LPN Deep Dives: HOSAB / Episode 1: A SPECTRUM OF EVIL

Summary

LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City Episode 1: A Spectrum of Evil
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Hosts: Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski

---

Introduction

In the inaugural episode of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City, hosts Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski embark on a comprehensive exploration of Sarah J. Maas's acclaimed adult science fiction series, Crescent City. Titled "A Spectrum of Evil," this episode delves deep into the prologue of the second book, unpacking intricate plot developments, character introductions, and the moral complexities that define the unfolding narrative.

---

Overview of the Prologue

The prologue serves as a gripping entry point into the darker facets of the Crescent City universe. Natalie and Jackie discuss how the prologue shifts focus from the central characters to introduce Sophie Renast, a human woman entwined in the rebellion against the oppressive Ophion regime.

Introduction of Sophie Renast

Sophie Renast emerges as a nuanced character, torn between her loyalty to her brother Emil and her reluctant involvement with the rebellion. The hosts highlight Sophie's dual role—acting as a covert operative within the Kavala Death Camps while pursuing her personal mission to rescue her brother.

Quote:
Jackie notes, “Sophie is playing both sides. She is, of course, much more aligned with the rebels because they're... She's a human, but she's kind of playing them both.”
[12:33]

Ethical Complexities of the Rebellion

Natalie and Jackie delve into the moral ambiguities presented in the prologue. They examine how the rebellion's tactics, while aimed at a greater good, often result in morally questionable actions, reflecting real-world ethical dilemmas.

Quote:
Natalie reflects, "It's like the hunt situation. It's very similar to that... it's not black and white. It's hazy."
[23:07]

Introduction of Pippa Spetsos

The episode also introduces Pippa Spetsos, a high-ranking Ophion commander whose disdain for Sophie adds tension to the narrative. Pippa's portrayal as both a formidable antagonist and a character with underlying vulnerabilities provides depth to the conflict.

Quote:
Jackie describes Pippa, “She's like a sexpot, evil military monster lady,” drawing a parallel to classic exploitation characters.
[43:29]

---

Character Analysis

Sophie Renast

Sophie is portrayed as a resilient and resourceful protagonist. Her unique abilities, stemming from her Thunderbird lineage, make her a valuable yet conflicted asset to the rebellion. The hosts discuss Sophie's internal struggle and the trauma she endures while carrying out missions that betray her personal morals.

Quote:
Jackie observes, “Sophie is part Thunderbird. She can harness electricity to manipulate her environment,” highlighting her supernatural prowess.
[49:27]

Pippa Spetsos

Pippa's character embodies the ruthlessness of the Ophion regime. Her leadership style is aggressive, and her interactions with Sophie reveal her strategic yet morally compromised nature.

Quote:
Natalie humorously remarks, “I want her to dye her hair,” reflecting on Pippa's fierce demeanor and the tension she brings to the story.
[55:10]

---

Plot Developments

Sophie's Mission

Sophie's mission to rescue her brother Emil is fraught with danger. The prologue illustrates her daring escape from the Kavala Death Camps, where she utilizes her powers to free not just Emil but also twelve other children, showcasing her courage and selflessness.

Quote:
Jackie summarizes, “Sophie uses her power to create darkness, allowing her and the children to escape,” demonstrating her tactical ingenuity.
[35:15]

The Encounter with the Hind

The culmination of Sophie’s escape leads to a dramatic confrontation with the Hind, an elite Ophion shifter. This encounter serves as a pivotal moment, emphasizing the high stakes and the relentless pursuit by the antagonists.

Quote:
Natalie exclaims, “Is the sound she would make,” expressing her reaction to the Hind's intimidating presence.
[73:10]

Sacrifice and Consequences

In a heart-wrenching turn, Sophie sacrifices herself to ensure the children's escape, underscoring the themes of sacrifice and the personal costs of rebellion.

Quote:
Jackie poignantly states, “Sophie is carried to a small boat by the remaining Dread Wolves, and she feels sadness as she faces her fate,” capturing the emotional gravity of the moment.
[67:51]

---

Themes and Ethical Discussions

Moral Ambiguity in Rebellion

The episode emphasizes the blurred lines between right and wrong within the context of rebellion. Natalie and Jackie discuss how the actions of both protagonists and antagonists are driven by complex motivations, making the narrative rich in moral ambiguity.

Quote:
Natalie muses, “Everybody's talking about me, and that's... it's not black and white.”
[23:04]

Power and Responsibility

Sophie’s abilities bring to light the theme of power and its responsible use. The hosts explore how her powers are both a blessing and a curse, forcing her to navigate the moral complexities of her actions.

Quote:
Jackie notes, “She's a weapon rather than a person,” highlighting the dehumanizing aspect of her role in the rebellion.
[50:43]

Sacrifice for the Greater Good

Sophie's ultimate sacrifice raises questions about the costs of war and rebellion. The discussion touches upon the emotional and ethical toll on individuals who must make impossible choices for a perceived greater good.

Quote:
Natalie reflects, “Sophie just throws you right into this. She's gonna make me a character immediately and kill them off.”
[73:10]

---

Insights and Discussions

Comparisons to Other Works

The hosts draw parallels between Crescent City and other works such as Star Wars and Andor, analyzing how Maas's world-building and character development align with or diverge from these iconic stories.

Quote:
Natalie shares, “I think Crescent City is like an Andor,” indicating the strategic depth and character-driven narrative similar to the Star Wars spin-off.
[25:25]

Character Relationships

Natalie and Jackie explore the intricate relationships between characters, particularly the dynamics between Sophie and Agent Silver Bow, and how these relationships enhance the story's emotional depth.

Quote:
Jackie observes, “Sophie and Agent Silver Bow hustle the children into the awaiting van,” showcasing their collaborative yet emotionally charged partnership.
[37:33]

World-Building and Magic

The episode delves into the magical elements of Crescent City, discussing how magic is interwoven with the societal structures and conflicts within Maas's universe.

Quote:
Jackie explains, “Sophie's powers consume electricity, allowing her to manipulate her environment,” highlighting the integration of magic into the plot's mechanics.
[33:14]

---

Conclusion

The first episode of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City successfully sets the stage for an in-depth exploration of Sarah J. Maas's expansive universe. Through engaging discussions and insightful analyses, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski provide listeners with a rich understanding of the prologue's pivotal role in shaping the series' narrative arc. The episode lays a strong foundation for future deep dives, promising a nuanced examination of characters, themes, and plot developments in the Crescent City saga.

---

Notable Quotes

• Jackie Zabrowski:
  “Sophie is playing both sides. She is, of course, much more aligned with the rebels because they're... She's a human, but she's kind of playing them both.”
  [12:33]

• Natalie Jean:
  “It's like the hunt situation. It's very similar to that... it's not black and white. It's hazy.”
  [23:07]

• Natalie Jean:
  “Is the sound she would make,” expressing her reaction to the Hind's intimidating presence.
  [73:10]

• Jackie Zabrowski:
  “She's a weapon rather than a person,” highlighting the dehumanizing aspect of her role in the rebellion.
  [50:43]

---

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Transcript

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[Natalie Jean]

Hi.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to House of Sky and Breath. I just wanted to jump in here quickly and tell you that the prologue for this episode, that basically the whole episode we'll be covering, talks about things like human camps where people. People are dying and being hurt. And I just want you to get the heads up in case that's something you don't want to listen to today. Come back next week. Take care of yourself.

[Natalie Jean]

Welcome to Crescent City with your hosts, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski. That wig looks very natural on you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, thanks. It's probably because my hair's this color natural.

[Natalie Jean]

Is that what it is? You look like. It looks very. It looks really good on you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, thanks. Yeah, this is pretty close to my natural hair.

[Natalie Jean]

But you hate your natural hair.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I just. I find it boring.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, I think it looks wonderful.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you. If I had body to my hair the way this wig does, I think I wouldn't be as on in love with it.

[Natalie Jean]

Ah, gotcha. So I have a little wave, had a little curl to it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's flat and pin straight and just sort of the color brown. Like, there's no. It is. If you see. If you look.

[Natalie Jean]

Which is a nice color. Everybody loves a brown. It's a neutral tone. Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't see a lot of people dyeing their hair brown.

