Hunt has to not react because he's in front of everybody.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

So he manages to not outwardly react. And good on him. Because I feel like I would go.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like, there's a voice in my head. There's a voice in my head.

[Natalie Jean]

Which might give a couple people some looks.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. But again, we all know I'd be really bad as a sling. They've.

[Natalie Jean]

They love putting women in mental institutions, so I would. I'd beware of saying that outwardly, you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Know, Give me that lobotomy.

[Natalie Jean]

You're.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Masturbate me at least a little. Put me away and pat.

[Natalie Jean]

Give me at least half a lobotomy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm fine with it. Just a little. Yes, just a little. Like in there.

[Natalie Jean]

Just a little tiny.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I've been thinking about it a lot with all the severance I've been watching, and I'm like, if I could just. Yeah. Half a lobotomy.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Yeah. So while Hunt is surprised by this, the concept of mind speaking isn't totally new to him. Apparently, it's not unheard of on Midgard itself. They have a brief mental conversation while everyone is focused on the Asteris arrival. Hunt is surprised that Ruhn would reveal this precious secret to him. Ruhn tells him that if he's to help him, no one can know they're speaking. And he doesn't know another way to do this. I mean, it's a handy dandy skill to have.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Very handy. But I also would tell very few people that I do it. Gotta hide it.

[Natalie Jean]

Keep it up the sleeves.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Hunt seems surprised that Ruhn wants to help him in the first place, because Hunt, I think, at this point, feels like everybody has abandoned him because he. Up. You know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

But run. Tells him straight away that he knew that Hunt was trying to prevent Bryce from trading herself for his. In that moment that he was doing everything he could to prevent Bryce from doing that. And so he kind of like, I appreciate that you did that. And also, I imagine Ruhn having an outsider's observation of Bryce. And Hunt knows, even if she's denying it, that she deeply loves Hunt. And so he wants to. You know, Hunt is head over heels for her, too, and wants to protect her. Even if Ruhn is technically disowned by her. Her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's.

[Natalie Jean]

You know, he still loves her and cares for her. He's. That's her. His baby sister. Literally. I mean, he was like, 50 when she was born.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very baby sister.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. They sort of bond in this interaction. Hunt manages to ask if Bryce is okay and run. Lets him know that she is. It's really all that Hunt can handle facing about Bryce in that moment. So he changes the subject, asking. Asking if Rue knew that the Medwich was his betrothed. Rune did not.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh.

[Natalie Jean]

Hypaxia has been using her little magics on everybody.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Oh, gotta straighten my crown. Sorry, you can't.

[Natalie Jean]

I wasn't trying to.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay. River Queen's daughter. Okay. Where's your crown at?

[Natalie Jean]

I forgot it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You forgot it?

[Natalie Jean]

I forgot it. They're interrupted by the Asteri addressing the room. You have converged to discuss matters pertaining to your region.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We grant you our leave.

[Natalie Jean]

So they always talk in one voice.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Guys, it's just us. We're not. Don't be scared of us. We're not the all powerful beings that will turn your world out. Or, yeah, maybe we are.

[Natalie Jean]

Be scared.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Be scared. You're right.

[Natalie Jean]

They talk in one voice or they talk together as one. I think it's all. They all have their own voices speaking at the same time. That's the way I interpreted it. Right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I guess. But also, that's gotta be. It's like, if you're that all powerful and you gotta say that what everybody else, like, do they ever, like, are they sitting in a break room? Or they're like, oh, can we, like, stop all talking together for a little bit? Can we just each be a little bit individual? You know, they're.

[Natalie Jean]

They're always arguing, but they can't in front of.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Of. They can't rid of everybody. They gotta be unified subjects. Yes, it is a fun trick. And if that is one that we could start working on at parties rather than having a, like, you know, like the end of Romy and Michelle, like, where we don't have a dance set up, but maybe we have just like, a speech that we've memorized that. We SHOUT IN UNISON I would love.

[Natalie Jean]

To do way more things like Romy and Michelle all the time.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Especially as long as Alan Cumming is a part of it as well. Please.

[Natalie Jean]

So the scariest dairy. Talk to Hypaxia. Yeah, they basically have arrived to say welcome, all of you. We formally recognize Hypaxia as a new ball bearing queen.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you. Thank you. Marnie voice Asteri.

