Ep 4: Throne of Glass Ch. 21 – 26

[00:00:21] James: Welcome to Books, Cats, and Chaos. I am James.

[00:00:26] Ka-Ce: And I am Ka-Ce, and we are a husband and wife duo who loves all things books, cats, and the chaos in between.

[00:00:35] James: Today we will be discussing chapters 21 through 26 of Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. This is the first book in the Throne of Glass series and I think this puts us not quite halfway through the book

[00:00:55] Ka-Ce: Just about.

[00:00:56] James: but we’re getting there. this is my first time. in this series, so we are not talking about any spoilers from any of the other, uh, what do they call it?

[00:01:08] The Maasverse, so no ACOTAR, no Crescent City, and nothing from any of the future books in the series. We’re trying to keep this very clean, straightforward. This is what we’re talking about, and, yea,

[00:01:27] Ka-Ce: So I’m going to jump in with a content reminder that we are adults who like to use bad words. And we will be discussing a couple murders, so some adult themes. So just be mindful of who may be listening around you as we will again, be using Some, colorful language and talking about some adult themes.

[00:01:52] James: put your headphones on. That’s the best thing I can offer. You got little ones? Just throw your headphones [00:02:00] on. They don’t need to hear this. As we always do, we like to do a reminder also, to like us on our channels. We have quite a number of them now, and we have a Mostly functioning website.

[00:02:15] The biggest thing that we’re working on now is putting content up for you guys. But we’ve got the first couple episodes, you can go back through, read the archive, you can link to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can get all of our content there. Or, if you just go to cats. No, if you just go to bookscatsandchaos.com

[00:02:41] com. all of the current episodes and information about what we’re doing, who we are, all of that stuff is up there if anybody cares. give us a like, give us a follow, give us a subscribe. If you like what we’re doing. You could donate us a coffee. We greatly appreciate it. We run on coffee.

[00:03:05] Although tonight we’re running on cider and brandy.

[00:03:11] Ka-Ce: Don’t spill our secrets.

[00:03:12] James: Yeah. Thanks to our friends down at, Honest Abe’s for, some black cherry brandy. It’s good stuff.

[00:03:20] Ka-Ce: Real good stuff.

[00:03:22] James: So yeah, let’s jump in with our chapter recap and Ka-Ce is going to take it away tonight.

[00:03:30] Ka-Ce: Alright, so we start chapter 21 with Celaena dangling from the castle walls, trying to get a flag in order to win this week’s test. Most of the champions are following each other, but she decided to scale the castle the hard way, because of course she did. But it wouldn’t be exciting if someone didn’t fall off and die, right?

[00:03:51] And whoop, there goes Ned Clement, aka Scythe. But that wasn’t exciting enough, oh no. Grave just had to push [00:04:00] unsuspecting Nox off the castle too. And being the badass that she is, Celaena wraps herself in rope and makes a mad leap off the castle to rescue him. Chapter 22, Celaena heroically saves Nox. They finish the test, but Cain, of course, took first place.

[00:04:16] Dorian congratulates Celaena on the heroic save, while Chaol remains silent. During the next couple of weeks, Celaena competes in more tests. I wish that we had gotten more insight on to those tests, but Cain continues to taunt her during trainings, and Dorian winks and smiles at Celaena during her tests, making her feel all of the feels.

[00:04:39] Chapter 23, Chaol wakes Celaena up from a horrible nightmare about Endovier, and then informs her it’s Samhain and invites her to service, but not the feast later that night. She declines the service because, well, Who would want to go to service? Later, Dorian runs into Celaena, Nehemia, and Chaol in the gardens and teases Celaena about her centuries old dress before taking his leave.

[00:05:04] The trio then find Cain being totally sus in front of the clock tower and see that more wyrdmarks are revealed. Chapter 24, pouting in her room, Celaena discovers a secret tunnel! I mean, doorway, in her bedroom. With nothing else to do, since she wasn’t invited to the party, she follows it and discovers the outdoor sewer and a possible chance of escape.

[00:05:30] She also discovers a room that overlooks the grand hallway, and le gasp! A lot of the champions were in fact invited to the Samhain party! How rude. Chapter 25, Celaena dreams about the secret tunnel and meets the ancient Queen Elena. Elena then gives her a mysterious task, as well as commands her to become the king’s champion, as if she’s not doing that already.

[00:05:54] Chaol and Dorian are mad at each other because they both snuck off from the party to see Celaena in her room. [00:06:00] Only Chaol leaves Celaena with a trinket from the party. Chapter 26, Chaol once again barges into her room, waking her up, demanding to know where she’s been all night, as he suspects her of what? of murder.

[00:06:13] Dun dun dun! Another champion has been murdered on Samhain. Celaena suspects Cain, and then also suspects the monsters in the What is it? Secret tunnel! Test and training for that day have been canceled. Celaena explores the tomb again, not getting any answers while Chaol and Dorian remain salty with each other.

[00:06:36] Whew!

[00:06:36] James: That

[00:06:37] was a mouthful.

[00:06:39] Ka-Ce: It really was, and I feel like my heart is just like thumping.

[00:06:45] James: Hey, there is a lot going on. This, uh, section of the book, like, really picked up. There was just, like, stuff coming from, you know, the left and the right.

[00:06:58] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:06:58] James: the right. What is that? Oh, yeah. Left, right. Um, Yeah, sorry for all you audio people. You’re missing out on the,

[00:07:09] Ka-Ce: Oh yeah, so much action going on over here.

[00:07:14] James: Yeah, I’m 40 something years old and I can’t tell my left from my right. So, you know, it’s fine.

[00:07:20] Ka-Ce: It’s all good.

[00:07:21] James: So, all right. Chapter 21. Let’s get into it. All right.

[00:07:26] Ka-Ce: All right.

[00:07:28] James: So the chapter starts with Celaena dangling from the wall of the castle during the test. She’s about 70 feet up, which that’s pretty, that’s pretty decent. Um,

[00:07:39] Ka-Ce: you know, the width of the archery test for the longest distance.

[00:07:44] James: oh yeah, yeah, that’s pretty good.

[00:07:46] Ka-Ce: But just up.

[00:07:48] James: But just up, well, well, I mean, if you remember, you know, we’ve been, uh, rock repelling and we’ve been caving. [00:08:00] That, that hole in Nevada was, I think that hole in Nevada was

[00:08:09] Ka-Ce: Like 60 feet

[00:08:10] James: 60 feet or so. And you remember climbing out of that hole on that little tiny ladder.

[00:08:17] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:08:18] James: that’s, you know, that’s a good way up there.

[00:08:20] So, so from personal experience, I know 70 feet is, is no nothing to laugh at. Um,

[00:08:28] Ka-Ce: And they are, it sounded like they didn’t have a belay system either, which we did.

[00:08:35] James: well, yeah,

[00:08:36] Ka-Ce: belay system.

[00:08:37] James: This is a test, and you could die,

[00:08:41] Ka-Ce: Yup.

[00:08:41] James: and like you said, oh no, um, dun dun dun, right? Foreshadowing. Um, so anyway, 70 feet up, that, that’s, that’s high. I can say that from personal experience. That’s very high.

[00:09:00] Ka-Ce: Yup.

[00:09:00] James: Um, all of the other champions are also going up the wall. Uh, one of the champions is missing.

[00:09:07] The guards don’t know where he went. And we’re getting this idea that somebody is, uh, picking off the champions. And at this point, what did you think happened to the champion? Like, did you immediately go to, Oh, he got murdered or, uh,

[00:09:29] Ka-Ce: At this point, it was either, oh man, we got another murder already, or they somehow figured out how to escape. But I wasn’t sure which.

[00:09:40] James: Hmm.

[00:09:41] Ka-Ce: all they mentioned was that one of them was missing and guards didn’t know where he was.

[00:09:48] James: So that was surprising to me. It was like, well, if initially my thought was, well, if he was murdered, I think that the guards would, they would know, [00:10:00] right. You know, but they legitimately were like, yeah, we, we don’t, we got no idea where bro is and you know, but they’re like continue on with the test. Don’t worry about it.

[00:10:11] Um, you know, so yeah, we were trying to figure out what was going on. That was, More foreshadowing, you know,

[00:10:20] Ka-Ce: For sure.

[00:10:22] James: um, so back to the test. The, the test was the champions had to scale the wall in the castle to retrieve a golden flag. the first one to grab the flag, got a pat on the back. And the last one was going to be sent home.

[00:10:45] At this point, we still don’t really know what being sent home means. Like, does it mean going back home to be a prisoner? Did you get a pardon for participating? Is your country gonna kill you when you get back? Like, you know, all we know is that you get sent home and nobody really wants to be sent home.

[00:11:07] That is not, you know, the, the goal. Even if you can’t get first, you don’t want to get last. There’s just some something in the air about you just don’t want to be in that last position

[00:11:21] Ka-Ce: No, not at all.

[00:11:24] James: So we saw that Cain was in the lead as he has been so far I

[00:11:31] Ka-Ce: Of course.

[00:11:33] James: he’s taking the easiest path which same bro, cuz why make your life more difficult than it has to be right? Celaena of course decided to take the more difficult path. But she had a reasoning for it. She figured that if she took the more difficult path, that she would not be as liChaoly to [00:12:00] encounter the other climbers because this was a no holds, like you could try to knock other people off, you know?

[00:12:10] She, rightfully so, didn’t want to deal with that. And I feel like they would have gone after her.

[00:12:17] Ka-Ce: Oh, definitely a bunch of guys up there with one female. Oh, definitely would have gone after her. I think too, though, her pride was also there and she wanted to show off a bit. Like, look at me, do it more difficult. Let me like, look at me, you know, do this where everybody is like following the leader and dun, dun, dun.

[00:12:38] And she’s like, I can think outside the box and I

[00:12:41] James: like, no. I just imagine Chaol at the bottom like, what the hell?

[00:12:48] Ka-Ce: I feel like he’s been doing the, what the hell, like the whole time.

[00:12:53] James: Um, but as it turns out, this actually worked well for her. and for Nox. So, so she’s taking the difficult path. the equipment, you know, they’re all getting tangled up and so she’s looking at it thinking, this is more difficult but I can move more freely. So there is a very strong chance that I can pull ahead of everybody because I don’t gotta mess with all that stuff, you know, that’s going on over there.

[00:13:20] Which is, you know, good thinking. She’s an assassin. She’s thinking logistics. And sometimes, harder is, you know, the best route to go.

[00:13:36] So, this, you know, this test, Hi princess! You know, this test makes sense because it is again testing their, their endurance, right? You had the archery, which was, uh, which was skill. You had the “not” test running, which [00:14:00] was also an endurance and stamina sort of thing. Climbing a wall is not an easy feat. I mean, it’s hard enough to climbing a ten foot wall over your neighbor’s yard, you know?

[00:14:16] And there is an element of actual danger to this test because, again, if you fall off this wall, there’s nothing at the bottom to catch you except for the cold, hard ground. Mother Earth says hello.

[00:14:31] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:14:31] James: so, you know, Celaena is on her way. She’s kind of taking a little breather at this point to gauge where everyone is.

[00:14:41] Of course, she sees that Cain is in the lead and she’s like, ugh, this guy, right? And as she’s getting ready to, princesses sitting in front of my notes, as she’s getting ready to go, uh,

[00:15:03] one of the other champion to be’s, one of the murderers, he falls. And of course on his way down, or is it on his way down? No. Anyway, he falls and he dies and everyone is very much like, Oh, okay, like he, this, this could have been any of us. more cementing this idea that you gotta be careful, you know, cause splat.

[00:15:43] So at this point, we know that there have been a couple of people now champions who have died, right? We have the eye eater, which I still, I’m just like, why the introduction to this guy, and then he dead.[00:16:00]

[00:16:00] Ka-Ce: Yup.

[00:16:00]

[00:16:00] James: Um, we have the soldier who tried to escape and he got arrowed to the throat. we have a third one

[00:16:08] that we don’t know. We’re assuming that he stayed in bed, you know,

[00:16:16] Ka-Ce: something.

[00:16:17] James: he has a hangover and he’s like, nah,

[00:16:20] Ka-Ce: Oh, but see if he had a hangover, the guards would know where he is.

[00:16:23] James: oh, that’s true.

[00:16:25] Ka-Ce: No.

[00:16:26] James: Maybe he was like, bros work with me here. No, I

[00:16:31] Ka-Ce: So that’s three so far, and now

[00:16:33] James: now we have four for a scythe who another guy with a really cool name

[00:16:40] Ka-Ce: Right?

[00:16:40] James: right off the bat, like boom. He, he got into,

[00:16:45] Ka-Ce: Yup.

[00:16:46] James: um, so. I don’t remember how many champion-to-bes were brought in.

[00:16:53] Ka-Ce: Twenty four.