[Natalie Jean]

My hair is brown, but not right now because I'm a different person. But underneath. I know. Surprise, guys. This is a wig. It is a. I think it looks.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Really cute on you. Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you. I do feel like at some point I'm gonna have to do platinum with the dark eyebrows. I think that it's gonna have to happen. Even though this isn't platinum, this is like a I don't know. What am I, a sun kissed. What am I, a soda? I'm not. It's the second book, guys. There's just so much. I feel like I'm buzzing because starting to reread this again, I was all of a sudden awash with how much happens in this book that I forgot where it started out.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

And this whole prologue, I was like, I forgot about all of that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

So it's thick. We are about to get in there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's not even close to thick as the third book.

[Natalie Jean]

No, third book's real, big boy. Oh, yeah. Juicy, juicy book. Yeah. I like the ass on that book. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're looking good as the Hind.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling. I feel like the bitchery is getting into my veins. Like, I can feel the ice cold entering my body. So you better talk to Jackie while she's still here before the hind shows up.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I really feel like you're doing a good job.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, that's it. That's all it. I just needed a little bit of a transition and yeah, it was like a substance moment and you guys did miss it. It happened like a flash.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Speaking of substance, have you seen the Ugly Stepsister?

[Natalie Jean]

Man, I want to so badly have watched the trailer like three times. I just haven't been in the place for that. But then we went to go see Bring Her Back and I was like, okay, now I'm ready now. Yeah, bring it back in. Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The Ugly subsister. I haven't been able to stop that movie. And I will say, yes, it is. It is very graphic.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

If you can't do body horror, I don't think this is for you. But it's also very funny in this. It's satirical in many ways.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

This is a movie I wanted to bring up on both of my shows, which does not happen often.

[Natalie Jean]

Whoa.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There's not usually a cross reference for both of these shows.

[Natalie Jean]

No. Smut and Mormons usually stay far away from each other, but.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God, please, if you guys like. I cannot recommend this movie enough. I cannot stop on Shudder.

[Natalie Jean]

Get it on Shutter.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Is it on Shutter? Oh, that's awesome. I didn't realize it was on Shutter.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes, please watch it. It's a Shutter.

[Natalie Jean]

Just dropped a bunch of, like, new. Every single movie that I've watched coming out of Shudder right now. I'm like, want to watch? Wanna like. I've added them all onto the watch list. I guess we're. We're having a horror summer Everybody. And I am living for it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Love. Love. Shudder Shutter's.

[Natalie Jean]

That's 5.99. You can spend a month.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, it's an. It's a horror app. A streaming app. If you don't know what that is.

[Natalie Jean]

That'S so much on it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So much. They do really good.

[Natalie Jean]

We don't work with them. And I wish that we did.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, we do stuff. Well. Henry does.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not.

[Natalie Jean]

Not the. Not the smut world. Surprise. Also not. I mean, there is some crossover. I'd say there's more smut to horror crossover than there is the smut to Mormon crossover.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, I feel like that's actually why Ugly Stepsister. I wanted to bring it up. It's not smart smut, but it. It is talking about women's sexuality and it is.

[Natalie Jean]

And everyone is being properly revolted by it, as they should be.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But it's okay. If you guys have ever seen Pearl, it's like Pearl the substance and welcome to the Dollhouse plus ever after mixed together. Because I am an ever after.

[Natalie Jean]

A little bit of Drew baby in there. Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's fantastic. And it's just. It's about the Ugly Stepsister from Cinderella.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah. And.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God. Just please watch it if you can. If you can get through body horror, it is great. I don't. Because some. I can't. You know, I'm not a huge body or I can't. I couldn't get through stuff like Teton.

[Natalie Jean]

But why you didn't want to fuck a car.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think it's because. I think it's honestly because a lot of body horror is done by men directors. And this is a woman director. She. It's her first feature and it's not. It doesn't feel as angrily hateful towards women that a lot of body horror is.

[Natalie Jean]

Rather than just ripping them apart.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, yeah. It's still hard. Let me. Don't get me wrong.

[Natalie Jean]

Hell yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay. Anyway, we don't talk about that, but I just wanted to bring it up because I love it and I can't stop thinking about that movie.

[Natalie Jean]

All right. We'll all watch it. All right. We all have a little bit of homework. It's a little bit of reading and a little bit of horror. All right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But I warned you. Also, don't watch it if you can't see Extreme Core.

[Natalie Jean]

She warned you. I warned you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I can't wait to hear what you think about when you see it. We're not talking about the Ugly Seth Sister this episode.

[Natalie Jean]

No, no, no. It's a Brand new book, baby. But we're back with some people that we love. But not in this prologue. No, I mean this prologue. Mo reading this for the first time, I was floored. It is such a great throwing you into this second book of just like. Okay, let's go.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

See, I had to work through. When I first read this first part of this book, I had to adjust my mindset because she left us hanging sexually with the other book.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I was like, dingleberry of sex. We're going straight into horror and violence. Okay. I need to shift my mind space and get away from thinking about.

[Natalie Jean]

Get away from it. Even though we are both very hot, we have to get away from it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We have to, because at the beginning of the second Crescent City book, House of sky, in breath, we are opening.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, I don't know if you've read that book, Natalie. It sounds like it's old and brand new.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yep. It's as ancient as Thor. Is Thor a thing?

[Natalie Jean]

Pretty old.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Pretty old. But I've never read it, and now I'm opening it up for the first time.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah. And we're gonna explore it together.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe. I found it in the library of Parth.

[Natalie Jean]

Those.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

How meta can we be?

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, my God. I don't know if I'd be knowing you, though. You know what I mean? Like, if you're spending all that time in Porthos.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Too many layers anymore.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, is it. Oh, is it 2 meta? Did we get 2 Facebook for you?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's Inception.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Inception is not a good movie.

[Natalie Jean]

Whoa, whoa. Hot takes coming from Natalie Jean over here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You heard it from me.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, all right, calm down with all the opinions. I mean, please don't scare me. I'm the Hind, all right? And the Hind knows that women shouldn't have opinions.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I've been working really hard to rearrange my mind to say the Hind, not the Hind, because that's what I thought it was for the first year.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

This book.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I feel like that sounds scarier. The Hind because it makes you think of the Hindenburg.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, because the Hind just makes me think about my juicy ass. Yeah, exactly. But also, you can. You're welcome to think about it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Makes you just want to kiss her and not be scared of her.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, I want to kiss her. Actually, Adam and I were talking about this morning. Would you rather be tortured by someone who is really hot or someone who's really disgusting? Because I feel like at first I was like, I would hate to be tortured by someone this hot, because the entire Time. I'd be like, but you're supposed to be kissing me. But I also feel like it's disrespectful to show up all dirty and yucky, because then it's like, as a torturer.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, you.

[Natalie Jean]

I feel like.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like, you should show the respect.

[Natalie Jean]

You should show respect to me as the person you're like, as your canvas.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right.

[Natalie Jean]

For your art. And I feel like behind, like, what she does is art.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

She's very good at torturing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, she does put a lot of thought into it.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I agree that's. That's tough because I. Yeah, same. Like, I think if you're going to a theater, you should dress up. I think if you're going to see a show, you shouldn't show up in a T shirt. And je.

[Natalie Jean]

I think that that is disrespectful for the occasion.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So I guess if you are a professional torturer, you would at least, like, press your shirt, you know?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Like starch a collar.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. You want to look crisp to do so.

[Natalie Jean]

You're welcome.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, you could still be kind of ugly, though, and do that.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah. You could be busto in the face. But as long as the package is looking good.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. You want just a roundabout. Just want, like, a pleasant image.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I guess so. I think I would prefer that over, like, a leather face.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Then like, a yucko that's, like, over you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I feel like you're already going to be in so much chaos in your mind. Like, let's have, like, a nice structure.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Around us.

[Natalie Jean]

Because this is the thing that, like, they don't talk about with torture, which, I mean, they do at some points. Like in Throne of Glass. They do. There's a lot of time to think, and I feel like you'd really be mulling these things over because you think, Jackie, you're getting torture. You're not going to be thinking about that. But I feel like all those endless hours in between, you're going to think about that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There is a lot of torture in Throne Glass.

[Natalie Jean]

A lot.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Holy moly.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. But we're not talking about their own glass. Sorry, everybody.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So we open up. Instead of getting back to spicy, steamy scenes with Bryce and Hunt, who have now started their lives together, we're actually opening up on a new character in a new scene, and it's diabolical. We got left on red with their sex scenes.

