Quicksilver | Simon Says

Welcome wonderful listeners to Episode 10 of the Shadow and Starlight Podcast // Simon Says!! Join us as we finish our coverage of Quicksilver by Callie Hart with MANY plot twists and predictions for book 2 of the Fae and Alchemy Series.

• For next week, please read chapters 1-9/pages `1-123 of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for your reread or to refresh your memory.
• This episode is based on Quicksilver by Callie Hart. Intro Music by Boomer, graphics by @reeseplantedesign. 
• Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @shadowandstarlightpod, watch us on YouTube, and listen to us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
• Email: shadowandstarlightpod@gmail.com

Transcript

0:24

welcome wonderful listeners to the Shadow and Starlight podcast where two friends deep dive into popular fantasy and romance y books. We get into the stories, characters, world building, lore, and much more. And most importantly, we will have a damn good time while we do it. Yes, ride of emotions, magical worlds, and laughs. I'm Kinsey. I'm Kena. And today, sadly, we are covering chapters 37 through 45 of Quicksilver by Callie Hart. I'm just not ready to say goodbye, but it's fine. I know. First and foremost, please listen carefully to our content warning. These are adult books we are covering and neither of us have a filter, so this podcast is rated R and for those 18 plus. Regarding spoilers, if you have not finished the entire Quicksilver book, please come back after you do so. We are discussing the last stretch of chapters, But we are going to do so at the perspective of everything else that happens. So this will help us dive deeper into the theories and appreciate the foreshadowing of Miss Callie Hart. So going forward, all episodes on our show will contain spoilers for the whole book or series in question. Next, if you like what you hear today and want more, please come back next Thursday. And next Thursday and next Thursday and next Thursday and every Thursday after that for a brand new episode as a toddler podcast We would love to hear your feedback to better ourselves and expand our book loving community Please feel free to give us reviews reach out to us on social medias and follow us on tiktok instagram and watch us on youtube at shut up and start like pod Yes. All right. So as far as announcements go, we are going to give you a sneak peek of our Empyrean schedule that we're going to cover after Quicksilver. So literally next week, so we are going to be covering Fourth Wing for five weeks. So it'll run November 14th through December 5th. Iron Flame will be December 12th through January 9th. And then the week following, we're going to do an Onyx Storm prediction episode where we kind of talk about what we think is going to happen. We'll And then after Onyx Storm releases on January 21st, on the 27th, the Monday afterwards, we're going to release our reaction episode. So we're going to binge it like crazy and then let you know what we think. And then our full Onyx Storm coverage will be from January. January 30th to February 27th. So five weeks and we may do six weeks. It just really depends on how thick the book is. And I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of shit that happens in it. So it definitely could be more than five weeks. I'm so excited. I was like, and holy guacamole. Can we talk about the Quicksilver audio book? Uh, I know you haven't listened to it yet. Yeah, I've only heard the snippets so far, and they sound amazing. So good! But, uh, I also realized how much shit we were mispronouncing. So, apparently, we were saying ma dra, it's ma dra. Okay, that's not bad though. And then, we were saying Zilveran, Okay. And then Finran is Finron. And then there's a couple other things I forgot. Uh, I don't remember how they were said, but. Oh, Belican? Oh god, it's Belican or something. Belican, okay. Oh, K lish is Kahl ish, I think. Kahl ish, okay. But, anyways, I just wanted to say, sorry that we mispronounced things. You know, even the pronunciation guide can't help a single brain cell in my head sometimes, so. I feel like if you don't Hear the correct like pronunciation though, like with fantasy books, it can be hard to get it correct. So yeah, like bear with us with the pronunciations, cause they can be a little tricky, but now that we can hear them correctly from the author herself, then we can correct it and moving forward. We'll have a price. Yeah. Yeah. Well, to be fair, the audio books are most. of what helps with the pronunciations and we didn't get the audio back until we were pretty much done with our coverage. So yeah, we tried our best. Um, another really exciting announcement for us. It's our 10th episode. So we have officially hit double digits. Yay! I'm so happy. Yay! Trick of the pod, I'm having a mini ginger ale. Because I was sick this week and then I got my husband sick and now I'm just drinking them because they're really cute and tiny delicious Nice nice Today, I got some Minute Maid pink lemonade in this cute little cup that I made. You're a lemonade ass bitch I do love lemonade. Yes, I do That is my second favorite drink. Water is my first. Lemonade's my second. It might be shocking to you. The waters like last on my list. Really? I feel like you drink a lot of water. Well, I do, but that doesn't mean I like it. Oh, I literally have to force it. Oh, I actually, my bowl every day. I actually like water. Like it's not something that I have to force myself to drink. I actually enjoy drinking water. It may not seem like it. To you, because when I'm with you, I go on my, like, I'm always eating junk food. And not drinking water. Because, technically, when I'm with you, I'm always on vacation, quote unquote. So I'm never, you know, really drinking water. To kick off our episode, Kana is going to lead us through our Shadow and Starlight Synopsis, AKA her on his sub reading some of these events of these chapters. After five rounds of makeup canoodling, Fisher casually explains to Ceres that he has accepted their mating bond, despite her inherent humanness. She doesn't have to accept, which is great, since she should probably sleep. Because it's not the night to make life altering decisions. It's the eve of battle. Get some rest, girl. Good morning, Cerys. Bad news. Fisher left to go see Malcolm Solo and also left his magical sword. Fuming, she arrives back at Kalish to find Carian snooping for Fisher's diary. Scheming in the library later, Carrion once again proves he is smarter than a 5th grader and an alchemist, suggesting that they sneak in through the shadow gate that Lane will come through at any moment. Wren says he could kiss Carrion for his genius, who isn't opposed to it. And I'll say, I'd watch that tape. But we've had enough canoodling, it's time to find that bastard Malcolm, okay? Carrion once again steps up to fight. Help the inner circle as long as Ceres makes him a fancy pants new sword. And instead of a serenade this time, the Quicksilver wants a good laugh. After Ceres's failed attempt at the dad joke, Daddy Carrion steps in with some, of course, wildly inappropriate humor, and the Quicksilver is eating that shit up. Carrion's new sword may be just as immature as he is, but it is a work of beauty, which he names Simon. Just imagine like wielding a sword and like, oh, what's your sword's name? Like Simon. Or they're just like all going around and saying like the names of their swords. It's like, this is Amicia, this is Solis, this is Nimrod, this is Simon. It's just so caring though. It is. She's like, it sounds like it. And even the sword liked its name. They were like, yeah. Hell yeah, I'm a Simon. Oh my god. The clusterfuck of the next few chapters starts when Lane falls through the ceiling, and in the span of about three minutes, Seris went from yelling at her ex for naming his magical sword something super dumb, to falling 80 feet into a literal ice bath of a lake. Yikes. After Loreth drags a panicking alchemist to the shore, he retrieves an unconscious carrion, who only awakes after Sarah startens to tell all his friends he's a bad lay. After popping some painkillers, the three begin to climb up the obsidian cliff beside them. They arrive at a maze circled by a large amphitheater filled with some barbecued people, screaming, Immediately, the group gets into a pickle as Captain Heron, Scary Edition, and thousands of feeders escort them to where Fisher is. Fisher is worse for the wear, and Ceres is hallucinating? Nope. Big plot twists. Malcolm, Belakon, and Madra are murder siblings. Introductions are quickly made in the mystery of the fall of Gilithri, and Fisher's oath of the Triumvirate is unraveled. Oh, and Belakon also slit Fisher's mother's throat. After failing to save Gilthrai against 20, 000 vampires, Fisher tried to bargain for the rest of the townspeople's lives. Unfortunately, there was foul play in the bargain, and the only mercy Fisher could give the citizens was to torch them, just so that Malcolm's army did not continue to grow. In a cruel twist, Malcolm hid the coin from the bargain within a lethal labyrinth surrounded by the burned people of Gilithri, screaming at Fisher while he hunted the coin. And as the story wraps up, Fisher stabs Belakon in the motherfucking gut with his father's blade. Poetic justice at last. The crew flees into the labyrinth, the lesser of two evils at this point, and the first obstacle they face is Kana's worst nightmare, a silver coin. Spider. Carrion almost runs right into it and Fisher tells him to remain still since they can only track movement basically like the T Rex from Jurassic Park. To which Carrion says, okay. Fisher has to put all his faith in his brilliant fucking woman saying she needs to find the Quicksilver pool within the maze. And after Loreth slays the spider, they stumble upon a mountain of coins, the Quicksilver beneath it, and the triumvirate. Ugh. Mind to mind, Fisher informs Ceres that the one coin