Girls Gone Canon Cast - The Book of Dust Episode 6 - La Belle Sauvage Chapters 15-17

Episode Date: February 26, 2021

Sister Fenella falls, and so does the dam. The Great Flood is here, sweeping Malcolm, Alice and Lyra off to an adventure, taking us from the first part of the book to the second.   Chapter 15 - The Potting Shed Chapter 16 - The Pharmacy Chapter 17 - Pilgrims' Tower   ---   Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric   Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl   Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/   Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor   Chloe's blog: www.liesandarborgold.com   Intro by Alexander Nakarada  

Hello everyone and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Reads the Book of Dust, La Belle Sauvage, episode 6, chapters 15 through 17. I am one of your hosts, Eliana. And I am another one of your hosts, Chloe. And holy crap, is it chapters 15 through 17. These are some chunky ones we're getting into. Things are heating up on the river. Yes, they are. They are. They are heating up. we are getting quite swept away there's a lot of things going on uh the chapters are of course chapter 15 the potting shed chapter 16 the pharmacy and chapter 17 pilgrim's tower yes and a reminder that this is basically spoilers all of the main books that is northern lights or the golden compass if you're in the U.S., ha ha. The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, and we are also going to spoil from this book through the end of the book.

If you're listening to this episode, it's likely that you've listened to the whole book or read the whole book by now. So catch up, come back. And we may sometimes hint at things, but overall, we will reference the Secret Commonwealth in our discussion at the end of the episode. But all novellas are fair game. The novellas I don't think are that important, in my opinion, in the big, big grand scheme of things, just some fun hints laid around and things to compile. So if you're okay with being spoiled on that, nothing big, just some hints. Yeah yeah the novellas I think shouldn't ruin your experience at all one of them is literally unrelated

to the story entirely it is about Lee Scoresby and his history it's quite charming and we do have a Patreon episode about both of those novellas we have a Patreon episode about Once Upon a Time in the North regarding Leon Yorick

and Lyra's Oxford. Yeah, we also also, also are about to have an episode on another novella that Pullman has published. Actually, the most recent novella he published which is Serpentine. Serpentine's really exciting.

It explores Lyra taking an adventure back to Trollisund with Jordan College, kind of paying her own way as she goes and doing some grunt work. And it's a really interesting, really short read. It's like 25, 30 pages. I think it's a half an hour on audiobook.

Our friends Warren and Pete, I want to say, told me this one. So quick read. And I'm really excited about that because we are getting this one out just in time for eventually Pullman to publish The Collectors as a real book. So I know Eliana will get caught up with that and we'll probably talk about that eventually, too. But Serpentine first. Yeah.

And then we can talk about Kate Bush. Kate Bush. Lyra. Lyra. Well, look out for that episode before the end of the month that'll be out before the end of february 2021 here and these chapters are heavy we are uh the water's coming down the rain's pouring down very hillary duff out here coming clean you know yes oh my god i heard the most devastating news sorry i'm gonna take us in a different adventure,

that the Lizzie McGuire follow-up sequel series is dead in the water. What? No. That's what I've heard, that's what I've heard from our friend Maddie Maddie K. Ray, that Hilary Duff wanted Lizzie to be bisexual

and Disney was not cool with that. I mean, her and Rand are totally... Anyway. Oh my god. Yes, I've been better than Gordo. Wait, are we... Anyways. Or are you Gordo? Are you... I'm Rand. She's like

half Filipina or something in real life. Yeah, so there you go. Let's reset. Let's rewind ourselves here, here you know let's do a reboot so the next three chapters that we're going to talk about here 15 16 17 are kind of like about sex death and rock and roll and thunder and lightning uh they are they are rock and roll debatable but everything else yes definitely sex and death there's a lot of sex and death going on through the words between the lines that's interesting

not between the sheets it's not between the sheets it is in a shed though oh well let's shed some light on that and start off with chapter 15, The Potting Shed, Eliana. Yeah, so we are gonna jump into it. This is, of course, a nexus between the two parts of the book, and Malcolm heads to the Priory to check on Mr. Taphouse to see if he's feeling better, and is

surprised to find instead a quiet, disdainful Alice kneading dough there. Sister Fenella, who looks unwell, is resting with Lyra and tells Malcolm that Alice had been helping them. She leads Malcolm to say hi to Lyra, who's snoozing into her little kitten demon, and Lyra wakes and howls louder

than Helen, asks her careful to avoid Lyra, scoops down as a cat, and shakes Pan. Oh, everybody laughs, even Lyra. She's like, okay, haha. And then Alice rolls her eyes and she's like, all right, you little flirts. And Sister Fenella lets Malcolm help prepare the bottle for Lyra. He wants to tell Alice about Mrs. Coulter and what he learned the day before, but instead asks Sister Fenella how

Mr. Taphouse is feeling. So this scene always kind of struck me strange. I don't know why. It just always rubbed me the wrong way since my first time reading it of like alice calling lyra a little flirt i'm like she's a baby everyone chill out like and and and i think what's weirder to me is like i know that there are people who do things and make jokes like that right about babies in real life and i'm like everyone needs to chill they're babies that's it that's true i feel like there might be some hidden resentment behind the statement right now about you know the books eliana uh no even before even before that i i just always i'm like what the fuck but the resentment is also there too i'm just here to parse out the pull motions. Oh, my God. There's a lot of pull motions going on in this chapter.

You know, Mr. Taphouse hasn't come back. And it wasn't weird last chapter that he was out because he's just, like, an older dude. And, you know, he has a physical labor job. My dad is a physical laborer, so, like, I think about that sometimes. Like, man, when's your body going to quit? Mine feels like it's done right now, so I don't know. How's he faring? But they think Taphouse is okay. They're like, yeah, yeah, he'll be back soon enough. Malcolm's like, well, I can help in Taphouse's place, and Alice is like,

ah, okay. Malcolm can't help but notice. Fenella doesn't look too good, and just as he notices help but notice Fenella doesn't look too good. And just as he notices it, Sister Fenella actually faints. Malcolm's able to catch Lyra and Alice catches Fenella. So we're going to come back to Sister Fenella quite a bit this episode. I don't remember, does Mr. Taphouse die also? I don't think we ever know.

I think he does. I mean, I think he's probably dead right now. I think Bone V probably killed him, but... Oh my god! That's crazy. I'm sorry. That's a little wild. I just feel...

I got that feeling. Hold on. Let me just make sure. He was a carpenter is how it's worded. I'm guessing he's dead. It doesn't say anything. No. I mean, he's obviously dead by the next book right because he's well yeah he's dead from like did he die in this flood he probably is dead during the well i don't know because he probably maybe he outlived us all i hope so i mean he built some sturdy shit is all i'm saying i guess he could have built himself

something yeah anyway it's just it occurred to me i was like oh my god what happened to mr but i think that's the connection right that like we don't hear from tap house and things are awkward and then finella's not well any either and then like he's like we have to get her help and they're like yeah yeah we will don't worry malcolm and then no one gets her help and then he's like, we have to get her help and they're like, yeah, yeah, we will, don't worry Malcolm and then no one gets her help and then she's dead yeah I mean, there's a number of factors that were conspiring against Sister Fenella but one of them is not Malcolm

who runs to get help, handing over Lyra and is unable to find Sister Benedicta so he runs into a younger sister Katerina, and Katerina says that she'll go get Benedicta and help and runs off. And then Alice thinks, like, I think this might be pneumonia because my gran

had it. And then Lyra's like, nah, sucks on her bottle. Whatever. Charmed life. Except for everything else that happens in her life. Malcolm questions her ability, though, to take care of a baby. And Alice is like, well, I question your fucking- fucking no she doesn't say

that uh she reveals she has two younger sisters they start up more milk for lyra and benedicta and katarina arrive benedicta directs katarina to take lyra but alice refuses to let her she's like lyra just settled it malcolm notices that alice is kind of giving katarina her death glare you know she's like uh-uh bitch don't play. She watches Katarina's pug demon hide behind her legs in submission, which I thought was interesting. Not the only time Katarina's demon shows

submission in this chapter. I think about that. I read that scene. It's like, that's real interesting. We'll get to that. Mel offers to go get the doctor, but Sister Benedictus says that they have it well taken care of um and i'm like do you she dismisses malcolm and alice and malcolm is suspicious of her behavior about lyra it's such a bummer they didn't call a doctor i don't know if

the doctor could have done much for the pneumonia necessarily but uh and i think it could be because of fiscal reasons right like health care is expensive they're poor maybe it's faith-based i know that that also comes into things like no we'll just pray it away uh that can sometimes affect those decisions but had they called a doctor maybe the doctor would be like hey you know the weather's bad you guys should get home and make sure you have yourselves taken care of and are at a high ground you know this is a small town so like he could have just been like the priory is pretty low so you might want to get to higher ground just in case for the night and of course maybe the doctor's blathering idiot and he doesn't know and maybe he's like no nothing's happening i