[Natalie Jean]

Yep.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But it's fine.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. We can handle it. Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We are meeting a bunch of new characters. And the first one we're meeting is a human woman named Sophie Rnost.

[Natalie Jean]

Also, at first did I think that maybe there was a book in between? I had accidentally gotten the wrong book. Yes, I did. So if you also went through that, just know you're not alone.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You do have to pay attention with her books because she'll just gonna like do this.

[Natalie Jean]

Especially when she shifts from perspective to perspective. I feel like in Crescent City 3 she really goes h wild with that, where you're like, wait, wait, wait, which brain am I in right now? Yeah. What is happening right now? Wait, wait, wait.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I actually. A lot of people got mad about the third book. I actually really enjoyed it a lot. I found it really captivating. But it's because I was already on board for that.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And I think I need to read it again. I think I need to read again.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You can't read that book just one time. You will lose most of the plot. It's so, so much creativity is at.

[Natalie Jean]

The heart of everything you do.

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

But right now we're meeting this new character. Her name is Sophie Rnost. We are not in sexy time. We're in danger zone.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And we're not in Crescent City.

[Natalie Jean]

No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's right. We are outside Lunathion in the prologue. She's used this form of intro in other books sjm, including a flashback to Rizan's past in A Court of Wings and Ruin for the prologue to be an entirely different place in time. And she also does it in Empire of Storms and Throne of Glass, where we have a prologue with Elena Galathenius, a character we had only known at that point from ghosts and mythologies and things. But as far as I can remember, this might be the only one of her prologues where we meet an Entirely new set of characters in the prologue. And we are with someone named Sophie Renast. We find out immediately that she's a human and is involved in the rebellion, which we've heard about already, if you remember, like Philip Briggs and all the humans like, trying to. Oh, so she is not. We find out immediately she's not only a human, but she is a human that has made the drop. Now I've heard everything. What?

[Natalie Jean]

I didn't even know they could. But why did she make the drop?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She had to do it in secret because it's not allowed. Generally. They are trying to gatekeep dropping, I.

[Natalie Jean]

Guess literally go to the gate to do it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

At the start of the chapter, we're with her thoughts as she's recalling how she smells special. And it's technically good that it was being masked by the horrors of where she is. Which is called the Kavala Death Camps. A place. It's very dark. A place to hold and torture human rebellion participants, also known as Ophion, which is the rebellion today.

[Natalie Jean]

We hate them. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm so lost in character right now.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. You hate Ophion.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And I don't like anyone that's special.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, I don't like anyone being special.

[Natalie Jean]

No. I'm the only one.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm the most special of all.

[Natalie Jean]

Everybody loves me. Everybody hates me. But here's the thing. Everybody's talking about me, and that's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Everybody wants to be with me.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Yeah. Look at this Juicy juice over here. I'm dripping.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Your hind is dripping.

[Natalie Jean]

My hind. Uh oh. Get us some toilet paper.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Today, Sophie has one goal. To get to a place called the Port of Sir Vost. So the Sir Vost is the city and town that they're right outside of in the Kavala Death camps. And I want to mention briefly this map of Vaalbara, which is a map that was commissioned by a reader and then put online because the reader wanted to be able to visualize the bigger world of Valbara.

[Natalie Jean]

Where did they request that from?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A map maker. They commissioned it.

[Natalie Jean]

Whoa, wait. So the map maker had to read the book and then make the map based on the book?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think either that or the Commissioner has to give them all of the important they probably.

[Natalie Jean]

Wow. That's kind of fun. I never even thought about that world. Yeah. And even all authors must have to meet with map makers to make.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

For sure about that before. Huh?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

See, I'm much. I'm the same where I want to visualize the map really well, so I wanted to bring it up and you can find it online. I think also James can probably put it here.

[Natalie Jean]

Thanks, James.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Wow. Magic. It's the technology of 1982. So we.

[Natalie Jean]

The magic. You mean the technology that we use in this network? Yes. Is that how I was gonna magic up there? 1982 was a big year for Photoshop. I.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, I want to bring back Rotoscope. I love it, honestly. Okay, so this map of Valbara was commissioned. It's showing the visualization of the bigger world of Barbara, because the other continent is where we actually are right now. We've heard of this other continent, Panjera, so it's actually both continents. When we heard about Panjera in the first book, it was mostly in relation to Philip Briggs and the rebellion and where they were.

[Natalie Jean]

So it's like, yeah, let's see. I want to see the beyond. And now we get to see the beyond.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. So on this map you'll see Panjera is north of Albara, where Crescent City is. And right now in the prologue, we're in the northern continent and they're in the southern part of the northern continent. On. I mean, I haven't talked in a couple weeks and I'm not doing well.

[Natalie Jean]

You're doing a great job. Don't you talk about my friend Natalie like that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I'm friends with a hind.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah. And I'm a. And let everybody know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay, I'll tell everybody I'll never be.

[Natalie Jean]

Nice to you again. Oh, sorry. That's my friendship. I seduce you with my honey and then I spike you with my barbs.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's very stressful.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I'm difficult to be friends with. Okay, well, surprise.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Panjera is the northern continent, but the Kavala and the Sa town that they're in the prologue right now is in this sort of southern west part of the continent.

[Natalie Jean]

You're doing a very good job with all the made up words. You're doing a very good job with it. And I think that, you know, this is great to see where Avalon is as well and to remind myself that it is an island that is amongst the continent.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, totally. And then the map maker, I don't know their name is, but Irsa is the corner. So just shout out to them, make me a map.

[Natalie Jean]

How do they not only sing that to the map maker? They might, I guess they call them like Monsignor Cartographer.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's cool. I don't know how you become a map maker, but that's cool. It's a cool Job.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So we're in Panjera in the prologue on the southern coast, and Sophie is planning a dangerous escape from these death camps. She is glad that the wolf guards have not been able to smell her veneer like qualities because she will be able to use it to her advantage. Element of surprise and all. And she's not on her own. She has a mission. And it's to steal children. Well, steal back children because they've been stolen.

[Natalie Jean]

They've been stolen.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So in the. When we first arrive with her, she is in the midst of this mission that she's on. Her brother, who's a boy named Emil, is among these children. And we learned that he had been separated from her when their rebel parents had been caught and killed.

[Natalie Jean]

You know, if Henry were stolen as a child, I wouldn't have gone to get him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, you were technically the younger sibling.

[Natalie Jean]

So it would have been his job to go get me. I don't know if he would have come and gotten me either.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, okay, But I guess it would.

[Natalie Jean]

Depend on if, like, I had any kind of, like, veneer like qualities or something like that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And there would probably be, like a lot of other things going on for him to have to figure that out, you know.

[Natalie Jean]

Are you trying to say that I wasn't good enough to get stolen as a child?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, I mean, more that none of us are. Nobody wants human. Like we're, you know.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We're not interesting. Like veneer.

[Natalie Jean]

No. I'd understand if you, like, stole, like, I don't know, a baby moose. And it's like, oh, I'm gonna raise this moose to think that it's my kid. I'm gonna put it in a bunk bed.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think moose are really dangerous.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, that's what, like, I've heard. But also, this moose probably will like me and it probably won't thrash me to death.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It gets gonna get real big.

[Natalie Jean]

How good would my moose impressions get, though?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Probably pretty good.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You. You and Joey Gladstone.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, me. And then it's like, Like I'll have two beavers. Oh, what am I in one of my pants? Come on. What?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

God.

[Natalie Jean]

What?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Everybody, that is not a Joey Gladstone approved joke.

[Natalie Jean]

No, no, no. He would have got it for Full House.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't do. I thought you were gonna do it. What you're gonna do? Cut it out. Yeah. Never mind. Let's focus. So her brother Emil. So Sophie is in her seemingly early 20s. Emile is much younger than her at 13. So there's also that element too where there's a Big age gap.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So they were separated from one another when their parents were killed by the Imperial Army. She had been on the run since then until she allowed herself to be caught. So we're with her three years after her parents were killed. And while we don't know her age here, she recalls being in university at the time the parents were killed. So we're presuming early to mid-20s.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Her brother's 13. Her thoughts as she's corralling these children from the camps are about her work with Ophion, and she describes it as mutually beneficial. Though she doesn't really think of loyalty to their cause per se.

[Natalie Jean]

She's loyalty to her brother.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. And I think it's an apt description of the muddled nature of the greater good that's going on here and how it's rarely neat and tidy.

