Reaper, Chapters 3 & 4

Thank you so much to Andy for commissioning this episode!
These chapters are the ones where we get to check back in with Mercy, Orthos, and Ziel. I was so relieved to see them, and also really pleased to see that they all seem like they're going to be basically okay. Well, other than Orthos still being absolutely HUGE.
Also, Lindon finds out about the Sect Of Twin Stars and doesn't react at all how I'd expected.
Thanks so much to you all for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
covering Cradle Book ten Reaper chapters three and four. In
these chapters we get to check in on Mercy and
zeal and Orthos. But I think the thing that we

(00:26):
are all most excited about is now Way She Jaron
knows who he has been fucking with or does he?
Welcome to spoil Me. Welcome to the show, everyone, I

(00:59):
am the Tasha. Thank you so much to Andy for
commissioning this episode. Andy is here in the chat, as
are a few others. Thanks guys for joining me. I
am so guys. Oh my god. I know we were
all waiting for this, right. I have said this so
many times about how impressed I am with the way

(01:20):
that Will White has handled the family dynamic in these books,
and it makes this like payoff moment all the more satisfying.
At the same time, I would really like to temper
my excitement by saying that just because Way She Jeron

(01:41):
gets hit in the face with the reality of the
situation here does not mean that this shit will really
click and land and stay. Because I think we have
all witnessed, especially over the last few years, how people
can be presented with what seems like irrefutable evidence, and

(02:04):
they will just keep thinking whatever the fuck they feel
like thinking. And way she jeron, it seems gets the picture.
But I am really not gonna try and hold my
breath about how long that lasts. I'm going to try
and enjoy the moment for what it is, and we

(02:28):
will see. That's the thing that I wanted to address
off the top because I'm so excited about it. I
have a lot more to say about the scene, of course,
but we are going to back up to the beginning
of chapter three, in which Linden discovers the Athan has
been creating a sect around him. This was really, honestly

(02:53):
kind of touching. So Linden comes into camp and what
I hadn't bargained for is.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
That the way he's at Yeah, I expected Linden to
be recognized, and I don't know why I thought that.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I'm just so you know, I'm living in the world
of Twitter and TikTok, where shit gets shared wildly, and
you know who somebody looks like. Within you know, an
hour of them going viral, everybody's seen their face, and
I guess that they do have the projections of the
Uncrowned Tournament, So I keep thinking that, like, everybody's going

(03:36):
to know him. He has run into people. Was it
a family of stags or something that like basically wanted
his autograph when he ran into them while he was
traveling with a cour of charity. But out here people
don't even know what the Uncrowned King Tournament is, So

(03:56):
I was continuing to apply the same sort of expectation
to people that I forget. Basically, if you watch the
Young Crowned King Tournament, that is the equivalent of you
having like cable internet right, and everybody out here is
working on getting their like dial up routers installed. That's

(04:22):
the situation. We've got people with just such advanced and
then people who don't even like comprehend how advanced it
can be because they're completely removed from it. Solyndon walks
into the camp for his own sect and people don't
know who he is, which is hilarious because let's be honest, guys. Okay,

(04:49):
I'm gonna put this to all of you to answer,
and I really want you to be honest. Okay, how
many of you, let's say you're this wildly powerful prodigy essentially,
and you walk up in some place that is like
dedicated to you, and people don't recognize you immediately because

(05:15):
you're a name to them but not a face. Do
you immediately tell them who the fuck you are? Because
I would, I mean I definitely would, absolutely fucking would.
I swear to God. Later on, when he gives the

(05:37):
pill to his dad and his dad is like, did
your sect leader give you this? I wanted so much
for Linda to be like, I'm a sect leader, but
he doesn't because Lindon is better than me, He's better
than all of us. He doesn't. That isn't even something
that comes to him to say. It's like it's not written.

(06:02):
Lindon almost mentioned he was the sect leader because I
think he knows it doesn't matter. He could say he's
the sect leader and his father wouldn't like that would
not Nothing that comes out of Lyndon's own mouth is
going to convince his father because he as the source,
is untrusted, so he has just sort of given up.

(06:24):
But like for me, I want credit. I want people
to fucking know I put the work in. I saved
y'all's asses, even though y'all tried to turn on me
and kill me because you are ignorant. So yeah, I'm
gonna fucking tell you who I am. And I'm not

(06:46):
mad at him for not telling them. I admire that
he's not trying to throw his name around. But it
really was a stark moment for me of like, oh God, Okay,
this is like what a good person looks like versus
some one like me. This is what like Linden's desire
for power is just very different because of this aspect

(07:09):
of his personality. You know, you combine his desire for
power with my kind of personality. We had a problem.
That's not going well. Man, that's not well for any
of you. But yeah, like Linda, it just doesn't work
this way for him. Sadie, Oh, let's see. Jan says

(07:32):
I would unveil my core to flex. Jan gets it.
Sadie says, I would drop so many hints until someone
else figured it out. That's another approach. Be kind of
passive aggressive about it, you know, and see if anybody
gets it. The thing is the danger that you run
into with being passive aggressive, based on the behavior that

(07:54):
we have seen from others in this society, is that
if your passive aggressive and then somebody does figure out
who you are. They are going to assume, once they
figure it out, that you hate them or something. You know,
they're going to think that you were being passive aggressive
because you were like insulted in a way that you're