believe the weather who knows but at least the detention would have been on them and i just am like oh it's so sad what's to come here the death of the nuns it goes either way and I think it's like it is really strange to me that they're not like let's get a doctor like Sister Fenella's super old that's been hammered home to us throughout like

these several past few chapters right and that they're I'm like Sister Benedicta what the fuck are you gonna do and yeah maybe Sister Benedicta used to the fuck are you gonna do? And yeah, maybe he said Sister Benedicta used to be a nurse. We don't know to be honest, but I don't know. And it's

interesting, like, it sucks. It feels like, again, everything was conspiring against Sister Fenella. If she wasn't gonna die of, like, this illness, like, the flood was gonna take her, which it did. And kind of be like, what if it was so serious that they would have been taken to the hospital and then they would have all been alive. Right. Cause a lot of the people who are surviving at the moment,

we find out at the end of these chapters are taking refuge there, but I think it's most likely they probably would have called a doctor to visit and, and done that. Like that was probably popular in this sort of town versus going to the hospital, but yeah. And to be honest with the weather, the calamity that has been happening in the United States lately. Calamity canon. Girls gone calamity canon, if you will.

Oh, wait. I would do that. Okay. You would. If you're listening to this in the year 2021, our lord, savior savior metatron uh you'll know that there's been some climate calamity going on across the united states the south had some very crazy very crazy cold weather that does not happen often there and the infrastructure wasn't great and like as someone on the east coast who sees this even with like, you know, being used to snow, it's interesting to watch the infrastructure here, right? And that these nuns and where they live, they live kind of off the grid. They're not in the path of where they can get help.

you know like we're not getting service because things aren't moving i work in supply chain things are not moving because they're getting held up in different hubs across the country because of overflow because people don't have power people don't have water people don't have anything right now so it's interesting to watch infrastructure fail in the government that probably should have upkept these little places like wolverton and like i mean all of this area that flooded they should have upkept the dam a little better they that's true they didn't do that there's a lot of things that and they have all these government officials fucking visiting this place right the past few chapters and they didn't do shit they don't have a library and yeah yeah so there's a lot of negligence going on there. And yes, thank you. Thank you for telling people when this episode is recorded.

I am excited for the day. We'll be dead, of course. But that anthropologists use our podcast. Historians use our podcast to piece together life during these unprecedented times. Now, a lot of our friends over on discord if you're a patron of ours in the thunder tier and above you're a part of history you're a part of history but a lot of our

friends are listening to some of the back catalog of episodes they hadn't listened to yet and being like wow this disaster last year was happening how interesting yeah we live in a society so I hope this makes a time capsule somewhere, somewhere in some youth fiction. I want to say hello.

Yes, to that historian, that archaeologist, you know, really piecing the world together and listening to me right now. How are you? I mean, they might not understand what I'm saying. Who knows what language they'll be speaking. understand what I'm saying. Who knows what language they'll be speaking. The language that Malcolm and Asa are speaking right now, though, is about calamity.

As you said, they're stocking up the canoe with emergency supplies. He has a toolkit and other odds and ends. Although no first aid kit, because we can't have doctors, we can't have first aid

we're just not going to be prepared for any health crises listen the nhs is really difficult i hear no shade same okay no shade same uh alice arrives right after he finishes packing up his boat and he just packed it on a whim right this is she's showing up she's ready for her shift nothing weird is happening to her so he waits until mrs polstead leaves so he can talk to alice all about mrs coulter he specifically wants to tell her about bon vie claiming that gerard bon vie is lyra's dad and then he remembers he's like shit i can't tell her anything about spying in Oakley Street. He has the conversation with Alice. She asked Dr. Ralph where Lyra was.

Did she tell her? Dr. Ralph? No, she never would, he was going to add. She's a spy, but he held back. I'm proud of you, Malcolm. Yeah, he explained that she probably came for the alethiometer and then he's like oh you probably want to know what an alethiometer is and he gives her an explanation but in walks his mom in the middle of the explanation and she listens in and she's like is this what you get up to when you go to jericho and he's like no no this is what dr ralph does in the bodleian library and then he leavesicho. And he's like, no, no, this is what Dr. Ralph does in the Bodleian

Library, and then he leaves it at that. He's like, I shouldn't say anymore, I've said too much. Like Hagrid in Harry Potter, I've said too much. I've said too much. It's interesting that he was assuming that Mrs. Coulter was there for the alethiometer and not for her child, which is or not for a child, which is the same mistake

Lyra makes when she's like, I'm gonna go north. I think that my dad wants the alethiometer, not a child sacrifice. Oh, I didn't really think about that reversal. And, hmm. Yeah, I didn't think about that at all. Well, we also have another member, our executive producer of the podcast, did not think about that as well. Because there's a line of question marks here placed here by Allie,

the cat. Yep, Alysanne. Yeah, she was here. She left her mark. I prefer to leave the mark when we're going through our notes. I think it's really important. It keeps us raw, authentic. Lots of question marks. Allie wants to know, too. So does Mrs. Polstead, who

asks Alice if she'd be interested in some extra hours. Alice is like, I'll consider it, but I'm kind of tied up with the nuns right now. Once Mrs. Polstead leaves, Alice spills the beans on Sister Katerina. She left the shutter open for Gerard Bonvie.

Dun dun dun! Like, super crazy stuff happening. You know, these names I was born for because there is a katarina in vampire diaries oh interesting really important character really you know just you'll be beside yourself when you meet her someday if you ever take your time to watch it alice and malcolm's demons speak both in cat form which amazes malcolm yeah i think between this and malcolm being like oh i almost spilled the beans on this giant secret about hannah being spy like this mirroring of each other's demons is a good setup for the next few chapters where they start

to like trust each other more and get on the same page except for the other part where malcolm withholds some really important information but we'll get there I do think too it's it's intentional he's juxtaposed their demons right of what Ben and what Asta settle as they're very opposites and they do very much clash so this does show kind of like an act of faith that they both are in cat form trying to come to the same level i think that's very sweet it shows especially for melchomies like alice like just alice yeah ben tells asta they should go to the priory at 8 p.m but doesn't say why 8 p.m is the hour of the comp line and all the sisters would be in their final service of the day except for katerina and Fenella. He gets himself ready at half past

seven and puts the silk tarp up on La Belle Sauvage. We have this quote. He remembered what Coram Vintexel had said. There were things in the water that had been disturbed, and things in the sky, too. He sheltered his eyes with his hand and peered upwards. Almost at once a flash of lightning dazzled him like an inscription on the heavens of his own private aurora. And such a crash of thunder hammered his ears that he felt dizzy and nearly fell and he clutched the stone parapet in alarm. Asta said, His chariots of wrath at deep thunderclouds form. Malcolm finished the verse, And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

So this is from a popular hymn it is robert grant's text which is a resetting of william keith's rendering of psalm 104 which was first published in 1561 oh worship the king all glorious above there's a lot of interesting ways that this is like put here like it's broken apart in a couple lines here of how they say it and the the actual rhythm is taken away right that they repeat it in full sentence form instead of kind of lyrical form but there is a part of the hymn that i think is most interesting frail children of dust and feeble is fra, in you do we trust nor find you to fail. Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end, our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend. This hymnal is paired with many different stories in the Bible and worship, but most

prominent that I've seen is paired with Genesis 6-7 in most of the public congregations. In the day that Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no one to till the ground. It goes on with God forming the earth and the water that made the ground. And then God forms man and God plants the garden in eden in the east and there he puts the man who he formed out of the ground he made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food tree of life and also in the midst of the garden

in the tree of knowledge of good and evil so of course that revolves strongly around the prophecy good and evil so of course that revolves strongly around the prophecy right like we know lyra is eve as our previous previous readings of the series of the main trilogy has prepared us for so it's interesting that this verse is so often used when talked about this hymnal and brought into mass it's also brought back in revelation 19 for example then i heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the sound of many waters and like the sound of many thunder peals crying out it's often singed along those lines as well uh it's just really interesting that this is the exact verse brought in because it talks of creation but it also talks of destruction and that is exactly what we're about to see as we

get to the pharmacy in the next chapter very interesting very interesting yeah it's a perfectly apt line to quote and hand that as you said and pointed out encompasses things and ties it together right with that original trilogy and this one and i mean floods right the flood archetype in general in stories is both that creation destruction at the same time like the rebirth thing going on but for now we aren't there yet we're about to be standing at the bridge malcolm feels genuinely scared and hurries into the walls of the priory where the final song is being sung by the nuns feels kind of dark in retrospect because like they keep saying it's the final service the final service their final

service of the night their final song of the night the nun's final song i didn't like they die yeah piece that together till i like uh reading that again just now and i think i was like oh my god it hit me in that moment and then my face just like it's real dark frown and i was like oh no i'm yeah i didn't really think about it till now but i'm like oh that's intentional and it's dark because it's the last time that they sing to their god and hold their faith and keep their faith together so uh kind of depressing but we we keep on because it's gonna get worse. Melgan taps on the windows with a stone and Alice comes out. She pops her head out and tells him head to the potting sheds. The one at the left hand end.