[00:16:54] James: 24? Okay, so we’re down to 21. 20-21, right? And it’s only been, what, a couple weeks?

[00:17:03] Maybe a week? Two weeks? Something like that?

[00:17:06] Ka-Ce: been a couple weeks, or

[00:17:07] James: Like, these are not, um, These are not great odds. All right.

[00:17:12] Ka-Ce: Nope.

[00:17:13] James: There’s some shenanigans going on here and you know. So we got 4 down.

[00:17:23] And, um, Celaena,, she’s on her own path. No one’s following her. No one seems to be interested in doing what she’s doing and that’s just fine for her.

[00:17:32] It’s, it’s her moment to shine even though literally nobody’s even really paying attention to her because Cain’s in the lead and everyone’s focused on Cain. And I will admit I was actually kind of focused on Cain at this point too, because I was like, oh, he’s this like big, like burly, you know, whatever.

[00:17:52] And he’s literally good at everything. And he’s smart. And it’s just like, okay, he’s not [00:18:00] just the, the stupid muscle that just, you know, swings at things that are moving. Like he is a man with a plan. Um, so I was a little, I was a little focused on him too. I was like, Hmm, this guy

[00:18:16] Ka-Ce: actually kind of expecting to see some, I don’t want to say aggression, but something from Cain with this. Either A, him struggle because he’s such a big guy and trying to scale the big castle walls. Like, you would think that somebody smaller in nature, not necessarily shorter, but just, like, lighter in nature would scale easier and faster.

[00:18:44] so I was expecting him to struggle a bit more with this, and he didn’t. Like you said, he’s been, like, acing every test. Um, or two, I was expecting him to pull a Jack Barlow, which, you haven’t read Fourth Wing, but I was expecting him to, like, just start picking people off the wall and tossing them, because,

[00:19:05] James: expecting, yeah, something like that.

[00:19:08] Ka-Ce: like, let me just get rid of some of these weaklings, sort of thing.

[00:19:11] Um, and we didn’t get any of that. We got him just focusing on him and him completing the test. And maybe that, that’s his strategy, like, everybody else is beneath him? Let me just go through this and get

[00:19:27] James: Yeah, I was, I was actually really surprised that he didn’t like get ahead of everybody and then just sit at the top and just been like, yeet, yeet, yeet,

[00:19:36] Ka-Ce: Right.

[00:19:37] James: you know, like, but yeah, he, I, I really pegged his character as more aggressive and sadistic and like, I will do, and I will eliminate as many of you guys as possible as early as I can.

[00:19:53] And, and then he didn’t, he’s just like, nah. A to B, boom, done. [00:20:00] Like, such a weird change for, for the, um, you know, main adversary, really. which was kind of cool. I mean, it was nice to, you know, to read like a character who didn’t follow the. status quo of, you know, antagonizer, I guess. but of course that doesn’t mean that the,

[00:20:27] The drama, the drama is not stopping there because what we don’t get with Cain, we get with some other a hole champion.

[00:20:37] Ka-Ce: Damn it

[00:20:38] James: feel like, I feel like this is the, where the, the song comes in, you know, duh, dumb ways to die

[00:20:45] Ka-Ce: Oh my gosh.

[00:20:46] James: because,

[00:20:48] Ka-Ce: applies to to Ned. The scythe.

[00:20:54] James: Oh, I mean, right.

[00:20:55] Ka-Ce: I mean, it could apply to, yeah,

[00:20:58] James: Because, because, well, so what we have here is, we have all these champions are basically stuck in a traffic jam on the wall. And they’re getting frustrated because they can’t get away from each other, right? and so, Cain had lassoed a gargoyle, swung did some cool shit, which again was like, dude, he’s like, big, you know, bulky, like whatever.

[00:21:23] And he’s swinging like Spider Man up on this wall here. Like, who is this guy? of course other champions try to do the same thing. Verin goes to do it. Um, Nox went to do it too, but then Grave pushed him back. And when Grave pushed Nox, he started to cut Nox’s rope. And so immediately I’m like, oh man, they’re going to knock off Nox.

[00:21:49] Like this guy who’s actually nice to her.

[00:21:53] Ka-Ce: Like, what the fuck?

[00:21:56] James: Yeah, I, I was full on expecting Nox [00:22:00] was going to be going down too. And I was like, that’s not cool.

[00:22:04] Ka-Ce: No.

[00:22:05] James: like that. but Celaena, of course sees what’s going on.

[00:22:10] Well, there are a couple things. First off is, how did Grave manage to get a knife in because none of them are supposed to be armed?

[00:22:17] Why was he going after Nox?

[00:22:18] I think, uh, I feel like it probably wasn’t personal. I think Nox was just in the way. Uh, like, he was the closest one there, and Grave did what I thought Cain was gonna do. He saw an opportunity and went. Yeah, F that guy. And like, it was just like one less to get out of the way. And, and Nox was, you know, he’s not a overwhelming, you know, threat.

[00:22:51] So it’s easy to knock off the little guy, right? But then of course we get to see Celaena in action. She comes in, she slides down her pole a bit, and she swings over, saves his ass, and of course by doing this, she, she, kills her chance of getting up and beating Cain,

[00:23:19] Ka-Ce: Yeah. And,

[00:23:20] James: she made a friend.

[00:23:22] Ka-Ce: She did. She saved her friend. and it, it does like grate on her that she lost to Cain yet again. and you know, that all the other champions beat her too. and it was interesting to read about her struggle because her need to come in first, her need to win was that strong because of her training, with Arobynn.

[00:23:49] But she saved somebody, she saved a sort of friend, and she felt like she couldn’t be happy about that. I do have to say, this [00:24:00] whole wrapping the rope around you and then jumping off and then taking on the weight of a male, like, it just seemed a little far fetched for me.

[00:24:12] James: I feel like it would squish your guts.

[00:24:14] Ka-Ce: Exactly. Or like, snap your spine or something.

[00:24:17] Like, they’re not working with bungee cords, they’re, I’m assuming, working with like, thick rope rope, you

[00:24:24] James: There’s not going to be a, you know, a jump and then like, uh, we it’s going to be like, jump, you know, like,

[00:24:31] Ka-Ce: Like, it was exciting to read about, but at the same time, I’m sitting there going, Nah, she would’ve died. Hmm.

[00:24:39] James: unless the way that she jumped was enough for her to jump and then, you know, arc as like a swing, but if she was jumping and down, then yeah, when you hit the end of that rope, it’s just gonna and pull. And if nothing else, it would knock the breath out of you. And then she would have dropped him anyway.

[00:25:02] So, yeah, the, the way that that was described is a little bit of fantastical, you know,

[00:25:14] Ka-Ce: Mm hmm.

[00:25:15] James: I guess, you know, leave it up to reader’s discretion on how you envision her doing that, right? But, yeah,

[00:25:24] Ka-Ce: Heh heh. Especially for, like, an 18 year old, and then trying to hold on to, a 20 something year old male. I mean, he, it, it does describe him reaching up and grabbing onto the rope as well. And, but I’m, I’m happy that Nox was saved. I really am because I actually really like Nox.

[00:25:44] I was just like, everything else seemed, you know, pretty realistic up until this, but we’ll, we’ll let it go. She’s the heroine of this story.

[00:25:54] James: an assassin. She’s been trained and this and that and the other [00:26:00] thing. And, okay.

[00:26:02] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:26:02] James: Sure. Why not?

[00:26:05] Ka-Ce: so Nox and Celaena are expected to still complete this test, so they have to hoist themselves back up this rope now and complete the test. Dorian congratulates her for saving Nox, and Nox, you know, of course, is just thanking her over and over and over. And Chaol just frowns at her. Not even a job well done or, you know, anything.

[00:26:27] He just frowns at her because she stuck out too much. And did not stay in the middle of the pack.

[00:26:34] James: Diiiick

[00:26:36] Ka-Ce: yeah, is your feelings for Chaol changing slowly?

[00:26:39] James: No, at this point, at this point… diiick

[00:26:47] Ka-Ce: Chaol does, to his credit, try to comfort Celaena, telling her 18th place is fine. Nox came in 19th and was saved from being sent home by Ned’s death. The Scythe’s death. Grave, for his actions, was not even reprimanded since there are no rules for playing dirty. So, I wonder if this was from the king? Like, was the king hoping that the champions would like, kill each other off during this tournament?

[00:27:15] James: probably.

[00:27:17] Ka-Ce: Mmm

[00:27:17] James: Cause he is also, a diiick

[00:27:23] Ka-Ce: Uh, Chaol learns more about Celaena’s past with Arobynn. Um, Arobynn had drilled it into her, you know, since she was 8 that second place was just a nice title for first loser. Um, And Arobynn would have flogged Celaena for saving Nox and not winning that test. Here’s your dick moment, honey.

[00:27:46] James: I mean, he is, but

[00:27:49] Ka-Ce: Okay, fine. I was kinda hoping for a third one, but Arobynn had trained Celaena himself and then brought in tutors and sent her away to the Silent Assassins in the Red [00:28:00] Desert. No price was too high for him, and when she was fourteen, he revealed that she would have to pay him back for all of her training.

[00:28:09] James: see now… diiiiiick,

[00:28:14] Ka-Ce: She did pay him back, down to the last copper, and he spent all of it in three hours.

[00:28:22] James: see, that’s not even like the Dick doesn’t even. Yeah, that’s worse.

[00:28:28] Ka-Ce: yeah. Um, so we look, we see a bit more emotion actually from Chaol when he learns that courtesans go through the same experience as the assassins do. They’re taken in young. They’re bound to their brothels until they can earn back every coin that went into their training, wardrobe, et cetera. Uh, Celaena calls him out for not apologizing to her for all the horrid things he has said to her when she was sparring with Nehemia.

[00:28:56] And he tells her that he won’t apologize for speaking the truth. They continue to tease and banter with each other until Philippa comes in with news. What is Philippa’s news? Drumroll. The champion who didn’t come to the test earlier that day was found dead in the servant’s stairwell, brutally mauled and dismembered.

[00:29:23] James: And if he was in the servant’s stairwell, how did he go for so long without being found?

[00:29:29] Ka-Ce: Right? Because, you know, the servants are using that, like, all the time to

[00:29:34] James: From like 4am until, you know, midnight at least, or, or 24 hours or whatever. See, that also didn’t make sense. Like, nobody knew where he was, and not one servant went to the guards and was like, ey, ey, there’s a dead body in the stairwell.

[00:29:58] Ka-Ce: Right?

[00:29:59] James: [00:30:00] Also, his organs are missing.

[00:30:03] Ka-Ce: Right? Like the servant stairwell is going to be like one of the most used things and for him to be missing for half the day, more than half the day,

[00:30:14] James: It’s been, like, hours.

[00:30:17] Ka-Ce: yeah,

[00:30:18] James: Yeah, it, uh, that did not seem, uh,

[00:30:23] Ka-Ce: no.

[00:30:25] James: Ow.

[00:30:25] Ka-Ce: Uh, the next two weeks brought with them two more tests, a stealth test and a tracking test. Celaena, of course, passed the test without drawing attention to herself or saving anyone. No more murders amongst the champions during that time, and she can’t help but feel weary while Chaol feels that the two murders were unfortunate accidents.

[00:30:50] How can they be unfortunate accidents when they were brutally mauled and organs were missing? And,

[00:30:58] James: yeah.

[00:31:00] Ka-Ce: like, no. Yes.

[00:31:03] James: An

[00:31:03] Ka-Ce: Yes.

[00:31:04] James: accident is falling off the wall.

[00:31:09] Ka-Ce: Yes, that’s an accident.

[00:31:12] James: But when your organs go missing, you don’t misplace organs, you know,

[00:31:19] Ka-Ce: No, no. And even like it was a drunken brawl or something, you’ll pummel the guy or knife the guy to death or something. You’re not gonna maul them and then remove organs. Like, that’s premeditated.

[00:31:35] James: or at least, just crazy

[00:31:41] Ka-Ce: Yeah, yeah.

[00:31:43] James: I mean, it’s definitely not something you should shrug off.

[00:31:50] Ka-Ce: No.

[00:31:50] James: I would not be sitting there going, oh yeah, you know, these things happen. I’m sorry, sir. No, they don’t.

[00:31:58] Ka-Ce: No.

[00:31:59] James: No, [00:32:00] that is, that is not how the world typically works.

[00:32:07] Ka-Ce: No. My other thing was, So, like, the whole point of the, this, um, to be the King’s Champion in this tournament sort of thing is about the tests, right? And we miss out on two of those tests. We miss out on the stealth and the tracking. And sure, as an author, trying to come up with something for each test is probably really hard and, you know, probably had to cut out scenes and stuff, but I would have loved to have seen more of the tests, and seeing more drama amongst the champions, you know, um,

[00:32:45] James: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean,

[00:32:48] Ka-Ce: I would have liked to have seen more of their skills and stuff too,

[00:32:51] James: I can understand, you know, yeah. Like you said, coming up with the tests is probably a difficult and also, you know, how much time as an author, do you want to spend fleshing out these different characters, when ultimately, they’re all gonna either just go home, die, or lose, like, you know. It, uh, because they’re not the main part of the story, you know.