(08:17):
going to take out some kind of vengeance on them for,
you know, because they injured your pride, because pride is
like the number one thing out here, and I don't
want to deal with people falling all over themselves, apologizing,
bowing to me, scraping and asking me not to hurt them,
because I feel like that's what would happen, you know.
So passive aggressive is just too much trouble in the end,

(08:39):
in my opinion, but it is a way to handle it.
Asher says, no way. I don't want to be perceived regardless,
much less by people who think they know who I
am but don't. That's interesting, Asher, by people who think
they know who I am but don't. Okay, I guess
I see that. I guess I see that as like

(09:00):
a self preservation thing. Aaron says, No, it's fun to
see what's up before letting them know, and once the
cat's out of the bag, you can't go back. That's
a really good point. That's a really good point. I
guess you get a much clearer sense of how everyone
is feeling and what's going on in the camp without

(09:22):
them knowing. Rob I delight in far too much dramatic
irony before telling the truth. See says we got a malice.
Absolutely I am. I've said already a few times that
I identify a little bit too much with malice and
just no nobody wants it from Random's I'd want to

(09:44):
be anonymous. I would not have let that fly with
Jeron though, Yeah this is the thing, Okay, we'll get there, Sammy.
I would try to get all the tea before I
reveal it. Yeah. So I think that that's a really
good point, guys, And clearly like that is how he

(10:05):
is choosing to operate here. Lindon has every suspicion in
the world where this sect is coming from and where
the you know, flags have who designed them and handed
them out. So it's not as if he's walking into
this going, oh my god, I have no idea what's happening.
He can see that it's probably in regard to him,

(10:28):
and that is extra motivation for him to not be
straightforward about who he is. But there is this interaction
that he has with this girl and he doesn't ask
her name because he knows if he asks, she will
ask his and he doesn't want to tell her. And
he just says out loud, what is the sect of

(10:53):
twin Stars? And he's talking to Athan because he knows
Athan can hear him. But this girl overhears him and
thinks that he's just like sort of thinking out loud,
and she comes over to tell him that they're great.
They'll take anybody, no matter what path you're on, and
they offer protection and they will help get us fucking

(11:13):
out of here, because she recognizes what a dangerous backwoods
this is. And that is what sort of gives Linden pause.
I think his instinct at seeing this set up is
to be upset and want to say like, no, I
don't want this, you know, like maybe I don't deserve it,

(11:35):
or it's too much responsibility. But Lindon's whole deal has
been protecting people. He has been so concerned people who
just frankly could give less of couldn't give less of
a shit about him, and he has like he sees
that this girl is so excited, and first of all,

(11:58):
makes a mental note that like, well, whatever we decide
to do, I'll definitely make sure she has a spot.
And when he goes and talks to Athan because of this,
it goes very differently than what I was expecting. So
at first he does do the I don't know how
to lead a sect and Ethan rather than being like,

(12:22):
don't worry about it, you'll grow into it. Instead Athan's like, well,
you don't have to lead the sect. I will lead
the sect, and you can just be like our mysterious figurehead.
You can be somebody that's like just unknowable, so outside
of the sphere of their own power and influence that

(12:45):
your mere name is the weapon and it doesn't actually
have a lot to do with you, just your reputation,
which that's the way a lot of this shit goes anyway.
So I feel like that's as soon as he says
this again, I am expecting Linden to push back and

(13:08):
be like, well that's not cool, and instead he goes
another and I love this, so much, so much, so much.
Linden says, this is perfect. We had to keep borrowing
the name of House Aurelius or the Acura clan, but
now we can act on our own you know what

(13:29):
we can do with an organization behind us. Besides, you
taught me my cycling technique and guided me in my
pure Madra techniques. You have more right to the path
of twin Stars than anybody but me and draws. Ethan
looked from his own bandages to Linden's sling. If I
hugged you right now with that put an awkward strain
on our relationship. Guys, I cannot tell you how delighted

(13:51):
I was by this. I didn't want to sit through
Linden arguing about having a sect. I just didn't want
to do it. It was the kind of thing that I
was like, this, dude, this the ship has sailed. There
are flags everywhere, there are acolytes being inducted, like this
is done, so get on board or I don't know what.

(14:14):
And I was just really glad that he immediately jumps
on and even agrees with the overall layout and gives
Ethan credit, because this was what I was sort of wondering,
and I'm still wondering. Linden's cycling method is from Ethan.

(14:35):
What is it? The Heaven and Earth technique? That's it? Right?
And it's essentially like a massive secret. Ethan created a
cycling method to essentially cause cores to expand to a

(14:57):
point where the sheer amount of modure you hold in.
It seems to a regular person as if that would
be impossible. That was if you guys remember back to
book two when he like refills the uh, the cloud
ship and I think it's Fisher Gesha who, by the way,

(15:18):
where is she? I want to know? But she's comments
on how he like fills the cloudship up in moments
with Madra that would have probably taken her a month
to produce or something like this, So Heaven and Earth
purification wheel, thank you. See, So this technique is secret.