You'll see it. There's a light on. I can't go with you. I'm looking after Lyra. He's like well where's sister Katarina? And she shakes her head. Ben tells Asta they have to be incredibly quiet. They look for the shed with the light as directed.

He was used to the sheds because he used to help Sister Martha, and all of them were unlocked. Asta turns into an owl to help them see and sneak about the big sheds, with the water beginning to pound harder on the thin roof, threatening to give way any moment. That's not the only thing that's pounding at this moment. Asda became a moth, and as she settled near another crack in the wall, Malcolm felt a shock as she saw something. He leaned closer and peered through the crack to see Gerard Bonneville and Sister Katerina in a clumsy embrace. She was leaning

back against a pile of empty sacks, her bare legs gleamed in the candlelight. The hyena was licking her pug demon, who was on his back, squirming with pleasure. Oh, they're doing it. Oh god, oh they're doing it oh god lord this is a look we're a sex positive podcast obviously i would never shame sister katarina for getting it on no like girl if it's safe if it's consensual that's the thing is this doesn't feel fully consensual as we get to the end of it as we'll get into in a second or a little out of. But this is interesting, right? Because this is like Malcolm's first experience of understanding what sex is as we're about to learn. So like his first understanding of sex

is tainted by watching a nun. And as we know, like Mary Malone quit being a nun because she couldn't have passion in her life, right? Not just like love passion, but just having passion for anything and now we have sister katarina a nun seduced by this evil bad guy who's trying to sell your baby crush to the government uh with all these weird circumstances cropping up i don't know this could mess a kid up this is some some dark shit i I mean, you know, it's not like he climbed into a window, saw two twins having sex,

and then was shoved out of it, you know? Shoved out of the window. Malcolm's really quite lucky here, in many ways, but I will say that struck me, you know? That really struck me, the imagery of the hyena sensually licking

the pug and the pug squirming i think about that um it's a lot kind of a bit like the asriel culture scene right yeah but less sexy swooning yeah but less sexy like there's not that was i don't know i don't know romantic yeah i don't know why the leopard and the golden monkey feel sexier also it's because we see the golden monkey so ferocious throughout the series so aggressive and crazy fucking neurotic and we

see like Stell Maria stay elegant composed right and you get to this moment and just the language is so romantic and the monkey swooned into the leopard they like you know for a moment it was almost everything you know uh not to george r martin it but asha ray joy has the moment she's like her cunt became

the world and i think he meant something like this you know emotionally i think this is what george meant this kind of this is what he was going for yeah this exact feeling you know like that swooning is so important to me i don't know why it is but that's like what i when i think of it i just think of them swooning into each other and how like they could never be. And it's one of the, you know, it's like this ferocious fire burning of like Coltrane, Asriel,

doomed lovers, which we learned they are doomed lovers. You know, they are at the end, they're star crossed, but they literally pull the stars together and get their shit together for one moment. They do get to be together forever if you think about it. But um absolutely and i think you're right it's the language right like the idea and the imagery of swooning is very different from the concept of squirming and like

the sound of squirming is just different and i you were talking about katarina versus mary right and that's sex positive there is we don't know what katarina's background is we don't know that she came to the priory and chose to become a nun. Or was she forced to become one, right? Was she coerced into becoming one? And Gerard Bonneville offers her the things that she wanted and that might have been taken from her. it's what we call a power imbalance i would say i mean a lot of exploiting he is exploiting her for the connection to the priory that is literally something he's doing that is why he is he says struck up a relationship with her if you go back to alice he was trying to get in with alice and trying to exploit that you know she wants to feel wanted as a person right like she wants to have value and like he thought he could use that weakness and he thought he could prey on her and instead he's preying on katarina and that's what that squirming is to me you know like think of

like a snake eating like a fucking bird or like a frog think of a snake eating a frog there's a good one like yeah it's circle of life and all and it's the food chain but like that's what this feels like like that frog is just squirming trying to get away before it's consumed yeah watching snakes eat thing is things is really interesting it's incredible it is it really is it's also kind of silly when they walk around with that giant bulge that's what i look like after Thanksgiving dinner. Or now. Now? Did you eat a lot? Anyways.

Did you eat a whole frog? Asta and Malcolm, though, they immediately understand that Katarina... What are you doing? To understand that Katarina, who's supposed to be watching Lyra, was seduced by Bonnevilleville who wants to kidnap Lyra they talk about telling Sister Benedicta but Malcolm's like well

what proof do we have we have none I have no cell phone and Ashton implies well like this is how you make babies and Malcolm's like oh that's true but this isn't really practical proof and they're like discussing why he's doing this again because I guess they don't have paternity tests

but also that's a long fucking time that is a long time to wait for your proof like yeah it doesn't make sense and he doesn't know that either it's at least a month you know at the earliest if Katarina realizes like oh my gosh i missed my

period i love that malcolm's like i don't know how long it takes to bake one yeah so that could take 80 months asta okay we could but i love that like they're watching it asked us like you understand what you saw, right? And Malcolm's like, hand on dick, I've never been more prepared for this moment. No! Oh no! It's true! Every little kid's like, sex. Yeah, that's why Asta's an owl, so she could see better.

Why do you think? Wait, I know that you said that Asta was was an owl but we don't know what type would you say it was a horned owl oh no we gotta ask we gotta ask cassidy more about this what is the sex what is the most what is the thirstiest owl so sister katarina gets to come in this story it's a happy ending here for her, at least. And it's actually a happy ending for Bolm V, from what we hear. And this line is actually really beautiful.

It's interesting. Malcolm is a deep kid. Later, we're going to talk about Dr. Ralph saying that Malcolm is kind of a romantic. And I'm like, damn, Malcolm, you're out here writing art. For those of you who have watched Modern Family, young Malcolm is like Manny, for sure. like you're out here writing art for those of you who have watched modern family young malcolm is

like manny for sure he thought of her cry flying through the night sky and making the moon turn her face away making the owls tremble in their flight i was trying to remember like where this reminded me of and then i realized it was just reminding me of asriel showing lyra to the moon and i'm like i don't like this connection i don'm like, I don't like this connection. I don't like it. I don't like that either. Not why you put it like that. Sorry. At first I was like, oh, okay. Well, you know,

it sounds like Katarina had a good time. I know that this is like, everything here is very negative, what's happening between her and Bondaville, but I'm like, damn. You know? Her cry flying through the night sky you know it's kind of witchy there's that you know i'm just like it sounds like i don't know she had a good time that her pug did and it all obviously goes to shit in a second there's also you know when you are talking

about asriel and it comes up a couple of times later on that you know Malcolm's like oh yeah I could tell that Asriel loved Lyra right it feels like the text making up for the ambiguity in his dark materials trying to be like yes Asriel did love his daughter but not to tie

it to the scene but you did it first not me well the man and his hyena come next. And Malcolm and Astor worry about Lyra's safety, ready to at least tell the sisters so they can punish Katarina and keep Lyra safe. Yeah. I will say something that's interesting that goes on with this scene and that carries throughout this chapter, though,

is it does some interesting stuff with uh the onomatopoeia setting up the sound of the hyena that you keep seeing that i actually should have probably looked up how hyenas sound prior to this episode but it recurs over this chapter in the next one and then it ends up becoming this like horror movie sort of device or horror sort of device they actually this was i want to say it was actually as early as the quorum chapter but it it's like the creepiest part of the book like before this episode you and i were kind of talking off the record that gerard bonvieu isn't the greatest villain like i mean he's fine he's. He works for this. And let me tell you, when we get to him soon calling on the water and his voice echoing across the water. I mean, when I read this book, I was on a train to and from Eliana's house back in the day when we were allowed to take trains places.

