The Unicorn Hunters SPOILER Deep Dive: What is the Necessary Sacrifice | Mythic Mirror Ep 40

Transcript

Speaker: Two people on a very adorable date just walked by right as we started recording. Love is in the air. It is cuffing season. Welcome to Mythic Mirror. Is it sacrifice when you have no choice?

Speaker: And what happens when the unicorn chooses you?

Speaker: Welcome to Mythic Mirror, the podcast for lovers of myth and fantasy who want to live meaningful, and magical, and fulfilling lives. This is your host here, Mary C. Kehoe.

Speaker: And I'm your co-host, Carolina Carter. And we are together. Some of you thought we were in the same room all the time. Some of you were wrong. We are now in the same room. So if you think it now, you're right.

Speaker: Good job. All right, today we are talking about The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden. Yes. So we will keep the major spoilers for the end of the episode, but we will be getting to it, so be warned.

Speaker: Yeah, I got a couple hot takes right off the bat. Go ahead. Here's what I have written down. Isabeau annoying.

Speaker: Can we talk about that for a minute? ah Yeah, we can. She did annoy me in the beginning. I mean, yes, she does grow up quite a bit. They make a whole thing about that, her having grown up quite a bit by the end. but Yeah, yeah. she she That, you know, i kind of forget things as soon as it stops annoying me. But now that you bring that up. i know, and that's why she's still friends with me.

Speaker: ah ah That is the one thing that started to frustrate me a little is because

Speaker: Yes, she was young, but it was like she kept making the same type of mistake until, you know, until she really learned her lesson. Yeah. But even when, you know, Anne's coming to her rescue,

Speaker: It just felt like everything she was saying was annoying. ah let me I should also say i i was in under a bit of a time crunch, so I listened to the audio book while I was working. And this is nothing against the audio book reader, obviously she did amazing, but she did this like higher pitched thing for Isabeau. And she's like, Anne, Anne, look out! And I'm like, ugh.

Speaker: That, yeah, I have definitely stopped reading books because of the narrator. Sad. Especially when it when that happens and you divorce the voice from the words that are being spoken. um I still want to go back and find this book and read it for myself because the narrator was making me hate the main character. But when I replayed the words without her inflection, It's like, oh this is this character isn't actually being mean.

Speaker: Or this character isn't being super annoying. Right. My next hot take. no ah Moreau, yuck.

Speaker: That is so hot take. It's very dramatic. The bad guy of this entire. Moreau, yuck. Why is he so horny?

Speaker: is actually the full note. Now I know what scene we're talking about. All of them? Yeah, no, that's true. My palms are sweating just thinking about it. I was very uncomfortable. He's horrible. Right, and I get that the point was that he was very lustful for power. Yeah.

Speaker: But it um when he licks Marguerite's tears, I was like, um What are we doing here? No, he's terrible. And he's also, i think he uses it it's as a manipulation tactic. He's throwing her off. has you know She kind of gets gets caught up, not only in the promise of the power that he can give her,

Speaker: But I think it kind of she has she's been in power before and now she's lost it. And she also is very wise to most court intrigue trying to manipulate her. So I think this like that was how he was.

Speaker: full on like it was an attack you know just to put her off her game and get her even more off-centered so she's believing him right and it worked until until you know she it worked until there we go hello mike you know um yeah Yeah, until he lost it because of his four dead wives freaking him out.

Speaker: Right. ah And she was able to see, and she'd been getting hints of who he was, I feel like, but she was ignoring it as as we do sometimes when we want to like someone.

Speaker: Right. um You know, and she was ignoring it because it was worth the power. It was worth the power until she realized she was in his power and none of it would actually be hers. Yeah.

Speaker: I do think perhaps because in my mind imagining this when they first came upon him, I was imagining just sort of like this old dep decrepit man. um You forgot that he wasn't aging during those 400 years. So I was just like, oh, this gross guy. you know It would have helped me as a reader to be like, and then they found this hottie in the woods.

Speaker: I mean, they do describe his tawny eyes yeah quite a bit. I think ah I did not see him as old, but I will tell you, he is still creepy no matter what age you're imagining.