[Natalie Jean]

That. So of the six living Asteri, there's only one that's physically described by Hunt and really in any of the books, and it's the one that's named Rigulus.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Rigelus.

[Natalie Jean]

Rigelus.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay, I was in Greg Rigelus Rigelus.

[Natalie Jean]

AKA the bright hand. And it's him being a skinny teenaged boy's. Well, at least in body, which is. Ew, gross. Just like.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Why did you choose? Did you choose that? I don't get trapped in that. If you're all powerful, I feel like you've got a choice in the matter.

[Natalie Jean]

Maybe it's to appear unassuming, but it just makes me creeped out.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, it. It really creeps me out.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess maybe that's why I get.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I get that. Or it's like, if you're going to do that, then talk with me with full Asteri voice, but as a six month old. Like, if you want to really creep me out, go boss baby with it. You know what I mean? I want to see that damn boss baby take my world and turn it into dust.

[Natalie Jean]

Or like the baby. Not to bring up Roger Rabbit again, but the baby from who Framed Roger Rabbit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I mean, that baby I would follow into the dark forever. Get you camping. I. I should really go. Instead of Jeff and I, which we've talked about, and I know that you guys have talked about this too, and I do feel that some year we do need to go as Jessica Rabbit and Roger Rabbit and. But maybe I go as the baby instead. Dead. And Jeff is Jessica Rabbit.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, that's weird.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They will bleed patty cakes. They will blade patty cakes.

[Natalie Jean]

God, it's good. Somebody then has to play what's his name, the scary one?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Christopher Lloyd.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, but I don't remember the character's name.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I can't think of it.

[Natalie Jean]

That's a good costume.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That is a great costume. Especially with the eyeballs popping out. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

As a kid I was so scared. Anywho, much like our earth, the leaders.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The estate, Doom, I was gonna drive me crazy. I'm sorry. It was gonna drive me crazy. Judge Judge Doom.

[Natalie Jean]

Much like on our planet, the human one.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're talking about our human one? Boring.

[Natalie Jean]

The authorities sweep in, acknowledging the various wars waging. And much like our Earth, the richest, most powerful go, oh, I wish there was something we could do.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Let's put on our fancy clothes and like honk about it, I guess.

[Natalie Jean]

I hope you can figure it out soon. I don't know why the wars happen happening. It's not because of me. So then the hysteria. Basically do that. They show up, they say, hope everything works out for everybody.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It looks rough over here, guys.

[Natalie Jean]

They make it clear in so many words that it's their intention. They are asking, not telling, but telling the angels to figure out the human rebellion and stamp it out at all costs. They are the bad, the and the asteris. Like, I hope you figure that out soon. Better do it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Better demolish them all.

[Natalie Jean]

So they basically do that. They gesture to Sandriel, who is pretty clearly being the subservient angel that she's supposed to be to them. And she's planning on putting the humans in their place. And they seem to be leaving it in her hands. And she seems very excited to cause a lot of pain, which is like her thing. They bid the room a farewell, implying good luck. And then the screen goes dark.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Everyone in the room, the two governors included, blew out of breath. Someone puked by the sound and reek from the far corner. Sure enough, a leopard shifter bolted through the doors. A hand over his mouth.

[Natalie Jean]

Micah gathers himself and calls the summit to order. Chapter 74 is Bryce in the sub level library of Griffin, thinking about the last few days. Having watched the news coverage of the summit commencing moments earlier, she was really only checking for Hunt, really probably just for the knowledge that he's alive and.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Still there too, you know, before being, I'm sure, sent off.

[Natalie Jean]

When she gets the confirmation, she. She stops paying attention. Watching too much of it will tear her apart. She doesn't believe his rejection of her because if you'll recall, in the lobby, he basically says, don't ever come looking for me. We're nothing to each other. As a way to try to convince her to like, move on. But she's like, I don't buy that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's like Harry and the Hendersons, you know.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, get out of here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You gotta go. Oh, John Lithgow.