from the bargain has Quicksilver in it and she has to find it. Brave to a fault, Carrion has invited Malcolm to bite him, which he does, and stops in horror. Yeah, bitch, you just drank Dianthus blood. Better not stop Carrion from introducing himself next time. While Fisher and the others hold off the murder siblings, Ceres goes to find that damn coin. Panicking, Ceres once again negotiates with the Quicksilver, agreeing to owe it a favor once the location is revealed in the spider's gullet. Ugh. Bruh. Oh. And she accidentally, kind of accidentally, accepted the mating bond, and she's covered in tattoos. After retrieving the coin, Malcolm shows up, having seen better days since the carrion's blood. While Malcolm goes on and on about how he is going to steal Saris man, she finally has enough and stabs him. He wounds her fatally in the stomach, thinking he has won at last, but our sneaky little thief distracted him, stealing the coin and flipping that hoe lickety slack. Split. In doing this, she has released the souls of Gilithri. In his stupor, Ceres wields a temporarily magical solace to remove Malcolm's melting face from his melting body. Life is fading out of her, but Ceres refuses Fisher's slice of soul he offers her when he and double agent Talidaeus show up. Talidaeus says the only hope for him is for him to bite her so that she will become a vampire. Ceres is speaking with someone in her mind, and it's not Fisher this time. It is actually the Quicksilver who's calling in It's Faber, an audience. A strange force pulls her from Fisher's arms into the pool of Quicksilver to meet some gossiping girls who want to know exactly what banging Fisher is like. Bal and Mythin. What's up, girls? Holy plot twist. They take her to meet their father, Xerath, the god of chaos and change, and he reveals he's been waiting for an alchemist of her caliber to reset the balance and clear the way for what is to come. How very cryptic. Ceres watches in mind boggling shock as Zareth basically commits a massive genocide of millions of people, reveals the insidious nature of their god binding marks, and changes her form to hide her from the rest of the gods who want to commit even more genocide. Ceres explaining that she's not just a vampire now, she's also a fae. After getting some serious answers from Loreth on recent events and an explanation from the political asylum seeker Carian, Fisher and her are alone at last. As if there hasn't been enough bombshells hours, fisher informs her that they are in Amontreyeth and Ceres will be crowned queen of Samosroth in two days. And that is where book one ends. Cry, cry, cry. Cry. Okay. I know. Now that we're finished with the summary, it's time to head into our chapter chat section, where we will discuss a number of things in this stretch of chapters, including theories, foreshadowing, and more. And bear with us, this is a pretty chunky section. We weren't expecting so much foreshadowing, but a lot of this does foreshadow, some hints towards book two. First we're going to talk about the bargain between Malcolm and Fisher. Because we do finally learn why Fisher could not voice his time in Santa's Wrath. For over a hundred years. So anytime we know, anytime that him and Sirius even talked about this, or if he talked about it with other he wasn't able to talk about it. Isn't it? He made the bargain with Bella Khan. I thought, yeah, it was a bargain with Bella Khan, but they both tricked him in a way, so I guess I can say the bargain between Malcolm Fisher and Bella. How do you say his name? Khan, like Khan, but Bella, Bella Khan. Okay. Khan from when the moon hatched and then Bella. Okay So the bargain between malcolm fisher and bella con. So yeah, so he was like Sworn a secrecy. He couldn't talk about it That's why he was so mute anytime they brought up the subject and brought up his time and sent us roth so the reason behind this was because fisher was cheated during a bargain so during a battle Against the vampires, Fischer attempted to save the gates of Gilithri as the vampires fed on the fey who resided in the city. And when Fischer left behind his wolves to conquer Malcolm on his own, He learned that Belakon and Malcolm were actually allies. They weren't enemies. They were actually working together. So at this point Fischer knew that Malcolm and Belakon were Allies, he still didn't know about Madra. Did I say that right? Yeah, trying to adjust trying to rewire my brain here. It's hard. So, Fisher wanted to bargain for the few lives that were actually left in Gilethra. so, Beleken, he found a silver coin, which was only one that was found in that particular city, and it was actually the smallest denomination. Um at the time in that city and he's in bellicon said that if the coin hits the ground and lands on the leaf side Then he released his horde of vampires and leave without hurting the rest of the living beings that are there However, if it landed on the side with the fish He would destroy the city everyone living in it and fish would have to forfeit the battle and meet on a later date to Another battle so fisher fisher fisher shaking my head Eat your words because you didn't pay attention to the fine print. You did not pay attention to the fine print Bella khan and malcolm actually tricked fisher by catching the coin before it ever hit the ground. So the coin never hit the ground and in retaliation Fischer actually locked everybody, like Hannah said, locked everybody inside the gates of the city and torched the whole thing to the ground. Killing everyone within the walls to prevent the rabbit feeders from being released, to the outside world. I will say that was some evil genius on Belacon and Malcolm's part. Like, I hate it and it's so sad and it's terrible that Fisher had to carry that on his conscience, but it was Well, so either there was still a very high chance There was a 50 50 percent chance that that would would have happened anyways because the whole bargain was based off the chance with Regardless, it was a flip of a coin. So it could have been a chance that that would have already happened. And Fisher probably would have still did the same thing. Kill everybody to keep them from really speaks a lot to like how Fisher really cares about. even if it's just a few people, Yeah. His lives are important to him. Yeah. So, it speaks to how altruistic he is, even though, damn it dude, should've thought about the fine print. So now we're going to talk about Sawyer. One of my favorite parts about this chapter is which was the appearance of the fates. So I feel like Callie was very smart and intentional with her mentioning the gods and the Corcoran all throughout the beginning of the book. so during this, during this chapter, Sarah finds herself at the edge of the universe with, Zarath, the God of chaos and change, as well as his daughters, Val and Mithin. And we learned that Fisher's oracle mom wasn't wrong and Sirius was in fact supposed to be a fae. So we do talk about that later on in this episode, but she was supposed to be a fae. Okay. But Zarath being the chaotic person he was, he was trying to prevent Fisher and, Ceres from ever meeting. And so he like manipulated their fates for her to be born as a human. and just like the fated mates, they are Fisher and Ceres still ended up finding each other. And he was probably like, damn, like, what do I do now? Cause I got a human and I got a fan. so I'm going to, I'm going to kind of break down the scene. So bear with me, cause it was a pretty juicy scene. We got a lot of information this scene. So, My, from my understanding, there is a tree or multiple trees. that are at the edge of the universe and these trees are like the interconnecting parts of the world and the fates, czar specifically can control or manipulate what happens and these roots of the trees, they actually grow into quicksilver pools, which is described as the anchor of fate. Don't really know exactly how to interpret that or how to make that my mind like work around that But that's that's what it said. Quote the silver leaves above mark all the realms of our domain my family are the stewards of you of all you see here We water the roots of fate. We train the bows and and prune the leaves prevent rotten decay. End quote, So after this, he proceeds to brag about how he can wipe out beings, people with a snap of a finger, which is crazy. Okay, dude, good for you. He also explains why he wasn't able to keep Fisher and Ceres from finding each other. Quote. Threats like you and Fisher, they are drawn together and crossed on an axis, creating a will of power. The energy the two of you draw together attracts an equal and opposite counterweight. Every possible future where the two of you are together ends with the vast majority of this tree dying. None of us can foresee any other way. So basically the facing pretty much see what's happening and what's going to happen in the future. And every possibility of Fisher and Sarah's being together ends in some catastrophic event where most of the tree dies and this tree controls fate. So most of the street guys, I'm mostly. Everybody to us, basically. So Zarth has pretty much orchestrated Fisher's entire upbringing to kind of manipulate them meeting. And so I think this is a major foreshadowing. I just have a few things that I want to kind of just put out there. Like not really question, but make aware of like my thought process after reading this section. So one, Zarth explains that Fisher made enemies out of his family. So I'm assuming at this point, he's talking about the Corcoran. so I'm like, okay, how? And I know this was Do you remember when he flips them all off? Oh, well, remember that? Well, I don't know if that's just that. It's probably something more, but. I think it's like, I think it's something different because I know Fisher actually met with the Fates after his mom died, so he was a grieving child. Oh yeah. Yeah, so I think that he like maybe said or did something to them at that