And I guess you still can, but you know what I mean. That's not encouraged. So I was reading this book on the way to and from eliana's house and i had earbuds in and i had like kind of atmospheric music in water music basically while i was reading this because i just wanted to think like the river while i was reading it and i'm reading and i'm reading and you get to the ha echoing on the water and like oh it's so creepy and it is a really good device for gerard bonvy's villain it is a really good device in Gerard Bonvy's villain. It is a really good device, in my opinion. Yeah. I've now looked up

some hyena sounds. There's a range of them. Cackle. It's like a cackle, right? Almost. Some of it is kind of like a giggle, and some of it is almost like a weird moaning wheeze. Like, and some of it is like a and

very unnerving. So I can see how it works as you were saying in the context of bong v and really playing him up as this like almost like i want to say joker like figure in some ways yeah you don't know what the guy's gonna do no one knows his story completely as we're about to get into like he's a wild card wild card wild cards oh my god and to be frank like i just like i know how sound just echoes so loudly on the water and i could see where while you're hiding i mean even in the next chapter in the pharmacy they're hiding and they're just like or either in the boat they're not even in the pharmacy yet in the pharmacy and they're just like oh fuck this guy's gonna find us this guy's gonna find us and he is terrifying it's a good build-up for that but i don't think he's a great villain

he's no metatron he's a good monster not a good villain yes like like like it the monster in a horror movie chasing you or something and that's very much i think how he's set up throughout yeah throughout this book like like uh yeah, this chasing figure. But, yeah. Well, I'm working on it. Suddenly, a large crack of thunder shoots. The sky erupts. Water pours down heavier. Where Mal and Asta stand, it gets deeper and deeper.

And Sister Katarina begins to plea with Gerard in the background, saying, I must go, and promising him something. lee with gerard in the background saying i must go and promising him something malcolm and asta immediately hear that on the water and realize oh shit lyra's unsafe and they run ignoring the shout that happens behind them the hyena and man's crazed laughter trying to get themselves to the priory but realizing the gatehouse light is gone wait because the gatehouse is gone. Wait. Because the gatehouse is gone. Because the river broke. Because rubble's everywhere and suddenly waves are surging over them from the bank. The flood has begun in full earnest.

Katarina's wailing in terror somewhere behind them and they struggle to the kitchen door yelling for Alice. Yeah. Everything really happens very, very fast in this moment. It's so sudden. It's like it's out of nowhere. But maybe this is what floods are like.

I mean, it broke. Yeah, it all turns in a moment, as you said. Yeah, the dam broke. I mean, they find Alice dazed under a pile of plaster and beams from the ceiling. And Lyra's crib is floating. And Asta darts down to help Pan. And Malcolm grabs Lyra. And we're going gonna see this probably throughout the rest of this book

but of course there's obviously all these different like savior slash hero sorts of imagery and symbols that are always heaped on Lyra starting in historic materials even now right she's Eve but in this moment with the little crib floating she's very much like Moses she's gonna be

a lot like Moses going down this river again in the rest of this book that's really a good one she leads all the dead dead people right and you were talking about genesis that's another genesis story right the the children of dust is the garden of eden is the flood is a genesis story so is moses and yeah again lyra leads everyone out from the land of the dead that's their great pilgrimage i do have an idea who malcolm could be closely related to later too as we'll get to so moses maybe others maybe others malcolm can't see any of the other sisters right he's looking alice is trying to get herself upright when Bon-V suddenly bursts in

and he's clutching Lyra tight while Alice is hitting Bon-V with a chair from behind, world star, and Bon-V falls forward. Blood streams from him. He slips in the water. He's trying to get Lyra. Malcolm's like,

I wonder if everyone's crumbled or floating around or even alive. And for a moment, I wonder if everyone's crumbled or floating around or even alive. And for a moment he wonders if he and Bonvie are the only things living in the Priory. But then he remembers Alice is there. This is me staring into the camera. He stumbles along to get to her and they link

hands. They get themselves out with Lyra and they get themselves to the bridge through all the streaming water. It shakes beneath their feet as they go over the bridge. Fast as they can, they make their way to the trout and the terrace is overrun with water. Of course, the resounding creepy. Eliana, you want to do the honors?

Ha ha ha! I don't think I remember even how it goes again. Ha ha ha! So it's kind of like that. Okay. Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Well, that is happening behind them and Bonvieu is following them, so that's creepy. They try the door. It's locked.

Bonvieu gains on them. Alice throws a rock from the parapet down. They work their way to the front door, which is also locked, because Malcolm is supposed to be asleep. In his bed. Upstairs. He yells for his parents, but it's lost in the water surrounding them and they check the back door as well hammering on it for a while but it's locked no one hears them yeah i it's sad it

is sad in that brief moment and very anxiety inducing i am glad that his parents locked the door though yeah because there's a killer out there yeah well just, yeah, that's true, that too. There's a murderer on the list. I know, we were just talking about him. I'm like, oh my god. They dash to the storeroom where Malcolm kept LaBelle Sauvage passing a drowned peacock. I forgot about the peacocks, holy shit.

Yeah, they're dead. So. That's right, they just ran the peacocks and now they're dead so that's right they were just random peacocks and now they're dead they are malcolm directs alice and lyra to sit still on la belle sauvage and then he preps for takeoff pulling up the canopy and feeling the boat stir at her mooring rope he cuts the knot and off they go they could only go one way la belle savage sped like a dart over the Mad River down toward Port Meadow, toward the wild waste of

water that was sweeping through Oxford towards whatever lay beyond. And that brings us to part two of La Belle Sauvage. Yes, there's a wonderful illustration, and I want to take a moment to appreciate that.

And the moment's done. Chapter 16. It's a good illustration, and I wanted to give it five seconds of silence. Chapter 16. The Pharmacy. For a little bit, Malcolm felt like this was a mistake, but what else was he supposed to do? Alice could have died, and Lyra too, let alone Bol V taking her and hurting her. There's minimal visibility when they have the canopy up on the boat. He has no clue when houses, bridges, or trees could crop up, and that's not the only problem.

clue when houses, bridges, or trees could crop up, and that's not the only problem. He kind of has to check on the paddle in the front every once in a while, meaning he has to keep the front uncovered, meaning water is filling the boat. They plan to find somewhere to tie off and bail out the water, and Asta takes watch, peering out, warning them about trees. One comes up pretty quickly, and Malcolm saves it just in time, but his face takes a majority of the hit. I'm gonna be real with you. This has happened to me just walking. I'm not even like in a boat or anything like Malcolm and it's hard. I can't imagine how much

harder it is in a boat. Malcolm pushes against the current with all his might and finds a sturdy branch to tie off on while Alice begins to scoop water out with the canvas bucket you know alice is doing a lot of the heavy lifting and all of this i'm gonna throw that out yes correct he pulls the tarp out to keep them dry as they work joining alice with the water

he empties his boots out finally and then advises alice about the biscuits in the emergency kit below her seat which they munch on and i have recently learned about biscuit tins like of course yes we have our cookies packaged you know in certain ways i think i tend to buy cookies in what plastic packages here but apparently what i've learned is that in the uk they sometimes come in nice tins and there is a fancy i I forgot which brand, a fancy brand that has a, it's really cute, biscuit tin purse is what it's called. But it's like, I don't know, a bazillion pounds. And it's really cute. It's like this cute cylindrical bag with this sort of like rods on it.

My colleague sent it to me. And yeah, so I just wanted to talk about biscuit tins they are really popular at christmas time here in the u.s i would say yep i i that was that's kind of what you know how we have the popcorn too yeah you bought me really good popcorn that one time by the way for christmas that was amazing it was like dark chocolate and salt and it was so good. Anyways, caramel. But so I digress. It's popular at Christmas time. We have really pretty tins that have Christmas or floral prints on them that have biscuits in them.