[00:33:17] Cause then you end up with things like Mr. Eye Eater, where we get a whole backstory, and then dies, and then he I’m not gonna let that go. That’s just

[00:33:25] Ka-Ce: you really, really wanted, uh, uh, more with the eye eater.

[00:33:28] James: I wanted something, man.

[00:33:30] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:33:31] James: He got an introduction, and then he got Exit stage, right, like,

[00:33:36] Ka-Ce: Right. First one right the

[00:33:39] James: what was that all about.

[00:33:42] but yea, it would have been nice, but I can see from, from a writing perspective that, you know, it could be difficult to come up with all these characters, you know, one or two sentence backstory, no problem, but then you got start giving them personalities.[00:34:00]

[00:34:00] And then you got to start giving them family things, and quirks, and this, and that, and it just gets

[00:34:07] Ka-Ce: that’s a lot.

[00:34:07] James: Yeah.

[00:34:08] the reader probably at that point is like, okay, do I, do I need to remember who this person is? Cause why?

[00:34:20] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:34:21] James: but you know, the detail would have been nice, but I get it. It is what it is.

[00:34:29] Ka-Ce: Yeah. My other thing too, is with Chaol’s feelings about the murders, the two murders, um, would they have been the same if it had happened to members of the court and not to criminals? Like, cause both people that were murdered were mauled and dismembered. Like, and you don’t think that there’s a connection?

[00:34:51] Or is it because they are criminals, they don’t get much more thought?

[00:34:55] James: Oh yeah. I think it’s his total disdain for people who break the law because, you know, he treats her the same way. Uh, initially, you know, initially he’s like, you’re a criminal, you’re a slave and you’re an assassin. You’re not a person. You’re an assassin. And then of course with the trainings and stuff, and he’s like, uh, shit, you are kind of a person.

[00:35:21] You know, like, but, but he’s getting to know her. He doesn’t know the other ones. They are still just criminals. They’re the lowest of the low, you know, they’re the people that he goes after and, you know, brings to justice. So, I mean, if a criminal dies, well, that’s just one less criminal to deal with.

[00:35:49] Honestly, like.

[00:35:50] Ka-Ce: but yeah, I guess.

[00:35:53] James: I can see that, that’s how I would imagine him treating it, is, you know, eh, it’s [00:36:00] just one, you know, one less, yeah, you know, it’s a little weird the way he died, but, eh,

[00:36:10] Ka-Ce: Yeah. So, uh, Cain continues to taunt her at trainings because of course he does. Um, and Dorian hasn’t visited her rooms since, uh, The Piano Forte Incident. But he does show up to the tests. Where he green greens? Dear lord. Where he grins and winks at her, making her feel all the feels. And, first time we are starting My notes are wacky.

[00:36:38] Um Oh, this is the first time that we actually get to see Celaena start to worry about the final four for the final test. She knows definitely that Cain is going to be in the final four and there are only nine weeks left. She is getting stronger. She can run faster and farther. But she, she’s finally admitting to herself that some of the other champs are also starting to look like they can be contenders for the final four.

[00:37:07] James: mm hmm,

[00:37:08] Ka-Ce: this is like a nice change because she’s been kind of cocky

[00:37:12] James: mm hmm,

[00:37:12] Ka-Ce: up until this point. And now she’s like, oh shit, I actually. I, I have some competition and they’re still nine weeks away,

[00:37:21] James: mm hmm, yeah, it, it, it was a nice, Realization for her character, because, you know, in the beginning, she was very much like, yeah, and this was when she was weak and, you know, no, no muscle on, you know, nothing. She’s like, I can take them. And it’s like, girl, confidence is good.

[00:37:46] Ka-Ce: Mm hmm.

[00:37:47] James: They would probably, you know, wreck you right now.

[00:37:50] Don’t, you know, now we’re a couple of weeks in, she’s getting stronger, more agile, faster. Um, But she is realizing that, you [00:38:00] know, she’s, she’s not, you know, improving in a bubble.

[00:38:04] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:38:05] James: Everybody else is doing same tests and the same, you know, they all have their own workouts. They all have their own, you know, training with their, with their people.

[00:38:17] Uh, and, you know. It’s a good for her to look at and be like, Oh man, like this might not be as easy as I thought it was going to be. And if nothing else, at least it makes her focus and she’s going to take it more seriously because you know, a threat is a threat. And she sees Cain is a threat, but some of these other guys too, you know, they are not, um, these other, these other guys are not messing around like, cause everybody wants to, you know,

[00:38:52] Ka-Ce: Everybody wants to win. That’s

[00:38:54] James: At the very least, they don’t want to go home.

[00:38:57] Ka-Ce: Or, they want to survive and hopefully get pardoned.

[00:39:01] James: Yes. Yeah. Like I did my part. I tried. There was no way I was going to beat that guy.

[00:39:07] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:39:08] James: know, can I please like just go home?

[00:39:12] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:39:13] James: Um, all right. Chapter 23. Um, because that was chapter 22 that we forgot to mention.

[00:39:21] Ka-Ce: We just rolled right into It kind of flowed.

[00:39:24] James: yeah, we just, it just went right. Like butter or something.

[00:39:31] Ka-Ce: Something like that.

[00:39:32] James: So chapter 23 opens with, uh, Celaena is having a nightmare about Endovier because PTSD,

[00:39:41] Ka-Ce: Cannot stress that enough.

[00:39:42] James: Like, who wouldn’t?

[00:39:44] Ka-Ce: Yeah, that would be a lifetime of nightmares.

[00:39:48] James: I still have nightmares about high school, and that wasn’t even, you know,

[00:39:52] Ka-Ce: 20 years

[00:39:53] 25 years ago, k? And I didn’t get [00:40:00] whipped in high school.

[00:40:01] I, I still have nightmares about trying to remember my locker combo and order my classes and, oh,

[00:40:09] James: I constantly dream that I’m constantly short credits because I keep failing math.

[00:40:16] Ka-Ce: I dream, like once I finally get to my class that there’s going to be a test or homework is due and I’m like, I don’t even know what’s going on.

[00:40:27] James: mm hmm

[00:40:29] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:40:30] James: So, we can give a girl a break for having nightmares about literal enslavement.

[00:40:37] Ka-Ce: Yes.

[00:40:37] James: the mines.

[00:40:39] Ka-Ce: Yes.

[00:40:40] James: Um,

[00:40:41] Ka-Ce: Get this girl a therapist.

[00:40:42] James: yeah, right. All right, Philippa, where are you? that, um, so her nightmare is that she, somehow she failed the test. She didn’t become the champion. She wound up back at Endovier which we don’t even know if that, you know, is her deal or not.

[00:41:02] Ka-Ce: think it was mentioned that, yeah,

[00:41:05] James: Was that her? If she failed, did she be going straight back to the mines? Um, oh, that’s right, because, yeah, she’s using that as motivation to maybe escape, maybe not escape, we don’t know yet. Um, and she doesn’t want to get whipped again. And, yeah, this is, this is a very realistic Insight to just a normal person.

[00:41:34] It doesn’t even matter that she’s like this renowned, you know, famous assassin. And the fact is that she is still only 18, and that means that she was in the mines when she was like 16 or 17 or, you know, something, right? Um, and that’s trauma. Girl’s got trauma.

[00:41:57] Ka-Ce: Oh yeah.

[00:41:57] James: And, and she, [00:42:00] unfortunately, uh, she doesn’t even get a chance to work through the trauma.

[00:42:05] Because she’s just got crap coming at her from the get go. You know, she’s like, can I breathe for a minute? And they’re like, no. Do this.

[00:42:16] Ka-Ce: Breathe on your own time, get out there and win this championship.

[00:42:20] James: And by the way, there is no Your Own Time.

[00:42:23] Ka-Ce: No,

[00:42:24] James: All your time is our time.

[00:42:26] Ka-Ce: yep.

[00:42:27] James: Um, so Chaol wakes her up, uh, telling her that she had been screaming, and he thought that she was being murdered. Aw, he cares. Sort of.

[00:42:40] Ka-Ce: Sort of.

[00:42:43] James: He had come, to cancel training, because he comes, you know, at the ungodly hour of The sun’s not even up in the morning. Um, he was canceling the training because of Samhuinn and he wanted her to see, he wanted to see if she wanted to attend the services, she finds out that there’s a feast, she’s not invited.

[00:43:09] Now I know that in particular, you had a serious issue with this part of the book.

[00:43:19] Ka-Ce: Yes, yes I do. How This is… How do I say this? I’m going to preface this by saying I am NOT a native Irish speaker or Scottish speaker at all. Um, I know a few words in Irish from my days of Irish dancing, um, but it And there’s no shade, no anything to the, um, audio narrator of this book. I know you haven’t listened to it. Um, and you just read the physical, but I’ve, I’ve read it and I’ve listened to

[00:43:59] James: I think you made [00:44:00] me listen to that clip though.

[00:44:02] Ka-Ce: or you’ve overheard me like doing my research, but she pronounces it Samhuinn, the way it’s spelled in the book. Um, and. So I was doing research because I’m used to Samhain, Irish being spelled S-A-M-H-A-I-N, you know, that’s how we spelled our cat’s name and everything. So Samhain, you know, is the original Halloween. So when, when I was reading Throne of Glass and it was spelled S-A-M-H-U-I-N-N and then it was pronounced that way, I was like, no, this ain’t right So I, so, well, you know, it’s a little bit of research. Any Irish and Scottish speakers out there, please email us, message us. I could be totally off. I probably am a bit off, you know, let me know.

[00:44:57] Um, but the S A M H U I N N is the Scottish spelling for their word for Samhain, which it is pronounced a bit different in Scottish as It should be. Um, so my, my gripe is if you’re going to use not just Gaelic or Irish or Scottish words in your story, um, this goes for any language, just, Do a little bit of research into how it’s supposed to be pronounced, you know, include a little glossary in the book, or if you’re the audio, um, narrator, just a little bit of research.

[00:45:42] Um, that, that was my, my thing. So at the top of this episode, when I did the recap, I did say Samhain because it is Samhain. Um, My pronunciation might be a slight off, depending on what part of [00:46:00] Ireland you’re from and everything. Um, the audiobook does say Samhuinn, and if that’s the way Sarah wanted it to be, I, I understand.

[00:46:12] I just think that if you’re going to use words and names and stuff from other languages, we should honor that in those languages. So,

[00:46:23] James: That’s the hard part when you mix fantasy words with, like, actual, like, historical things. Because, on the one hand, you’re like, well, they’re, you know, this is a, fantasy world and, you know, none of it’s real and, you know, you have Endovier and that doesn’t, you know, that’s not a place, that’s not a word, and you have, you know, just whatever.

[00:46:50] But then you pick one holiday that is a real holiday to a, you know, nation of people

[00:46:59] Ka-Ce: Mm hmm.

[00:47:00] James: and, yeah, either, either take the word and then change it substantially so that it, can’t be confused with the right word or, or yeah, at least put a notation and say, you know, this is based off of this people, Irish, Scottish, or whatever, you know, and, and just say it, it’s supposed to be pronounced such and such because you’re using a real word, not a made up fantasy word.

[00:47:32] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:47:32] James: Um, But like I said, unless she totally meant for this holiday to be called Samhuinn,

[00:47:37] You

[00:47:38] Ka-Ce: you know,

[00:47:39] James: know,

[00:47:39] Ka-Ce: you know,

[00:47:39] James: somebody will correct, uh,

[00:47:41] Ka-Ce: misinterpretation here.

[00:47:43] Maybe, but you know when you talk about bonfires and the spirits of the dead and everything, that, it is clearly,

[00:47:50] James: Oh, it’s very much Samhain. Like,

[00:47:52] Ka-Ce: Yeah. But so yeah, that was me on my little high horse and I’m stepping back [00:48:00] and we can continue.

[00:48:02] James: she’s back to regular height now.

[00:48:06] Ka-Ce: Yes Continue.

[00:48:11] James: um, yeah, so, so Celaena, like I said, she finds out that there is a feast that night. And she’s not invited. And I feel that, ’cause I’ve never been invited to a Samhain feast either.

[00:48:26] Ka-Ce: I’m sorry. Should I start making a

[00:48:28] James: am sad. I am the sad because, you know, I want to go to a fancy so and feast, but it’s okay.

[00:48:35] Ka-Ce: to my hmm We’re gonna back up a second. So We got married in October And I tried for a Halloween wedding, and you said no.