[Natalie Jean]

So obviously, like, it's rarely good and bad.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right. Yeah. Like Opion is doing. They have a cause that's important, and they are technically on the right side of things.

[Natalie Jean]

But sometimes those tactics.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Are not the best. And I know these things now because I've been learning Star War, and I was trying. I have always said I hate Star wars, and so I'm trying. But then Jeff found out that I had never really watched any of the movies or, like, tried. And so he's like, why? I mean, he's like, it is huge for a reason. And I then started. Now I'm likening Crescent City to. And I'm like, okay, you want to do this? You want to? And I'm like, all right. I think then you got to read my books, because I think that you would like it because technically I just watched all of Andor. This is. I mean, it's kinda what Andor is doing. Sure. So. And like, I kind of explained the second book as, like, kind of like an andor. Even though everyone that has read or. And knows both is like, jackie, you're incorrect. But go with me. Right. We want to fuck Andor. We want to fuck everybody in this book. And that's the only relationship you need.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, every. Every story. Every epic story is kind of the same. Along the same lines, generally.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Since, like, the Odyssey.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. But which is, you know, it's. It's. It's wonderful.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah. I love it. Please. How are you liking the Star wars is.

[Natalie Jean]

You know, it's. I'm liking it because Jeff is not a die hard Star War. Like, he is like, whenever we get the question at cons a lot, are you a Star wars or are you a Star Trek? And he says he's a Dune. So usually that it's like, if he had to pick, he's a Dune. Yeah. So I like hearing all about it from someone that appreciates it, knows that, like, 60% of it is horrible, and explains it in the way of, like, there are certain things that you kind of have to watch, but certain things. Like, I ended up. I liked Andor. So I watched Rogue One and he, like, explained all of that to me, and I was like, oh, okay, I guess I'll watch the first one, which is not the first one. It's like, fourth one or whatever. But, like, yeah, I guess I'll watch it. And he is right. He's like, you like fantasy. You like the world building. So I think that if you just watch the good parts of it, you will also appreciate it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sure.

[Natalie Jean]

And he is right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't get so. People are gonna get mad. I don't hate them. I find them. I'm indifferent. I feel neutral about them.

[Natalie Jean]

I think we're okay. I think it's okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm a Spaceballs girl.

[Natalie Jean]

You're a spit. You're a Spaceball. You know, I understand. And. And I'm a smut bitch. So it's just in my head, like, I liked Andor because there was, like, there wasn't fucking in it, but you could tell Andor and the other characters were sexual people. I just hate. Like, in the world of Marvel, where it's like, none of these people, they're good people. They've never had a sexual thought in their life. I hate it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm not into the sexless bullshit.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, I can't. Humanity is laced with sexuality in some fashion, in some part of the spectrum. Even if it is that you hate sex and you have nothing to do with sex. That is a part of the spectrum of it. I'm sorry.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. We must continue forward. She doesn't have warm feelings towards a rebel commander, a woman named Pippa. Pippa.

[Natalie Jean]

Pippa. Pippa. You're Pippa? Pippa. Peppa Pig. I thought you were. I thought you were making a reference to Peppa Pig. And I thought you wanted me to say it more. Australian. Pippa.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I didn't even know that was an Australian.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know if it is. I just did the Pippa. I think they say Pippa. Did I make that up?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, I think.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm not sure.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bluey's Australia.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm not sure.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God, it's Bluey.

[Natalie Jean]

Kiwi.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm not sure we're alienating the entire.

[Natalie Jean]

It's just British. It's British. It's British. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Is Bluey Australian or New Zealand?

[Natalie Jean]

Let's look it up. You know what? We're allowed to not know because we don't have children. And it is. That is Australian.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

Australian, British. All right, got it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

All right.

[Natalie Jean]

We figured it all out.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Now we've got it all figured. So, yes, she has these mixed feelings about Opion. She believes in the cause technically, but doesn't necessarily agree with what's happening, and she thinks some of them are not very good people. She doesn't have warm feelings towards a rebel commander, a woman named Pippa. She worked for her. Doing unspeakable tasks in exchange for information about her brother and where to find him. So she basically offered herself up to opian at being like, I have these special powers. Can you help me find my brother? And instead of helping her, they're like, yeah, we can't. You. We'll help you if you do all of these favors for us. And so she's been.

[Natalie Jean]

It's like the hunt situate. You know, it is. It's very similar to that, which does make sense because, like you said, it's not black and white. It's hazy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And so they Are. They. Pippa. And a lot of the people in the movement are lawyers. Will to the movement over the actual people, which is kind of, like, counterintuitive because you're doing it to free the humans, but you're also willing to, like, sacrifice a bunch of them. So that's, like, a lot of things to think about. I think they need to get. I think that needs to be more in, like, a philosophy class, but I feel like.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I think that's, like, a lot of rebellions or something. Yeah. Like, word on the street is, well, they got to do some bad stuff to get other stuff done.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

I. You know, it's just as the hind. I understand that, but as Jackie, like. Like, don't do that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, it's like.

[Natalie Jean]

But also, it's good. Like, we do need that. Somebody's gotta do it. I'm glad it's not me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hey, Jackie, behind.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't do it. Hey, please, guys, don't.

[Natalie Jean]

Please don't kill other people.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Is that. Did that help?

[Natalie Jean]

Yep, that did it. Wow. We just saved humanity.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Wow. Nobody had thought of that before, to just say that. The rebel. So when she brought her power to them, they had her do all these things, and they know of her powers and work with her to use them. But she's only doing this to save her brother. At the end of the day, we learn from Sophie's reflections that she brought fake rebel paperwork with her to get quote, unquote, caught into this death camp as an Ophion mission. But she had also had some mystery pieces of information that could change the course of war. So she's doing this sort of like she's doing a mission for Ophion, but also she's doing the side thing to get her brother, and it's against their orders. And so now they're pissed. She's pissed everyone off.

[Natalie Jean]

I just feel like, think of the anxiety. It's hard enough to have a to do list, but to have to get yourself put into a death camp, and you're like, ah, I gotta do again. That's why I hate to just think about my siblingship and think about how little we would be willing to go through.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, again, though, save each other again. Most people couldn't do this generally. And also the age gap as a whole.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes. And also, Henry's not a Thunderbird. You know, I get it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like a minor kid. You'd probably go knowing you were gonna die to try to help them.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, that's what everybody says.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So basically, Sophie is playing both sides. And she is, of course, much more aligned with the rebels because they're. She's a human, but she's kind of playing them both. During her couple weeks at this horrible camp, she's kept an eye out for her brother until one day she spots him, and that night sneaks into his bunk to help him escape. Her plan to get him out begins there, and doing so, she realizes she can't leave these other children who are in this cabin with him. And instead of just taking him in the night, she ends up escaping with 12 kids.

[Natalie Jean]

Girl, I like. I feel you, and I love this for you, but also think about getting away with it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, it's hard because you would have to make.

[Natalie Jean]

Because all the kids are crying, going like, wait, wait, wait, save me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I just realized that.

[Natalie Jean]

Is that hard?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I just realized that her name's Sophie and she had to do Sophie's Choice.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, I wonder if that's. Wow.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Because the choice would have to be the kids are at more risk of immediately dying if you take them out. But if you leave them there, they're probably gonna die slowly, slowly. So it's a Sophie's Choice Shisha decides to take the kids with her. We know that Sophie is Weary as she shuffles the children through the dark. This is where we find her at the beginning of the prologue. She's been tortured for weeks at this point. Her nails got pulled out. Pulled out. She was beaten.

[Natalie Jean]

I just would be so bad at being tortured. Never tell me anything that can get tortured out of me. It will. They won't even get to the torture. They just have to, like, take something. I'm like, okay, okay. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you. I'll spill.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's why I tell you. I don't tell you any of my government secrets.

[Natalie Jean]

Tell me nothing. Never, ever tell me anything.

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[McDonald's Advertiser]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

Through the interrogations, she had fooled the dread wolves that she was just a simple human with no rebel affiliation and was thrown into the fold of the the camp. So that was sort of the ophion side of the plan, and that's how she ended up getting here. But she is no ordinary human, as we are learning in the present time. In the dark of night, as she approaches the perimeter of the camps and it's like a metal fence, we learn a little about her rare powers. Her hands somehow consume the electricity going through the fence.