Speaker: Now, Marguerite, on the other hand, one of my favorite written characters maybe be of all time. As soon as we get the point of view of her, I was like, oh, this is going to be so much more interesting. Yeah. Because in the beginning, you get you briefly get the point of view of the her her vassal, you the knight who is speaking for her. Yes. And I thought he was going to be the main antagonist of this story. And then when you get in her head,

Speaker: it Like this whole thing opens up and you get so much more of how it was for women in that day. And she, yes, you could say she's just motivated by power, but you can also see how both of them were formed by the fathers that they had.

Speaker: And they're kind of mirrors of each other in terms of they're both doing what they're doing for their country. Mm-hmm. Because it's not like, I mean, she has power over her brother who is the king, but she would have that same power even if Brittany didn't become part of France.

Speaker: Right. So it was like her dad wanted to unite all of France through conquest. Great. Thanks, guy. Thanks. Good idea. And, ah you know, over here, Anne's father doesn't want that.

Speaker: So they're both like fulfilling what their fathers had started. Mm-hmm. And isn't that just the problem with everything? Isn't that just a commentary at where we're at?

Speaker: Now, let's talk about the magic. That always. the way Sorry. Let's talk about the magic system of this fantasy.

Speaker: The magic system. I loved it. Yes. I loved it so much. And i don't know. i was trying to think. I can't think of another book that did it this way in terms of coming in and out of the other world the other realm of faye doing it through the light and how the light is hitting in the day you know day and time yeah and being able to track what reality you're in by the way the light and shadows are hitting right i thought that was so brilliant And how you know when the enchanter is doing, like when Moreau was getting out of hand and like really not even masking himself and he's moving and you see like the shadows of trees moving over his face and he's inside. And how in the in the beginning he has this, what Anne has at the end with the light like hitting her differently. Like it's just as if there's always sunlight. Yeah. And more and more he's just in these like moving shadows. Yeah.

Speaker: I did think as I was reading that this is so rich and ripe and ready to be a movie as it was described so beautifully and you could just see it. And I would i would love to see this adapted into a movie. Yep.

Speaker: you know Speaking of the visual, just beautiful tapestry that's created, I couldn't help but think back to our Shepard King duology, which is marketed so much as a gothic fantasy or dark fantasy. And I feel like this book...

Speaker: held so much more of that for me. Yeah. But like the traditional, like Gothic romance, like with the ghosts and, you know, the, the ghosts that we see are the murdered wives Moreau, but they're not bad. You know, they're actually, they're like, ah they're a force for good, even though they're super eerie. Yeah.

Speaker: And that, that felt so much more atmospheric. Sorry, this is a call number two from the same person. So we're going to take a moment. Yes, I was so impressed because she had to describe different qualities of light so many times. Like every time there's an enchantment, she has to describe light and shadow. And every time she did it in a unique, interesting way.

Speaker: Yeah. And she also like we've talked about where if you try to just describe too much of the magic system right off the bat, it's just kind of like reading a textbook. And I felt like she introduced it so subtly that by the like you just understood it and you got it and there was like and you were in it. There was no like stopping and having to think about it. um I think the first time is when they go to hunt the unicorn and they're in the abbey and she's noticing the room is full of moonlight, but there's no moon outside. And you're just like and that also to what you were saying, like a traditional Gothic feel like just like that eerie, not quite rightness, kind of spooky vibe, which I love. Yeah. And even having the abbey.

Speaker: Yeah. You know, so you're you're always either in a castle or an abbey or the woods, which I meant to look this up more because the that forest. You say it. Fanghorn?

Speaker: No, the one from this book. Braceliande? Braceliande. See, I knew I was going to pronounce it wrong. I was trying to get you to say it. The audio book is a real forest. and i wanted So I wanted to research more of it and tell you guys about it, but I didn't have time. so but But it's deep and it's dark and it's full trees. is. Yeah. And at the end of the book, if you read a little bit of what the author herself said, she visited this forest and she knew she being more of a ah folklore and unicorn folklore of France fan than I was as a child, knew about this forest already and was in France months for months before she realized, A, that it was a real forest and B, she was only a few miles away. Whoa. Yeah. So she went and visited and loved it. She said, unfortunately, she did not see any unicorns, but that the forest, what does she say? She said it perfectly.