[00:48:51] James: It’s not the same. I just

[00:48:54] Ka-Ce: could have had a

[00:48:54] James: wanna go to a Feast East.

[00:48:57] Ka-Ce: The wedding could have been the feast. We could have had a Samhain wedding, and then we could have had anniversary feasts on Samhain every year.

[00:49:09] James: Uh, it’s different though. It’s different though. I know. Splitting hairs.

[00:49:19] Ka-Ce: splitting. Oh my god, I give up. Anyway, so if anybody out there would like to, uh, start having a Samhain feast, I think we should, um, email, talk and let’s maybe try to get something together. A book community, uh, Samhain feast. What do you think?

[00:49:40] James: I can be fun. Um, yeah, hit us up.

[00:49:46] Ka-Ce: Yeah. Let’s see if we could get something

[00:49:49] James: If not next year, I’m going to the pub. So,

[00:49:52] Ka-Ce: fair.

[00:49:54] James: uh, okay. Back to the story.

[00:49:59] Ka-Ce: [00:50:00] All right.

[00:50:03] James: So Caleana finds out, and this sucks. Girl same. She’s invited to go to the services, but not get the food. That’s like saying your neighbor says, Hey, come with me to church, but you can’t go to potluck. I’m sorry, but no. What, what, why? No,

[00:50:25] Ka-Ce: No.

[00:50:27] James: that, that, that doesn’t work for me.

[00:50:29] Ka-Ce: No.

[00:50:30] James: Uh, and so she’s like, Yeah, no, I got better things to do. Uh, uh, and then of course, you know, she’s, she’s, uh, informed that she still has training in the afternoon and there is a test of the next day.

[00:50:54] Ka-Ce: Who schedules a test the day after a holiday?

[00:50:57] James: I mean, you have to go to work after Halloween, so

[00:51:00] Ka-Ce: I know and that is, that is criminal. It’s also criminal, let me say, to have to go to work the day after St Patrick’s Day and the 4th of July.

[00:51:12] James: Yup.

[00:51:14] Ka-Ce: Fourth of July should be a half day of work, then you go party, because the party doesn’t start until the evening anyways, and then you get the next day off.

[00:51:22] James: Yup. I know,

[00:51:24] Ka-Ce: Day should be the same.

[00:51:25] James: Yeah, that makes more sense.

[00:51:29] Ka-Ce: It

[00:51:29] James: People don’t know what they’re doing.

[00:51:31] Ka-Ce: But yeah, so no, this, this was, I get, like, why they may schedule a test after a holiday because, you know, people are gonna be drunk and they’re gonna be sleeping off hangovers, what, wouldn’t that be a perfect time to go and slit somebody’s throat? gotta be on your A game, you know.

[00:51:51] James: I mean,

[00:51:52] Ka-Ce: But still, that sucks.

[00:51:55] James: know, I’ve gone to work plenty of times with post holiday hangover. [00:52:00] If I can do it, then they can do it. Anyway, so, So there’s another test and of course we don’t get to read about it. It’s javelin throwing on horseback which

[00:52:17] Ka-Ce: would have been

[00:52:18] James: Sounds freaking cool

[00:52:20] Ka-Ce: Right?

[00:52:24] James: And All we really get to find out about it afterwards is that Celaena’s wrist is sore from throwing shit around which know, okay, but no, but seriously javelins are not light

[00:52:37] Ka-Ce: No, they’re not.

[00:52:38] James: And you’re, you got on a horse, right? And you’re back away from my microphone too far. You’re, you’re steering the horse with the reins with one hand probably.

[00:52:47] And you’re holding a javelin and those things are long. They’re probably longer than her and trying to throw those with any real accuracy requires a lot of, you know, muscle muscle arm and shoulder and just like, so, um, and we also don’t really know. How well she did? I don’t remember. I mean, she didn’t come in last, but

[00:53:14] Ka-Ce: I think she’s sticking to middle of the pack sort of thing. But yeah, like, could you imagine the suspense and drama? Even like, the archery test, they blunted the arrows because they didn’t want, you know. All the champions to like turn on the guards and people and stuff. So they probably blunted the javelins as well, but the suspense and drama that we could have had during this test, just like,

[00:53:40] James: I know, . You just imagine somebody’s like, gonna throw the javelin and they’re like, Oh, oops. speared that guy off of a horse on accident. Oh no.

[00:53:51] Ka-Ce: yeah.

[00:53:52] James: Yeah, like, total missed opportunity for something.

[00:53:58] Ka-Ce: See, this is why this, [00:54:00] these books need to be picked up. Like for a show or, you know, like one of the long extended.

[00:54:06] James: Yeah.

[00:54:06] Ka-Ce: Netflix shows or something, and this needs to be included.

[00:54:12] James: Yeah, you could have some fun with the unwritten stuff. Just put your own little spin on it, you know. Without getting too crazy. Yeah. Shows should stay true to the content of the books. I will say that until the day I cease breathing.

[00:54:28] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[00:54:31] James: Movie, TV, Netflix people, I’m talking to you.

[00:54:35] Ka-Ce: Let’s get on this,

[00:54:36] James: Stop changing shit that doesn’t need to be changed.

[00:54:41] Ka-Ce: Unless it’s for the better, but yes, we like the books the way they are.

[00:54:46] James: yeah, for the most part, usually. But bad books don’t get turned into TV shows, so. But good books get turned into bad TV shows.

[00:54:56] Ka-Ce: Yes.

[00:54:59] James: Um, anyway, so yeah, they go through the test. She, her arm is a little, you know, jacked up, which, you know, that makes sense. And now we are kind of pivoting focus a little bit. We’re back to Dorian.

[00:55:16] You know, where’s Dorian been? Off doing prince things, I guess? I don’t know. And he’s going through the castle and the gardens. He’s got a headache because his mom has just been unceasing with You know, there’s a pretty lady, and there’s a pretty lady, and there’s a pretty lady, and there’s a pretty lady. I want grandchildren. And Dorian is just like, oh my god.

[00:55:46] Ka-Ce: It Just what every young 20 something year old wants to hear from his mom.

[00:55:52] James: It doesn’t get any better, I’ll tell you that much. then you get older, and then they’re like, yeah, [00:56:00] you can still have one at 40, and it’s like, excuse me, no you can not. I don’t want to be some decrepit old man when my kid’s like 30. That’s no fun.

[00:56:12] Ka-Ce: Nope.

[00:56:13] James: Anyway, so Dorian is just like, I’m out. Like, enough of this.

[00:56:17] This is BS. And he’s very upfront. Like, he just wants none of it. Um, so he turns around and, It runs literally into Celaena and she’s wearing a dress that is about 100 years out of date.

[00:56:36] Ka-Ce: Why does she have a dress this old in her closet when she had a dressmaker her first day?

[00:56:45] James: I mean, she probably didn’t know to ask for it. Honestly, she probably looked at it and she was like, Oh, it’s a dress.

[00:56:55] Ka-Ce: I mean, she was only a slave for a year and before that she loved fashion.

[00:57:02] James: You know, maybe it’s kind of a testament to like how far her will had been broken.

[00:57:09] Ka-Ce: Maybe.

[00:57:10] James: And she got to the, maybe she got to the point where she literally just never thought that she would have that again. And so when it was presented with her, she was focused on like, I can’t believe there’s a dress in my wardrobe and the idea of any, I mean, she wouldn’t really have any sense of fashion at this point because, I mean, things go in and out of fashion,

[00:57:35] Ka-Ce: true.

[00:57:35] James: In a year’s time. Especially with the way those ladies of the court gossip and, you know, all that stuff. Don’t wear blue because, you know, or do wear blue because that’s what Dorian, you know, it’s like, probably changing. Yeah, they’re changing fashion every four weeks, probably. Um, so Dorian [00:58:00] is, you know, focused on this and he’s like, wow, that’s an old dress.

[00:58:04] Um, but then immediately he notices that Chaol and Nehemia and two guards are with them, and he is upset by this, um,

[00:58:18] his blood thrummed in his veins, right? Which is, which is what was written in the book, um, because you had called out that that was kind of an interesting way to say, That and when you think about it, I feel like you can, at least I can feel like I can relate to that.

[00:58:38] Um, because to me, thrummed in my veins makes me feel like, um, when I’m looking at something or encountering something that is just so, like, ugh, And you can just literally feel your blood, like, like squeezing in your body or pulsing in your body. You’re just like, it’s hard to explain, but, but I feel like I, I know exactly what that feeling is and, and in his situation, I’m like, Okay, like, bro is very much like, I don’t like this at all.

[00:59:24] It’s grating on his very core for some reason.

[00:59:33] Ka-Ce: For some reason.

[00:59:34] James: For some reaosn. You know, why does Dorian care? Um,

[00:59:42] he, so if, if he was anyone, But the prince, right, he would have warned Nehemia of Duke Perrington’s plans. You know, the fact that he found out that they’re going to bring more forces [01:00:00] into Eyllwe. Eyllwe. They’re going to crush the rebels. Uh, they’re going to keep it so they don’t challenge Ardalan’s rule again.

[01:00:11] And keeping Nehemia there is to discourage retaliation, because he’s found all this out. And he’s assuming that she has no idea what’s going on, but he’s a prince. He can’t tell her, because technically she is his enemy, even though she’s also a guest in the castle.

[01:00:33] Ka-Ce: Yeah, it’s very hard, it’s very tricky,

[01:00:38] James: so, we do find out that Dorian was against this.

[01:00:44] Uh, he fought against this plan, was not in favor, very outspoken about it, but of course it didn’t go the way he wanted because people don’t really defy the king, uh, you know, and thankfully he did buy her some time since the king is gone for, for a while doing who knows what, um,

[01:01:11] Ka-Ce: Nefarious things.

[01:01:15] James: but you know, it, It creates an interesting dynamic of, you know, the king very much has his plans on how he wants to do things, and Duke Perrington is very much in line with that, and Dorian really can’t do much against it unless, unless his father’s not there. And then he has a little bit more sway, but not really enough to make any lasting changes.

[01:01:48] Ka-Ce: Mm hmm, which has got to be so frustrating.

[01:01:52] James: Yeah. Which I imagine is why he is so frustrated because at the end of the day, what did he accomplish?

[01:01:59] Ka-Ce: He bought a [01:02:00] little bit more time,

[01:02:01] James: Yeah. But ultimately it didn’t make a huge difference.

[01:02:05] Ka-Ce: Yea. So yea, if he were to warn Nehemia and she were to just pack up and leave, you know, before she’s supposed to, Perrington would know.

[01:02:16] He would be suspicious and he would know. It would come from Dorian.

[01:02:19] James: Mm-hmm .

[01:02:20] Ka-Ce: And of course would tattle to the king and label Dorian as a rebel sympathizer, which he can’t have. So even though Dorian, has fought for a little bit of time for Nehemia and everything. Yeah, he can’t go against his father, totally.

[01:02:38] He just does not have that power. Um, so that, that’s a really tough spot to be in for Dorian. And then, you know, you have that on one hand. And then you have his mom, who’s like, Get married, have babies, think of the heir. And, like, that’s two hard things to juggle. And,

[01:03:01] James: Right

[01:03:01] Ka-Ce: You know,

[01:03:02] James: and if I’m Dorian at that point, I’m like, yeah, uh, I’m the heir.

[01:03:07] Ka-Ce: Right.

[01:03:07] James: I’m I’m 20. 21 or like, why are we already thinking about the next guy? I’m the next guy,

[01:03:18] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:03:18] James: You know, like, cause he probably won’t even become King until at least another 10 or 15 years if he’s lucky.

[01:03:27] Ka-Ce: Yeah. Or whenever his dad dies.

[01:03:29] James: I mean, look at King Charles over in England. He didn’t become King until he was like fricking 90 or was it way past like the time that you would typically assume that role, right?

[01:03:45] Ka-Ce: yeah. Yeah.

[01:03:47] James: So, okay, so then we find out that Nehemia was invited to the feast, and of course Celaena is not – a sore spot in the [01:04:00] conversation. Dorian covers it up by saying that she was invarded invited invited to a party in Rifthold. Uh, Celaena and Nehemia leave. Go do girl things. Chaol is following behind them because he can’t let her out of his sight. I don’t know at this point, he still thinks that he’s, she’s, she’s going to kill Nehemia. He’s like, I don’t trust you, girl. She’s like, bro. She’s my friend.

[01:04:29] Ka-Ce: Even though she saved Nox.

[01:04:31] James: She’s the only friend I have here

[01:04:34] Ka-Ce: Right.

[01:04:34] James: Because Chaol, you’re not my friend. Um, and of course this furthers the frustration. For Dorian, because he is like, I want to spend more time with her. And we talked about like things, actual things,

[01:04:57] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:04:57] James: music and books, and she’s a person and I’m a person and, and why does he get to spend all his time with her? That’s not fair.