point. He pissed them off. Yeah. And then he continues to flip them off so two certain pathways between Seerus and Fisher actually. are blocked from Zarth even seeing the outcome. So though he knows that most outcomes result in most of the tree dying, he did voice that some of those outcomes he couldn't even see for himself. So that raised a lot of flags for me too. Three Zarath has put protection around Ceres and Fisher from the rest of his family and I'm assuming again that this is the Quirker run And if Ceres accepts the maiden bond, none of the gods can see them or manipulate their future So they're basically protected from being a like their lives manipulated or they fate their fate being manipulated this reminded me of like Avengers end game when Dr. Strange is like telling Tony Stark, like there's only one possible outcome because he can kind of see the future in like a way that like kind of, he can see the fates. Yeah. And that just reminded me of that. So Zareth is basically putting all his money on them saying like, there's outcomes that I can't see. And I'm hoping that those outcomes will save the tree, which Good for you Xerath. I'm surprised you didn't just want to do what the other gods wanted to do and just destroy everything and start clean. Right. But it did remind me of that. I kind of view him as like almost as like higher up compared to the other gods because it's like he's off by himself and he can make decisions without them and he can control fate without them. So I'm like, I think at the end of the day he probably has to say so. He's, he's just either like just doesn't care. He's like, I'm gonna do what I want regardless. Yeah. He either has like some authority or he's just like a. Schemey little He's just scheming over there and like I'm gonna fuck up everyone's day All right, the next foreshadowing we're talking about is Karian's big reveal finally so and I just gotta say like holy crap I did not see this coming. Well, there was a lot. I did not see coming basically everything in the last hundred pages. I was like Holy crap. I was on a wild rollercoaster ride, but we finally learned who Karrion is and the reason why he was brought to Ivelia. And in hindsight, it really does make a lot of sense. Like he was way too ready to be in Ivelia, like totally chill with everything. Not afraid to jump into danger with the inner circle at any moment. Well, except when he was napping, but Karrion's lineage is Confirmed by him is that of the powerful Dianthus family line, the true royal family of Ivelia that was murdered by Belakon Buttface. My name is Carian Swift, but there was a time when I was known as Carian Dianthus. Firstborn son to Rurik and Amelia Dianthus. This family bloodline is actually a weapon against Malcolm, since it was the Dianthus blood that was used to make the blood curse, explaining why. Malcolm basically starts kind of dying when he drinks Karrion's blood, and Karrion baited him to do it, and he knew it, and that's amazing. I love Karrion. yeah, but like I said, Malcolm was slightly weakened by it, and it gave Cerys a chance to find the coin and kill him, maybe? I don't know. We don't actually know if Malcolm's dead or alive, but we will get into that and our theories pretty briefly. Yes. Yeah, that was one thing I didn't see coming at all. Like, I, I didn't expect it. I was like, whoa. Slow down. What's going on? I love it when like the plot twists like make sense. Like even though you're genuinely surprised, you can go back and be like, Oh, she really set that up well. I'm glad she didn't make it obvious. I guess, like, when I found out, I was like, Oh, okay, that explains this or that explains that. But I'm glad like it wasn't super obvious. I'm glad it was like an actual like, Gotcha, bitch. Yeah. Gotcha. So next we're going to talk a little bit about Cerys Fae lineage. And kind of question like, was it confirmed? Because we kind of, we kind of think it was. So, but we, like I said earlier, we do know that she was supposed to be born a Fae. So. Keep that in mind. So when Ceres was, when Ceres has her final standoff with Malcolm, we get what may be a confirmation of her fey lineage. Quote, It would have been notoriously difficult to detect magic in half fey blood. She probably allowed one or two of them to slip through her fingers. They must have hidden in her city, started families, and bred. A genetic throwback with your kind of power is inconceivable. End quote. So we also know from Zahra that Ceres was originally meant to be fey, like I said. So maybe it is possible that she doesn't have any fey lineage, but her abilities are something even the gods tweaking the fates couldn't remove. So like she still ended up being a very powerful tool, ended up being able to manipulate metals. So, and she ended up back in the fey world. So a lot of this kind of questions, are you, do you have failing it or not? Considering Xarv himself confirms to Cerys that there are hundreds of magic wielders in Zilbaran, It's more likely that Saris came from a diluted fey bloodline and I'm curious to see if we will learn more about this in future books but for us it confirms that she has a fey lineage and we both wonder if Hayden does too and we also wonder if Hayden will come see Velia. Next book. Lots of questions. I actually have a prediction about Hayden later in our mini series section. Interesting. We will get to it. Um, our last portion of the topic I want to talk about is just the foreshadowing we get to the strength of Fisher and Ceres connection and then also kind of circling back to this prophecy, fated destiny, that we keep talking about in pretty much every episode, but So in the end scene with, when she's talking to Zareth, I feel like we learned an insane amount of information. There's so much, but there were some things that stood out to me and that, that were relating to the prophecy and the fate of destiny. And just like the general interconnectedness of everything that's happening. So Zareth says, quote, when I consulted the fates long ago, I was very intrigued when I saw you, Sarah Spain, not just you, Kingfisher too. I saw an axis in the flow of things, a burning knot in the tapestry of all that would come to be. Later, Saris reflects and says this. Quote, fisher's father had been the one to secret the true heir to the throne out of Euphelia. A thousand years later, his son had been the one to bring him back. It meant something. End quote. It is amazing that even though Xarath swayed the fates, Kingfisher and Ceres just could not stay apart. Like in any scenario, they were gonna find each other to achieve some greater purpose. None of these events are coincidences. As we can see, seeing that Fisher, Carian, Finran, Ceres, and all these other people are connected in the tapestry of The fates and it's all leading up to something. Um, and I will say I love tropes dealing with like prophecies and fated destinies. So I'm really curious to see where Kelly takes the rest of the story. It's really interesting. It's really cool. Cause I feel like in a way, the whole inner circle that we get this first book kind of connects to the story and it's, I don't know, cause I feel like we still have some things that we don't know about Laura and I feel There is a bigger picture to why he was so important to save. I still think, there was a reason why Fisher gave him I'm not saying Fisher knows the reason why he got a piece of his soul, but I feel like there was something that fated them to, meet at that time. cross paths, and, be saved. I don't know. Yeah, I think almost all of them are part of the prophecy in some sense. obviously I think Ceres and Fisher are the ones that it revolves around and the central figures But I do think that Carian are gonna play a part in it for sure. Possibly more. Who knows? Maybe Everlane will help. I don't know. We'll get to it on a new series. We are going to do one where we rank the characters. And I was like, can I put Everlane last? I think I actually put her last. Or Everlane. Sorry, not sorry. We just don't get enough of her for me to like, like her. It makes us very suspicious. As y'all, y'all know from when the moon hatch, we were on, um, what's his face? The one that was, that Billy spoke and we were like, what's wrong with him? I forgot his name. Uh, Grimm? Yes. Grimm. You're like, is he a traitor? We're like, what's wrong with you? I don't know. Oh my god. Alright, time to get into our theory section and we have got some good ones. So we're going to talk about, is Malcolm really dead? Because this is one of the biggest mysteries and questions we have at the ending of the book. Yeah. So in these last pages, we learn that the triumvirate is essentially three thrones connected to one power or life source, so you do have to kill them all for them to truly perish. I don't think it would be totally unrealistic if Malcolm was actually dead, considering he drank Carian's blood, and it weakened him a lot, and then Ceres beheaded him with a godsword, so maybe the two of those, kind of like, are an exception, I don't know, but I actually do have a prediction that he is alive. And we'll get into it in our miniseries section. So I don't think he's dead, but I do feel like if Callie did start off Book 2 with him being dead, I don't think it would be, like, you know, crazy to believe. The inner circle, I guess, seems to think he's dead, since Ceres will be taking up the throne of Santa's Wrath, but it doesn't really seem like anyone knows for sure, and like, the pages after, Saris wakes up at the end of the book are so slim. Like there's so many other explanations and conversations happening. Like they're really not talking about whether Malcolm's actually dead or not. So, yeah, I don't know. We'll find out in book two. I don't know if what they mean by like the whole triumvirate won't perish until they're all dead. I don't know if that means just like their power that they hold or what because they do make it seem obviously I