(15:44):
Lindon and Athan are as far as we know, the
only people who use it. I'm not sure about Athan's brother,
but I don't get that impression. And the Sect of
Twins Stars is so named because Linden has two cores

(16:06):
because he split his core, But it doesn't seem as
if there's been any mention of teaching accolytes to split
their cores. Which when you say sect of twin Stars,
I'm just assuming that that's because everybody's going to follow
that same like methodology, And I don't have any evidence

(16:27):
for that. That's just what I would assume, and I
don't think you can do that viably without those people
also learning the Heaven and Earth Purification wheel, because they
can't function with so little madra in each core, and
you can't really split your core if you already have

(16:48):
a path. Is that right? I feel like it worked
for Linden because he hadn't picked a path by the
time he found that technique, so it was possible for
him to change one of his cores. I may not
have this right. It might be possible after and it's
just harder once you've like you know, advanced it a

(17:09):
long way with one technique to then add a second
path and have to start kind of from scratch when
you have another path that you've already moved so far
down the road with. So perhaps this is something that
they would only teach to the very young, and those
who are older could either take the risk if they
wanted to, or they would just forego it and train

(17:34):
with the sect but not use the twin Star technique.
So yeah, I'm just very curious about it. I I'm
interested to see if it comes up for anybody, because
since London and Ethan both do not mention this at all.

(17:54):
They don't mention the twin star technique. They don't mention
the purification like being thing that they're going to share.
They talk about it in terms of the name of
the sect and Ethan deserving credit along with Linden. But
that's all. So it doesn't sound like they're planning on
teaching anybody else. And I wonder if it's going to

(18:16):
become an issue. Are there going to be people who
have recognized that Linden has two cores and they're going
to start to demand to know how that works. Are
because they're part of the sect and they expected that
to be something that was shared with them, Or maybe
it's going to be something that like, well, we'll tell
you once you've advanced enough, or you've trained long enough

(18:36):
with us, or reached a certain level of trust with us.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
You know.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
I don't know, so anyway, I h I'm just eager
to see how all of that works, because frankly, I
don't really know the way that this shit works normally,
you know, the formation of sects versus kingdoms and tribes.

(19:04):
It's all extremely nebulous, and it seems like for the
most part, at least in the real world. It's just
like whatever you decide to name yourself. You know, they
could have been called the Twin Star Tribe, and probably
that it wouldn't have mattered. But I am wondering if
we're gonna get more on that. So anyway, So there's

(19:24):
this moment here, and guys, I feel like, so the
thing I asked last episode about Malice sending the cloud
Ship away and then it coming back because it was
anchored by Rayganshen, there's this moment here Windfall has come
through a portal and Linden assumes that Athan did it,

(19:48):
and Athan says, as eager as I am to claim
credit for that, it actually crawled out of a shadow
without warning or explanation. I begin to wonder if Malice
has some kind of grudge against me why sending the
Fortress back was a favor. It was my shadow that
it popped out of. So this is I don't understand

(20:14):
why she would be mad at Ethan here and sending
it through a shadow. By the way, so rad I really,
but I feel like there's something here that I'm missing
a little bit. And you know that's fine. I don't
need to I'm sure it doesn't matter in the granular sense.
Probably the overall motivation is what matters, which I'm sure

(20:38):
I will be let in on. But yeah, Linden said
they should have room for us in the Black Flame Empire.
Narouseya suggested the emperor was very pleased with us, and
Athan says, just between you and me and any monarchs
that happen to be eavesdropping on us, I suspect they'll
be sending some cloudships for us soon. They won't have

(20:58):
missed a dread god's rampage, and they know we were involved.
Naar Ujuan has an opportunity, But we would be the
most powerful beings in the empire by a huge margin.
Our presence could change the entire landscape of the nation.
Not to mention their relationship with the Akura clan, which

(21:18):
is frankly kind of red. Like the Okuras have reigned
supreme in such a way, and while we have had
a great experience with mercy for the most part, and
while I do enjoy me a malice and fury was

(21:38):
a fucking delight, I can't deny that the Akuras just
have like had such a supreme reign for such a
while that I'm not mad about the fact that maybe
things are going to turn towards the Black Flame Empire
a little bit more. I mean, they're of the core,

(22:01):
but do you know what I mean? It's like what
they're saying, let's see. Rob says, I think it's just
pettiness for the team defying her in return in returning
to the dread God battlefield. Gotcha? Okay, So Lindon says,

(22:22):
if we go to the empire, that solves our problems.
We can leave if they want us to later. But
there are too many people here. Even clean water is expensive,
and Ethan starts to be like, it's gonna be really risky,
and then he stops and is like, what am I doing?
Risky sounds great. I definitely want to do this. Absolutely,
let's go. So this is when he has this moment

(22:50):
of looking around at the structure of the sect and
thinks about how he wants to be here to protect everybody,
but he can't be everywhere at once. He's gonna have
shit to do, and Athan essentially is like, that's the
point of having a sect. We train people so that
they can protect one another, so that it is not

(23:10):
all on you. And Linden is looking around. He could
sense the tension quivering in the air, like a vibration
in the vital aura. These people had all lived through
a dread God rampage, and they never knew when it
might return. The only ones who looked confident were those
wearing the Sect of Twin Stars logo. They belonged to

(23:31):
an organization that would survive, one that could protect them.
I see, Linden said, I thought you would, so let
me go to Orthos and Orthos is still giant, still
suspended as he's continuing to heal, and the conversation, it's

(23:55):
so good. Once again, these people don't recognize Linden and
they're just being respectful to him because Orthos is being
respectful to him. And they're like, well, if Orthos likes
the guy, then I mean my god. And Linden controlled
but wind Aura to levitate up to Orthos so they
could speak eye to eye, and Orthos is trying to

(24:18):
tell him, can you ask them to lower me to
the ground. I don't need to be floating, and Linden
is like, yeah, that's Athan's like direct order, though, so
I'm pretty sure they wouldn't listen to me. And honestly, Lindon,
you're so full of shit. If Lindon dropped his veil,