Speaker: I don't have it here, but it it it it begs for the belief in the other. She describes the forest very beautifully. So when you get to the end of the book, read her afterward. It is beautiful.

Speaker: Yeah, more on that later. i have thoughts, but I'm not ready for them yet. Okay. um but And back to the magic system and how it worked too. i think also the describing of how the unicorn is the first one to enter and weave between worlds, correct? Yeah.

Speaker: And then that gets brought in more and more, but it just makes sense to you. Because when it first when you were first introduced to... I'm so sorry. I'm forgetting. The other world? What's it called?

Speaker: the lost land The Lost Lands. it sounds like here's the real world here's the lost lands you can go to the lost lands and you can come back to the real world and then as she describes it it's really just layered on top of each other and you it's just always shifting It is always there. There's one point where Anne is afraid that the villain is in the shadows in the room with her, but not in the room with her. Anyway, I'm not doing a great job. The book does an incredible job of explaining this. So yeah, 10 out of 10 magic system, I would say.

Speaker: And i it is easier, I think, to let the reader in slowly like that when the character is also learning about it. Because she her understanding of it is the same as ours coming from this type of world, ah knowing stories and myths.

Speaker: and folklore so you know you think of that as other because you've always just read about it or heard the stories and then as she's learning more and more and realizing how it actually works so are you right and now shall we talk about the unicorn absolutely let's talk about the unicorn it's about time we talked about the unicorn yeah

Speaker: Here's the quote I wrote down about the unicorn that I loved best. They do not favor virtue. They favor people who can help them. Hmm.

Speaker: And you find out in the story that it really isn't the virtue that, let us say, the society is so focused on.

Speaker: You know, it isn't that she's a virgin. That's not why the unicorn came to her because, spoiler, the unicorn shows up later when she is no longer a virgin.

Speaker: And they still finish. case you're wondering if there's any these spicy chapters, there are too. Yes. And when you're in a rush to finish the book before a podcast, they kind of get in the way.

Speaker: Let's go. er um yeah i can see that, especially with an audio book. I have trouble. I ah can read spicy scenes fine. I do not like to listen to them.

Speaker: Yeah, and I listen to them at work, so. Pervert. See, as soon as I'm listening to a spicy scene, all of a sudden I am acutely aware of the narrator. And then we're both going through this.

Speaker: Together. Together. And it's too it's too much togetherness. Voyeurism together. yeah i don't like it. yeah All right. Back to the unicorn. Sorry. One of my favorite quote favorite quotes, and I highlighted it here.

Speaker: So this is towards the end of the book, and she is talking to the unicorn in a moment. Spoiler of... Where she takes control of the narrative, you know, she's offered that choice. She's offered the the sacrificial choice, which brings up our question of, is it a sacrifice if you don't have a choice? If you are, if everything is forcing you to to to make that sacrifice, does does it count?

Speaker: Hmm. Or are you the martyr? Anyway, we we don't have to answer that because she takes the third door.

Speaker: She decides to do something else, which I was very happy about because when it first went, so the unicorn offers her a way to bring back the lost city and it is through self-sacrifice.

Speaker: And I got, i was I was getting up, not upset, but I was like, that what then what's the point of bringing back the lost city? If you're not there and you know that the person who's in charge of the city is has lost it, is not a good person at this point.

Speaker: And you're not there to stop her. Mm-hmm. what's the point of sacrificing yourself to bring it back? Right. So i was very glad when it went in a different direction.

Speaker: Yeah. And it sort of changed the whole, narrative like up until now in this book, and part of my issue with Isabeau, is she takes something that Anne said of just like to be a ruler is to sacrifice. Mm-hmm.

Speaker: And it's the whole time she's making every choice for her people. Every choice is a sacrifice. There's no question. It's just the way it is. And at this point, she finally chooses something else. And realizes it doesn't have to be either or. It doesn't have to be choosing between yourself and your kingdom.

Speaker: You can find a way. And I love that.