won't believe it until. We know first like I want kelly hart to say for sure like malcolm is dead Yes We do get different like scenes at the end of the book that kind of hint towards his death so Tal a deus was, um, sired to Malcolm. And he could not physically leave Stannisroth. until after Malcolm's Malcolm was beheaded. So that's one reason, you know, that kind of hints towards it and then at the last page Fisher says that she has to be crowned a new vampire queen because There was no rightful heir to the throne and um Somebody else has to be named The leader of the Sansa Roff because their, their leader died or whatever. So I don't know. It's, it's very confusing. Cause it's just like, we say one thing here about like the magic and, and in the world building, and then it's just like something else happens. I'm just like, can we believe this or not? Because, I don't know, it's tricky. That's what we're doing the podcast for. So we can just rant about how we don't understand anything. Yeah, very tricky. Well, I have a question on like, so the feeders that Naakum has sired, if he's dead, will they die? Or are they just like, freed and not? Maybe I think that they might, their sire to him might just be broken. Kind of like, Talidaeus. But they're still like, mindless killing machines? Like the feeders? Maybe. I don't know. God, I have so many questions. So many questions. I don't think that At first I thought like maybe if Malcolm is dead then maybe all his sires would die. But then I mean like all the vampires would basically be dead. Cause he was like Yeah. So it would be nice if all the feeders he sired would die. That would be helpful. It would. But then like, Ceres wouldn't have a place to rule. Because there's no people there. Well, without the feeders there's still like the court and all the people that aren't. Like the mindless kil like the actual vampires. Oh, are we just talking about feeders specifically? Right now? That's what well, that's what I was saying. Okay, okay. I mean, she would have less to roll over. I don't know that she would want to roll over the feeders anyway. Yeah. Maybe she'll just like, kill them all? I don't know. That seems like a mercy. I don't know. Interesting. Next we're going to discuss Loreth of the Broken Spires. So at the final standoff, we get what may be an explanation of Loreth's nickname. So we're going to talk about it briefly. quote, that must make you Loreth. Loreth who shattered the towers at barely and murdered thousands of children. This doesn't reference like exactly spires specifically, Regardless, we do get some evidence that Loreth is a badass. like I said, I feel like he has a greater purpose here. And I'm interested to see the I just thought it may be the same thing because like he shattered the towers and they're the broken spires. I don't even know what a spire is. Probably should have looked it up. But I'm just gonna assume that since that's what Loreth is known for in Malcolm's eyes, that's probably the broken spires that everyone else is referring to. Yeah. Uh, a spire a pyramidal structure on the top of a building, typically a church tower. Oh, tower. There you go. Bam. So, hmm. I think it is. Welcome. Thank you for looking up spire. Now I can sleep at night. Alright, I actually have a theory about Harren, and I know he's, uh, It's another person I think is dead, but also who knows? Um, I have a theory that his condition after he contacted the quicksilver got ahold of him was in some sense, a revenge for what he did to Saris. Quote his eyes are orbs of scuffed metal, pure quicksilver gleaming inside the sockets of his gaunt skull. His lips are thin and peeling his skin wrinkled and translucent. He broke into a wide grand displaying shattered teeth, his mouth Or the UHHHHH. That almost sounds worse than the feeders. Or maybe it kind of, I don't know. It does, it sounds worse. But basically all I'm gleaning from this is that the Quicksilver maybe punished Harren in an extreme way for hurting their precious alchemist who at this point, and we've talked about it before, they clearly have respect and affection for Ceres. We know that Fisher was also spared from the Quicksilver relatively because of his greater purpose, but Harren's appearance seems kind of drastic. I know that people going through a Quicksilver suffer adverse effects, but this seems Also overboard, but we also don't have anything or anyone to compare it to because we don't know of anyone else at this point that has gone through the Quicksilver without a relic and survived, so can't really say for sure. Or there's another theory that I have that the Quicksilver should have killed him, should have killed Harren, but Madra's gift of eternity that she gives Harren kept him alive even though he should be dead. Yeah, which I also am like is her gift of attorney to him Preventing him from dying like when sarah slays him at the end of the book Is he gonna be alive next book because i'm kind of just over this fool. Yeah i'm ready for him to be done Um, anyways while we talk about harren very briefly. I want to circle back to actually the beginning of the book So when the quick slower is in contact with him harren says The ground the passages they move in the ground obsidian of obsidian end quote very Interesting, especially when we were doing the first episode. I was like, I want to talk about this But I actually feel like it'll be better to talk about it towards the end so We know from the description of the labyrinth that it's made out of obsidian, like a lot of other stuff at Sanisroth, and the passages in the maze also move, courtesy of Malcolm. And I'm just really so confused on this part, I actually don't have any insight to offer, but I'm just like, what? Like, did he somehow sense the maze through the Quicksilver? Since there's a pool in the labyrinth? Or like, does he have a connection to Fisher somehow, who was in the maze? Or like, was he sensing the maze as Fisher was coming through the Quicksilver portal in the Hall of Mirrors? I don't know, it just like felt so out of place at the beginning of the book. But it clearly, I think, relates to the labyrinth. And I'm just so confused on Why he said that, like, why did Callie Hart put that in there? Right. I don't know. That is, that's so cool. I didn't even make that connection. I do think, so like, as you were talking, I was kind of thinking like, maybe like you said, it has a connection to Fisher. Cause when he touched the quicksilver, that's when he started talking like that. So maybe the quicksilver was talking to him or like helping him visualize it. Or maybe he's been there before. We don't know. Well, he couldn't have been there before because the realms are closed. So maybe the quicksilver was talking to him. Okay, yeah, I actually feel like that's probably the most plausible explanation. That is really cool. I didn't think the Quicksilver would actually talk to him though, because it only talks to people that it wants to. Unless he was somehow able to hear it because it was on his skin. I don't know. Yeah, I think it's because he just came in contact with it. Okay, well, maybe we'll figure out some weird connection in the next book, but otherwise we'll just go with that because that sounds very intelligent. Because I think everybody, I think anybody can hear the Quicksilver if it, like, wants it to. Because I remember that one scene when Kirian can hear everything that the Quicksilver was saying, like the conversation that Sirius was having with the Quicksilver. So, I think. I don't know. That is weird though. That's very weird because I never put that connection together. That was actually a good catch because I didn't even connect the two. I didn't even pay attention to that at first. Obsidian is just a very specific word and the only time obsidian is mentioned is when they're talking about Santa's Wrath and when they're talking about the Labyrinth. So I'm like, okay, obviously it's something to do with either of those two. Yeah. Probably the Labyrinth because the passages are shifting. He's talking about that. Yeah. I want to talk really quickly about the Triumvirate and also the Corcoran. So, while the three murder siblings were explaining their evil plans, I kind of had a thought. So, we know that the Corcoran kind of disappeared, went on their little nature hike and Well, I don't know. We don't know nothing. But I'm wondering if the growing power of these three assholes and their ambitions caused the Corcoran to leave. I'll have the alchemists to forge all the relics I need. Between the three of us, we'll bring the old gods to their knees and claim every realm we desire while we're at it. And then later they also like speak of themselves, like we are immortal. We are gods. So clearly Madra, Belakon, and Malcolm are placing themselves on God level and their plan is to go bring the old gods, which I'm assuming is the Corcoran. They're going to go find them and kill them and take their place. So I guess that's where their ambitions are. And I don't know exactly how long they've been planning this, but. Maybe this is the reason that the Corcoran was like, all right, we're out of here. And that's the reason why they left. Cause I do think there is some mystery to the gods disappearing. And it's mentioned a few times to the point where I think she's making it important. Yeah. So I'm wondering if that had something to do with them leaving. I don't know. What do you think? I don't know. I feel like, and I'll talk about this in our mini series. With my predictions, but I do think that, um, somehow I feel like the corcoran and then the triumvirate are like connected in a way I feel like maybe the triumvirate are trying to maybe obviously trying to take over since there is there's nobody to govern them right now. I don't know. It's a lot. It's a lot going in my head. I can't really I can't make it. Uh, a sound theory right now, cause it's all just, there's so many loose ends. I just want to know more about like the nature of the triumvirate. Like where did they, did they come from like a different world where there's like more of them? Like, do they have more family? Like, I just need to know more about how like they're three crowns sharing the same power source. That doesn't make any sense. We know nothing about it. Um, I also have another theory So I kind of found it interesting that when the Quicksilver is going to show Cerys where the coin is, it wants a favor for later. And then when it calls in that favor, the favor is to go meet Zareth and have that whole discussion. So I'm like, okay, is the Quicksilver sentience, is that coming from the gods? Like is it one and the same? Or is it like the Quicksilver is like the gods are speaking through the Quicksilver, which is like a whole separate thing. Or is it. All related, you know what I'm trying to say? Yeah, I thought that was interesting. But we are gonna move on to our favorite notable moments. And I will start us off with Fisher threatening Madra. I loved it. Alright, quote. I play back. It might not be today, but oh, I am coming to find you, Madra. Fear the shadows, bitch. I'm made of them. One night soon, I'll climb out of one and slit your fucking throat. Oh my god. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I love this. And then he Fisher then continues on to make the Undying Queen tremble in her pants, the anger for her spaying Ceres coming out, um, which is super sad obviously, but I do love a protective man, so this was a little, not even a little, it was a lot hot for me. Um, it also says a lot about how intimidating Fisher is, that Maudra, who's been alive for centuries and centuries and thinks she's the bomb. com, is clearly like a little, phased and she's a little afraid of him. Yeah. But he, he walks how he talks. Another one of my favorite Moments, I don't want to call them moments. It's just like favorite things of this stretch of chapters Um, it's just the parallels between the start and end of book So I had a realization that there's so many similarities between the beginning and end and definitely great writing on Callie's part There are so many plot twists in action, but it was cool to see these similarities and still be genuinely surprised by the end, so. One, Ceres was fatally stabbed both times, each resulting in major changes. So the first time she was stabbed, she goes to a whole new realm, starts a whole new life, basically. And at the end when she's stabbed, she wakes up and she's a fate, and a vampire. And two, the similarity is that Harren and Madra are there. And it was very cool that Ceres had the opportunity to face Harren again, this time armed with like, the confidence and the sense of purpose her time in Evelia and her mate has given her. I'd been haunted by the idea of this moment. Heron had owned me the last time we'd faced each other. But now that the moment had come, I realized that I was better than him. Yes, ma'am. You are you slay that cat. But I just thought that was really great writing. Like there were so many similarities, like even though the circumstances are really different and there's so much else going on and. Both beginning and end, like they kind of circled back in a way. Yeah. All right. My last favorite moment is Fisher and not me talking about Fisher twice. My favorite month, he was really making me swing on in these last a hundred pages, though, quote, I'll be grateful for every second that I can say I belong to you, Sarah Spain, 80 years or 18 hours. It doesn't matter to me. It'll still be the highest honor of my life, but don't. Are you about to have a heart attack? Your pulse is flying. End quote. Yep, I was screaming when Fisher said he was in love with her. I was like, oh! And the fact that he describes that the highest honor of his life is just a cherry on top. And it's so meaningful because he's bae. He's like super freaking old and he's done so many things in his lifetime and this is his highest honor. It just speaks so, so much about how highly he reveres Saris. Um, and I'm pretty sure my heart was beating as fast as hers, but that was really funny comedic relief as well. While we're talking about the romance, I also just wanted to say, since we're wrapping up Quicksilver, I do really appreciate how Callie wrote the sex scenes. Like, they were, they were very good, obviously. Uh, but for so much delicious spice in one book, I don't feel like it felt out of place or detracted from the plot. I actually felt like it added to the plot and it added to Sarah's and Fisher's relationship and like, How things were progressing, especially with like the God bindings and everything like that, but I don't know. I just loved it because sometimes there can be too much spice in a book, which for me to say that is crazy, but sometimes it is. But I think it was great writing on her part and I just can't wait to read the spice in book two, man. I think that to piggyback off of the romance portion, I think when. Fisher tells Ceres that loving her is the highest honor of his life. It kind of reminded me of Khan in a way. And specifically the scene during the Tuca trial when he made her his greater. So like, I feel like those were like the parallels between the two. That's kind of like what I thought of in that moment. Yes. Oh my gosh. The best man always puts our woman on a pedestal. Yes. It's facts. All right. Let me hear your favorite moments, woman. All right. So the, this is not even a specific moment. This is just a whole set of chapters in general, but the action that we got in this stretch of chapters, eating it up, like I love when writers just pack the last hundred or so pages with nothing but just action, action, action, action, action. You have to read it in one sitting. It's literally like, bro, what's going on? What's going to happen? And like cliffhangers, brush shadowing. Like everything so I was so anxious to stretch the chapters because like I said there's so much going on and just from like the climbing through the portal which is crazy because fisher thought he outsmarted them but no no there's one step ahead from climbing through the portal to find out about the triumvirate to the lampreth to carrion to sirius chopping off malcolm's head to her becoming a vampire fake queen like oh my gosh So juicy. I love it. It was yes. And then my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite part of this chapter is I don't know It's like maybe top three like top moments for me in this book was just meeting the fates because I feel like we heard so Much about them in the beginning. The twins specifically were referenced so much throughout the beginning of the book Um, and I don't think that it was a mistake that Callie talked about these fates so much in the beginning of the story. And then she tried to distract us with good spice and action packed scenes. Because, um, randomly they just get this big scene. Like this big ole appearance. And I just loved it because we get a lot of answers. We kind of get an idea of like how the fates are. They're not as Glorious as everybody tries to make them seem I feel like when everlane was explaining them like they worship these gods but at the same time they're kind of just like like canna said committing genocide and and manipulating Fate, I feel like it's just, it's weird to me, but I feel like we get some heavy, heavy, heavy foreshadowing for book two, um, in this stretch. And we do, we do get some, like a lot of answers, but I feel like Kelly Hart still has some things, a lot of things left unsaid that we're gonna have to stay in, we're gonna have to stay in tune for. And some of the things that I kind of just, were kind of just making me think were kind of like what roles we'll carry and play in book two. I have some predictions coming up, stay tuned. Um, how will Sirius and Fisher's dynamic change? How did they have accepted each other as mates? And now that she's Fae, like, how is it going to change them? And who And vampire. And vampire. Yes, And my last like concrete question is like who in the hell's gonna be the main antagonist for the next book so many things So many questions. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. I'm kind of wondering, and like we know about the triumvirate and I feel like they're like the main villain right now, but I almost wonder if like there's going to be another one and I also have this crazy idea that maybe like the gods themselves are going to be the villain. It's deleting my, um, predictions. Oh shit, really? My bad! Sorry! Oh, it's gone, it's gone. Oh my god. I love that that was one of your favorite moments, meeting the fates. Like, that's so fun. It was very interesting. It kind of reminded me, um, I don't remember exactly, in North Star, Mythology. I think it's like the Nornir. They're like the weavers of fate and that just all meaning like the meeting the faiths that all reminded me of that. And it's very interesting. I'm, I really want us to get into like a Norse mythology inspired book. Cause I think that might be my favorite. And we might, we're currently deciding which books we're going to cover after Empyrean. So if you have any suggestions or ideas, reach out to us on socials, leave a comment. We want to hear what you want us to talk about. All right. Time to close out our chapter chat section and move on to our myths and magic portion. Today, we'll be diving into the mythology that inspired Quicksilver as well as, as, As well as explaining a world bending topic. Today, we will break down everything we know about the Triumvirate, so feel free to skip ahead to our mini series if you feel like you're already an expert. Yes, so the mythology we're unpacking today is actually the Fisher King mythology, which is an Arthurian legend. So, and Arthurian as in King Arthur. So, yeah, in Arthurian legend, the Fisher King is the Last in a long line of immortal kings charged with keeping the holy grail. This king is also wounded at some point and is