Yeah. Generally of different varieties, some with jam, etc. I've had like cookies come in tins but they're like squatter they're like more flatter cylinders as opposed to this one which was like a tall taller like cylinder skinnier yeah more uh cylindrical tall more tall tall yeah tall i mean they're both cylinders but the other one was more disc-like and yeah they yeah i've had them in those i think too but not as often they don't make it as big here yeah anyway that's that was my insight into well they are great to put sewing supplies in and other supplies and first aid kits so malcolm get with it as they munch on these biscuits suddenly malcolm sees something white sticking out. The aura has returned

to his eye at the worst time possible, and he tries to keep very still as it washes over him. He sat there in the wet discomfort and tried to feel calm. He did feel something, the kind of thing Asta had described on that evening when it came on them during his geography homework. A sort of peaceful, disembodied floating, in a space that was immense or even infinite in all directions. The spangled ring grew larger, just like before, and as before he was helpless and paralyzed while it came closer and closer,

and expanded to fill the entire circumference of his vision. But he was never frightened. It wasn't alarming, in a way it was even comforting, that calm oceanic drifting. It was his aurora. It was telling him that he was still part of the great order of things and that that could never change. This is chock full of themes and concepts that are really common in meditation. It interests me that it's described so similarly, right? Like peaceful disembodied floating infinite space

calming oceanic drifting uh meditation is similar to the state of what you need to have to read the alethiometer so from what we know or gain consciousness or let consciousness flock to you right let me see it with mary in the cave especially that line it was telling him he was still part of the great order of things and that could never change i really think that his aurora that comes out of him i think that's gonna come into play in the future yes it definitely it definitely does sound like that same sort of state yeah welcome just lets it run its course as everyone does and is an exhausted still sees something white in the boat turns out it's a business card which he puts in his pocket i love this because it was a fake out right like he saw something white and then it was his roarer

and then he sees something white again afterwards still there and it's the business card i'm surprised it's not soaked through. I know, right? Since the boat was... Must be great card stock. Girl, he went to Vistaprint. You know Asriel. I love reading these a few chapters at a time because you can catch kind of the overarching

themes. The next three chapters like these three chapters all explain each other, right? We get to go see Oakley Street's reaction and learn some of the stuff we knew, some we didn't. But other right we get to uh to go see oakley street's reaction and learn some of the stuff we knew some we didn't but here you get to watch this piece of paper move through three chapters right it starts here he's got the white card he watches it travel to the end of the next chapter and it comes into fruition in the plot with oakley street it's kind of the moving piece for us to follow and keeps us intrigued and i think

we talk a lot about differences in the main authors we're analyzing right now, George R. R. Martin and Philip Pullman. And George is more of a gardener, right? Like he grows things and sometimes they just blossom and they're pretty to look at. But sometimes he pulls off some crazy stuff with them. Pullman's very precise and clean with his work. He feels very purposeful. He has very clean lines and

he does know what he wants for the most part so knowing that he has this one piece of small card stock that's cut trimmed on the boat and it's going to take us to asriel's will not to asriel's but it will take us somewhere eventually yes it will and of course as you said he's playing that out before right with the giving of the card in the first place because he's like, how do I get Malcolm there? how do we string that line? follow the card and see where it goes that was pretty risky

not really, I mean the floods way riskier anyway, Malcolm comes back fully too he realizes something that Alice had realized much earlier because of course she did. Lyra needs changing. They plan the what now, which

they decide they gotta wait until morning so they can get hot water to wash Lyra with and they take shifts to make sure that they stay afloat in case the water goes down. They also try to avoid Bonneville. Mal takes the first shift as Alice and Lyra curl up in a blanket and he switches off their torch

aka flashlight he realizes that everything kind of sucks this canoe is too small to sleep in let alone for three people and his face is all scratched up and he's cold but alice hasn't even complained once and he was impressed and vowed that he also would not complain and i love how just like a lot more of alice's strength and resolve and her her dependability comes through in this chapters yeah there's a lot of expansion on her characterization which is great compared to kind of just the sullen girl with the awkward skinny knees that's mean you know like she was just like the mean girl before now she's like I'm mean because my life sucks. And here I am. And my life sucks again. Yeah. That's definitely where she's at.

And she is right. After a bit, the girls doze off. Malcolm and Asta whisper to each other about where they are. It seems to be Port Meadow. But the river's kind of everywhere now, not just one place. Asta asks, do you think we'll get swept away? But Malcolm doesn't think so. They'll find their way back.

She asks, what if it never stops? But Malcolm says the Egyptian man didn't say it would go on forever, and every flood stops eventually. Finally, she asks, what's on the card you picked up? And he tells her, Lord Asriel, October House, Chelsea, London. On the back were written the words with many thanks if you need my help at any time be sure to ask asriel so i did a little internet digging you know i was just hanging out doing my research finding out new stuff i like to learn stuff and chelsea has some pretty high property prices, okay?

Like, very expensive to live there. And this was super big in the 70s, especially. They actually resulted in the coining of the term Sloan Ranger, which was usually, usually at first was female, right? Like, it was mostly in reference to women when it was first induced. It meant a stereotypical upper middle or upper class person who embodies a particular upbringing and outlook, uniform, effortless, and unambitious, although sophisticated. So it was usually in reference to people like, oh, Diana, Princess of Wales, but then it began to include men. A male Sloan has also been called a Ra or a Hooray Henry. In France, they call it a BCBG, Bon Chic, Bon Genre.

What? That's what that's from? Yes, that is exactly what it means. I'm a Jonas. But our analog is like preppy subculture. So it's like the preps and the jocks. You know, like Abercrombie and hollister in the aughts no i'm just kidding kind of not really it's pretty much that the kids from like the fancy neighborhood that had a finished beautiful basement and an upstairs and a huge dance anyways

so chelsea had this reputation also as london's bohemian quarter. The haunt of artists, radicals, painters, poets. It doesn't really survive now. The squares off Kings Road are home to others, investment bankers, film stars. But the arts club continues and the College of Art and Design moved from Manresa Road to Pimlico in 2005. Very dramatic.

But it's very funny to think about. And today's average price in pounds is like 1.5 million and the low is 125 000 and the high is 7.5 million pounds like that's that's some ducats that's some money to put out to live in chelsea so to put that all to asriel like i want to know so much more about this chelsea home now he's like a preppy well-raised well i mean no he was well-raised into aristocracy right like he was a sitting member of the british parliament at some point in his history in adulthood and he was super well respected before he you know did the whole wedlock thing

with coulter and he he's straight up a sloan ranger dude he's a hooray Henry a raw that's him the area he lives the fact that Alice and Malcolm are kind of like going to this promised land of rich people to get Lyra the safety interesting stuff going on it honestly does make me put Malcolm in kind of the Caleb role uh son of Jeff Unet who I don't know, kind of, in some ways, he was like, Malcolm's a child spy trying to get Lyra to a promised land. And Caleb was kind of the opposite. He was a child spy trying to get into a promised land to put more on it and take it, you know, for people. But in Hebrew, Caleb's name translates to faithful, zealous, ruthless, bold, and brave.

And sometimes it's symbolized with a dog. Obviously, Asta's not really a dog, but the idea of Malcolm being Lyra's servant for life comes to mind here in Dog Demons. And I thought that was kind of an interesting analog that he specifically was sent to spy on the Promised Land. That is interesting. And yeah, he was doing that a lot as a child and they're trying to those people have ideas and i think that is interesting what you're saying about where asriel lives and that it's in chelsea like we're less familiar i think with some of the cultural signifiers right that that poem might be referencing here because we grew up in a set of different cultural

signifiers. Yanks. Yes, yanks. Spelling words without the letter U. Golden compass. Those things. These are the offenses we have for you. Indeed. Our accents.

Many things about us are... I just want to get it all on the table now, you know, of how bad we are. Absolutely. But I think what you're saying, like this research, it's great context on Asriel. You were saying it had a reputation as Bohemian Quarter. And I wonder if that's like the period that Pullman is referencing here to an extent, because we know that Asriel, probably very recent to all of this, right, because Lyra is a baby, has been stripped of

all of his wealth and everything. So for him to be in the Chelsea area, might be speaking to that fall in class. But at the same time, time as you said right he he is a mix of both well and it's not even that like chelsea is so expensive that now no it was like becoming like this is like the 70s it was like high class like princess diana came from here so like he obviously had money because he was in the government as an adult he had connections and he obviously is some fucking like play he's like fucking tony stark millionaire yeah um no yeah opposite he uh he's obviously still got like when before court happened they talked about how he had multiple estates and that he had hidden Lyra and Ma Costa at one of the

estates. Like he has several houses and one of them is in Chelsea. Asriel was well off. And yeah, they say they took all his wealth. But what does that mean? Yeah, they probably sold all his assets and went traveling, you know, like, obviously, he went traveling. So he probably just got rid of what he could made the money he could and went by. Yeah i mean obviously as you said he's well connected enough and people still clearly respect him as we see from the way a couple of other higher up people speak of him in this chapter in the next chapter or so so yeah things weren't all completely terrible for him things weren't all completely terrible for him well Malcolm gets that brilliant idea though he's like wait

but maybe Asriel who as you pointed out still has resources and helped me get a better boat it's like he knew that there was going to be a flood and I'm like interesting interesting as you've pointed out in previous chapters Chloe it's all interesting who that azrael right who hangs out with egyptian people and has spent quite a bit of time with them and is esteemed by them and had egyptian person help him fix up this boat interesting that he might be like providing

things that could be useful in the flood at At least he wasn't a closed-minded asshole about it. That's true. Even though he's the one that's gonna end up causing more floods. Anyways. Whoa. Whoa. Well, Malcolm and Asta both agree