(24:38):
they would do anything he asked the second he asked it,
and he knows it. But he's just I think he's
just worried about his friend and he's keeping him there.
So he says, I've heard of giant sacred beasts, and
I knew you were going to transform, But how Orthos
laughed and several of the golds lost their feet bigger

(25:00):
than you expected. I thought you'd be a dragon, Linden admitted, Linden,
How very dare you? I couldn't believe he said that
shit to him out loud. What are you doing? That
is so insulting? I thought you'd be a dragon. He

(25:21):
kids a dragon, you know he is. That's what he'd
been calling himself. Why why would you do that? That's
just so it's so rude. Look, I get what he's
what he's saying, but you know him better than that. Man.
This is like somebody like putting on a cute outfit

(25:44):
to go to the club, and you walk out in
your cute outfit and the person you're going with is like,
I thought you were gonna change into something cute, like
what don't you dare so anyway, Orthos puts him in
the correct frame of mind pretty damn quickly. I'm more

(26:06):
dragon than any of those proud gold dragons who ambushed
you like cowards. That is the truth, correct Orthos. And
Orthos says, I didn't realize it would take so much
soul fire to grow and just as much to shrink.

(26:26):
That's because you did it so quickly and without practice.
You strain your channels and your body. If you practice
changing and do it gradually, you'll lessen the strain and
the cost. At least that's what it's normally like for
sacred beasts who take human form. So this is all
coming from information that he is getting thanks to Dross

(26:49):
his presence, even though Dross himself is unconscious and it
causes some grief for him to like even pull this
in from out and present it. This is a tough
thing that keeps coming up, is that Linden is able
to use like draws as a hard drive in a

(27:11):
lot of ways. It's Dross was the one who like
processed the information usually and made it more, gave it context,
you know, a lot of the time. So it's not
like he doesn't he's lost all of the knowledge that
he had. He has it, it's just a really different

(27:33):
He has to like consciously go into his mind and
find what he and like think things through himself. It's
not just being told to him by a processor. And
this really is interesting. The concept of him being able
to sort of still use this ability feels like the

(27:54):
wrong word because I'm calling draws an ability, but like
this advantage. I suppose he's still able to use it,
but it's not what it was, and using it still
feels weird because it's like, I mean, it's like your

(28:15):
friend being in a coma, you know, and you're using
their fingerprint to unlock their iPhone so that you can
get in and get access to shit you need. And
it's like you know that they would help you if
you asked, if they were a conscious and awake, but
it still kind of is just like, oh, I just
like this is sort of icky and weird, and I'm
so sad about it, and I hate this for him.

(28:36):
I truly, I really wonder if and when Dross returns
to himself, how much of this he's gonna remember or
know about, or what he'll be Like, I just keep
coming back to it. So at this point, Orthos tells

(28:56):
him essentially that you need someplace to curl up and rest.
You have been pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, which is something
that people have been saying to him since like book three,
But this is the first time that Linden has been
in any position to sort of want to agree, because
it looks like the crisis he had been prepping for

(29:17):
the whole time is over. We know that that is
not the case, but he doesn't. So Orthos looks at
Windfall and says, that's a base, but it could be
a home if you made it one, and Linden's like,
I'm going to try. Orthos says, maybe the greatest challenge

(29:37):
I could give you is to keep your feet still
for a month, and he asks Lindon to take him
with him. I'm not sure you'll fit. Then you'll just
have to wait for me, won't you? Not just to you?
I don't plan on going alone, and Orthos says, well,

(29:59):
you really need to check on the others then, because
Mercy still hasn't woken up, And this is when we
find out what's going on with Mercy. Yo. This is awful.
I mean, like truly. This sucks. So Mercy is stuck
in the page, the fifth page in the Book of

(30:23):
Eternal Night, which is dream of Darkness. It's the fear page.
It's tap into somebody's darkest nightmares. And she's stuck there.
Oh man. And we find out that what happened is

(30:47):
that she was able to advance because she kept the
book open for such a long time that it grew
easier and easier, and once she kept it open, it
forced an advancement that was unstable. So and it's like,

(31:07):
it's not a proper like basically, she's going to need
it sounds like, and you guys can correct me if
I'm wrong here, but it sounds like she's gonna need
some TLC to fix this issue so that she can
advance properly to the next stage. And it's interesting because

(31:29):
she's talking to Lindon about this when he comes in eventually,
because at first she's just being fucking stalked by these
like creatures of darkness that are feeding on her fear.
And he comes in and puts his hand on her
shoulder and she screams and turns and sees him, and
at first she's like, is this an illusion because I
have imagined being rescued a couple times already. But then

(31:52):
it becomes clear pretty quickly, like, no, this is actually him.
So she is, Oh, let's see. Brian says it didn't
force an advancement. She got stuck using a page beyond
her actual advancement. Oh okay, because that when she says,

(32:15):
I'm trying to find the spot. Let's see. Why did
you end up here when your armor broke? I had
it open too long after the tournament you and Yerin advanced.
I had to lean on the book to fight Safara,
and the more practiced I got, the easier it was
to keep the page open. That's how it works when
you're close to advancing. So I just kept it open