[01:05:08] Ka-Ce: And I think too that Celaena doesn’t fawn all over him all the other ladies do. Like, he actually has to work for her attention. And they have that sort of banter where they can, you know, go back and forth and snip at each other. and so that’s a good distraction for him too with, you know, The politics, and Duke Perrington, the king, and then his mom, and everything. So, but yeah, poor Dorian.

[01:05:40] James: I know. I know at this point I was still very much like. I was like, uh, is it Dorian? Is it Chaol? Like, which one do I like better? Who do I think’s the I don’t know, cause, you know, Chaol’s kind of a dick. But Dorian is, you know, Dorian, and

[01:05:59] Ka-Ce: Dorian is [01:06:00] Dorian.

[01:06:00] James: Dorian is Dorian. That’s just the best way I can Okay, if you look at it, right, Chaol is, is Chaol.

[01:06:07] And he’s just, he’s simple, and he’s loyal. He doesn’t trust anybody. And Dorian is complicated and smart and a bit of a shit.

[01:06:29] And you really can’t tell, like, which, you know, direction. You know, at this point of the story, I was kind of like, Okay, Dorian seems like. He could be, you know, a good whatever. But then I was like, yeah, but you know, Chaol’s, you know, well, you know, just two different, uh, they’re both good in their own ways.

[01:06:53] Ka-Ce: Yeah, they are.

[01:06:54] James: But honestly, I was more rooting for like, girl, you don’t need either one of them. Just stay the course.

[01:07:02] Ka-Ce: Stay the course , focus on the championship.

[01:07:10] James: So

[01:07:14] let’s see.

[01:07:21] So, like I was saying, Chaol is very much that soldier, you know, uh, mentality protector. Uh, gotta do stuff by the book, by the rules. And if I gotta guard you, I gotta guard you. And apparently they’re having a conversation and Chaol is insisting that there’s a difference between a soldier and a guard.

[01:07:43] Because he’s a soldier and he’s not a guard.

[01:07:46] Ka-Ce: No, that he’s a guard, not a soldier.

[01:07:48] James: Or the, yeah, sorry. Dyslexia. I knew what I meant in my brain. That’s not what came out.

[01:07:59] Ka-Ce: That happens [01:08:00] lot to me too.

[01:08:03] James: He is a guard, not a soldier. Yes. Nehemia retorts and says that there is no difference.

[01:08:14] Ka-Ce: I think you side with Nehemia.

[01:08:17] James: I mean, honestly, like, You’re, you’re, you’re picking brass tacks, dude, like, you know. No, that’s not the right saying.

[01:08:27] Ka-Ce: Splitting hairs.

[01:08:28] James: No. I mean, that is the right saying, but that’s not the one I was thinking of anyway. What’s the difference? The difference is he’s not trained in battle, which I feel like, I feel like this is part of his problem. Is because he’s not been trained in this particular way, he has been sheltered from a lot of, you know, stuff in the regular world. And that’s why he just has this very, very, like, narrow scope of like, you’re a person, you’re a criminal. Da da da, da da da, right, wrong, right, wrong, and it’s like, bro, there’s like, so much gray area out there and he’s, you know, not seen that.

[01:09:26] He hasn’t been, uh, shown, you know, that kind of stuff. I mean, he’s a, he’s a guard who literally hasn’t seen, like, any action.

[01:09:40] Ka-Ce: Yeah, he’s very contained within the castle, the palace. so I, I mean, I can see his point of view. I can see Nehemia’s point of view, because they’re both trained to kill for the king, which is her point. But his point is, because when you are [01:10:00] trained for battle, you’re trained to work with, within a team, within a squad, or, you know, within a battalion, or whatever.

[01:10:08] You’re trained to fight with others around you, to move as one, you know. They don’t really do that within the palace. You’re gonna have like a small station of guards and you, yes, you learned a fight, you have to learn how to use weapons and everything, but are you going to kill, maybe? Has Chaol killed?

[01:10:31] No. Does he know how to kill? Yes,

[01:10:34] James: Mm hmm. Oh, he’s very good at, you know, what he does and what he knows, but he just, he doesn’t have the application of it in, in a real situation.

[01:10:48] Ka-Ce: yeah.

[01:10:50] James: And there’s just, you know, there’s a difference between knowing and being really good and having to use that, you know, cause I mean, if you think back, he’s not the one who shot the arrow through the soldier who was trying to escape. That was one of the other guys,

[01:11:09] Ka-Ce: Yeah. And that wasn’t even his, his order. That was an order given by the King. Shoot to kill. I think Chaol would have been like, take him down, keep him alive if possible, know, we’ll throw him in prison, but we don’t need to kill if we don’t have to. And the king is just like, nope.

[01:11:33] James: Yeah. King’s got no margin for, you know, that’s

[01:11:38] Ka-Ce: He’s got no chill.

[01:11:39] James: No, that’s an F around and find out situation,

[01:11:43] Ka-Ce: Yea..

[01:11:44] James: It’s like, no, go, no, no, try try it, let’s see what happens. Go, go, go. Aww, you’re dead. Like Um So They’re all talking. [01:12:00] And Celaena mentions that she’s sad. She’s not going to the party. Chaol says, I’ll bring you back something.

[01:12:09] Don’t feel too bad about going. It’s probably going to be lame anyway. And she’s like, yeah, BS bro, you know, and you know, they get so caught up in, in their banter and we’re really seeing this growing more between them because he is treating her more like a person without him really like thinking about it.

[01:12:34] Ka-Ce: Yea.

[01:12:34] James: I think it’s slipping in and he’s not realizing that he’s, you know, talking to her like a regular person.

[01:12:43] Yeah.

[01:12:44] Um, so Nehemia cuts in cause she’s probably sick of this. She’s like, Oh dear Lord, you guys like get a room. Yeah.

[01:12:53] Ka-Ce: Well, you know, have to remember Nehemia does, doesn’t know what they’re saying, like, cause she speaks Eyllwe and Chaol and Celaena are talking in like, you know, their common tongue and

[01:13:06] James: I thought she could understand a little bit

[01:13:09] Ka-Ce: A little bit, yea..

[01:13:10] James: She’s probably not enough to like catch like all of the nuances and all of the, yeah. So anyway, so she cuts in and, and she’s like, I want, uh, I want Celaena to teach me. And I want her to teach me, at least an hour every day before supper. And Chaol’s like, nah, I don’t think I can swing that.

[01:13:36] Like, that’s just, I know you’re a princess, but you’re asking a lot. But Nehemia also doesn’t know that she is a champion to be. Celaena doesn’t necessarily have that much free time,

[01:13:51] Ka-Ce: Well, free time and, you know, Chaol’s looking at it, like, Celaena is an assassin. She shouldn’t be spending this much time with the princess

[01:13:59] James: Well, [01:14:00] yeah, exactly.

[01:14:01] Ka-Ce: And Nehemia doesn’t know. Yeah, Nehemia doesn’t know that she’s an assassin or that she’s, you know, competing to be the king’s champion. She just thinks she’s another lady at the castle.

[01:14:14] James: Yeah, that just has time to do whatever , but of course Celaena is like, I mean, this sounds like a good idea to me, you know, and Chaol’s like, uh, no, that’s not going to happen, but they all get interrupted because they come around the corner or something. They’re walking and they see Cain, kneeling in front of the clock tower.

[01:14:41] He’s looking at something on the ground. But as soon as he hears them, he gets up and he leaves. And Celaena notices that his hands are kind of dirty. And of course they’re like, again, Cain is on scene and he doesn’t do anything. He immediately leaves.

[01:15:03] Ka-Ce: But, okay, so Celaena, is always surrounded by guards, right? Like, she has guards outside her room, she has, I mean, Nehemia has guards with her too, uh, but Celaena always has guards or Chaol or something, and Cain is just there, by himself, playing in the dirt, not surrounded. Like, why, why doesn’t he have guards with him?

[01:15:33] James: He, he seems like a bigger threat. Like

[01:15:35] Ka-Ce: right? Total sus.

[01:15:39] James: Yea, and so they go up to where he was doing whatever, and it looked like he was cleaning one of the Wyrdmark tiles. And of course, the question is why? Nobody knows what these things are. Why is he so focused on it? Like, what was he doing? But nothing looked like it was out of place.

[01:15:58] Ka-Ce: Yeah,

[01:15:59] James: So [01:16:00] they’re just kind of like, Cain’s just being weird? Like, maybe?

[01:16:04] Ka-Ce: So he’s being sus

[01:16:07] James: Maybe he just likes old artwork? Like

[01:16:12] Ka-Ce: I also found Nehemia being kind of sus too in this. Like, she mentions that she doesn’t like Cain and she wants him in the face. but she knows what the Wyrdmarks are. Because Celaena asks her, but she, and she claims that she doesn’t know how to read them. But anytime someone says something quickly, or too quickly, you know that they’re hiding something.

[01:16:39] James: Mm hmm. Yea.

[01:16:40] Ka-Ce: So, Nehemia definitely knows something. Little sus.

[01:16:47] Princess is hiding something.

[01:16:51] James: Yeah. And this princess is, uh Anyway. Um Yes, so Celaena points out that there, there are more Wyrdmarks and Nehemia is like, we should just leave them alone and, and it’s like, well, why? Aren’t they just etchings in the ground? Like, they don’t mean anything. Like,

[01:17:22] Ka-Ce: Right.

[01:17:22] James: Doesn’t make any sense.

[01:17:24] Then we see Celaena catches Nehemia staring at her forehead.

[01:17:30] She thinks that there’s dirt on her face, but there isn’t, and, It’s just more general weirdness from Nehemia being a little too interested in

[01:17:41] Things that that others are not seeing like

[01:17:45] And and we’re kind of wondering if Nehemia is catching on to the the story, you know, like Is there more to this Lillian character? [01:18:00] Because, as a typical court lady, right, she also shouldn’t be so interested in these things. Or you know, so even Lillian’s (Celaena), she’s showing too much interest as a court lady.

[01:18:21] So Nehemia would also be looking at that like, what you, uh, what you doing?

[01:18:28] Ka-Ce: Right.

[01:18:28] James: So you got two people looking at each other like, what you doing?

[01:18:34] Ka-Ce: What you hidin’? What YOU hidin’?

[01:18:36] James: Yeah, um, so, you know, there’s, there’s definitely something afoot. just general weirdness from a lot of the characters right now, because everyone is kind of doing their own thing, and nobody’s being truthful about their own thing.

[01:18:54] And it’s like, what are you guys doing?

[01:18:59] Ka-Ce: Tell me your secrets.

[01:19:05] Moving on to chapter 24. Uh, Celaena, you know, is pouting. She’s on her bed while everybody’s out having a grand old time at this feast. And she notices an old tapestry in her room at midnight. She has a test in a few hours, but can’t sleep. And on this tapestry is, you know, a bunch of old animal motifs and stuff.

[01:19:28] But there is a life size beautiful woman that’s towards the bottom of the tapestry and she realizes that this tapestry by the woman is moving but her windows are shut and it’s moving. It’s a little sus.

[01:19:46] James: And there are no fans, so

[01:19:48] There are no fans. no AC. Um, so she goes over to inspect and she realizes that there is a secret hidden stone door behind this tapestry. [01:20:00] How did she not discover this? On day one, when she was touring her room, trying to find any potential exits, you know, weak points of her room, trying to make, weapons out of cue sticks and and hairpins and stuff. Like, do do I too many stories play video games where, like, my first thought is always check the walls for secret passages?

[01:20:27] Dude, any painting? Any door? I’m running my character right up into that shit like, Can I go through here? Can I go through here?

[01:20:35] Ka-Ce: Right?

[01:20:36] James: Window? Window? No? No? Trap door!

[01:20:41] Ka-Ce: it has been how many weeks, and she is now realizing that there is a hidden door

[01:20:47] James: Yeah, it seems very unlikely that she would not have spotted that on day one in her desperate attempt to find a way.

[01:20:56] Ka-Ce: Find potential exits. Yeah.

[01:20:58] James: Yeah, like, I, this, this is, it’s there to progress the story,

[01:21:06] Ka-Ce: Yes.

[01:21:06] James: but it’s very out of place. The timing for this is, but, I mean, realistically, how could you introduce this on day one, because then you don’t have the other stuff, like, because,

[01:21:20] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:21:21] James: The timeline won’t work.

[01:21:24] It honestly would have been better if this had been described as her looking at it and going, That was a wall the other day.

[01:21:33] Ka-Ce: Mmm, yea

[01:21:34] James: and suddenly now it’s a door or, you know, an entry way.