if this is the plan, if we're gonna get Lyra to Asriel, we can't tell Alice. Malcolm sits watch, but he starts to drift off, slipping and falling over sideways and waking. He chastises Asta. He's like, why didn't you wake me up? But Alice wakes up in lieu of this and is like,

we need dry blankets and pillows. And he's like, well, I'm going to paddle us home tomorrow after we get supplies for Lyra. She doubts they're going to be able to paddle against the current because she's not stupid. And he resigns. He's like, you're right. We're just going to have to stay tied off

and go into Port Meadow tomorrow. It's right below us. Alice says his parents will worry. And he's like, what about your parents? She tells him, I don't have a dad, just a mom and sisters. They all live in Wolvercote. Malcolm never knew. She says her mom will think that she drowned and he realizes the nuns will think she and lyra drowned too you know if any

survived after a minute of her and ben whispering to one another alice asks malcolm if he went to the potting shed and if she saw them he's like well i couldn't really see but i definitely knew it was katarina and gerard and then as alice does she calls him a bastard and says that she had wanted to kill him when she had hit him and malcolm's like i don't get it and she's like he was nice to me and that's why and she's like you you wouldn't get it that's interesting it reminds me of the witch with will you wouldn't understand why i killed your dad yeah that is kind of like that i do get it i get it more why alice would do that yeah no agreed towards a fucking creep and like i understand her wanting to hurt him and and kill him for trying to take advantage of her right she's a vulnerable girl and she has to deal with that already from like her clientele

yeah as we saw Alice asks Malcolm so is Asriel really Lyra's dad and he reminds her that you know I actually met Lord Asriel and I saw that Asriel held her

and whispered to her in the moonlight when asriel saw lyra and he's like it looked as if he loved her very much after some silence beneath the rain allison asked what are we gonna do with lyra if we can't get back and malcolm you know just looks around no he doesn't look around shiftily but inside he's definitely looking around shiftily and he's like we could try taking her to jordan and claim scholastic sanctuary and he's like we probably need to know a latin phrase but you know i don't know it and alice is like how the fuck is a college gonna take care of lyra it's full of old men he's like i guess we're gonna have to pay someone to do it or azrael's just gonna have to send money for her yeah the the distrust of men

for alice i didn't really have it click till now but poor alice yeah i mean poor alice a lot of all she's known right she had a very early i mean we all kind of learned it at an early age yeah absolutely uh seeing it here and just seeing you know how gerard was able to exploit her and then of course that she really hated him and then she's like do you really think lyra and azrael like they're related and malcolm tells her about azrael holding lyra and loving her and she just is thinking about it about her dad and i'm just like wow that sucks so life sucks for alice right now it's the alice parslow club thanks for coming alice asks where the college is and he says it's on turtle street in the middle of town and then she asks how do you know about sanctuary

he explains dr ralph him, and how Dr. Ralph left her book at the Trout. Again, taking care not to say anything about the spying. Congratulations, Malcolm. You're doing great, Malcolm. He tells her Hannah lives in Jericho, and her downstairs is probably full of water. He hopes

that she moved the books. I bet she did. Probably, he's so annoying, he wouldn't leave it alone. I mean, if I were Dr. Ralph and someone warned me about that, I would have done it. Yeah, same. I mean, books are important. He drifts off, thinking that the water might be still in the morning

and they might be able to find their way easily to Jordan after taking care of Lyra. And she would have something clean to drink, because the water they floated on would be full of stirred up dirt and dead animals the ghosts of all the animals would be crying under the water he could hear them now

ha ha ha they have a range of noises that they make I went through that video a little more oh no Alice kicks Malcolm back awake to the sound of that they make. I went through that video a little more. Oh no. Alice kicks Malcolm back awake to the sound of Bonneville's maniacal laughter. They wait for him to pass. It seems he's just rowing

around in the dark looking for them. Like you do. Like any normal adult does. He would have been going downstream and faster than them, so Malcolm just nibbles at the biscuit.

Alice offers him, and they just drift off for a few hours of rest. And I don't know, this kind of reminds me a little bit of the mint cookie things that Will and the angels have. Yeah, especially because, it's funny, you know, Pullman just put on an interview today talking

about Lord of the Rings and both of us I know we aren't huge huge fans of the book series not in a negative way just I could be yeah I'm open to it haven't done it yet well Pullman had a couple criticisms right like they asked if Tolkien was alive today what would you say to him and he's like why did you not let your girls do anything? Like, at all? Which is a good question, but it kind of makes me think of, it's kind of Tolkien, there's a lot of Tolkien-esque in this, right? Like, later we're going to get the fairy, for example.

But something about this disaster with it feels about right. Hmm. I mean, I don't know. The elven bread. There's, like, the elven bread that they eat. Oh. I don't remember. Basically, it's very fulfilling. It's, like, you're not supposed to have too much of it. It's, like, a blessed

special elven magical bread and naturally, like, everybody eats it and it's, like, oh, sorry, we were supposed to make that last lull, but it's supposed to be like magical and super filling that's what it makes me think of is like also it's like hearth you know so you're sharing yeah it's a commonwealth between people to share food until then malcolm just awakens to the cold but But the boat, alas, is still on level water.

The rain had stopped, though, for the most part, so he pulls back the tarp to check out the view. And there's nothing but water as far as the eye can see. Fast-moving water. Their luck came from being tied to the gaggle of trees, and he's pretty worried about his little canoe facing these roaming waters. He measures that Oxford is a ways away and peels the tarp back a bit, getting ready to take off. Alice awakens, but Lyra stays asleep. Alice looks out and thinks the conditions

are just too awful for them to paddle across. But Lyra is cold and smells bad, so they need to leave. Once more, Malcolm wishes that he had made a slipped reef knot, but he pulls the knot all the same, because alas, he should have practiced his knots more, apparently. Ugh.

Well, ready or not... Sorry. Amazing! Malcolm making the slipped reef knot. Sometimes that knot is referred to as a Hercules knot. I thought that was great with his heroic role going on. But also, that knot is sometimes referred to as a marriage knot, which is kind of funny because later Hannah says he's a romantic.

So that's something. Or a surgical knot. It's used in Greece medically. And a varied version is nowadays used as well. But definitely in ancient Greece it was used. And there's even ancient Greek jewelry that you can find that has certain reef knots on it and the exact shape through the metal jewelry, so it was like a

popular thing then, so that's really interesting that he's kind of going for a hero's... a hero that actually has to deal with water often, now that I think about it. That's true. Some other critters out there. He had many trials, like 12 of them or something. Zero to or something zero to hero zero

well malcolm's trying to go the distance but immediately regrets not fully pulling the tarp back because he cannot see ahead he cannot see the distance alice bickers with him over it but they go all the same and mal's beginning to paddle he concentrates on staying steady and avoiding the underwater snags peering at the Oxford buildings far, far in the distance. The water is moving them toward the city, but with interruptions,

obstacles, and turbulence, and Malcolm does what he can to keep them upright. As they begin to get into the mainstream of water, though, they see others suffering with the flood. Some are in boats, some floating or keeping their heads above, and some clinging to trees. Malcolm can barely keep them from capsizing, let alone steer them to Turtle Street, so it's all he can do to try to steer them to a pharmacy. Alice holds onto the pharmacy sign bracket, then Malcolm ties them off.

He has Alice shield Lyra so that he can break the window into the pharmacy for them. He's about to climb in, and Alice reminds him you should just break the rest of the glass so you don't, like, you know, cut yourself up entirely and die. You know, she's really smart. I probably would have jumped through and slashed myself up, and I have done that with glass before. I have sick pads. Yeah, my leg, I have this scar that's almost in the shape of a smiley face.

It's crazy. It was 16 stitches at the time, though. I walked into an empty two-by-three-foot glass aquarium, and the glass went into my leg. It was in the way, and I didn't know it was there. The apartment I was at was dark, and it shattered into my leg. Blood everywhere, and that's all I could think. I have all that everywhere.

I'm like, Malcolm does not need more scratches. The branch was bad enough. The Eliana walking branch was bad enough. Yep. I am someone who walks into branches, but I do think I would have considered the glass. Okay, well. I don't know about that. Listen, no one likes a bragger, okay?

It does kind of make me, you know, Alice noting that maybe she's just astute but also i'm like has she done this before yeah maybe maybe she's got a few years on our friend malcolm she does and she's like at that age right or maybe you do some rebellious shit sort of heard allegedly alice hands lyra down to malcolm through the window and climbs down herself beginning to direct what to get Lyra Malcolm's like we'll clean you up soon Lyra and Alice is like so funny the we part that you just said that you said we were gonna do it they get biscuits juice warm water nappies they use the fireplace to boil water that streams from the faucet Asta asks what if the shopkeeper comes and they're like he can't be mad we're helping a baby Asta and Malcolm what if the shopkeeper comes? And they're like, he can't be mad. We're helping a baby. Asta and Malcolm argue and whisper about whether or not to tell Alice about their plan.