(32:36):
as expected. Linden caught her, meaning immediately, your advancement wasn't stable.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
So.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
Did it try to advance her? Is that because like
when he says your advancement wasn't stable, it sounds like
it was trying to force an advancement. What does he mean? Then,
when she had faced down the Titan, it had crushed
her armor too quickly, her unstable spirit had collapsed, and
the book had filled in the gaps. So does he

(33:09):
mean her temporary advancement was unstable, that the advancement that
was caused by the book being open grew unstable, that's what.
So it wasn't an actual advancement. It was like the
temporary advancement crumbled and that's why she's stuck here now, Okay,

(33:30):
got it. I misunderstood how this was happening. So I
love this guys. He is so excited about being in
her spirit, looking around like this is wild? Can you
come here like this? Themes like you should be able
to just really come here? Can you do that? I

(33:50):
really want to look around? Is this like? Can everybody?
He's just got so many questions, And that's the thing
with Lindon, and I identify with this so very much,
especially with what I do for a living. Questions, questions, questions.
I want to know how everything works. That's always how
I've been And I always felt like such a goon
for asking those sorts of things until I began to

(34:12):
like grow older and realize that they're valid questions and
oftentimes they're what make universes feel real. And everything with
Linden comes back to that later on when he goes
and sees zeal it's the same thing. So this, guys,
this is so good. He eventually is like, you know what,

(34:33):
I'm so sorry. We should have saved his conversation for
after you were out of here. Let's leave, and she says,
I'm not sure you can just release. Linden commanded the
book vomited her up instantly at his order. That is
such good shit. I love it so much. Oh my god.

(34:55):
And she's really embarrassed here and it's like, I thought,
I couldn't help you unless I can could keep up
because she's back to underlady and Linden, of course, out
of anybody, is going to understand what it's like to
feel like you are holding everybody back. He has all
the sympathy and he is very careful, and he's like,

(35:17):
you know, of course, if you advanced, that would be great,
but it doesn't matter. We're going to the labyrinth and
we want you to come. And she is just still
sort of doubting whether or not it would be helpful
to have somebody like her along, and is really reeling
from having to second guess her own ability in the

(35:41):
first place, because she has always been somebody who advanced faster,
sooner and more powerfully than any of her peers, and
now she's surrounded by people who have advanced before her
and seem to have a better grasp on things and
are now saving her. And that is a really understandable

(36:02):
reaction her just being like, I don't know what to
do now, which is something that I want to bring
up later when we talk about Jeron. So this is
when she's like realizing after he leaves that he said
that he wants to explore the labyrinth, and she's like, fuck,
I have to figure out a way to get Charity

(36:23):
to not notice that we're doing this so she can
tell when I'm lying. She can smell lies, is the
way it's written, So I have to figure out a
way to do this without lying. And then we go
to Zeal who it's just so much fun being in
his head. I always enjoy it. It's like so depressing sometimes,

(36:43):
but in a way that just makes you like him
more because he's so hard on himself, he's hard on
everybody really, and he is starting to finally feel a
little bit better in his spirit and is laying there
just like, ugh, I am so bored. I need something

(37:05):
to do. And then there's a knock at the door
and he's like, oh, that is not what I meant
you guys, do you know who Zeo reminds me of?
And those of you who don't listen to the other
unspoiled shows, this might not mean anything to you. Zeo
reminds me of my co host Rashan. She covered Harry
Potter with me, She's covering the Dress and Files with
me now, and she's the unspoiled one for those. And

(37:27):
Rashan is just very over everybody shit. And her idea
of like a nice weekend is to wrap up in
a blanket and watch ted Lasso for twelve straight hours
while scrolling her phone and playing Candy Crush and not

(37:48):
seeing a soul. And the idea of people just like
showing up and wanting to hang out is extremely stressful.
And say she's coming to stuff, and she like low key,
does not intend to come just to get people off
her back because she feels weird about like saying no

(38:10):
in person, and that's it just feels so Rashawan on
this whole thing. Zill's deal is being like I want
only to deal with myself. I don't want to involve
other people. I don't want to be part of a team.
But he still has like a conscience and he still
has a sensitivity that basically like backs him into a

(38:35):
corner sometimes and he does things that he otherwise doesn't
really want to because he isn't. There's when you have
that kind of of conscious and conscience and empathy, you
don't want to be a dick as much as you
feel like being a dick would be the most expeditious

(38:55):
choice right now. So he just keeps turning like I
don't I'm not your friend, I'm not part of this crew.
And Linden will be like, oh, well, I apologize, and
he's just like, god, damn it, I don't apology now
I feel bad. Like it just goes around and around.

(39:15):
So yeah, when he says he's busy, Linden apologizes, never mind,
I was lying. Zeal said come in, and Linden comes
in and says, I don't think I've ever been on
a proper tour of your fortress, and Zeal is like, ugh,
here comes the small talk, and no, Linden asks, does

(39:36):
yours have the same foundational scripts that ours does? And
later Zeal considers that maybe telling Linden this whole thing
isn't the best idea, but also like if the dude
wants to pull his scripts apart, he's definitely powerful enough
to do it, so it doesn't matter really. And also

(39:57):
the fact that Linden is asking about the functionality and
the skill behind assembling a home like this, that is
what zeal is about. He doesn't want to talk about
what it looks like and have a meaningless, surface level conversation.