[01:21:39] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:21:40] James: But it’s hard to buy the fact that a trained assassin who is

[01:21:45] Ka-Ce: Who knows how to scale castle walls and everything

[01:21:48] James: desperate to find a way out

[01:21:50] Ka-Ce: Mm hmm.

[01:21:50] James: would not have walked up to a painting and been like, poke,

[01:21:56] Ka-Ce: Right.

[01:21:56] James: There’s a door here! Oh my god.

[01:21:58] Like, [01:22:00] yeah.

[01:22:02] Ka-Ce: That was, that was my little,

[01:22:04] James: No, I definitely thought the same thing when I read it, it was kinda like, ugh.

[01:22:07] Ka-Ce: Okay,

[01:22:09] James: for the story’s sake, we’re gonna roll with this, but,

[01:22:16] but then how do you be like, oh, well it can’t be magic because there is no magic. So, like, you know. Or is there? Dun Dun Dun. Nerd..

[01:22:35] Ka-Ce: So Celaena, um, is excited to go exploring because she found a secret tunnel. I’m going to do that throughout the whole thing. Yeah, that’s the theme of this episode. Um, so she goes and gets, you know, some supplies, some yarn, chalk, her makeshift knife, candlesticks, props, the door open with the chair, puts the tapestry over it, you know, and then she goes off climbing down the stairs and comes down to a section where there’s like three portals. so she decides to go towards the middle door because it was the closest one. And because one of the other ones seemed to have stairs, that just continued to going down, down, down. Beneath the castle. So she goes to the middle one and her passage soon becomes lighter, even though there’s like moisture and fungus growing on the walls, but she keeps going and soon enough, she discovers running water and it’s the sewer and it’s flowing straight out of the castle.

[01:23:41] And she’s like, Oh my god, landmine, right? No guards, no locks, or anything. There’s, there is an iron fence that hovers just over the surface of this. But she, um, again, if she had discovered secret door to the secret tunnel [01:24:00] on her first day, she could have escaped. and we would have had a completely different story.

[01:24:07] James: That’s true. She would have bounced. She would have been like, peace. Y’all will never see me again.

[01:24:16] Ka-Ce: Yeah. Um, there are four small boats tied to either side of the bank, um, and there’s other doors around this area. And she deduces that this is probably an old escape route. and she could see trees in the distance. So she determines that she is, this is like the back of the castle, the side facing the sea. and she contemplates fleeing, like who wouldn’t, like, this is her chance. Everybody’s getting drunk and pigging themselves out. They won’t notice her until the next day. Um,

[01:24:51] James: They didn’t notice a dude dead in the servants stairwell for half a day.

[01:24:56] Ka-Ce: She Kind of ship is Chaol running?

[01:24:59] James: She would be gone. She would be so gone for so long before they even knew what happened. And then they would be standing there like, Oh shit.

[01:25:10] Ka-Ce: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So she does, she contemplates taking a boat and disappearing. But she does not want to run away as a common criminal. She, she will stay, she will complete the competition, eat the free food, and get more training. Plus, she would need weeks to gather, you know, some supplies. Mm hmm. to make this escape, so why rush it?

[01:25:40] James: Yeah,

[01:25:42] Ka-Ce: I do feel like there is a passage in this scene that we should make note of and come back to later. Um, it’s the passage, Her foot slipped on a slick rung, and Celaena barely stifled her cry as she gripped the bars. Cursing as her knee banged into the gate, [01:26:00] clinging to the gate she closed her eyes. It was only water. We, we need to come back to this when we get to Assassin’s Blade.

[01:26:09] James: okay.

[01:26:11] Ka-Ce: I just wanted to throw that out there.

[01:26:14] James: Is that technically foreshadowing or is that backshadowing?

[01:26:19] Ka-Ce: Depends on how you look at it. So, she, she says goodbye to her freedom, and she backtracks, um, and she finds herself back at that three way intersection, and she’s contemplating, you know, which of the other two portals to go through. And a really strong breeze. Blew so hard that it made Celaena take a step towards the right arch, the right portal.

[01:26:45] and the flame on her candle is bending that way. Whispers lay on the breeze, seeming to be in a forgotten language, and she’s like, oh hell no. Whispers on Samhain would only lead to trouble. Good words to live

[01:27:01] James: She’s a girl that would survive the horror movie because she’s the one who like opens the door to the basement and looks at it and goes, nah.

[01:27:10] Ka-Ce: Nope.

[01:27:12] James: The end.

[01:27:14] Ka-Ce: yeah. So instead she goes to the left. Uh, winding stairs, uh, winding upward stairs lead her to a straight hall and she hears music and from high above she can see the great hall and everyone’s eating, dancing, singing. She can see Chaol, she could see Dorian, and she could see other members of her competition, the other champions. So,

[01:27:44] James: That’s some BS right there.

[01:27:46] Ka-Ce: right. Grade A bullshit. Um, this whole passage, she, she mentions it’s a tiny passageway and that she’s looking through a grate down, you know, onto the great [01:28:00] ballroom. And this reminded me when we were, visiting Bunratty Castle in Ireland.

[01:28:06] hers doesn’t sound as nice. I think we were up in a upper, like, actual room that had like window that you could open and then you could look down into, like, their

[01:28:18] James: Yeah. We were in an upper room that, that overlooked the court area. Um, but similar vibes, like she was probably in like servants quarters or, or not quarters, but

[01:28:36] Ka-Ce: And she mentions that she could see, like, other grates across the room, so maybe they were, like, for spies and stuff. Like, for the king, you know, to watch. Maybe it doesn’t, it wasn’t being used as much anymore. People forgot about it or something. Since they seem to have forgotten about all these other secret tunnels.

[01:28:56] Um. But yeah, so that just reminded me of our time at Bunratty Castle. We opened the little window, we got to peer down, and that was fun.

[01:29:05] James: Plus those, those stairwells in, in the, in Bunratty, I imagine it was probably kind of similar to what she was, you know, like super steep, not room really for a person to pass by, because, I mean, castles were built that way for a reason.

[01:29:20] Ka-Ce: yeah,

[01:29:21] James: And, and so, yeah.

[01:29:23] Ka-Ce: Yea, those steps were scary.

[01:29:25] James: That’s, that’s what it brings to mind are those super narrow, twisting passages on the, you know.

[01:29:32] Ka-Ce: We should insert a couple pictures at the end of this of like some of the, of Bunratty.

[01:29:37] James: Oh, yeah.

[01:29:41] Ka-Ce: So she, she notes Chaol’s happiness and laughing, and it made her own face flush. Girl,

[01:29:48] James: How dare he.

[01:29:51] Ka-Ce: why is your face flushing with him laughing? You’re supposed to like the prince. Anyways, that’s my own feelings. Uh, she realizes [01:30:00] the other champions are at the party, even Pelor, the half rate boy assassin. WTF. But one good thing is she also realizes Cain is not in attendance. So, he’s probably, you know, under lock and key, like she should be.

[01:30:18] she does see Dorian dancing and laughing with some lady. And she finds herself still wanting to kiss, to kiss the prince. And then, she sees Chaol, weaving his way through the crowd. And realizes, aw shit, he’s probably leaving to go check on her. So she races back to her room, and flings herself back into bed. But, who enters her room? Dorian! He cracks open her bedroom door to find her asleep, a book cracked open next to her, still in her hundred year old dress. And while he’s watching her sleep, he hears footsteps and finds Chaol across the foyer. So we got two creepers.

[01:31:06] James: Right? This is, this is not right on any level. Like, they’re just coming in while girl’s trying to sleep. I mean, we know she wasn’t sleeping, but still. What the heck, man?

[01:31:18] Ka-Ce: Yeah. Uh, they confront each other. Chaol kicks him out and locks the door. And Dorian trudges back up to his room and he doesn’t sleep well that night. Chaol doesn’t understand the rage that rose upon seeing Dorian standing there in the bedroom doorway. He claims it’s not jealousy. I think he’s a liar. Um, I don’t know. I don’t know if

[01:31:47] James: Yeah.

[01:31:48] Ka-Ce: yeah? Um, but I did notice the way, ah, the way the passage is written. Like, the way Dorian observes and [01:32:00] thinks of Celaena while she sleeps versus Chaol when he observes her sleeping. Like, Dorian doesn’t see a trace of aggression or bloodlust across her features, and he feels like he knows her somehow, and he wants to continue to know her, versus Chaol, seeing her sleep, even peaceful sleeping, sees her as a weapon, as a honed blade, a sleeping animal, she still has a killing potential.

[01:32:27] James: Yeah. Yeah, he is definitely, uh, wary of her. That’s the soldier, or guard, in him. you know, he’s looking at it and going, You gotta be careful about that.

[01:32:53] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:32:54] James: Because that will get you killed. And Dorian is just like, Nah, she’s fine.

[01:33:07] Ka-Ce: Uh, Celaena does slightly stir from her sleep and Chaol gives her a trinket from the party. It happens to be a ring that they were giving out. and Celaena cradles it, you know, to her chest and goes back to sleep and Chaol leaves her alone. so he did. He kept his promise and he did bring her something, but We’re starting a little, like, tension between the two boys.

[01:33:34] James: Hmm, hmm, hmm.

[01:33:35]

[01:33:35] Ka-Ce: Dun, dun, dun.

[01:33:36] James: Girl just wants to do her thing. And now she’s gotta worry about these 2 man children coming all up in her business. What the hell?

[01:33:45] Ka-Ce: Of course

[01:33:47] James: Alright. So, chapter 25, Celaena dreamt of the secret tunnel, and that she had chosen the [01:34:00] scary tunnel on the right. Because, of course,

[01:34:03] Ka-Ce: Of course.

[01:34:04] James: that’s usually how dreams go, right? Uh, the passage goes down and down and down and down, comes across other passages, but continues to follow the breeze that she dreams smelled like roses.

[01:34:18] She stops in front of an old wooden door with a bronze skull knocker on it. She goes into the room, there’s moonlight coming in from a small hole in the ceiling, which is interesting considering that if she was going down and down and down and around and like, where the hell did she go that there would be moonlight coming through a hole in the ceiling?

[01:34:40] not important, just, you know, interesting. Um, the moonlight comes in, it falls on a beautiful marble statue of a, of a woman.

[01:34:54] To a marble statue on a sarcophagus. And then there’s a second sarcophagus that’s next to it that had a male marble statue. Only the female one was bathed in moonlight.

[01:35:05] They both had crowns and she looks and she realizes That there’s sort of a, like a rubbed out, probably, Wyrdmark symbol on the queen’s forehead. Um, when I was reading it, was it, I initially, when I read it the first time, thought it was a Wyrdmark on the crown on the forehead. But no, I’m not sure if that was Because You know, we just, we just read the part where Nehemia was focused on Celaena’s forehead, and then I’m reading this again, and it says the Queen’s sarcophagus on her forehead, so I’m like, oh, what, what was she looking for?

[01:35:53] Like, kind of an odd connection, right? That I [01:36:00] I didn’t catch that the first time.

[01:36:01] Ka-Ce: I’ve read, I’ve read this book and listened to this book a couple of times, um, especially in preparation for the podcast and I didn’t catch it either until like I was brushing my teeth or something and I went, Oh my God, I just wrote the show notes about Nehemia looking at Celaena’s forehead or Lillian’s forehead as she knows her. And I also just wrote. This thing about the word mark on the Queen’s forehead. That was like a chapter or two apart. Like, how have I never put this connection together? Like, dur dur dur

[01:36:38] James: I just literally, I thought that the word mark was on the crown when I read it the first time. so I didn’t even pay attention to it.

[01:36:47] Ka-Ce: Yeah, I’m, I have the book up right now, I’m trying to see, but I’m pretty sure it was on the forehead, not the crown. Let’s see. It was cold and hard, as a statue should be. Which queen were you? She said aloud, her voice rever Why can’t I talk?

[01:37:16] James: Reverberating.

[01:37:17] Ka-Ce: Thank you. Through the still chamber. I can say it in my head, okay? She ran a hand across the lips, then across the brow. Her eyes narrowed. A mark was faintly carved into the surface, practically invisible to the eye.

[01:37:31] She traced it with her finger, then traced it again. Deciding that the moonlight must be bleaching it, Celaena shielded the spot with her hand. A diamond, two arrows piercing its side, then a vertical line through its middle. It was the Wyrdmark she’d seen earlier. She stepped back from the sarcophagi, suddenly cold.

[01:37:51] This was a forbidden place. So yeah, I read that as on her forehead, like above her brow, and [01:38:00] not on the, the crown.

[01:38:04] James: Yeah, I think, because when I read it, I think in my head, when, when they talk about crowns, crowns always sit

[01:38:13] Ka-Ce: On the forehead

[01:38:13] James: You know, so low on the forehead. Then that’s just, that was just my brain making a connection that. Wasn’t there based on things I’ve seen on TV, things I’ve read, you know, so it’s just a detail that I had missed the first time, but that’s, what’s great about doing this stuff is you catch things that you, that you didn’t catch the first time.