[Natalie Jean]

Cool.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She, like, sucks it into her body, and she's almost able to harness it, which is pretty rock and roll.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She then uses the electricity to blow a hole through the grating. So she kind of, like, uses it at on the the gate itself. The fence kind of rips a hole open that they can get through. And of course, it messes with all the alerts, and so security immediately knows. Oh, and she needs to get those kids through that hole as quickly as possible. She runs with them through the nearby fe Field towards the road, towards the port where hopefully the Sun Priest and another rebel agent she had already been in cahoots with who were in on the plan will be waiting for her as they had planned together. It's a lot already.

[Natalie Jean]

It's just you guys keep it up so much. It's so much. And also like I know in this world they do have phones and ways to contact each other. Just think of how many of these experiences where there's no way to contact and you just gotta like hope that somebody's there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, they also mentioned using their magic in different ways to connect do signaling with one another. So the wolves, the. The not dire wolves. I keep doing that. The Dread.

[Natalie Jean]

Dread Wolves.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Different.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The Dread Wolves are the bad guys who are running the camps and they can go between wolves in human form and they're right now as they're starting to chase her in human form because that's how they can hold a gun. Although a wolf holding a gun would be kind of cute.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh that. I guess he'd strap it to his back and then kind of use them as like a. Yeah, like a sniper hold.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But they're like sentient wolves so maybe.

[Natalie Jean]

They could use their snout.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe they have like a little bite piece and they go.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh yeah. Oh man. Every time they bark it shoots guns.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think this maybe is not a super thought out plan that I've just come up with.

[Natalie Jean]

I thought it was great. I think it's a great idea. You always trust a dog and then all of a sudden, oh my God, it's shooting me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

So these are the spies we need.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes, that's the spies we need. So.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, imagine Carmi as a spy. She'd only spy for food.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, she wouldn't be very good at doing diabolical plans.

[Natalie Jean]

No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So whatever she can do, whatever Sophie's skills or gifts are, affects both electricity and first light. Because as they're getting chased, the kids are running, the Dread Wolves are in human form chasing them down. And she turns and she like whips her arm and it kills all the flashlights in the same moment. So she basically can like suck out lights with her hands. And so they're all left in the complete and utter darkness, which gives them enough time to get away to cross the street and get to an awaiting van where a rebel agent named Agent Silver Bow is prepared to take them. Of course he only thought it was going to be her and her brother. Now there's 12 children, but gotta save the kids. Got a van.

[Natalie Jean]

They'll be Fine.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Though in her thought, she's thinking about how she's never allowed him to tell her his real name because they don't want to like, compromise each other. We can tell through the context of these pages that Agent Silver Bow and Sophie mean something special to one another. Even seemingly have been physically involved. Sophie thinks she knows who he really is, but we, the reader, don't get that info at this point in the book. So, you know, I would be the same if I was in this, like, situation. You bet I'd be trying to have sex. You know what I mean?

[Natalie Jean]

Cha.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Gotta have some distraction.

[Natalie Jean]

It has to keep the rebellion going. We have to have hope. And part of hope is having sex. Because if you don't, you know, if you're not interested, sex, often times it is a big signifier of if you're not asexual. Yeah. If you're. Yes. If you don't identify as asexual or, you know, going through a trauma or something like that, but that usually it is a good first indicator of your. There's something might be wrong with your health.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are you losing, you know, hope or motivation or something like that?

[Natalie Jean]

So that's what I'm saying. Drum it up, get a little bit of sex going.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Got to. It seems like Agent Silver Bone Sophie caught feelings. But you can't have feelings in the rebellion.

[Natalie Jean]

There's no space for feelings.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sophie and Agent Silver Bow hustle the children into the awaiting van, get them all inside and speed off into the night towards the port. 30 minutes later, they're there. Agent Silverbow, whom Sophie calls Silver. So you know, they've been.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, you know, they've been intimate.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, Silver.

[Natalie Jean]

So, man, it's got to be crazy. Somebody that you don't know the real identity of and the fact that you know that you don't know what their real identity is. That's gotta be nuts. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But I. I think because their world is thrown into so much chaos in the first place, it's probably not even. Doesn't even feel.

[Natalie Jean]

Not even the weirdest thing. Yeah, I guess.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But yeah, if you're not in the middle of a rebellion thing and somebody says they can't tell you their first.

[Natalie Jean]

Name, probably they are not telling an international spy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

They're probably Fast and the Furious. Yeah. And you should go with them because they care about family and.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay. Jackie's giving different advice.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes. Yeah. No, I'm saying. I say you go with it. I think this is good. I think that we should always be scared of the mystery of your Partner. And that really is the foundation of.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Just never know what's gonna set them off.

[Natalie Jean]

No. Never know when they're gonna go come home. Never know where they go during the day.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's. That sounds great. So.

[Natalie Jean]

Because what if they're doing great things?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

And then they just. They're humble.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's probably what's happening.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So Sophie knows that not only do they have to contend with the. The Dread Wolves, but they see as they pull up. Well, they don't see. Silver comes over to Sophie and tells her quietly, that the Hind is near, that he can send her with his magics.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So now she doesn't have to only contend with her squad of terror, the Hinds. But now that Silver has assisted Sophie and gone against Ophion directives that Pippa, the. The woman from Ophion, will be chasing Silver down, calling for his head. So now everybody's pissed at these. These two for trying to save some children.

[Natalie Jean]

I just gotta save these kids.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Geez Louise. Pippa and Sophie, by the way, as a reminder, are human or past for them. And Silver is not, as far as we can tell, Silver form of veneer. We don't know much about him yet. So have we met him already? I don't know.

[Natalie Jean]

We don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Though she doesn't think favorably again of Pippa and alludes to her having gone maybe a little bit cuckoo in the.

[Natalie Jean]

Pursuit of the cause. How could you not?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, she does feel as though she's going through her thoughts. And Sophie understands Pippa's behavior maybe more than Silver does, who has clashed with Pippa regularly. Because even though Silver's obviously on the right side of history, he is still a veneer. And humans are just treated like trash.

[Natalie Jean]

Right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And he's never had to go through that experience, so he'll never truly know the suffering. But they have more pressing concerns at the moment with the Wolf Guards actively seeking them out right now, they have scant few moments. She's relieved to see that the boat from the rebels is waiting for them. Well, the one that, at least that was helping her out. So the Sun Priest is also going against Ophion rules by even waiting for this boat. But it's there. And she said, okay, our next step is in place. And Pippa and the. The command also kind of know what's going on. It's kind of muddled in this, in this prologue, but because so much is.

[Natalie Jean]

Happening at once that you're just kind of following and knowing whatever Sophie knows.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. So there. There is A bunch of underhanded things going on. But they're not really underhanded because she's just trying to save children. But the boat, basically that's supposed to take them away back to Ophion, has arrived to the port, which is good, good sign. But it may be too late, unfortunately. Silver grips Sophie and tells her very grave news. The wolves have arrived and are sensing them. Now he can hear them before her from his veneer hearing. Sophie realizes in this moment she must stay behind in order to give the kids a fighting chance to escape.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, man. God, she just throws you right into this.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She really does. So we're in like, we're in the third act of a different movie right now. So, leaving no room for argument, she tells Silver to take the kids to the boat and go. She's going to head the wolves off. Though there is anguish in Silver's eyes and he knows he has no time to argue, that they must just act. Emile protests, saying he wants his sister to come, but Sophie just pulls him into a hug and promises that she will find him again.

[Natalie Jean]

When she embraced his lanky, bony body, she let herself inhale one breath of his scent, the one that lay beneath the acrid layers of dirt and waste from the camp. Then Emil staggered away, half tripping over himself as he marked the lingering power building at her fingertips. But her brother said softly, make them pay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she will. Sophie and Silver make eye contact one last time, and then he corrals the children onto the awaiting boat. Sophie turns and sees the military trucks barreling down on her and sees at the helm, the hind.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, there I am.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Smiling and maniacally calm, being hot. She reminds me of this very niche exploitation character who. This is a little non PC, but she. It was part of a series in the grindhouse era in the 70s called Ilsa, the she wolf of the SS.

[Natalie Jean]

Ooh.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It was this very beautiful blonde woman. And she, as the title states, is in this sort of, like, grindhouse exploitation world where she's being shown as the bad guy, but it's also, like, sexy. And it's like, you know, people have very found it very distasteful, but it was very popular in the world. You have to be really into that kind of exploitation movie. It's not my favorite kind of grindhouse, but the character, the actress herself is great. And I actually met her in 2016. 16.