Speaker: the people who are the antagonists, I would say the villain and the antagonist, Marguerite and Moreau, are both wanting power for power's sake and using it to control people.

Speaker: And in this revelation, Anne in a way to save the lost city without sacrificing herself was in realizing that the power you have is because of the people that a duchess is nothing without her people. Right. And that it's through the power of the people themselves that brings back the lost city, not the unicorn blood, not, you know, she, she gets a little ah boost from the Cedrake blood, but it's the people themselves and their belief in her that she could do it. And she becomes the conduit of the will of the people. And that is where the true power of a ruler lies. Right. What does she say?

Speaker: Many hands pulling a rope make a court a nation. She says she is not a duchess because of her birth. She is a duchess because of the people who believe in her. And this is a moment when she's talking to the unicorn because they're about to ah head into the city.

Speaker: And she says, yes, yes, it's all deeply unpleasant, my beautiful creature. But I am more than just my death and you are more than just your blood. Let the lost lands bear witness. Mm hmm.

Speaker: I love that one. Yeah, me too. And then speaking of the Lost Lands, I wrote this down because I wanted to talk to you about it. The quote from the Corrigan Queen saying, the Lost Lands are a map of your own soul.

Speaker: Mm-hmm. When you think about it that way, all the quests and and how everyone gets lost in the lost lands, not only is it the land where everything that's lost goes to, but when the mortals go there, they themselves get lost in their own dreamings.

Speaker: And if it is the map of your own soul... Each person experiences a different lost lands and what draws you to different points.

Speaker: And that's why the our villain, Moreau, whenever he is not really focused on where he's trying to get to in the lost lands, he always ends up at the grave and in that chapel where the graves of his murdered wives are because that's where he his soul was fractured yeah so many times that now that's just...

Speaker: you know Where it has to return... And it makes me think it's pretty adorable when Anne's brother gets lost. He's on some great quest. Yeah. He's very sweet. Yeah.

Speaker: Which I love because there's so many people that feel out of joint in this modern age who just, you know, let me go on a quest. Let me let me have a clear mission of good and evil. Tangible outcome.

Speaker: yeah let let me be the knight let me be the lady the lady knight you know and to have that person placed in the past when we think well they could do that then but even at that point he couldn't be the knight that he wanted to be even he he is a knight and he couldn't yeah you know he he is still trapped in reality just like the rest of us And for some reason that made me feel good.

Speaker: and We are not alone. Yeah, that's it. And also my, this brings me to my next favorite character, my most favorite character. Any guesses?

Speaker: Go. I don't know. Butter. Oh, yeah. Butter the cat. should Elisabeth's mom says, all cats are travelers. And I love that word because it's so heavily implied in the book and in life, you know, just these people who walk between worlds. um i don't know how much of this I want to share. So I'm going to say it and then we're going to see how we feel about it. But i have a situation where I pass out quite often.

Speaker: um And then I also see ghosts. And I was talking to a friend about it and she said, oh, well, that makes sense. You have a well-worn path to the other side. That like all my passing out has like created this well-worn path to the other side. And I was thinking about that with Butter and these cats where they just have, they have these well-worn paths that they can walk between worlds no problem. in the unicorn. And the unicorn.

Speaker: And the unicorn.

Speaker: And the cat and the cradle and the silver spoon. It is Friday evening. um I love how butter moves through differently than the unicorn. It's like the unicorn belongs in liminal space.

Speaker: and is the guardian of the Lost Lands and that transition. And the cat is just, it knows what is and what isn't. Right.

Speaker: So when it goes into the Lost Lands, it is not distracted by all of these what ifs and could have beens and lost memories. It's just like, nope, we have to go this way. No, you can't go into that door. Keep walking. you Yes. And if I may. I am unmoved. But or may be a little fed up.

Speaker: Yes. yeah oh and and the moment i did love that scene when the koregon queen is asking elspeth about oh she's kind of testing her as you know i could i could make you a princess and she's like no way i don't want that and then well what what do you want and she just asks for her cat because her cat would be able to get her out of the last lands so smart and though And the queen just laughs and loves her and says, you know, if I will give you that and more if you ever find me again. yeah and that And that there is still wisdom among men or something like that.