[01:38:37]

[01:38:37] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:38:37] James: So, you know, interesting connection. Is it foreshadowing? What’s Nehemia’s deal? There’s some, some stuff going on. All right. So, we get a more detail of the room, right, that she’s in. The floor is covered in stars that mirror the sky. The ceiling is depicting the earth. So it’s kind of like a reverse, um, kind of makes it seem like because the sarcophagus is on the star part. So it’s like the, you know, the King and the Queen are in the stars because the earth is on the other side. Kind of just interesting. Um, and she notices that the walls have countless Wyrdmarks etched in them. Everywhere. Just. Covering the walls and at the Queen’s feet in stone letters is “Ah Times Rift” And

[01:39:43] Ka-Ce: Such a weird thing

[01:39:44] James: yeah, what the hell does that mean? Because I mean that that’s not the last words I would expect a queen to leave for

[01:39:54] Ka-Ce: No.

[01:39:55] James: Yeah, it’s like what do you want on your tombstone? That’s like, you know, if I [01:40:00] died and you know, what do you want on your tombstone? New York crust is the best. Like,

[01:40:08] Ka-Ce: Like, what in the world

[01:40:09] James: you know, what kind of weird cryptic message is that? Cause then people come in and they go, he didn’t even like, he’s vegan. He can’t have pizza, you know, like, anyway, um, she goes back to look at the queen and she notices the pointed and arched ears on the queen and realizes that the King is Gavin, the first King of Ardalan, and this is Queen Elena.

[01:40:39] The first princess of Terrasen, Brandon’s daughter, and Gavin’s wife and queen. So she is in the burial chamber of the, the first, um, and the first thing she thinks of is she looks around and she’s like, why is this tomb forgotten? They’re the, there you are literally the first king and queen. And nobody is here honoring them, taking care of this tomb, keeping it, you know, where are the offerings and the flowers and the, you know, whatever, right?

[01:41:19] Um,

[01:41:23] why was the queen and, you know, why were they forgotten? I mean, this whole part of the, of the castle seems to have been forgotten.

[01:41:36] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:41:37] James: You know, why? What happened? Um, she goes around, she notices that there’s treasure, there’s a golden suit of armor, a legendary sword called Damaris. That belonged to Gavin. Is it Damaris or Damaris?

[01:41:56] Ka-Ce: I think it’s Damaris. I would have to re listen to the audio.[01:42:00]

[01:42:01] James: Damaris sounds better. So we’ll go with that.

[01:42:04] Ka-Ce: Okay.

[01:42:05] James: so while Celaena is down there just sort of doing her thing, like the hell is this, who pops in Um, it’s the queen.

[01:42:16] Ka-Ce: What the fuck?

[01:42:19] James: She’s not a ghost

[01:42:20] Um, but she’s also not a haunt. She,

[01:42:25]

[01:42:25] Ka-Ce: Yea, it’s weird.

[01:42:26] James: like, so she’s not stuck in this place, but she’s monitoring it?

[01:42:33] Ka-Ce: There’s something.

[01:42:34] James: Like, I wasn’t quite sure, like, is she keeping tabs on Celaena to know when she comes in? Because, I mean, she’s been expecting her. So, uh, Is it just when she came into the tomb and she’s like, Oh, somebody’s in my tomb. I better go like, or like, has she been watching her this whole time? And like,

[01:42:54] Ka-Ce: Now’s my chance.

[01:42:55] James: you kind of get the idea that she was trying to lead her there. Right. With the whole breeze, you know, when she was like, I am not going that way. I’m going that way.

[01:43:04] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:43:05] James: So she was trying to get her there to meet her. So

[01:43:10] Ka-Ce: That was my thought at first, too, was that, you know, when we come to this passage and Elena makes herself known, I was like, Oh, that breeze from earlier, that was her trying to lead Celaena here so they could, you know, talk and whatever. But then, um, later in this passage, I don’t think it was, I think it was something else.

[01:43:38] James: yeah, it’s just, you know, you, you start to like, How much is she watching? How much is she doing? Because then she does mention that, that her power is very limited and it takes a lot to even just come to visit her and that she kind of can’t really do [01:44:00] anything for her.

[01:44:01] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:44:02] James: Um, so.

[01:44:04] And maybe this is just because, well, no, actually I’m not going to say anything about that. She says that she risked a lot coming to see her. And my thought was if you’re a, not technically a ghost, right. But this is like your spirit projection from wherever. Why is it risky to do this? Like you’re already dead.

[01:44:32] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:44:32] James: So what can happen to you? Um, I do have other thoughts on that, but I don’t want to talk about it cause we’re not there yet. Um,

[01:44:43] Ka-Ce: Jot those notes down for the next one

[01:44:45] James: yeah. Um, it was just interesting because she was like, I’m here to sort of help you at least answer some questions, but I can’t stay for long because. You know, this is risky business, and it’s like, that’s just odd to me.

[01:45:02] Um, she tells Celaena that the eight guardians are being distracted. The eight guardians are the gargoyles. And this was another thing, I was like, okay, the gargoyles, like,

[01:45:15] Ka-Ce: finally getting somewhere with them

[01:45:17] James: been, I’ve been expecting some stuff with the gargoyles. We get this. And then

[01:45:27] Ka-Ce: then Nothing

[01:45:28] James: And then, that’s it, again. Like, so they’re guardians

[01:45:32] guardians

[01:45:34] Ka-Ce: of a portal,

[01:45:35] James: of something,

[01:45:37] Ka-Ce: Oh, a portal between worlds, but, yea

[01:45:40] James: But then they don’t, again, there’s like this attention drawn to the gargoyles and to that’s it. And then you’re like, okay, they’re not that big of a threat then maybe, or maybe they are. And I don’t know, it seemed like a wasted opportunity to delve into some [01:46:00] gargoyle bullshittery, like,

[01:46:03] Ka-Ce: Well, and you’re a huge fan of like gargoyle mythos and stuff and

[01:46:08] James: well, and just monsters both fan general

[01:46:11] Ka-Ce: monsters in general and we both grew up on the animated gargoyle show and we both loved that show So yeah, I think me too. I was I was a bit disappointed like The purpose of this scene was Elena’s message, I get that, but, you know, we had that sort of build up of the descriptions of the gargoyles on the tower, and then we’re being told the gargoyles are guardians, they’re actual guardians of a portal between worlds, that’s like some heavy business, but Elena’s like, okay, but we’re not talking about that, we’re going to talk about this.

[01:46:47] James: Yeah. She immediately moves on to like, there’s a purpose for everything. There’s no coincidence. Um, you were meant to come to the castle. You were meant to be an assassin. You were meant to learn these skills. Nothing like telling a person that, you know, in order to do this, you had to suffer and it was justified.

[01:47:09] I’d be like, I don’t agree with that. Um, and. That there is something evil in the castle. It’s not the gargoyles. Even though they’re distracted, so they are a threat. So I guess they’re like a neutral party, and they’re just like, my job is to guard this thing. And just don’t mess around, and you won’t get in trouble. I don’t know. So there’s something evil. It’s, you know, all in the, it’s festering in the castle and She is the one who has to stop it. She’s gotta forsake friendships, debts, oaths, You know, bonds, [01:48:00] anything that’s gonna tether her to, basically tether her to the world she needs to be prepared to give up and, and, you know, that doesn’t work for her,

[01:48:14] Ka-Ce: That’s such a hard task, especially for an 18 year old, for somebody who just got out of being a slave, like this poor girl cannot catch her breath at all. And now being asked to give up more. Like, she’s struggling to make friendships as it is right now and to find a support system and, and some ghost queen, who’s not a ghost, is like, yeah, you gotta sacrifice more.

[01:48:50] James: Yeah. I mean, that, that does not a good way to end your evening, honestly.

[01:48:55] Ka-Ce: No, no.

[01:48:58] James: Um, she continues by telling her you got to be the champion. You got to. You have to take care of, you know, the people and understand what they’re going through. And you really do. She wants to emphasize, you really have to be the champion.

[01:49:19] Like this has to happen. Uh, then she gives Celaena something cold and metallic. And, then she tells her that, you know, Both of them were led to the tomb that night, but Elena’s not the one who did it. Um, and then we get the glimpse of a threat. Something starts growling somewhere. And Elena is like, you need to get gone. Out of here.

[01:49:57] Ka-Ce: Yea.

[01:49:57] James: And then Celaena wakes [01:50:00] up. She’s out of breath and she realizes that she’s holding a coin sized amulet in her hand and that the door behind the tapestry is ajar again. She races to close it and realizes, just now realizes, that the woman on the tapestry is Elena and she’s, she’s just not gonna sleep well after this because, um,

[01:50:32] Ka-Ce: Who would?

[01:50:33] James: well, I mean, she thought she was dreaming, but she wasn’t dreaming, but she was dreaming.

[01:50:41] Ka-Ce: Yeah, that’s so. So bizarre. Like, I’d be questioning so much. Yeah.

[01:50:50] James: Yeah. No, I mean, it was a. There was a lot, there was a heavy chapter, you know, was a lot of stuff and we’re really seeing an unfolding of the bigger picture now of that there are things in play, that Celaena is finding herself the center of that she very much does not want to be the center of

[01:51:16] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:51:17] James: and, and she’s fighting that because You know, for, for almost her entire life, since she was, well, not her entire life, but more than half of her life, she has had to follow the whims and wishes of people in power above her

[01:51:41] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:51:42] James: and all she needs now is ghost queen coming up and saying, by the way,

[01:51:49] Ka-Ce: I need you to do

[01:51:50] James: You, you need to save the castle and all the people, and it’s like, Why?

[01:51:57] Ka-Ce: I’m just trying to save [01:52:00] myself lady, like com’on

[01:52:02] James: like I don’t have enough on my plate?

[01:52:04] Ka-Ce: Right.

[01:52:05] James: Yeah. I get it, girl frustrated. I would be frustrated too. I’m frustrated for her.

[01:52:12] Ka-Ce: Yes. Moving into chapter 26, our final chapter, uh, for tonigh for today, uh, Chaol again, barges into her room, waking Celaena up. Celaena, on edge, because what a night she’s had, jumps out of bed with a candlestick in hand. He demands to know where she was during the night, and she’s like, the fuck dude, I’ve been here all night.

[01:52:39] In my room. Didn’t he stop by to give me a ring from the party? But he still proceeds to question her about where were you the rest of the night? And she’s like, dude, ask the guards outside my room. I’ve been in my room all night. So what has happened? There was another murder. Xavier the Thief from Melisande was killed on Samhain and was half eaten.

[01:53:11] So the test for the day has been cancelled. We have another killing of a champion and a champion whose name we were given. So all the champions that were named are dying off one by one.

[01:53:26] James: Maybe that’s the problem. Give them name and then, oh man, does that mean that Nox is not out of the woods yet?

[01:53:34] Ka-Ce: Oh, don’t say that about my Nox.

[01:53:36] James: Because we know his name. I mean,

[01:53:39] Ka-Ce: Oh no

[01:53:39] James: we also know the name of the rat guy, the rat boy.

[01:53:43] Ka-Ce: True. well, I we know Cain’s name. Come on now. Somebody knock off Cain.

[01:53:48] James: He’s too big.

[01:53:50] Ka-Ce: Yeah. So, Celaena suspects Cain, and she tells Chaol, like, What about Cain? And [01:54:00] Chaol continues to question her about her whereabouts and, you know, she told them about the guards. So training is also canceled for that day because Chaol has to go and investigate this other murder.

[01:54:14] James: Okay. And, and if we just stop for a second, Chaol really came up to her room and was like, where were you? Did you murder somebody and also eat half of him?

[01:54:27] Ka-Ce: Right?

[01:54:29] James: This girl is like 90 pounds. Soaking wet, right?

[01:54:34] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[01:54:35] James: And literally every other champion other than maybe the rat boy assassin is bigger than her.

[01:54:43] Ka-Ce: You keep calling him Rat Boy. Poor Pelor.

[01:54:47] James: It’s cause I couldn’t remember his name. Um, but, but Chaol really came up there. And with, with, with a full chest and was like, did you murder and eat half of this champion? And she’s like,

[01:55:04] Ka-Ce: Dude, what?

[01:55:05] James: bro, I’ve been sleeping. And why was the second argument? And, and bro, I’m not a cannibal,

[01:55:14] Ka-Ce: Well, I, like this is, I’ve mentioned this in the previous podcast, like we get one step forward with Chaol and his evolving relationship with Celaena and then like two steps back and I get that he has to do his job and he has to question you know, all suspects and everything, but like, oh my god, dude,

[01:55:36] James: Right? Do you consume of the human flesh? And she’s just like, no. Okay. End of conversation.