also impotent, unable to protect his world or the grail or carry on his bloodline. As him and his flan suffer, his ability to honor his sacred charge is negated. And he also loved to fish, hence the name. That's where it came from. a noble knight Percival eventually comes along who has been on a quest for the Holy Grail. He actually heals the Fisher King in exchange for the Grail. And this story is generally regarded as a story of death and rebirth, not just of the Fisher King, but also the land he rules. And I have no idea if this is where Kelly kind of got the name Kingfisher or derives some of the Story and mythology, but I did find it was very interesting because in this story, the King is wounded. He's like suffering from a wound that can't be healed. And I feel like Fisher is as well. Like he's suffering from the Quicksilver in his eye and it's making him insane. And then the Percival Knight comes along and heals him in exchange for the grail to help him like restore his land and make sure it's protected and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, and this is the, is Percival, Ceres? Hmm. Like, I don't think it's an exact retelling of the Fisher King story, but I'm drawing some similarities. It's just what I'm kind of seeing. I don't know if you are as well. No. Yeah. I think that she definitely either got her inspiration from this story or base a King Fisher off of the Fisher King story, because I think somewhere in the book that they did mention him as an Arthurian legend in the book. So I definitely think that this was like a big inspiration for her. So yeah, that's awesome. I love it. It's very cool. I was enjoying reading about it while I was making this outline Yeah, there's a lot of different like retellings and like different things different parts of the story that are different from where you're reading it But that was generally what happens Yeah I also think it's cool because we're actually going well We've briefly been going over some of the king author stories in my British literature class So, that's been, that's been cool. We're gonna talk about this triumvirate, or like just break down them in general. So, one of the most shocking plot twists of this book was the fact that Pelican! Madra and Malcolm are siblings, despite being human, fey, and vampire. Literally, the weirdest combination ever. Like, how are you related? That doesn't make any sense. But we're briefly going to break it down since, as of now, this is the biggest and baddest villain in the series. So, in terms of history, we know that Belakon once sent a beast to assassinate Madra. Unknown as to why, I will, that they were into it. Around the times of the realms clone. Yeah, that's why she was so freaking like scared of the realms opening stay where they were. They ran to it. So Again, which is why she ended up stealing the portals and after so many years Our little murderous Tiff isn't as important as coming together to steal an alchemist and crush King Fisher Belakon and Malcolm Seems to have been working together for years, or at least since the fall of Gilathri, but Budface, refusing to help in the war, and taking all the silver, essentially just feeding his brother's army to grow it, while his own people suffered. What we do know, according to Malcolm, is that the Triumvirate is three crowns sharing one power source. To kill one, you have to kill them all. But we don't know, like, at once, or just in general, so we're not really sure as to, you know, We don't have confirmation that Malcolm is dead, but we also are curious to see if, like, you have to kill them simultaneously or within a certain window of time. Just, a lot of questions that we just haven't answered yet, but we do know, is, this is what the triumvirate is. They are one parasaurus and they cannot be perished until all of them are dead. Since Bella can survive the gut wound that Fisher dealt him, we would guess that it has to be simultaneously. Reuniting seems Like them all together kind of just seems to kind of enhance their powers and make them stronger in a sense. Yeah, and that's all we know about the triumvirate and it is not a lot. We don't have very many answers for you. Nah bro, we just now getting You're expecting answers, we don't got them. That was just everything we could find based on my Kindle search. Moving on, time for our mini series mix and match. Where every week, Karen and I will do two to three mini series unique to our podcast. And they won't be the same every week, so stay tuned for all the fun. This week, we're giving you three predictions for future books. We're gonna rank, we're gonna tier rank all the characters. And we're gonna give you like, a couple mix and matches. Yeah, I love it. Let's get into it. My first prediction is that Madra is actually going to find and use Hayden as leverage against in book two and possibly kill him. I think someone's gonna die in book two and I feel like I would be fine if it was Hayden because I don't really care about him at this point. We're kind of, we're kind of, we're here. We're here. Cause I also think that somebody's gonna die. But we'll get into that in a second. But I like that theory. Should we alternate? No, just hit me. Does it be good? All right. Um, my next prediction is that Malcolm is not dead. Like I said earlier, but I'm predicting that he is going to show up when Sarah's is being coordinated. So I've ever, I think that he, like the. Carrion's blood and Ceres beheading him. I think he's still alive. I just think that he had to like seriously recover after over a period of a couple of days. And I think he's going to show up again and we're going to find out that you actually do have to kill the triumvirate all at once. Hmm. Okay. And then my last one is kind of fun. It's, we will see more of each of all in book two. And I also think her and Laura might become enemies to lovers because there's a brief scene where the two of them were interacting and I was like, okay, they hate each other, but like, they like each other. Yeah. I don't know. I, I think which she's going to be important. In book two since we've gotten introduced to her at this point. And she was key to Saving Lane. Yeah. And I don't know, I'm like, who is Lath gonna fuck? I wanna know Uh, yeah, I think that, uh, I got the same vibes from them for sure. Yeah. I'm always, I'm always rooting for Lath, so Me too. Alright, me with yours? I think that the gods are going to eventually find out about Fistry and Sirius, because you know, Zorath is protecting them from the gods. I think the gods are going to eventually find out about them and use the Triumvirate to kill one of them, or like, use They're going to use the Triumvirate to try to break them up, basically. Essentially kill somebody. Do you mean like, kill a member of the Inner Circle? No, like kill either serious or for sure. I mean, obviously they're not going to die, but like, cause they're main characters. I don't know. I don't know. I feel like they're going to do something to try to try to break them apart. So that I thought it was like, they're going to kill them. And I was like, damn, no, I think they're going to, well, I think they're going to maybe, yeah, maybe try to kill them because. Zarf was saying that for all the outcomes that he could see they didn't turn out very well. It turned out in the tree rotting. So basically the end of the freaking world. So I think they're going to Eventually find out about Fisher and Sarah says how he's gonna how he's gonna hide that most of the tree is Dying or decaying basically from the rest of the gods and I feel like if they find out they're gonna try to Obviously come between them or kill one of them and they're probably gonna use a triumvirate to do that I feel like Cerys and Fisher and possibly the whole inner circle are gonna like come for the gods. Cause we know how Cerys feels about genocide. Like, well, obviously no one likes it unless you're like an evil villain. But at the beginning of our story, when Maudra threatens to basically wipe out the whole third ward, Cerys is like shocked by the cruelty of like her just committing genocide and wiping out a whole bunch of people. And then she literally watches Xerath, Kill billions, millions of people right in front of her. And so I think she's not going to forget that, but we'll see. You know, this reminds me of, uh, my inner vampire lovers coming out the movie, the Twilight one, where they have to battle against the council. And it's like the whole flashback, like the whole like vision scene where like they battle and they end up losing. Cause you know, the one guy can like see the future. So he like predicts them losing and they're like, Nah, we're good. I wonder if she inspired, or like any of Twilight inspired her to write this book. We have to ask. Literally. Let's just DM her every day until she responds. Please, interview us. I have questions. Give me your next prediction. I think that, Karrion will be used as a tool against the vampires and maybe he might have to die because His blood his family's blood was the one that created the bullet curse and it's basically Fatal to vampires. So I feel like it's going to be used against The vampires and they might have to use all of his blood. They might have to drain him dry. I don't know just drain him dry. I might just run dry. So yeah, I think he I think he's it. Who is they? Yeah What? We've talked about this. Everyone secretly loves him. I think the same reflects even more now. I don't disagree Yeah, but one one one person versus You Well, I actually think if it was a situation like that, I'd like to think that Karrion would like Offered to him if his sacrifice was the only way because I think at this point we know he is very Like he's a good guy. He might be stupid and immature and you know He doesn't know when to stop but he he is a good person. I think Yeah, so maybe yeah, I think he's gonna I think I just think in general like they're gonna Whoever him or whoever