Speaker: Butter the cat. um should we take a moment for our disc world delight yes all

Speaker: this week uh it's funny we had a lot more people guess this week and i realized it was because tiktok uh put a little song underneath every once in a while it'll add a sound that i don't realize that kind of cracks me up want to play it for you because it's hilarious

Speaker: Very heartfelt piano. I know Okay. watch. Night watch. Night watch. Night watch. Night watch. Night watch. Night watch. Night watch. Yeah, it's got to be Night Watch.

Speaker: wonder if it's Night Watch. Then somebody said my first thought was Guards, Guards. But Nightwatch sprang into my mind. yeah Which one is first in the book city series? Please let me know. Which one is first in the, is the first book in the city series, Mary?

Speaker: Guards, Guards is the first Vimes book. You see the city in other books, but I think that's the first one that focuses.

Speaker: Yeah, because the one with the the the girl who is the wizard. They travel to the university, but it's I don't really consider that a the city book, even though they go there.

Speaker: There's too many to go through, but I love all your comments. I love that people guess, and I love that they add comments. It really i do too warms my heart. Okay. For this, you all were correct, but yes by the way. Yes, it was indeed Nightwatch. Ob's.

Speaker: Totes ob's. Okay. For this week, we have Carolina reading. Yeah. Because we were in Carolina's house. Secret location. yeah No, we're not. you're not We're not in anyone's house. We're at a sound studio in LA.

Speaker: Or New York. We'll never tell. no There it formed an image. Damn, I started so strong.

Speaker: There it formed, an image of a storm-swept tree-girt hill with a temple on its crest. Its shape did unpleasant things to the eye.

Speaker: and and and Guess that one, scholars.

Speaker: In the Afterword, the author talks about how Anne is a real historical character. And through what we get through writings from that time, she was, for to all accounts, a very witty, very clever human being who was beloved by all and did her best with what she had. I mean, just truly true strength, um unfortunately,

Speaker: did not have the same life as this. And she was married to the King of France. She was used as basically just tried to get a son out of her until she died.

Speaker: She was married to two Kings of France. Right. So the first one died before her. And then um the romantic interest of this book is the second King. So he inherited and then married her. And from the writings, it sounds like both Kings did love her.

Speaker: Yeah. Yes. um And the author says that, you know, as perhaps part of an author's job and dream is to rewrite these stories for people. Especially in fantasy. Especially in fantasy. You can answer the what ifs. Yes. Made me love this book even more because it's already really top of my list of books I've loved reading.

Speaker: Now, as soon as you said in last in the last episode, we talked about this, that Anna Brittany was a real person. I kept wanting to look up her story and find out what happened. But I didn't want to because i i was like, yeah.

Speaker: Odds are it wasn't great. Right. And I didn't, I'm like, is that going to spoil it? Is that like, so I look forward to reading this book again, knowing how it ends because that slight unease of, of historically,

Speaker: This didn't go well. This can't end well. right know Historically, we know even if it wasn't at that point, Brittany becomes part of France. We know this happens. We know that a ah that city in the Bay did not appear.

Speaker: So being able to just know that this is divorced from France. the ending of her story yeah beforehand. Right. And almost like ah there's something in my soul that feels a little like a wrinkle in timey about it where like yes maybe in some way in some lost land we have gone back and rewritten her story. Yes. i was just thinking that too.

Speaker: It opens up that opportunity because you have all these intermeshed, these layers of of reality and what ifs that you can, you know, I love i love that you you bring up Wrinkle in Time because it is, you know, if we don't understand reality, can what we do here affect things and in some way, some way you know, I like that.