[01:55:43] Ka-Ce: I wanna know if he questioned the guards outside her door, like, do your job

[01:55:50] Question the guards that supposed to be guarding her, and didn’t he have guards, like, stationed outside her balcony as well? Like, we’ve read about that in the early [01:56:00] part of the book, so, yeah,

[01:56:03] James: Yea, cause, cause when she first got there, she poked her head out and they saw her and she was like, cool peace. And she went back inside.

[01:56:14] Ka-Ce: Yeah, so, like, come on, Chaol. This is unnecessary drama, even for you

[01:56:18] James: Right. Just so many things in this conversation went wrong and they didn’t

[01:56:25] Ka-Ce: I get he’s highly stra like, he’s highly stressed. I get it. There’s another murder. Like, oh my god. But, like, come on. So,

[01:56:34] James: Yeah.

[01:56:35] Ka-Ce: she, she tells him, She’s lucky, she gets to sleep for an extra five hours today because there’s no training, there’s no test, what else is she gonna do? So, she waits for him to leave, and she gets ready, and she wonders if Xavier had been killed by one of the screeching creatures that was in her

[01:56:56] dream, not dream from when she was in the tomb,

[01:56:59] James: Yeah.

[01:57:01] Ka-Ce: but the creatures had been near the tomb and Xavier wasn’t so she tries to fortify, you know, the locks and on her windows and her doors, tries to arm herself the best she can, since she doesn’t really have weapons, and she head back, heads back down to the tomb, you know, she’s trying to find anything that’s going to explain Elena’s motives or what this mysterious evil, That’s lurking around might be.

[01:57:29] But there’s no trace of Elena, no trace of whatever had been growling and screeching. Um, and as she leaves the tomb, she decides she’s going to focus, as she should, on being the king’s champion, first. And if she wins, then maybe she’ll figure out about this whole evil thing.

[01:57:49] James: If she can be bothered.

[01:57:52] Ka-Ce: Yeah, girl has priorities. Come on.

[01:57:55] James: Same.

[01:57:56] Ka-Ce: So, Celaena convinces her guards to escort her [01:58:00] to the libary, and on the way they happen to see Xavier’s half eaten body. So you mean to tell me this whole time they discover the body, Chaol rushes to her, questions her, he gets kicked out, she gets ready, she heads down to the tomb, spends time in the tomb exploring more stuff, Comes back out, gets dressed to be presentable in public, and then they go out, and the body’s still there. Okay, I don’t, like, you’d think this would have been cleaned up a lot earlier, but. So his vital organs were removed yet again. This is no accidental killing. The brain is gone, too. There’s, this time, there’s smears of blood on the walls, like someone was writing with the blood and then smeared it. And she can notice that the writing was Wyrdmarks, three of them.

[01:59:05] So we’re seeing more and more of these Wyrdmarks come into play. Um, and she, she just can’t believe that Chaol suspected her. This, this was a tasteless murder. This was just brutal and ugly and messy. And her methods as, as a trained assassin would be very quick and clean. And with the Wyrdmarks now around the body, this seems to make it more ritualistic. So there’s going to be more thought behind this. I mean, again, I mentioned earlier, If you’re removing vital organs, this is not just some murder. This is a very premeditated thing. Um, yeah, you could say it’s ritualistic. So I’m curious if the other murders that happened were their [02:00:00] Wyrdmarks also. And did Chaol happen to notice that?

[02:00:08] James: yeah. I also want to know, cause I don’t think it was touched on if up to this point, if the, if the ones who were killed, if they were targeted or if they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,

[02:00:26] Ka-Ce: Ooh, that’s good. I don’t remember that offhand actually. Should jot that down and we should see.

[02:00:33] James: like, were they just wandering around the castle and like, Oh, Hey, yummy. You know what I mean?

[02:00:43] Ka-Ce: Yeah. Yeah.

[02:00:44] James: Because, I feel, I feel like if it was targeted, they would have gone after her.

[02:00:49] Ka-Ce: I think so. Yeah. Just even just because she’s a female. She’s a young female

[02:00:57] James: She’d be easy to pick off. Like,

[02:00:59] Ka-Ce: Yeah. Unless, unless they’re like, Oh, she’s easy to pick off. Somebody is going to take care of her during one of the tests. Let’s, let’s focus on one of the bigger, better, you know, things. Especially if it’s a ritualistic sort of thing.

[02:01:17] James: yeah,

[02:01:17] Ka-Ce: It could be going for a certain type.

[02:01:21] James: true. I don’t know. Just, yeah, just interesting.

[02:01:26] Ka-Ce: So, as she’s, you know, eyeing this, the remains, she notices that Grave, the vicious assassin, was approaching from the other end of the hallway. They speak a couple words to each other as they pass each other by, but nothing, you know, really comes of it. And the scene switches and it’s Dorian and Chaol and they’re sparring.

[02:01:49] They haven’t sparred in a while together and Dorian is out of breath. And he remembers, you know, he used to be on equal sChaol with Chaol, but With [02:02:00] time and stuff, you know, he has to go to court with his mom and he has to attend all these meetings And he’s grown to prefer books over swords. So he likes to read a lot

[02:02:10] James: You can do both bro. Just make time, make time

[02:02:14] Ka-Ce: Just yeah, just make time all the time

[02:02:17] James: all the time.

[02:02:18] Ka-Ce: Chaol tells him he’s using the meetings as an excuse to argue with Duke Perrington Or he’s too busy visiting Celaena’s room. I think Chaol is a little salty

[02:02:31] James: Oh, definitely.

[02:02:34] Ka-Ce: Dorian also challenges Chaol as to why he was in her room, especially the same night that the other champion died. Um, you know, we do learn that court with his mother is terrible. There’s still no word from the king, like where he is, what he’s doing. Um, and Dorian voices concerns about the String of Murders and Celaena’s safety.

[02:02:56] Chaol reports that he’s stationed war guards outside her suite. And Dorian wonders if it’s to protect her or to keep her in her room. And, Chaol quietly responds, What difference does it make? You don’t seem to care either way. You’ll visit her no matter what I say. And the guards won’t stop you because you are the prince. Again, with the saltiness. um, Dorian notes his words sound, you know, so defeated, so bitter. And why is that? Is it because Chaol is trying to protect the prince over and over again, and Dorian just does what he wants anyway? Or is this something more, like, Chaol is frustrated living in the princess shadow.

[02:03:44] Um, you know, Chaol may be that once again, Dorian is going to get the girl. Jealousy, like, I don’t know. But they part ways, and Dorian, you know, heads back [02:04:00] up to his room, and he, he feels alone in his tower. Um,

[02:04:05] James: Yeah, I, you know, I can see from, from Chaol’s point of view, like Dorian can come and go mostly as he pleases, other than when he’s, you know, got to do the meetings or, you know, abide by, you know, his mother or, you know, whatever. But in terms of, you know, literally everything else, he can come and go as he wants and nobody can stop him.

[02:04:33] Chaol doesn’t have that freedom. I, you know, he is the captain of the guard, but that, uh, that doesn’t, that doesn’t give him the ability to, he’s got to maintain the other guards, he’s got schedules to do. He’s got trainings to do. So even though he does spend a lot of time with Celaena, he’s not with her all the time.

[02:04:57] And Dorian can just, if he wants to pop up in the room and be like, Hey, what’s up? You know, and I could see where Chaol would be like, you know, everyone’s got to follow the rules except for the Prince. And even though, you know, he’s the Prince, you’re still going to be a little bit like, you know, yeah, just freaking go and do whatever it is that you’re going to do, because you’re not going to listen anyway, like, and that gets annoying, like,

[02:05:25] Ka-Ce: especially when he’s like, you know, in charge of everybody’s safety and everything. But I feel like there’s a little trouble with their bromance right now.

[02:05:35] James: yeah, oh, definitely. It all started when they pulled her out of the mines.

[02:05:41] Ka-Ce: So it’s their fault.

[02:05:43] James: And poor Celaena is just like, say what now?

[02:05:49] Ka-Ce: I think you’re hot, but I want to kiss you, but I need to focus.

[02:05:54] James: Yeah, she’s got, she’s got things on her mind and, And, and [02:06:00] the, the men ain’t it, you know. I mean they are, kind of, but not super duper. She doesn’t need this right now. She’s got a lot going on.

[02:06:10] Ka-Ce: Yep. Any,

[02:06:11] James: Gotta save the kingdom.

[02:06:15] Ka-Ce: yes. Any favorite moments or, um, parts from these chapters?

[02:06:25] James: Mmm, I think like overall, I really liked the more character, you know, development and, and everything. I liked seeing that the, um, the bigger plot seems to be sort of unveiling itself, even though we don’t really know what’s going on. You know, we know there’s something, you know, and we know that these deaths are not accidental and we know that, you know, there’s something out there eating these people or supposedly eating these people, whether it’s ritual or just who knows, cannibalistic, you know, hunger, hangry, um, you know, who knows?

[02:07:17] I did really enjoy, uh, Celaena saving Nox on the wall. Yeah. Very, very just, um, her like looking at a situation and going crap. Okay. And diving into it and just being like, not on my watch, you know,

[02:07:42] Ka-Ce: and I am a big fan of the secret tunnel tropes. I love secret passageways

[02:07:50] James: mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

[02:07:51] Ka-Ce: and tombs and stuff. Um, so I, I enjoyed that, you know, and meeting with Elena and everything. As cryptic as it [02:08:00] was, um, So, I did enjoy these chapters. I felt like these chapters, like, like you said, were finally really starting to see the arch of the story, seeing the bigger stuff now.

[02:08:15] Um, so yeah, it was exciting to get to this part.

[02:08:18] James: Yeah. It was good stuff. I enjoyed it. so that wraps up chapters 21 through 26 of Throne of Glass, there was a lot, we covered all kinds of stuff. Like you said, there was a test, a couple people died. I mean, well, yeah, we don’t, to this point, we’ve only had one person die accidentally. Everyone else has been actively murdered.

[02:08:50] Ka-Ce: Yeah.

[02:08:52] James: So, you know, not great odds. Um, we’ve had a visit from a not ghost ghost. Still not entirely clear on that one and secret tunnel. And then of course the rift between Dorian and Chaol. So, you know, if you guys have any thoughts or theories, ideas, You know, uh, give us a comment, you know, you can, you can leave us a comment on our YouTube.

[02:09:30] You can always email us at [email protected]. And if you have, you know, if you have any ideas or insights or anything like that, send them over and, you know, we’ll be happy to, you know, kind of, Um, take a look at them and discuss them on the next episode. You know, do you guys fall in line with the things that we’re thinking or do you [02:10:00] disagree?

[02:10:01] Um, I mean, we’re not the authority on this. This is just the way that we perceive the story. So yeah, give us a, give us a shout out, give us a listen, let us know what you think. And next week, we will be going through chapters 27 through 33 the official halfway point of the book and Yeah, well, we’re actually gonna be moving through this pretty quick we I think we’ve got about four more episodes planned for for book one and Since we’re coming up on Christmas We are planning a special.

[02:10:48] Well, maybe one or two special holiday episodes for you guys and And Yeah, there’s a lot going on

[02:10:59] Ka-Ce: So, please remember to like, subscribe, share, comment, and rate us. Your likes and ratings and comments really do mean a lot to us. We really appreciate it. So if you like what you hear so far, share with your friends, share with your family. Um, you can also check us out on TikTok and Instagram. And as we head out, please don’t forget to give some love, to our to our friends over at K911 ResQ.

[02:11:25] K911 ResQ is a rescue that is devoted to cats and dogs and other creatures that no one wants and they often get overlooked because, you know, they’re seniors, they’re handicapped, they’re homeless, they’re not the cute fluffy ones, so they try to save and help as many special needs animals as they can, and currently right now, K911 ResQ needs everyone’s help.

[02:11:51] they just rescued a dog, Crescent, and she is currently fighting a upper respiratory infection. she also needs her vaccines, a fecal [02:12:00] test, and she needs to be spayed. She is a beautiful, gorgeous, good girl, and they are trying to raise funds so we can we can help get her feeling 100 percent and finding a good home for her.

[02:12:12] So if you can, please head over to their website. They do accept PayPal, Venmo and Zelle and there’s links on their website. every little bit helps. I know we’re all strapped right now. but you know, a dollar or two goes a long way.

[02:12:28] James: and we have a we have a link to the donate page in the the show description

[02:12:35] Ka-Ce: Yes, we will. We will post that in there in our show notes and everything And K911 ResQ is also on social media. They have Instagram. They have TikTok and everything So, please give them like subscribe follow them. Give them your love We really appreciate it and we really appreciate them doing all the hard work that they do. So friends, we will see you next time

[02:13:05] James: all right. See you guys later