[Natalie Jean]

Love John Lithgow. Now she seems to have turned the corner on her feelings for Hunt. After everything that happened on the barge, she was saying she wanted to forget about him. She had, you know, him. I Don't care about him. She'd kind of given up on that pipe dream of, like, her feelings falling away.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But then she just had to sit in silence for a couple of days. And that'll change your mind.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And so now. Now, yes. I think after she decided she was going to try to save him, she's turned the corner on that and has taken to now wearing his shirts to bed, sleeping in his room. Girl, we all been that pitiful time or two in our lives. No Shade.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No.

[Natalie Jean]

She has also.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Especially when you use the T shirt as a pillowcase because you just want to smell and. And sleep on it.

[Natalie Jean]

That man was not worth it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, he was not usually are it.

[Natalie Jean]

She also has looked into ways to help him legally. But the only two that are on the books are either buying the slave or offering oneself in their place. 0 out of 2. She's already tried both. Didn't work. Those are the only legal ways to go about it. She thinks about how three days prior, an envelope with the return address of the committee had arrived to her and she just about freaked out, thinking it might. Might have been from Hunt.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Somehow the white opal had fallen to the desk. Isaiah had written a reserved note as if aware that every piece of mail was read. Naomi found this on the barge. Thought you might want it back. Then he'd added, as if on second thought, he's sorry.

[Natalie Jean]

Aww.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But also it's like, okay, I don't need a game of telephone via note right now that he's fucking sorry. Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

I think it's sweet of Isaiah, though, because Isaiah is not invested in this relationship.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it's nice. It shows a lot more about his character.

[Natalie Jean]

Sure, sure. But I thought it was really touching that he brought her back the opal and also relayed the message from Hunt because that shows he cares about Hunt too, right? So she holds that opal now. She, you know, keeps it under desk at Griffin's age. And she's looking at it as Lehabah points out that Hunt looks sad, which is in reference to the fact, you know, in that moment, Bryce is like kind of having the commencement parade on pause with Hunt's face in the. Ooh, girl.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oof.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, girl.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God.

[Natalie Jean]

Lehiba also mentions that Bryce looks sad just like Hunt does.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, girl. Like, yes, I am. You don't need to point it out. You know, I'm all right.

[Natalie Jean]

But it's a sad.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But also, Lele doesn't probably know.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, Lele also, she has. This is like a very sweet bonding moment for Bryce and her. Because Lehabah is basically saying, we're gonna go through this together. Right. And kind of trying. They're both trying to process how to move forward.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce tells her that Lehabah's been a good friend to her and that she's sorry for when she hasn't been as good a one in return.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you, Bryce. That was very necessary.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. You do need to acknowledge Lele tells Bryce it's okay and that she, Syrinx and Bryce will get through whatever the future holds together.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce held up a finger, letting Lehabah take it in both of her tiny, shimmering hands.

[Natalie Jean]

Deal.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God, I love her. I love. The fire's bright.

[Natalie Jean]

So. So we're now going to see Ruhn's viewpoint of this whole summit debacle at chapter 75. He's unsurprisingly bored out of his gourd and also feels hopeless about the fate of the humans. He's at this summit because he has to be, but he knows it's crab and that the Asteri, you know, are just making this, like, this charade look like anyone has any choice in anything.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's just a performance. It's all theatrical metrics for. Because they've got to do this every 10 years. It's not like, you know, the people at the summit have any control of what's going to be happening to them.

[Natalie Jean]

So on top of that, the Asteri has ordered more troops to head every house, which is to say it's to instruct them to retaliate against the humans. We're with him a few days into the summit at this point, and he's recalling the shock he had at seeing the queen's identity that first day.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Get a load of me.

[Natalie Jean]

Get a loader. He had actually confronted her and asked what her whole deal was. Like, what are you doing? Like, what? You're the queen. She simply replies snarkily that he hadn't asked her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Which makes me, again, think that that was some kind of glamour she put.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Over them on purpose because they must have been curious.

[Natalie Jean]

But, like, they. Whatever she did made them not question her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And we brought up earlier, too, that, like, we never knew her name. We never. And, like, why, if this person was going out of their way to help them, they're usually the kind of person would find out more about them. Right. Because they also are difficult to trust anybody. So you. I think you're a hundo, right?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

About, like a glamour or something.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Plus, she wanted to do Sort of a like Prince Akeem Joe Fur and see how it would be to be common for a while.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Even though I'm devastatingly beautiful. Yeah. But again, everybody is. So it's not. It's a little old hat.