Speaker: do I'm crying. don't even know why. That's wore the glasses. I knew this was going to be a weepy day. But um back to my original point is something that I loved about this book is that Anne is clearly a rebellious, smart, wily person. And her rebellion looks like pageantry, the way she makes herself look a fool and look frivolous. All the while she is fighting tooth and nail, I thought was so brilliant yeah she plays into everyone's expectations of her and to her to her own ends and I love that she is a unique character because she is witty she is so smart she is fighting tooth and nail but she is not the character that we see so often of the

Speaker: what What are they, the stabby female character, you know, which just is fine, but it can get a little old, especially if that's just, you know, okay, here is the snarky archetype and she's powerful because she can wield a sword and yet stay very tiny. don't Anyway, right. Here's her battle axe in one hand and a sword in the other. And yet she's ah she weighed no more than a feather. yeah ah But here you see how how a war can be fought in different ways and how you can use every gift given you. And leverage it.

Speaker: And leverage yourself. Leverage your situation. And that she is also kind. Yes. And that is something that matters. That is, you know, why does the unicorn choose her?

Speaker: How is it she's strong enough to be able to to become an enchanter? she's you know she's Even though she almost dies. And she's smart enough to be able to figure out how, you know, self-taught, how to work it. But there's also that the ineffable quality yeah of of who she is that has the unicorn trusting her. Even when they go off script. Mm-hmm.

Speaker: Yes. And then my other precious unicorn I wrote in my notes um is we thought she, i me, me with the bad ideas, thought she would be the unicorn ultimately betrayed by trust and love. And in the end, it was sort of her lover Louis who ensnared himself with trust and love. who that That was almost the noose that hung him was his own heart. Yeah.

Speaker: And i love that he says from the beginning, you know, she apologizes for him losing everything, risking everything in order to help her when the smart thing to do would be the opposite. And you he says, you know, don't apologize. I am...

Speaker: ah responsible for my own madness. And i don't know. I just loved that because that carries through all the way to the end when she has to leave him in the lost lands. And then, and he comes back and she's apologizing. And and he says, you know, I'm not angry. I, okay. And and and it's he repeats what the king, the lost king that they find had said about, you know, we were raised understanding this. It's like they know what it means. the the

Speaker: this is the They don't use this phrase in the book, but the noblesse oblige. It's the the obligation of the noble. the you know We understand hard choices. Yeah.

Speaker: And that he didn't, he wasn't like, he says he was angry in the moment. Because he doesn't get to go save the lost kingdom with her. Right.

Speaker: So he doesn't pretend. Oh, no, it's fine. You know, it he misses out and he's angry about it. But he's not angry at her. Right. He was, i thought, such a well-written love interest from the beginning where you're not even sure if he will be. You're suspicious because it talks about how she was in love with him in the past, but he didn't really notice her.

Speaker: Right? Yeah. Kind of. And then he comes back as a scoundrel who's just like trying to win his freedom and is like has lost his, you know, morals and years of being captive. He's so desperate. He's so desperate for freedom.

Speaker: And he kind of loathes himself. He knows that he's going against his own ethos. But he was going insane. Yes. And then just everything, i feel that he earns the reader's love as you watch him earn her love. With everything that he does and everything that he says, you just begin to fall in love with this character with her.

Speaker: There's no like, oh, well, he's obviously the one. And then you like are waiting for her to fall in love. You are learning to trust as she is. That's true. thank you

Speaker: And how he keeps kind of surprising even himself. Yes. and his and And then at one point, he knows exactly what, you know, that he will...

Speaker: serve her no matter what he was going to be there for her no matter in what context you know in any context he can right and so when he is he offers to go try to bring the the um her husband maximilian um hurry him along bring him to save you know to save the day and all of his men thought he like even as they're riding they like most of them think oh he's gonna like he said that but he's not really like he's gonna go back home yeah and he just as he continues past and where he would have turned to go home he just gives like one sharp laugh like there's there's no way yeah he knew there was no question

Speaker: I have one more quote to jump back to the unicorn. yes This is right after you are meeting the lost king's daughter who is just gone from spoiled to completely amoral.

Speaker: So she tries to kill Anne and the unicorn is the fastest, putting the horn and stopping her and it stabs her in the shoulder. And then this is the next sentence right after that.

Speaker: The unicorn was still gentleness in that dark eye, but no mercy.

Speaker: I love that sentence because it so perfectly illustrates this ah otherworldly moral good.

Speaker: You could be completely a gentle creature without any malice, but still no mercy. It's like this is the line.