(40:19):
He wants to have a genuine conversation with somebody else
who cares as much as he does about certain details,
and who also is proficient and has an appreciation for
the subtlety of aspects of things. And this is one
hundred percent my energy. Also, and I think probably a
lot of people here, small talk is excruciating. I'm very

(40:43):
good at it when I have to be. I have
always been put in customer service positions because of that,
but I don't enjoy it. It feels difficult, and I
always need extra time to recharge after I get out
of that sort of situation because it felt so draining.
When you get to have a real conversation with somebody
that you see things the same way you do on

(41:06):
a certain topic, it's so nice to just be able
to let your guard down and not have to talk
about the weather or the latest episode of succession, and
you can just talk about something genuine with real passion.
And it's obvious that Zeal is a little bit more
hungry for that than he wants to be, you know. He,

(41:29):
I think, fancies himself as more of a loner than
he truly is, and it's just because he has not
met the right people. And a lot of folks are
like that. They only have a couple of close friends
because for the most part, they don't connect with plenty
of folks out there. And that's fine, you know. I
think having a few close friends is personally always the

(41:52):
way I have functioned. And I used to think that
there was something sort of wrong with me, and I've
begun to realize I'm just very choosy, and I prefer it.
I just don't want to spend time with people that
I don't fully enjoy, you know. So this is uh
when he says, let's see, I appreciate the chance to

(42:16):
learn from a master, and Zeal's like, hmm, scripts didn't
help me against the Weeping Dragon, and Linden's like, yeah,
but it was a script formation that we caned the
Titan enough for us to drive it off, and Zeal's like, exactly,
that is master work, my little ship here not it?
So whoever built that is the person you want to

(42:38):
fucking talk to. And Linden is like, thank you for
segueing me. That is what I want to talk to
you about. We are going to go into the labyrinth
and immediately Zee's like, no, thank you, bye, and oh
my god, here guys, it's a back and forth for

(43:02):
a minute here. But Linden looked back up and Zeal
felt a chill. Lindon's eyes changed color often, and this
was nothing so overt, but something had changed. Nonetheless, one
more thing. If you don't mind you say you're not

(43:22):
part of our team, I say you're the only one
who thinks that you're not even really a team, Zeal said, dismissively.
You're not a sect, and two of you are only
part of the Eurelias clan in name. Mercy's going back
to her mother the second she calls. And if you
think Athan cares about you more than about what he
can get out of you, well you're not that naive. Somehow,

(43:44):
though that chill Zeale felt had deepened. Anyone who fights
a dread god by my side is on my team,
Linden said quietly. Zeal didn't have much to say to that.
You can call us what you want, Linden went on,
but whether or not you consider yourself my ally, I

(44:05):
am yours. You have only to call on me. That
was hardly fair. It turned out that Zeal had more
than just a drop of pity and left because now
some guilt was seeping out of his long dry heart.
I love it so much. I know you have far

(44:25):
more experience than I do, so I apologize if I'm
overstepping my bounds, but I think you've seen what you
can do on your own. We're going farther and I
want you to join us. Finally, Zeal realized where that
chill was coming from. He wasn't talking to Lindon anymore.
That was the void sage, and he leaves and seals

(44:46):
just like, oh I knew I shouldn't have opened the door.
And that's the end of that section. So okay, So
we have a moment with with Linden and Jiron. Guys. So, Jiron,

(45:08):
first of all, does not believe that Linden knows what
he's talking about in terms of putting these remnant eyes
over his own eyes. Linden says something about how it
won't even be painful, and Jiron thinks that he's being insulted,
basically that the insinuation is that he's afraid of pain, which, yeah, Lindon,

(45:30):
even I knew that was the wrong thing to say.
And he says something like I had pain that you
can never imagine, and I'm just like, oh man, you
just really have not heard the stories? Have you, like
not really heard them? And Linden loses his temper so
bad that he breaks the table and his father topples

(45:50):
over and Linden has to catch him with Windoor and
I love the fact that Jiron's just like, what happened?
Did you break something? Yeah? Yeah, Tron, yes he did.
It was almost you. Maybe try and be cool. So
then Lynden gives him a pill because he keeps being like,

(46:10):
just get me to Jade, Just get me to Jade,
and my eyes will fix themselves, and Linden's like they will,
but not enough, like it won't be as good as
if you let me do this and then you advance
to Jade. But when he puts up this fight. Linden
basically like chucks the pill at him and is like,
take this, then, fucking do it. It'll bring you to Jade.

(46:30):
It'll bring you to I think, he says low Gold,
and oh no, it does bring him to Jade. But
he says, I'll sponsor you through true gold. Uh. And
when he says, is this this what your sect leader
gave you? Is this what they used on you? And
Linden says, no, I found this on an underlord after

(46:51):
I killed him and devoured his spirit, which just is
the scariest sentence. And then he was I'm throwing it
away because it was defective. Linden, What are you doing?
Why did you say that? Because he's just pissed, That's why.