[Natalie Jean]

Hell, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's passed away since then. But she reminds me a bit of that grindhouse energy of this, like, sexy.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sort of like scary military Woman.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, it's just me. It's just.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, yeah, Hind. So she's like a sexpot, evil military monster lady.

[Natalie Jean]

Sophie instantly spied the golden haired female lounging in the front of the military convertible. A silver torque glimmered against her neck.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay. I had such a hard time visualizing this, her adornment. We get more descriptions of them later in the chapter. So my take, because I have my hind costume kind of together, but my take is probably not super accurate.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I finally actually looked it up to see if a torque necklace was a real world thing. And it is.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, what is it?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So torques were worn. This is a fashion thing that I'm doing. Sidebar. Torques were worn by cultures of the European Iron Age from around the 8th century B.C. until the 3rd century A.D. including the culture known as the Illyrians. Yeah. So there was an Illyrian's culture in ancient humanity. It's usually the. The torque in historical context would identify someone of a high ranking position and were originally only worn by females, I guess maybe along the same lines as a crown. But it's.

[Natalie Jean]

It does look like a crown for your neck.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, because it, it. But it's like. It's like a thing that goes around your neck that's usually open in the front.

[Natalie Jean]

In the front? Yeah. It looks like a headband. Honestly. It looks like a headband that you put on the back of your neck. Around your neck.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Or like the way you would wear like headphones around your neck.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But it's made of, you know, a high, you know, precious metal or whatever. And so it's not technically a military based thing most of the time. It's like a royal based thing. But this is the thing that is being worn around the Heinz neck. And so, yeah, that is kind of like part of the cosplay. I know you guys were interested. So Sophie recognizes Hind to be a deer shifter, which we learned briefly in the first book, but obviously we're supposed to be reminded here the Hind is a deer shifter. Sophie begins to run far in the opposite direction from the boats. So they've spotted Sophie and she's like taking them away from where the kids have gotten onto this boat so the boat can leave. And it's basically the Dread wolves start following her into the town of Sast, where the port is, and she's leading them into the quiet streets of the town in an attempt to confuse them, which seems like you shouldn't probably lead them to like more.

[Natalie Jean]

More civilians.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But you know, there's a. There's a lot going on right now. She explode. As she's running through the town square, she sees, like a big decorative fountain and she uses her power to explode it. And the water goes everywhere and, yeah, just like, covers the entire square in like an inch of water. And this is where I got confused about the Heinz collar. I think, because. Well, here, this is just read this part.

[Natalie Jean]

The wolves in human forms wore imperial uniforms. Tiny silver darts glimmered along their collars. A dart for every rebel spy. Broken. Her stomach flipped. Only one type of Dreadwolf had those silver darts. The Heinz Private Guard, the most elite of the shifters.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So there's her torque. And then they also have collars with silver darts on them. Those are two different things.

[Natalie Jean]

Different.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But anyway, that's not important in the scene. I know their fashion is not necessarily indicative of.

[Natalie Jean]

We love the fashion talk.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she has exploded this fountain and all the Dread Wolves are running towards her. And Sophie is weary and broken, but she is determined to fuck their day up.

[Natalie Jean]

Fuck yeah, bitch.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She jumps up on the lip of the broken fountain. They don't know what she is, you see? And it's too late. They run into the square that's covered in an inch of water. Power starts to surge from her fingertips. She's a fucking Thunderbird.

[Natalie Jean]

The wolf roared just as Sophie unleashed the power she'd gathered on the water flooding the square. On the Dread Wolves standing ankle deep in it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Uh oh, you're getting fried wolves.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, more on the ball.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like dead wolves.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah, Natalie. Yeah, Dead wolves.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not all of the the Dread Wolves were in the square, but a chunk of the Heinz elite are now wolf dead. I wrote wolf steaks and then I gross myself out.

[Natalie Jean]

Although I imagine they're delicious to eat.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God, they gotta be tasty. Don't do it.

[Natalie Jean]

Pull a muscle. They gotta be tasty.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, they're too close to dogs. As she runs.

[Natalie Jean]

So they're so much meaner. You have to eat a wolf.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They're smart.

[Natalie Jean]

If it attacks you and you have to take it down with just a.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Knife, you have to just chew on them.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, you have to. It's the respect again. All comes back to the respect.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Got it. As she runs, Sophie reveals in her thoughts that she is actually part Thunderbird. But they think she's a full Thunderbird. She's not. It was her great grandmother who had a thing for human men, apparently. And so she's a couple generations removed from her Thunderbird upbringing.

[Natalie Jean]

I want to be a Thunderbird. I. I agree Maybe that's like. Rather than, like, being scared of, you know, developing schizophrenia late in life, what if, like, all of a sudden, you became a Thunderbird?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, I would love to throw out that option.

[Natalie Jean]

Will I wake up as a Thunderbird, Natalie, is what I'm asking you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I hope so.

[Natalie Jean]

If I hope help. If I light a candle, manifest Natalie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, sure. I say just. That's not gonna be presenting as mental illness if you do that just to do. I think you should just healthily do that.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. All right.

[Natalie Jean]

I identify as part of a Thunderbird. Just the feet.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Can you shoot lightning out of it?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I got fire toes. Fire toes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It was her great grandmother. And so, because it was that many generations removed, she could. That's probably how she could present as a plain old Boros. Noro. Human. Unfortunately, this is also why she's prized by the Rebellion, because she can present as just a human and really is kind of just being treated more like a weapon than a person.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

War is hell, everyone. Oh, even the good guys aren't really good. She's not sure how her grandmother survived the Asteri extinction of. Of thunderbirds, but she had managed to stay alive when they had hunted them down centuries ago. So the stereo had tried to eliminate Thunderbirds from society because apparently they're too powerful.

[Natalie Jean]

It's like, just be friends with them, you know, like, you could just.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Starry don't make friends.

[Natalie Jean]

No, they don't.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And much like Bryce, Sophie had hidden her lineage until the day came that she needed to survive to find her brother, and offered it up as a bargaining chip to the rebellion. So both Bryce and Sophie were living amongst the humans, trying to hide that they had magic. Instead of Ophion helping Sophie locate him, they held information over her, forcing her to complete missions for bits of knowledge. But those pieces came at a great cost, and she doesn't know how to live with the trauma of killing so many in the name of the greater good. As we're getting her backstory through her memories, she is barreling back towards the docks in the hopes that she can make it to the boat before it's too far out to sea. The Sun Priest, who was manning the boat and Agent Silverbow, got the directive to start moving the boat when she was misdirecting the Dread Wolves. And so that's what they're doing, but they're trying to go slow enough that she can catch it as it leaves the port.

[Natalie Jean]

But you also have to get the kids out of there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yep. Sometimes you have to make A Sophie's room choice.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, my God.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Every second is a chasm. As she nears the retreating escape boat, she spies Silver on the dock looking at her and wonders why he's not helping pull her up with his magic. But she quickly realizes why. He's been shot with a Gorian bullet. It doesn't look like a fatal hit, but he's holding his shoulder. And because it's Gorian, his powers are now useless. She turns back towards the shore and sees the Hind lazily watching her from the vehicle. The hind's right hand man aiming a rifle at Sophie.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm just like a big, sexy, evil cat.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, well, well. Sophie, it looks like you have nowhere else to go.

[Natalie Jean]

But look at how hot I am and how slowly or how quickly I'm gonna kill you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I didn't like how that ended.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, she always talks like this. Don't you know, Natalie?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Is that what you're gonna do?

[Natalie Jean]

Yes. And even I talk like this. It doesn't mean that I can't strip your skin off of your body. And that would creep me out. I would so much more than of somebody, like, barking at me. You know what I mean?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, I wouldn't, like.

[Natalie Jean]

Don't give me the Betty Boop, please.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. Yeah, it's very. And give you the best firefly. What are they called? The House of Dolls and corpses People.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah. The. The. The family. The. The. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she is caught. Silver watches this all play out. And he had dropped a rope off the side of the boat as it's trailing away in order for her to try to, like, jump in and catch the rope, and then the ship can pull them all away, but she is just not close enough to jump without getting shot. She tries anyway because, like, really, what are you gonna do?