Speaker: you have You have crossed it. Right. And I'm not going to be sympathetic. I can be compassionate. But if you run yourself into my horn, you know right you won't survive. right And I will not flinch.

Speaker: Right. Because, you know, at a certain point, and it's hard. Now this is my own. yeah I don't know. I think this is hard for anyone. It's like the you hear about this queen being horrible and killing people and she's the reason the city is lost. And then you are surprised with Anne at how young she is. And then so suddenly you feel...

Speaker: Like maybe, you know, she doesn't know what she's doing. She's young, you know, we can save her. But she continues to speak and you just realize there's no soul in there to save anymore. Right.

Speaker: And that is when a unicorn shows no mercy. Yes. And it did sort of remind me of Narnia when they talk about Aslan and they say he's not a tame lion. Right. I do love whenever you're dealing with a supernatural creature when it's like, well, they're not tame. They aren't. This is in fact a wild unicorn. Yeah. And i feel like a lot of people add that sense of danger or otherness by making their creatures look

Speaker: inhuman in a way that might not play out well for the humans. Like you you can't totally trust them because they're very, very old. So they don't have compassion because they don't see, they don't value life the way humans do. Right. Which is a ah fine take to take and works for an ancient otherworldly creature.

Speaker: But I do love it when you can still... trust like it is still a moral good and it and it is not taking life for granted it is just not tame not sympathetic right what happens when you stop asking which cage you want start looking for the door nobody told you existed you take control of your own narrative your destiny your destiny uh have we answered all the questions what happens when the unicorn chooses you

Speaker: Adventure. Adventure. We hit that one right out of park. What was the other one? Oh, I think it was. Who is the unicorn? So even though you were incorrect in your guess that she is the unicorn and she would be betrayed by trust and love.

Speaker: She didn't get betrayed, but she is the unicorn. Or, you know, um this is another thing she says in the afterword. The author talks about these series of, I can't remember if it was painting or tapestry, of a unicorn hunt that was commissioned during King Louis and Anne's reign. And it shows the stages of the hunt and the unicorn getting caught and then the unicorn being captured. and in captivity and she asks who is the unicorn you know who is this symbolizing and it sounds like Anne's life you know fighting fighting for freedom fighting for Brittany and then in the end you know living having to live in captivity even if you're in you know a palace garden it's still captivity so you were correct even when I'm wrong I'm right

Speaker: that's a skill Thank you, Mary. You're welcome. And all right. So speaking of unicorns, yeah not captivity, what is your spark of the week?

Speaker: My spark of the week is bittersweet. i I have a very dear friend who is moving away, but I am feeling just, I'm going to totally cry. am just I'm very glad to have met this person. And, you know, sometimes people just surprise you. You just, you never know who you're going to meet and you never know the ways they're going to change your life.

Speaker: Yeah. And life is a very beautiful tapestry. What's your spark of the week? That's very beautiful. Thank I was trying to think of another adjective other than beautiful because I was about to say it and then you said life's a beautiful tapestry.

Speaker: Life's a pretty good looking tapestry. That is very sweet. That is very poignant. All right. Mine is also a bit of a bittersweet one.

Speaker: um A co-worker of mine, the person who when I first got hired, Back in 2012 was my boss and mentor passed on this week.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: so my spark would be,

Speaker: going through it with people and and just the heart, the open heartedness of people when when grief is being gone through in a, I guess, a healthy, transformative way. um Just going through it with other people that you love and people all being open and supportive during this time um has been really beautiful.

Speaker: Yeah. So the ritual of goodbye a lets you feel the depth of your love for them. Yeah. And everyone involved, like at at work, at home, you know, everyone who knew him, we're all in shock trying to figure out what to do. And and so you're mentally being in shock about how do we continue on with this project?

Speaker: And then emotionally, it's how do we continue on He's not here. And you almost feel guilty for having to think about the practicality of work while, you know, going through something like this. But yeah everyone doing it together has been a beautiful, transformative week. Yes.

Speaker: And with that, we are so grateful to be spiraling through this universe with all of you. It's not always easy, but no good story ever is.