(47:13):
It's just because he's angry. But honestly, you have to
know he's not gonna want this now. Fuck So anyway,
he walks out the door because he's in such a
rage and he doesn't want to deal with his dad anymore,
and he runs into his mother. I have to say,
I am so delighted with Satia because I didn't know
if like his sister has clearly grown to understand what

(47:40):
Lennon's power really is not fully, but she gets it
much more than her parents. And I was wondering, are
either of his parents ever gonna fucking really clock what's
gone on here? And Saytia has finally started to grasp
it started, and I have to say something in like

(48:05):
Jurn's not so much his defense but in his favor.
Jern really trusts his wife's judgment, and I love that
he is like aware that his understanding of things is limited,
and so basically if his wife is impressed, then he's like,
oh shit, which I don't know. That just speaks to

(48:27):
my heart a little bit. It's so rare for women's
judgment to be taken seriously, and considering what a stubborn
bastard he is, his total faith in her assessment of
things is sort of touching. And I just kept being like,
unexpectedly like all every time he displayed like the trust

(48:50):
in her that he has. And it's sort of funny
because she has kept trying to explain to him what
Linden's deal is and he keeps not believing her anyway,
even though she's getting progressively more fucking irritated and impatient
with him, which he consents and it's just that everything

(49:11):
that she's telling him flies in the face of what
he thinks he understands. And she says this to Lindon
essentially like, look, he is being told that the entire
world that he thought he understood does not function the
way he thought. I know that he's such a ball breaker,

(49:34):
but please please give him a little bit more time.
He's been living a lie his whole life, and I
have got to say, guys, this is something that I
think it is really it gets to the heart of

(49:55):
the difference between two types of people. I've compared Linden's
struggle while he was in Sacred Valley with having essentially
like a disability, and how the people in Sacred Valley
have no interest in assisting a person who has a disability.
You're either seen as a productive, contributing member in a

(50:17):
very specific way, or you are not valued at all
at all, like he was. It's mentioned at one point
that if somebody killed him out of you know, from
another clan, his clan would have to apologize to them
for him being an inconvenience. That's how little he's valued.
And Jern was a little bit of like a baller

(50:43):
in that community. Like not hugely. He hadn't reached jade yet,
but that was because he got injured in a way
that sort of held him back. And it was well
known that his injury had sidelined him, but that he
was like still had kind of a badass, and he
was able to roll on that reputation a little bit,

(51:05):
and on his wife's reputation, and to a degree, his daughter.
She was coming up. You know, And when you are
in a society where you're doing well and you are
told that's not actually how it works, it is a

(51:27):
lot more likely that you're going to reject that. So
if you are somebody who is and I'm talking about
in our world, if you are somebody from a privileged
group of people, if you are white, if you are straight,
if you are a guy, if you are sis, it's

(51:48):
a lot harder for you to accept that maybe some
of the things you have accomplished in your life are
not because you're so great. It might just be because
of straight up how you were born, nothing to do
with your personal accomplishments, your drive. It all is circumstantial.

(52:13):
And nobody likes to hear that. Nobody wants to think that, Like,
I mean, yeah, you're doing very well. It was made
extremely easy for you, you know. And I'm not trying
to say that it was like easy for Giron, because
he's clearly been through some shit. But seeing his son
that he thought he knew what he was worth just

(52:37):
ascend that not only means that he didn't understand the
system the way he thought, but now he has been
plunged into a world where he is so low that
children are outstripping him in their advancement, literal children. And
the pride that these people have, I mean, yeah, that's

(52:58):
like poison. So Satia is somebody who is able to
step back and actually hear the experiences of other people,
and despite it being very difficult and her constantly having
to stop and reevaluate, like she tells Linden not to

(53:18):
be wasteful with this pill, and he says, one scale
from me could hire a refiner to make these pills
for the next ten years, and she has to, like
goddamn and like completely reassemble her understanding yet again. Once
you start to look at the system that we live

(53:39):
in and grow to understand the biases that exist in
our universe, that is how it is all the time
you constantly are faced with things that you hadn't considered
and that you didn't realize were an issue, and now
you have to fold that into your understanding. And extremely

(54:01):
tiring because your brain keeps wanting to believe the old
thing and you keep having to remind yourself that maybe
you didn't know what you were talking about and say
chap because she is such. She is somebody whose job
it was to take things apart and understand how they
were made and put them together, and she has a
drudge to help her with that. It makes sense that

(54:23):
she's a lot more open to new information, that she
is a lot more receptive to the evidence that's being
presented to her. Her drudge is looking at shit and going, Okay,
that is insane that they have made that. And she
has those tools because she's a critical thinker. And Doiran

(54:44):
hasn't ever had to operate that way because he's a
brute force kind of guy. So like to a degree,
I have a little bit of sympathy because when your
brain doesn't work that way, it is really hard. We
want to believe that we know how things work, and
being told that we don't, and being told that maybe
everything we have is not entirely due to our own merits.

(55:07):
It's an unwelcome thing to hear, but there it is.
So anyway, we have this moment where the Emperor is
coming to visit. First we're with Linden and Yarin and
Athan and they decide they're going to put on a
little show. In response, Yarin, to pass the time, it's

(55:32):
chucking blades of grass to knock down trees to make
a smiley face, setting aside how hilarious that is. Can
you not just knock a bunch of trees down, Yarin?
Come on, just leave the trees alone. Man, I'm just
imagining all these remnants from the trees being like, what
the fuck? Really? So we go back to Lyndon's family,

(55:59):
but we're in Jeron's POV and he finally agreed to
accept the eyes from his wife, which do work the
way that Linden said, And he is still saying to himself, well,
but I was right not to trust Linden on this
and let my wife do it. Like he still won't
accept that. Maybe Linden just fucking knows what he's talking about.