[Natalie Jean]

What are you gonna do?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Her leg is shattered with a Gorzian bullet.

[Natalie Jean]

She.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Stunned, she collapses to the dock's floor, but still manages to hear Silver scream as the boat retreats into the darkness and fog, leaving her at the dock. As she looks up from where she's collapsed face down in agony, she sees with a broken heart that Imperial submarines have converged on the escape boat with all the kids inside.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, good. So. Oh. Oh, good. Was it worth.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

None of it.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, good. Yeah. I just want to make sure.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or maybe it's. Maybe we cut to another character we've only heard through tales. We're with Pippa Spetsos.

[Natalie Jean]

Do you think if Pippa dyed her hair, maybe she Would like. Maybe her big issue was that she doesn't like her hair the way you didn't like your hair. And maybe we could offer to her dye it. Like maybe dye your hair and maybe you won't be so pissy anymore.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

If I hadn't started dyeing my hair at 12, who knows what would have happened?

[Natalie Jean]

You'd just be a pissy Pippy over here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'd be leading some kind of army, obviously. Hopefully for a good.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I mean, I would hope you would only ever use your strength for good, Natalie, but we would all understand if you just got too powerful, that you had to be evil.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thanks.

[Natalie Jean]

And we'll all follow you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you. I'll try not to do something bad.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay. Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I'll have to workshop it. So we're with Peppa Spetsos now and it's just this. It's like moments after we were just with Sophie. So Pippa is also at the scene here. We're with her thoughts as she is on the awaiting end waiting for this escape boat. So she's on their own boat. She's on a rebel ship called the Oreo. I don't know how to say that.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Deep into the Haldron Sea. So she's offshore in this rebellion boat waiting for the boat with the children. And they're gonna come take them all up. But she really just wants a meal. She doesn't care about saving these kids.

[Natalie Jean]

No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know that we ever get Pippa's age, but for some reason I always think of her as younger. I don't know why I think. I don't. There's context clues or just the. Pippa sounds like a kid's name to me, but I always assume she's like in her 20s.

[Natalie Jean]

But I'm talking. Is it probably the thing. It is because of Pippi Longstocking, which same. I. I also feel that way. Even though Pippa is not even the same name.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. And also Pippa can be any age.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The name that there. I think Pippa is a. Isn't she a royalty member in the uk?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kate Middleton's Pippa Middleton. I think that it is also the fact that Emil is 13 and obviously you can have many, many age gaps between. But the fact that she's so connected to him. I would assume that she was around while he was little. You know what I mean? Oh. So. Oh, yeah. Oh. I'm thinking about Pips. My whole brain just got Scrambled.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A lot of new characters. Characters.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, a lot of new characters. I was just talking about a different character.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Pippa is the leader of Ophian. She is one of the leaders of Ophion. She's not the leader. Leader of Ophion, but she runs. She's like a commander.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And so she has a lot of power and she's very bossy.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And she is the one waiting for this ship to come to their ship. And I just assume she's in her 20s. She might. I don't know if they ever describe how old she is. I don't.

[Natalie Jean]

Is it just because she's headstrong that you feel like she's so young?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe like she's a little. She doesn't necessarily use reason all the time. She goes off emotions.

[Natalie Jean]

And I think that there is something about like, I feel like if you were older, working in a rebellion, you have more rationality. Like I feel like to make it that long. Yeah. That like anybody in charge at that. That point. Like, I feel like you have to make more like, like less rash decisions. And I feel like Pippa does make a lot of like, girl. You're just like. It's like you. She thinks she's like, I'm 20 steps ahead, but she never quite is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. There's a lot of sort of like manic energy.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Which I imagine you kind of have to. If you're running a rebellion from multiple fronts and like in all different ways that. That you're gonna have leaders of all kinds. I guess because like I. I mean I. Not to be like this, but it makes me think of Forest Whitaker's role in Andor, which is like he is more of a radical in the world of the rebellion. And it's like that there are just different parts of it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Oh, for sure. And you. I think to lead some of these things, you have to be a little bit insane. Like that's how I feel about any high ranking politician. I feel like if you get to that point, I don't trust you to.

[Natalie Jean]

Want to have that level of power. I think you have to be like in some fashion insane. Kind of crazy. Right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Anyway, she is in her armor today. Oh yeah. I painted the sigil on.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm sorry. Natalie did show me the sigil earlier and said, do you know who I am? And I said no. And I apologize to you, Natalie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's not very. There's not a lot. There's not a lot of characters to dress up as in the prologue. And you. There Aren't any drawings of the sigil. It's only described. So I did. I used my imagination.

[Natalie Jean]

I loved that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

But I don't. You know, I am happy that you weren't upset with me for not knowing who you were because it would be so weird. Well, then I'm not going to talk to you for the rest of the day.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, I'm not dying to. I'm not going to read the episode. Should I get real diva like, and just, like, go into the waiting. Our very not fancy waiting room here and just refuse to come out.

[Natalie Jean]

Here's the thing, Natalie. If you did do that, you know that I would bend to your will no matter what you wanted. This is. I'm gonna say it's my easy button, you know, you just saying, I won't do it. I'm like, okay, well, then whatever you want me to do, I will be. And that's called people pleasing 101.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But then you start to harbor secret resentment against me, and I. I hate that.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And I don't right now harbor one, but good. I'll let you know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

I'll let you know second by second.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

How I would much prefer that. I hate building up things like that. I hate it in friendships. I hate it in romantic relationships. I do not want to play games with you. No, please, just tell me. I always understand if I'm doing something bad. Just tell me.

[Natalie Jean]

Just tell me. Just tell me. I. I am an over communicator. I like that I wear. You know, sometimes it's very annoying that I wear my emotions on my sleeve, but it's also kind of great because you always know if I'm upset.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Much prefer it. I don't want to. To be secretly angry with me. That is like a nightmare.

[Natalie Jean]

I can't be. I. I have to be outwardly angry.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's literally anxiety 101 for me. I just can't handle it. So we're with Pippa. Pippa doesn't care if you're mad at her.

[Natalie Jean]

Nope.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's for sure.

[Natalie Jean]

Nope.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She is watching with rapt attention as the rescue ship heads towards them.

[Natalie Jean]

I know. It's kind of fun, though, because it is like these two, honestly, like, looking at the two of us as badass, scary, running two separate ends of this, both staring at it as it's happening in just like a stern. Oh, I love that we both dressed up as that. This is great.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We're both angry at those children, at.

[Natalie Jean]

Those kids, and we don't give a if they Die.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, they really don't.

[Natalie Jean]

But we need a meal.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We need a meal. I gather from where they float, they are concealed by night, but close enough that they're not that far from the port of Sast. Because as we cut over to Pippa, it's like in the moments following where we just were with Sophie, and she can see the ship in the shore from, like, far away. So her thoughts are pretty cold. As we're in with this little section with her and concerned only with a corner acquiring Sophie back as well as her brother. It seems like her humanity has long since evaporated. Trying to destroy the Asteri. Ironically, she is angry with Sophie.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Who's the human that did die? The one that lived inside of her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Makes you think.

[Natalie Jean]

Makes you think.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That was Linda.

[Natalie Jean]

Just pure coming out of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I. I think I love this wig.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's great. You look really cute.

[Natalie Jean]

I think I want. I want my hair to be exactly like this. This.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's. It's a good look on you.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

This. This color of blonde is a good, warm color on you.

[Natalie Jean]

Is that what it is? Is it warmth? Is that. It's like. What is the. Like the level.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's got a golden hue to it.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she does want Sophie back, and she obviously wants a meal, but she's really angry with Sophie for doing a secret side quest. She wants to punish her, but is mostly concerned with retaining her. The cat.

[Natalie Jean]

Like she's an object.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. That's how she's thinking about her. The captain of this ship approaches Pippa with some reports. As they are able to communicate via radio with the approaching rescue ship. He informs her that Sophie has not, in fact, made it onto the rescue ship. Incensed, Pippa merely asks if the brother has made it. And. And this the captain confirms. Yes. She ignores the news about the other children that are on board because she doesn't care. She is angry.

[Natalie Jean]

But right now, Emil had made it to the ship. Was gaining him worth losing Sophie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So it's a bit of an ouch because she's just looking at them as, like, different chips to move around. And so she's not concerned if Sophie was killed or these kids are important in any way. She doesn't care. She wants a meal. And it's because Sophie has already told her that Emile's power is even greater than her own.