is gonna drain the blood out of him To be used against the vampires. Lastly, Cerys will like find a way to save him with his blood because she's a genius. Yeah. Last prediction for some reason, I'm just pretty sure Evelyn is a traitor. I said it there. I thought you cut her some slack a couple of episodes ago. I don't know. I just, it's just like in the back of my head. I feel like there's a reason why we did not get much of her in this book. I don't know. What? What if she's like secretly bellicans, like little assistant, like villainous assistant, like what does she, she has agreed to become a vampire. And then like. Went to Malcolm, didn't get caught by him or whatever, but, you know, that is a possibility. She has motive. Her father is one of the main antagonists of the book. She has motive. But her father also killed her mother. Her father. Yes. Okay. True. But, technically, she doesn't know that. Has Fisher told her that yet? Cause I thought she thought that she killed her mother, giving birth, like, being born. I think that she thinks that her mother gave birth that. Yeah. So unless Fisher tells her that, I know, but I just feel like she would hate Belacon because of how terrible he was to her mother. I don't know. I feel like she's a traitor. Or she's just like a sociopath and we've been reading her wrong the whole time. Well, I would be reading her wrong, you'd be reading her right. I don't know, I just am not fully on board with that. But I also see how it could be possible, so we're gonna find out. I don't know. All right, we're gonna move on to ranking the characters. We're going to write the characters and we're going to alternate as we go down our list of one through 10. So my number one was Saris just because I love a sassy, badass FMC. And I just feel like she was written so well by Callie and I I don't know. There wasn't any time in the book where I disagreed with Saris or like, it was like, Oh, why are you doing this? Well, maybe a couple of times, but nothing really bad to where I like just liked her or anything like everything she did, I felt like was justified and she's just a very altruistic person and I just love how resourceful and smart and crafty she is. So that's why she was my number one. Nice. number one, of course it's Fisher. Obviously. I'm surprised. No explanation needed, actually. Just, just Fisher. We don't need one. I think at this point you've talked enough about Fisher. Um, my number two is Carian, actually. Because, you know, how can I not? I actually wrote it and I put King Fisher first and then I erased it and I put Carian first. I'm actually shocked that Carian was your number two. I could've, I, I, I thought he'd be number one. I wouldn't expect him to be number one, yeah. The feminist in me was the first, but it was a close, close gap. Okay. My number two is actually Laura. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with him. Like not even in like a, Oh, I think you're hot way more of a, like, we could have been best friends way. Oh, yeah. I mean, he definitely is hot too, though. Yeah. I mean, yeah, but like, I'm not even, I'm not even obsessed with him like that. Like, I just like, we could be besties, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I get it. My number three was Kingfisher, and I'm actually, you know, he won me over in these last hundred pages. I could've put him at, like, number four, but he moved up. So, good job. Good for you, Kingfisher. My number three is Saris, cause even though she wasn't my one or two, I still loved her a lot. And she didn't, she wasn't like, The typical female main character that just pisses you off because they do the opposite of what they're supposed to do. She was actually really smart about her decisions and her actions. Yeah, I like it. My number four is Loreth, which is shocking because when we started the steep dive, I actually liked Remphas more, but as we did our coverage, I just feel like I really appreciated Loreth this time around, like a little more than Remphas and especially now that Remphas is like obsessed with Everlane. I'm like, yeah, sorry, Lane. Oh dude, random thought. What if Remphas and Everlane are mates? Shit. And Evelyn is a trader and she's a traitor. And she's a traitor. So fuss like aids her. Damn. I feel like if she's a traitor, I don't feel like for sure would give up on her. Yeah, I don't think you would. I feel like, I don't know. It's messy. My number four was Karrion. Cause I actually started liking him a lot more once he entered Ibelia, so it's pretty cool. I love, I always love that, yes, and I always love that comedic flair to romances. I love rom com. So he just added that, that comedy aspect to it, which is really cool. Yes. I love the comedy, especially in fantasy. I feel like it gets pretty dark. At least the fantasies I like to read are very action packed and dark. And sometimes you just need some levity. And he's for sure brings that Because I also love him. He reminds me of Cassian, not as good as Cassian obviously, but I really did appreciate him Not as much as Loreth. Loreth has actually surpassed him, but I still love you Rumpus. You're cool My number five is Talideus obviously Cause I think he's hot. That's all there is to it. Oh yeah, for sure. Everlyn's down there at the bottom, she's like, You think he's hot? That's why you gave him number five. She's pissed. She's mad. Yeah, uh, Talladays is my number six. Because I also think he's hot. And I love his name, Lord of Midnight. That's so cool. And I also am just, like, loving that he was, uh, It's kind of secretly a double agent the whole time. Well, not really, but he did hate Malcolm and he was wanting to get out of there and he did help her in a circle at the end. So I do feel like he may be a bigger character in the next one to two books. We'll see. Guys. My number six is Isha Ball. I feel like she's just a spiry witch. She's a high witch or the, she comes from granddaughter. She's a descendant of a high witch. So I feel like she's definitely going to play a larger role in book two. Mm hmm. I love her as well. My number seven is Archer. We can't forget him. Little fire sprites. That was, uh, another comedic release that I really appreciated and just a fun world building. Yeah. Yeah. He's cool. My number seven is Rufus, but I don't know if I want to keep him there. Frampus is below Ishabel? I never really Is it because he's associated with Everlane? No, it's not even that. Like, I never really care much for his character at all throughout the entire But he's so nice to Cerys. He just, he wasn't like a, I was never, I was never emotionally attached to Memphis throughout this whole book. All right. Sorry. This is interesting to learn. No, you're, I mean, you don't need to apologize. It's interesting to see like where the characters are in our brain. Okay. My number eight is Everlane. Because I mean, I don't love her. That's why she's towards the bottom, but I also don't think she's a traitor. I just haven't seen enough of her. Um, and also I just kind of feel bad for her. I feel like her story is really sad. So I wanted to put her at number eight motive. I just cannot wait. When we interviewed Callie, we were like, she thinks Evelyn's a traitor. What can you tell us? What can you, what do you got to say about that? I need all the tea. And then Callie's like, where did you get that from? Or she's like, she might be like, no comment. My number eight. Hopefully we can interview Callie. I know. My number eight is Archer. Because, you know. The one scene that Camden talked about, I think, a couple episodes ago, um, after Ceres and Fisher were getting it on and she comes out and he's like, offers her, what was it, like tea or something? And Apple juice. Apple juice. Sustenance, I don't know. He was like, you know, very strenuous activities, you know, here's, here's apple juice for you. She's like, we're moving furniture. Oh my god, what? This is random, but I'm trying to remember what exactly, what part it was in the last 100 pages. When, I think it was Malcolm, like before they go in the maze, Malcolm like sniffs Karian and he's like, You smell funny. And he was like, it's probably the moss from these water sparks that jerked me off. That was also, I didn't put that on my favorite moments, but it was close. Okay, all right. My number nine is onyx because I love that little fox. Like I said, I think an episode or two ago. I love a little pet side character. So I just loved it and I love that. Sarah's like wanted insisted on taking him everywhere. Yeah, same. I was like that makes me relate to Sarah's deeply same. He's also my number nine. I like that. They bonded over the fact that he bit her so. Yeah, well they bonded over the fact that they thought Fisher was annoying and rude. Yeah, Fisher's like, he's gonna, he's gonna bite you. And then they've been besties forever. He's like, he's gonna bite you. She's like, no he's not. And he just like takes a big chunk out of her wrist. I just love that scene. I know, it's like something I would do. Weston would be like, don't touch that stray cat. And I'd be like, watch me, bitch. And then I would get rabies. All right. My number 10 is Isha Ball. Um, I did like what we saw of her even though it was a little bit, but I couldn't justify putting her above anyone else. So I hope we see more of her. I like your girl, but I don't know much about you. So you're number 10. Well, my number 10 is Everlane because she's a traitor. Wow. I'm surprised she even made the list. I thought you would have put Malcolm in front. I don't know. Yeah, that was our ranking. Maybe it'll change in book two. We don't know. We should do it at the end of our book two coverage and see if it changes. All right, our last mini series for the day is our mix and match where we're going to talk about different pairings and different couplings and how we think they would work. So my first is something we've talked about before and it's Carian and Dania and I'm obsessed. I