And Malcolm's like, I don't want to. She won't agree with it. And she'll want to take Lyra back. They get the water boiling so they can get ready to feed Lyra. And Malcolm goes to find a pencil to leave a note for the shopkeep. Malcolm pulls out of the trout inn at God's Toe. We'll pay for my damage and what we have taken. Big Will vibes.

Yeah, there's a lot of Will vibes. There's a lot of Will going on in this chapter, absolutely. From both characters. Yeah. Well, they'd only been there for half an hour and both wished that they could stay longer, but they knew that Gerard might be looking for them them and he may not know the boat in the daylight, but they weren't about to, you know, fuck around and find out. Alice orders Malcolm to sit still this time, dabbing at his wounds with hot water as well.

She dabs antiseptic on and considers band-aids, which he says no to, interestingly, and then she settles in to feed Lyra. Malcolm passes her to Alice, thinking of what his mother might say about Lyra, which is that she's full of beans. She is full of beans! Oh, it's so cute! I'm gonna say it about Alysanne all the time.

Alysanne, you're full of beans. Isn't that amusing it is it is full of beans you're just full of beans lyra oh my god she is full of beans though she really is though especially especially later on um and then malachi the thought of this right makes him tear up a little and alice asks what's the matter he responds that it's stinging but i don't know malcolm tearing up thinking about his mom that's another thing that reminds me a bit of will when will's always i mean will said about his mom a lot he's not ready for this at all right like he's about to see something even worse he's not even ready for this he's just looking for signs of life out the window and he gets the opposite you know last chapter he was hoping to see a nun floating around inside of the priory but now he's seeing a real body floating around downstream dead he's like what

should we do asta it is really sad because like he and asta they they can't decide what's the most respectful thing to do and also like not to put themselves at risk at this moment and i don't know just poor poor malcolm and and alice right you know they're not the only kids going through this natural disaster there's obviously like the rest of their fucking town but it's quite traumatic for all of them yeah no kids should have to make these choices these life or death choices and you know respecting a body and as we see it become such an important motif in the main trilogy right of someone's death being respectful and their soul being respected like lee and yorick that and also that comes to mind that and especially lyra right lyra full of beans and full of grace as uh

kate bush would say but she you know with tony mccarius no one else was showing him any respect or his body any respect uh they were terrified of what to do with the body and those men in a way were willing to just sort of let it float downstream. But Lyra's like, no, we gotta do the right thing, and we gotta give him a proper burial. The body does float away, and Malcolm is ready to bring it inside. He's like, I'm gonna get a proper burial. And Asta says to him, what happens to demons when people die? I don't know, maybe her demon was small, like a bird, and he's in her

pocket or something. Maybe he got left behind. But that was too horrible to think about. Ooh, some foreshadowing. Spicy. Interesting. Maybe he got left behind. But could it be foreshadowing for the future, too?

Yeah, it could be for historic materials right it's kind of a nod because we all kind of know oh with Will I mean Will but also like we see it when they go to the underworld but also we know what happens when demons die I mean Lyra kind of saw

that at about Malcolm's age and she's like oh shit they just disappear yeah malcolm hasn't though not yet yeah well for now malcolm decides to pack up what he can from the store and put it in the canoe and alice and he debate the why is gerard after lyra again malcolm brings up jordan and sanctuary again and then alice is like i see i see realizes his whole game she scolds him saying so you never actually meant to go back and mal was taking alice so she could take care of lyra and she saw him gazing at the business cart in the boat

when you know mal thought she was asleep so she kicks malcolm justifiably so inching toward him and he picks up a stool hiding behind it he's like i saw alice throw a chair i can throw a chair too that's not really what happens in the text i made that up it's a defense and she's so funny she's like and what are you gonna do with that eh hit me over the head i'd like to see you try i'd hush hush one. Don't cry now. Alice has just lost her temper with that little piece of sewage over there, but not with you, my lovely. Put that bloody stool down where it was.

I haven't finished feeding her. And put another log on the fire. She doesn't even skip a beat. She's amazing. Queen of my life, you know, like her personality has not changed in that aspect. And Malcolm knows that he can't do anything but try to calm her down. And she's like, shut up while I think about what to do now. She's definitely the adult in this situation.

His cuts reopened from all of this physical strain, like picking up the stool. And he and Asta quietly plan how to dodge around Alice's temper. He opens an orange juice, handing it to her kind of as a breakfast peace offering and explains that lyra's not safe anywhere especially not with gerard bon vie or the office of child protections around and lord asriel loved her so why shouldn't we get her to him alice is like why can't we take lyra to your parents's house and he's like their hands are full and the ccd has already been there before they have no defense alice thinks and asks why not give her to her mom and malcolm's like she started the league of alexandria hello

i honestly don't think this is that good of a justification like i secretly do kind of wonder like kind of devil's advocate here but like no one has actually given me in my opinion like a really really good solid reason as to why they couldn't give lyra to mrs coulter her mother like yes she's a horrible person as we see later like a lot of the other things and of course the league of saint alexander is like pretty horrendous as we all know and definitely hearkens to nazi times but like all of the actions that mrs coulter has taken such as this like which might have been for the purposes of trying to find her daughter just shows me that she's kind of willing to do anything for her kid like yeah she made poor choices at first but she makes the right

choices in the end. I mean, even before then, she's, like, seems like she really wants to find her daughter and no one will fucking let her. And I mean, as somebody that knows a person that has, like, a narcissistic parent,

I know a person. But, like like it's probably not great but like i don't know it's yeah she just could have tried like why not let her and i think that falls to a lot of the sexism that she experienced not just then but also in her career, right? In general, and the idea that, like, this turned into a whole debacle when, like, you wouldn't even blink an eye if a man had a bastard on a wedlock with some woman, you know? Like, that and the fact that her whole career is pretty

much shattered because of it, and she has to become this fucking gatekeep, gaslight girl boss bitch to keep it up later. That's interesting. What if you just gave her the daughter i know i'm like none none of what like she does is justifiable right but i also nothing that anyone has done like yes like she could be a narcissistic parent and we see that she doesn't end up being a great mother to lyra later on but that's after having gone through like a lot of other circumstances too and i'm just like

nothing within this book nothing within his dark materials has really shown anything to me as to like you know she made that split second decision perhaps at the beginning of like i don't think i'm like as soon after giving birth to lyra like i don't she didn't think she was ready to be a mother probably because there were a lot of other horrifying circumstances happening around that and like obviously that's not the best state for someone to try and make this like huge decision I just don't understand this is just just my opinion like there was not enough of a case made in this book or in his or towards the beginning of historic materials before everything that happens later on as to why they could not have given lyra to mrs coulter as a baby

yeah no i have no arguments with you eliana i'm just saying that the books don't make the case for her being no not at all or this book this book especially what the time of Lyra's infancy and I argue that the future books so Serpentine even and the secret commonwealth just kind of make you feel more empathy in my opinion or sympathy depending on who you are in your life experiences

and like again she does end up being not a great mother to Lyra during those times later on but we don't know what she would have been like at this point and i'm like just because she was horrible this is not a justification of anything but she could be she just because she was horrible to a bunch of other people's kids doesn't mean she would have been a bad mother to her own child and it could have changed the course of her life yeah it's like a sink or swim thing anyways

that's that's just something that i wanted to like throw out there because i'm like malcolm you literally have met this woman for like a minute yeah i mean she crazy but my god like you don't know her you're you're metatron you know well alice gives in she sighs and she's like how are we gonna find asriel and he shows her the business card saying we'll find a nice gyption to show us the way she snorts and calls him a moon calf i'm gonna call you that what is that i love that you're a moon calf a new calf born on the moon she asked him why he didn't tell her about all of this planning and he's like

well i didn't really plan it i just had a feeling and if i had known i would have taken sister finella with me he says fuck you alice but also sister finella no but like also like she was dying when we saw her last alice changes her mind she's like you're not a mooncalf you're a gormless staring idiot for exactly the reason I just said she's like why didn't you ask me to go with you and he's like I didn't think of this till like last night when we were tied off to the tree uh I love this chapter I think it gives us a lot of exposition on the bond between Malcolm and Alice like we said earlier with their opposing demons it It's the first chapter we get for them to speak freely with no interruptions whatsoever, and they're even

scheming together by the end, but we still have these characterization bumps in the road they have to work with, right? Alice doesn't want to be pinholed into only being a caretaker and a mother. She wants to be invited to escape down the river in a dashing adventure, but not because of her skill in caretaking for an infant or for people, but because she wants to be invited to escape down the river in a dashing adventure, but not because of her skill in caretaking for an infant or for people, but because she wants to be wanted. For people to see her as herself. Simultaneously, she's good at taking care of others, and she knows that. It's probably from taking care of her siblings and her mom being the oldest daughter.