(56:20):
And what was interesting was that once we're in his POV,
his assertion which I wasn't really like considering, but it
makes a little bit of sense. His assertion is that, sure,
maybe Linden's powerful, but he's powerful because he advanced too
quickly and has probably permanently damaged his spirit and just

(56:43):
doesn't know it yet. You know what, I could understand
how he might think that it was actually because what
I was struggling with was like, you can see what
Linden is able to do, how do you not understand?
And that explanation I was like, oh, okay, so he
kind of thinks Linden cheated a little bit does not

(57:07):
excuse the fact that he doesn't believe Linden when Linden's
like explaining that's not how it worked, or his wife is,
you know. But nevertheless, it was enough of an explanation
as to how he's rationalizing what he sees with what
he still thinks is true that I was like that, okay,
I could see that actually, And this is when the

(57:33):
Emperor comes in with his fucking display. It's so so impressive.
And then Yerin does a display and by herself, I'm
pretty sure it's Yeren or maybe it was Athan, but
Seytia says that it was one person directly controlling the Madra.

(57:57):
It was not a script, and he like, can almost
not except that in the first place. And then there
is another display and it's four types of Madra. One
of them was Linden. He understood the truth that Linden

(58:19):
had been forcibly advanced, but couldn't help but think it
was a waste. What could someone else have accomplished with
those same resources? That sentence killed me. It's not just
how much more could Linden have done if he'd slowed down,
because it's just so not about Linden, it's what could

(58:40):
someone else have accomplished? All he can think about is
that Linden isn't worth it. That's what it always comes
back to, and it's so devastating to me. So the
Emperor comes out and Durn's like, oh shit, it's the Emperor.
And then he presses his fist together and bows, and
Jern's like, I guess not the Emperor, and then he

(59:02):
says the black flame. Emperor greets his three esteemed guests,
eighth and Aurelius, YearIn Aurelius way, sheen Linden Aurelius and
jerrown it says it kicked him into place no one's
words had reached. It was one thing hearing about how

(59:22):
powerful Linden had become and reluctantly accepting that someone had
made Linden powerful, which is so insulting. I mean, like, yeah,
he was given a cycling technique, but like the work
was his. But seeing here with his own eyes a
display that would have shaken all of Sacred Valley and
to have it directed to his son, Sasha looked at

(59:44):
the expression on his face and sighed, I did tell you,
she said.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
So.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Unfortunately, I'm over time and I have, you know, I
have to squeeze In the next scene of this chapter,
but the Emperor comes in and is absolutely falling all
over himself. It's a very weird moment because Linden has
to like come out and give his response. He thinks

(01:00:15):
that Athan's gonna do it, and then looks over and
Ethan's staring at him and smiling, waiting for him to speak,
and he says something like, we're humbled to be visited personally,
we are grateful to be allowed into your territory, and
the Emperor gets a sort of surprised expression despite the
fact that he's pretty fucking stoic and usually doesn't show emotion,

(01:00:36):
and Linden's like, did I say something wrong? And I
have to imagine the way that he's fashioning it, like
allowed into your territory rather than be being like accepted
as guests or loaning our support. Maybe there's something about
the way he worded that that feels a little less
warm than the Emperor was expecting. And when the Emperor

(01:00:59):
comes in, he he acts. He says, I forgive me
if I have offended you with my lacking manners in
the past, and allow me the chance to make up
for it in the future. Is he referring to something
specific there's something that I might have forgotten, or is

(01:01:19):
he referring obliquely to whatever blunder Linden made in his response,
because it felt like that whatever Lindon said made him worry.
But anyway, so, oh Caleb said he put Linden in

(01:01:40):
prison for a year. I fucking forgot about that. Oh shit, Caleb,
I forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me. God damn. Yeah,
that's fair, okay, okay. So at this point, na Juan

(01:02:01):
gives all these compliments to Yarrein. He says to Lyndon
you gotta tell me what you did to get to stage.
Holy shit, you just skipped levels, like tell me your secret.
And Athan is like, hi, I'm here. Did you forget
that we're superbuds? And Juan is like, oh, oh you

(01:02:22):
want to do that? Okay, let's talk about that. Let's
talk about what great friends we are. That you didn't
tell me fuck all about anything that was going on,
and I had to hear it from fucking Akura clan
members who congratulated me, and I didn't even know what
it was about, which makes me look like a fucking dickhead.
And honestly fair, he is right. Ethan is so annoying,

(01:02:47):
and it's just the whole May I point out that
I trained these two. I know, Athan, I do know
you have done more for the Empire than anyone since
my mother, But you make it so hard to be grateful.
If only you weren't so infuriating all the time. And

(01:03:15):
Yarin is just like you could kick him. The sort
of got in love it so much.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
Oh what a beautiful idea, and naw r, Huan lights
up and it is like that sounds great, and Athan's like,
I don't know if this is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
An Huan just unleashes and Ethan goes flying so far
that Linden's like, I think he might reach Sacred Valley,
and Juan is like, Okay, somebody get me a dream tablet.
I need to put this memory down because this is

(01:04:04):
just about the best moment of my life. Oh my god,
that is so good. I love Yarren for thinking of it.
I love one for being immediately on board like yeah,
that would help, actually, And I love that Lyndon sees

(01:04:26):
how bubbly and excited the Emperor is after he has
kicked Athan and is like, oh maybe I should kick
Oh God, this is so great. So that's the end
of that chapter, so I have to wrap up. I'm
way over time as usual, but thank you guys again

(01:04:49):
so much for joining me. Don't miss next week, same time,
same bat channel. Thank you again Andy for commissioning this,
and appreciate everybody in the chat feeding me info. Hope
y'all are enjoying the coverage. Until next time to bloo motherfuckers.

(01:05:36):
That was an Unspoiled Network podcast.