just feel like they would. hate each other so much at first, and then they would eventually fall in love and they would just have like super good sex because she is spicy and Karen can handle spicy woman. Yeah. My first pairing! Taladayus. Is Taladayus in series? Why is his name so hard for me to say? I don't know, I think you'd be able to pronounce it because he's so hot. Oh no. Anywho. I don't know if this would ever happen because of that. Kingfisher would literally like kill him, but yeah, just to mix it up a little spicy. Yeah, I feel like that if Kingfisher would be a hot couple. Cause like Lord of Midnight, like we know Ceres loves her shadow daddy. Well, I'm pretty sure Tal Taladace is also a shadow daddy of sorts and he's also a vampire, which is pretty hot. Yeah. Um, my couple, next one, Taladace and Everlane. Are they like cousins at this point? I don't know, it was just random, but I was like, what if Everlane has like her bad boy era, and she thinks Taladase is hot, and she doesn't want Rempus anymore? Aren't they cousins? Aren't they cousins? What? What? Aren't they cousins? No. Technically. Oh, shit. I'm like, every time we do this, you, you pair together. I did that shit again. I did it and, yes. And when the moon hatched, I also did an accidentally incestuous pairing. And I didn't realize it until Kenzie pointed it out. And then I did it again! I swear I'm not doing this show on purpose. So, I actually don't think that should happen anymore. Let me make that very clear. Um, Everlane and Ruff is forever. Oh my gosh, my stomach hurts. Well, we don't know. Are Belakon and Malcolm actually blood related? I don't know. Different siblings. I don't know. I don't know, but I feel like technically, I don't know. Either blood or not blood, I feel like they're still technically cousins. Cause they're technically brothers. Technically. Okay. Technically speaking, that was fun. Anyway. So, um, I'll just talk about my next one. No, no, I'll let you, I'll let you do it so that way you can make up for. You can make up for the lack of one. Um, I'll just talk, I'll just talk about my last one. Um, Loreth and Ishabal, which we already talked about, but I, I kind of foresee this as being like an enemies to lovers. I feel like they misunderstand each other right now because Loreth has this idea of witches being dragon lovers and evil, but I'd actually, I actually don't think that's true. And neither does Ishabal. She actually like tells him like, no, we were trying to find the blood curse and we did it and shut the fuck up. You don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. And they're kind of just like real spicy to each other. And I'm like, okay, if they spend more time together and actually get to know each other, I am sensing a connection here. And I really, really love it. Yeah. Okay. My next one, I just saw your last one. I'm actually going to talk about that one. I want to talk about that one first. My next one about mix and match. Well, I'm going to spice it up a little bit. You know, I can never take anything seriously. It's Loreth and Rempus. I don't know. I mean, why not? I mean, I feel like if they both swung that way, they would be perfect for each other. They're both warriors. They live the same life. They both love Fisher. I don't know. They're chill dudes. They're both wolves. Sure. Why not? I'd watch that tape. Same. Anyways. All right. Your last one? Fisher and Isha Ball. I just was throwing some stuff out there. I wanted to do Talena, but she's made it. So I'm going to respect her boundaries. Oh, but not respect Fisher's boundaries? He's made of two. I know, I was just trying to, you know, mix it up. My first choice was Talena. I do. I mean, if Saris didn't exist, I do feel like Fisher and Ishabal, knowing nothing about her, would probably be a good couple. Well, if Saris didn't exist, I probably would pair him with Talena. Oh. Okay. I didn't know in my head, Talena is like this old crone witch. But Ceres was definitely jealous of her at the book. So she has to be hot. She was. I know in my head, I just like pictured this super old healer lady, that's like wrinkled. I don't know why. Carrie Anne also hits on her. She's obvious, like all the fae are hot. But in my head, that's just how I see Talena. All right. Uh, before we close out our final episode of Quicksilver, it is time for trial by trivia. So each week, Kenzie and I will give each other and our listeners two trivia questions. And today we are actually doing. At the end of our Quicksilver coverage, which is this freaking episode, we will tally who has the most points and loser has to do something embarrassing or funny that the winner or you guys fans come up with. So please reach out to us if you have any ideas, feedback, or want to participate in this section. Alright, Kenzie, start us off. Let's hit it. What was the name of the woman who saved Karrion and Zilbarin? Zil Zilbarin. Hmm. Uh, Orlena? What's the last name? He gave us both. Oh. Swift. Orlana Swift! No. I'll give you half a point. What? You got the first name right, but he did give us both names. Wait, what's her last name? He said her name twice. Perry. Her name was Perry. Orlana Perry. Where did the Swift came from? That was the, just the woman that found him in Zilver, Zilverin. She wasn't related to him. Because remember, Saris was like, but she really wasn't your grandma you don't have to give me half a point. Well, you got her first name. So it's like, you're not, you're not wrong. So I'll give you half a point. All right. We'll take a half a point. I'll take it. Thank you. All right. You ready? What is the name of the painkiller that Loreth gives Karrion and Saris? Widow's Bane. Damn, alright. I'm updating the scores at the bottom as we go. Alright! Yaaas! I'm catching up, I'm getting nervous. Okay, at what age did Ceres first meet Ciaran? How old was she? Eight. Fuck. Eleven. No. Twelve. How old was it? Fifteen. What? She was fifteen. No, really? I thought she knew him for longer. Damn. No, she was fifteen. I'm right. I feel like that would make sense because if she met him too early, she would be like, why aren't you aging? Yeah, Okay, alright. Get my butt whooped today. What was Madra wearing at the final confrontation? The hell am I supposed to know? Oh. I just put, I put it as a question because for me it was like so out of place I was like why is she wearing that? Um, out of place. I'm gonna assume like some sexy ass like gown. I'm gonna assume it was like red. I don't know. A red gown. I'll give you half a point, it was a gown. It was a gown, I'll give you half a point. Wait. It was like a spark, it was a spark. Oh, you already said it now? It was sparkly? What color was it though? Do you want to try another guess? I will say the black or green. Blue? Nah, bro. Gray? It was golden. I'll give you half a point though, because you did say gown. It's a sparkly golden gown. Okay, you're at four. I'm at four and a half. Let's go. I don't know if you're gonna get this. It's getting close! I don't think I will. I'm scared. I'm trying to say I'm really scared because I think my last question's easy. I'm panicking. I'm trying to say his name right in my head. Tal a deus. Is that right? Yes. Tal a deus told Sirius at the end of the book that there were two kinds of forever. What were they? What? At the end of the book. God damn it. He told her there were two kinds of forever. The one The one What? I don't remember that at all. Really? I played the fifth. I'm just gonna hope we don't get this last question. It's heaven and hell. Wait, hold on. Let me think for one more minute. Oh! Ah, what the fuck? That's confusing. Yeah. Sorry. Woo! Fae now, right? You ready for question three? Yep. Hit me. This could win it all, bro. I'm scared. Okay, hit me. What is Malcolm's nickname for Fisher? My love. Fuck. Yes! That's why earlier I was, when you were talking about the possible S. A. I was like, Fuck, she's totally gonna know this. Oh my god, beat me by half a point! What a comeback! What a comeback, people. I lost last time by half a point. I did not see that coming. Also, the score before we did our last Before we did our last three, the score was you had two and a half and I had four. So, I'll hand it to you. Good job. Thank you. I gotta think on this. I might get, I might get BB's help because she was rooting for my, she was rooting for my comeback. I'll let her know that you won and she can help you brainstorm. Nice. Oh my god, yes, okay, well good job. Now we're gonna have to see who takes the cake for fourth wing. We're tied. That's one to one. Oh my god, because fourth wing is like a whole history book out here. That's gonna be. So there's gonna be a lot of possible quiz questions. Yeah, we're gonna get wrecked. I don't know. I've listened to the audiobook so many times. I feel like I might have a chance, but we'll see. I don't know. Anyways, that is sadly a wrap on our Quicksilver coverage, folks. But thank you for tuning in. We really hope you enjoyed our coverage of this book, and we hope you'll join us for our deep dive into book two whenever it comes out in 2025. Yes, so join us next Thursday for the beginning of our Empyrean coverage. Where we will be going over chapters Chapters 1 through 9, pages 1 through 123 for your reread or to refresh your memory. As always, we really appreciate any and all feedback from our wonderful listeners, so reach out to us on our socials if you want to talk about books or let us know what you liked, what you didn't, um, and this is a toddler podcast, as we said, and we would really like to see it grow, so please let us know. Please, if you liked it, take the time to leave a review, tell your book friends about us, um, follow us on social media and all major podcast platforms and on YouTube for a freshly baked episode to be delivered to you next week. Bye guys! See you next week! Bye! What if I'm not a woman? I'm not a man. I'm not a woman. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a