[Natalie Jean]

But I want him too. You have to go through me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Does she know? Does the hind know about a meal's power?

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know. Or only knows I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You don't know?

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cuz they were just having him in that camp, but maybe they know and they're just.

[Natalie Jean]

This is, this is the thing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So just then, as another sailor rushes towards them informing them that the rescue boat has the imperial submarines after it, just like Sophie had just seen in the previous section. And it looks like they're planning on sinking the rescue ship rather than letting those children escape.

[Natalie Jean]

Good.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, thanks. Thank God.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, I'm like, oh, where are the kids gonna go? You know what I mean?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Who's time to schedule that?

[Natalie Jean]

I'm sorry. Just the hind is like in my soul now. And I'm gonna have to tell Jeff that he's married to a now.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yep.

[Natalie Jean]

And watch as he feigns surprise like he wasn't always.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, oh, new wow.

[Natalie Jean]

You still.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Pip at least has the decency. And when she hears the news that they're planning on sinking the ship rather than letting the children escape, Pippa at least has the decency left inside of her to feel a little bit of dread at the cruelty of that.

[Natalie Jean]

Just, just a second of it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like she goes, like she goes. Oh, oh, oh.

[Natalie Jean]

Well let's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We gotta get a meal. We gotta get a meal. They prepare to charge the submarines to give the escape boat a chance. But then they are all shocked to see lights flicker out through all of the port city at the shore.

[Natalie Jean]

Uh oh, wait a second.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The entire city of Sir Vost goes black.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They gasp as they see a great beam of light reach out to one of the subs under the water. Miles of light. And when it retreats, all of the subs lights are gone as well. It's like the inverse of Bryce's power like causes darkness to leash on.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Pippa wonders if it's Sophie and her brother working in tandem as the other three submarines lose all of their lights as well. Because no matter how strong Sophie is, this is a grand feat. They watch, stunned as that last sub gets two torpedoes out before the darkness settles in on it. And even more light lights flighting up all of the waves in front of them stretch out and consume the torpedoes before they hit the rescue boat.

[Natalie Jean]

There's a lot of, a lot of a lot of big power working right now. Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's almost like that's why Sophie's so vital.

[Natalie Jean]

Whoa.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Then we cut back to that same basically same moment with Sophie bleeding out on the dock. She's not only now bleeding out, but her body has been wrecked by the immense exertion it took to blow up those torpedoes. When we return her, her fingers are dangling in the water, basically allowing her power to shoot through the water, which seems like it would electrocute a lot of things, but I don't know how magic works.

[Natalie Jean]

It's like, you know, it's a focused beam. Like, she's beaming. It's fine.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's true. Because Aylin can control the heat of her fire, right? That's very.

[Natalie Jean]

So I imagine she has that control. But also, though, in that, like, abusing like the last bits of power, though, how much control could she have? I don't know. I mean, not enough to kill everybody.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

At least not kill everybody. But now that she's done this huge feat, she is drained of her power entirely. And it will be too long to come back to help her. Here. She sees military boots approaching her and looks up to see the cruel Hind. Standing over her.

[Natalie Jean]

Is the sound she would make. And imagine just being so drained, being like, okay, I guess. All right, Are you intimidating me at this point? Point. Are we.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are you just trying to annoy me?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, a little bit. I guess. I'm like, drawing it out. But also I'm like, I don't know what. Like, I want your last. Like, I don't, you know, be like, I want to be scary.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's coolly. In a way only a villain can react. She marvels at Sophie's power and how easily she took out all of her Dread Wolves because she did the evil thing. Being like, well, my Dread Wolves are all dead. Isn't that fascinating?

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, power does respect power, you know, I'm able to see when somebody else is powerful.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I mean, fair. In hauntingly gentle voice, she offers to let Sophie alone on this pier, leave her alive, if she will inform her who Sophie gave this mystery obviously important intel to. Of course, Sophie won't give it up. So the Hind tells her, okay, well, then I guess we're going to go for a ride.

[Natalie Jean]

Going for a ride.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sophie is carried to.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm sorry. Don't worry. I'll forget after this episode.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Such a sexy voice. Sophie is carried to a small boat by the remaining Dread Wolves. And she, the Hind and the. The ones carrying her drive for hours out into the middle of the deep ocean.

[Natalie Jean]

Cotton. All of that too. And you're like an hour road trip and we don't even have snacks and she's gonna sit back there and it sucks.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It'd be nice if you gave them at least us that again, just like a little bit of courtesy yeah, Give them a snack, like a juice box and some. Some crackers.

[Natalie Jean]

Isn't that great? It, like, gives them more life for you to take a torch. Yeah, exactly.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So they cut the engine out. Now they're in the middle of nowhere. No one can hear you scream. Unfortunately, that sucks. The Imperialists let down some kind of hatch on this boat, so that the boat basically has a plank on the side of it that, like, walks into the water. Sophie watches as the Hind pulls a white rock out of her pocket and drops it into the water, seeming to show Sophie just how far a drop it is to the bottom. It's like you said the ocean. You didn't really.

[Natalie Jean]

I feel like she really. But also, she's a. So she's got to do that. But I feel like it's like, all right, yeah, I get it. But again, yes. This is. This is so hurt. Like, let her cook. This is her space to shine, you know, this is where she wants to pull out a rock. Pull out a rock. Who knows what. What else she's got in her handy dandy pockets. And, you know, it's like part of the.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The art of it being like, oh, God, will it be a drill? Will it be a sponge? Will it be the pliers?

[Natalie Jean]

How will I use it against you?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know. So after that, the Hind asks her again to jog her memory about who she gave info to. Sophie thinks about all the pain she just witnessed in the camps and decides in that moment, maybe in the last few moments of her life, that she doesn't feel as sorry for participating in the rebellion. She will die for it, in fact. No one, she repeats, I didn't tell anyone. The Hind calmly points to the edge of the platform leading to the water's edge.

[Natalie Jean]

To the edge with you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sophie's legs and arms are chained and heavy with weights. There will be no surviving once she enters the water. Yet she is relieved, almost disbelieving, that the Hind isn't going to spend hours torturing her for information. A big galoot with them named Mordoc, one of the Hind's most vile henchmen. He's my pet, seems disappointed and says, boss, whiskey. Get it out of her if you give us a chance. Come on, Boss.

[Natalie Jean]

I am offended by you. I am triggered and traumatized by you right now by your newsies voice a little bit. Newsies? Yeah. Oh, you're the king of New York.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It does make me. It kind of immediately makes you think of the cartoon villains. From who? From Roger Rabbit.

[Natalie Jean]

I do. I Love all henchmen, all talking like this. Oh my God, boss, get me in there. Let me in there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So Mordoc is very bummed out and.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm like, you think I don't want to get in there? I love this shit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. But the Hind says in lazy voice, she's not wasting her time out here.

[Natalie Jean]

Why would I? I've got other things to do.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That Sophie can die with her secrets. The wolves haul her up and Sophie cries in pain over her shattered leg, but mostly feels sadness as she looks her last looks at the world, the smells, the sights, things she and we all take for granted. The Hind, smirking, asks her if she has any last words.

[Natalie Jean]

Emil had gotten away. It was all that mattered. He'd be kept safe now. Sophie smiled crookedly at the Hind.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Go to hell.

[Natalie Jean]

Mordoc's clawed hands shoved her off the platform. The frigid water hit Sophie like a bomb blast, and then the lead at her feet grabbed all that she was and might have been and pulled her under. The Hind stood a phantom in the chilled mist of the Haldrin Sea and watched until Sophie Ranast had been wrapped in Aginis's embrace.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

All she was might have been very sad.

[Natalie Jean]

It's just like, you think, this bitch ain't gonna do this again. She's gonna make me like a character immediately and immediately kill them off right this sjm. What you doing to us, dude? I was like, hell yeah. The world of Thunderbirds. Okay, let's go Thunderbirds, said Thunderbird. You all that cool, sucking up the energy, all that gone.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or is it?

[Natalie Jean]

Or is it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

What?

[Natalie Jean]

That was the sound. The two evilest bitches in the room.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay, stop.

[Natalie Jean]

And we're coming for you. And we're coming back next week. We'll see everybody. We'll see you next week.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I gotta get out here.

[Natalie Jean]

Please read up until chapter two for next next week.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Creativity is at the heart of everything.

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