[Natalie Jean]

No, no. It's never. Never. It's never old hat. I want everyone to be hot all the time.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

Incredulous, he asks if she is aware what has been set between the two of them, AKA we're supposed to get married. And she replies that she, you know, she had an idea, but it's like, really not on her vision board for this year.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are you like, jealous of me right now?

[Natalie Jean]

Why?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Because you have a crush on Run. Oh, because you have a crush on Rune and we're gonna get married. Are you thinking about it? Are you upset with me?

[Natalie Jean]

Well, I would be, except they're kind of both not trying to do it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, they don't really want it. But I'm just saying he probably looks at me and was like, that's my wife. And everybody's gonna know it.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh my God. Why?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not that we're talking about it right now. This isn't. Oops. All spoilers.

[Natalie Jean]

Now on this Morning. He looks around and notices Jesiba, who has been mostly silent through the entire scene summit. He wonders about her allegiance to the House of Flame and Shadow, even though she of came from the witches. Then Sandriel calls the summit to order, telling the room that Micah had been called away for the first half of the day.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But this happens every 10 years and he's not gonna fucking be here.

[Natalie Jean]

Very strange and interesting. Ruhn can only assume he's been called away by the Asteri because no one else would hold the authority to pull him away.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Josh.

[Natalie Jean]

And then you also can't question that. Like, you can't be like, well, you can't leave Micah, cuz who's going to say that?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I guess only like Sandriel could say.

[Natalie Jean]

That Sandriel is still not powerful enough.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like she thinks she is.

[Natalie Jean]

She tries. She then launches into an argument with the MER about water usage. So she's wanting to like, take their resources. Basically she's representing the greedy elite elite, wanting all of the the and saying like, this is like for the government. We need all of your resources.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We need you to give everything you have to us so that we have it. So that you don't have it.

[Natalie Jean]

Except they cover it with pretty platitudes and go like, no, no, no, it's God wants it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The greater good.

[Natalie Jean]

Ruhn finds it interesting that Hypaxia steps in in this moment defending the mer who simply do not want to have their ecosystem ripped apart for government needs.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh my God. I'm also honorable. I'm as honorable as I am beautiful.

[Natalie Jean]

And an environmental queen.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Sandriel scoffs and calls them all essentially soy boys. Rune is further intrigued that Hypaxia that she stands up to Sandriel, who eventually mumbles that they'll come back to it. So basically Hypaxia stands up to her, which is not a thing most people do, and Sandriel kind of like steps.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Down Queen of the Volbar and witches. I don't know if you know this.

[Natalie Jean]

About me as an only a 26 year old.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I mean I'm young. Even for living forever, I'm young.

[Natalie Jean]

So Hypaxia gives the slightest nod to Tharion, who is clearly grateful for her contribution to defending the murder. We briefly cut over to Hunt, who is doing his best to savor these extremely boring days of negotiations. Even with Pollock salivating like a hungry dog at him him, he knows that this level of boredom will be dreamed of when he is finally returned to Panera.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh God.

[Natalie Jean]

And we're going to need to stop here because at the start of the next chapter there a lot of stuff's going to start happening really fast.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There's a lot of stuff that's going to happen.

[Natalie Jean]

And I'm not going to say if you haven't read the books, I'm not going to say it's all good stuff that's gonna happen.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Buckle up y'all, we've got a bumpy, bumpy ride.

[Natalie Jean]

That's terrible. We can't end on that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, that's how we're ending. I want to end it like that. We're on a bumpy but I'll say it again, bumpy, bumpy ride. I think everybody is now leaving Weirdly horny. And you're welcome everyone. Please read up until chapter 78 it the Quarter Pounder with Cheese has many great things. Maple flavored griddle cakes isn't one of them. McDonald's breakfast comes first. Ba da ba ba ba. Hey Sirius XM podcast listeners. You can now unlock 7 day early access exclusive bonus content content and ad free listening to new episodes on some of your favorite podcasts. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com podcastsplus today.