By having to fill some of these gaps, her mom probably hasn't always been able to fill as a single parent with three daughters. And she cares. She does genuinely care. Even when Malcolm is pissing her off, she's out there wiping his face and getting the blood off his face. And likewise, Malcolm is trying to put on this big kid act, right, to prove himself. Like, I'm so grown up to Aliceice and he doesn't want her to see that he's just a kid him looking away in the mirror choking up watching their friendship develop is something we've seen pullman accomplish in many ways right like will and lyra it falls flat in

some ways for will and lyra and it does fall flat for alice and malcolm in some ways too but i think their friendship develops faster stronger out of necessity with this direct mortal peril that they're put in and having to make life-changing decisions every moment i think their bond by the end of the book is special i have a few annoyances of assault uses a plot device as we've talked about but i love seeing their relationship so raw so early on so awkward so unsure and still figuring each other out. Absolutely. And everything that you said here, right, is part of the strong characterization of Alice here. And I am also very interested in how Alice embodies a lot of that same parentified child aspect that Will does in the original trilogy. But as you said she and malcolm formed this very strong bond and it's

not just you know the cats the cat demons mirroring one another but even like they they do it a couple of other times too where their demons are both birds right both cooperating scoping everything out and yeah as they as they start to sync in with one another yeah they get comfier synchronize is what I meant by sync I just realized we're on a boat when I said sync I meant S-Y-N-C not S-I-N-K

which is perfectly possible in this context M-O-U-S-E well they aren't mice at this moment. The plan is to keep going downstream, keep out of Bonneville's way, and find Lord Asriel.

Nakum wipes blood out of his face again, and then Alice just forces him to just let her take care of it, bandage it up. She begins to list all the things that they should take with them, like pillows, blankets, and food, and diapers. So he begins to gather them up, and then suddenly a dinghy goes by with two men rowing it neither are Bonville though they call to Malcolm asking him what he's doing and Malcolm quickly asks Alice to come to the edge of the boat with him they tell the men they are Sandra and Richard and the baby

is Ellie they're trying to get back home to their parents in Wolvercote the men continue to push asking why they're looting the pharmacy, and Alice starts to speak up, and Malcolm's like, no, no, no, no, no, maybe not, Alice, let me take this. And he interrupts calmly and says, we're only taking what we need, and our father will bring us back to pay the shopkeep. Yeah, we're seeing a lot of Malcolm's little child spy skills come into play here. Yes.

But, I don't know, these people are kind of assholes. I get it that it's like a stressful natural disaster. And maybe they know the pharmacy owner and are legitimately concerned about them. But I'm also just like, what the fuck, dude? Mind your business. I'm like, civilization is over. Mind your business. I know.

These kids are trying to survive right now. It's not like they're taking things because they're like what gonna fucking anyway listen i'm telling you if civilization crumbles and you see me looting the walgreens or the target mind your business okay i agree i mind your business that's all they've got a fucking baby and you know they buy some of the lie right I guess the lie is just their relationship and what they're doing but also it's just like as you said mind your fucking business and those people do

give them directions to the emergency station and the town hall 10 minutes later they're back on the move well that's nice that was a nice ending that they weren't like complete assholes and Malcolm thinks the same he's like it could have all gone for worse they were still alive and they were

moving south and we move south too to the final chapter of this episode chapter 17 Pilgrim's Tower it's a quick recap of a lot of things we just learned but we're gonna hang out at Pilgrim's Tower the tallest tower in Oxford that George Papa Dimitri

is staring off out of at the top of as Mal and Alice are kicking off into the waters yes as you said short recap episode the budget ran out so this is the filler yeah it does start off with that and I think it's really interesting

that George used the children as bait for sexual predators. Papa Demetriou is high in his own ivory tower, right? That sort of thing of the university detached from all of those drowning plebs around him. And I'm just like, to come back to earlier, you know, this guy's supposed to be good. And like, they're kind of trying to get Lyra somewhat in his care. I'm like, how the fuck is this guy a better choice than Mrs. Coulter for Lyra? Yeah, it's rough.

Him and Ted Nugent obviously is the ringleader of all of this, of this madness of the circus. And it's the highest tower, like we said, so it's looking out at the water, and the storm is crazy. It's cold enough inside,orge is wearing a jacket and he and lord nugent are waiting for bud schlesinger a new dane and an agent of oakley street that they hope will guarantee lyra's safety for them like he said adults suck uh malcolm and alice are literally struggling lying to people and authorities and keeping this little girl safe. And they're all like, huh, I guess we should have checked on Lyra. Huh, that's a good point. We should have headed over to the priory when we saw it was raining.

But here these twerps are, out here, these kids, keeping Lyra safer than the adults could have once more, just like Lyra and Will saving the world. Right. adults could have once more just like lyra and will saving the world right and like they're positioned to be better but again they're like what if we used kids as tools to again lure pedophiles sexual predators and i'm like that seems like a bad idea first of all and hannah ralph agrees and the reason that they were late and haven't set out to try and secure Lyra's safety is because they were waiting for Bud, who had news about that prophecy. And so they're more interested in the prophecy and what Lyra can do than they are about Lyra's safety. And I think that just really shows that, again again they're not that much better in some ways in the magisterium in my opinion in this and i'm like again how are they better than mrs culture

because to them lyra's just another pawn yeah watching i mean i think hannah ralph knows that too obviously because we wouldn't be getting the angle we're getting on this chapter if she didn't and watching her realize like these men just play chess with people in numbers people are numbers to these men with children children yeah and she's like sickened by it a little bit you know even here like as they give her orders of what to do i do like this line the witches were a great power in these latitudes and the alliances they made were costly but valuable uh the importance of witches is interesting he's really put this importance on them even in the small novellas right serpentine

has a lot of information about witches lyrus oxford is focused on a witch in the end lots of witch stuff going on so i'm glad that we get this as well nugent was eager to get the witches on their side but his motivation was definitely because he was trying to keep as many witches as possible from joining the wrong side as you said which side is wrong which which side is you're fired they discuss the authorities are requisitioning most boats on the water nugent says bud will get here though as he says that he spots hannah ralph outside in the flooded quad covered in oil skins waiting toward the tower adorable george waves but she doesn't see him he says he'll go down to meet her they

join up on the first landing where jesper helps her with her raincoat buttons. She's wearing salmon fishing waders, which belong to her brother. This is the greatest scene. I know. My favorite scenes, controversially, one might be the hyena licking the puck. What's wrong with you?

And this. Is this another Donkey Kong? Oh my god. No, the other one's like art in the way that like disturbing things right like weird weird shit is art you know the and this one this one's precious and i love this they're both completely different vibes i do love this uh so dr ralph's brother lost a leg and he wore a prosthetic one and these are not easy to wear with a fake leg waders are similar kind of to our snow pants eliana they're made of like neoprene or rubber or thicker waterproof material so like she has to sit on the steps and beg george to help her get the waders off so he has to like like an eight-year-old after playing outside in the snow

for too long sits on the ground and you pull their snow pants to get them off? You remember these days of snow pants? Adorable. Do you remember snow pants? No, I don't think... I don't know, I just was damp. Wow, it is an effort. And layered. It is such an effort. I bet Jasper

would have snow all over his face during this attempt if there was snow, but it's only water. They're like water snow pants. Interesting. I thought they were also kind of loose. I've seen them in shows, and that always seems so interesting. They wear them, they go out in the river, and they'll fish

or maybe do science while out there. Oh. What kind of science do they do? I don't know, gathering samples for the river and, like, from the river for, like, examining the biology of the ecosystem. I saw someone wearing something kind of like that in, I guess it wasn't only waders, not that specific kind, but in Cloak and Dagger. Okay.

I think that was the show. But there's other ones. They're hilarious either way. love the concept of them but yeah so nugent opens the door for them offering dr ralph some of george's brandy and also to sit by the fire george thinks it'll be good for her to meet but bud schlesinger and she explains that she came because of what happened at the Priory. Her neighbor, who had brought her over by boat, took her there to check in on Malcolm and Lyra. But the gatehouse of the Priory, as we all know in many of the main bits, had been destroyed and sunken, as well as the bridge, and we get a body count.

Seven nuns drowned, two are missing, and so is the child. Seven nuns drowned. Seven. I know know i didn't think about the number holy it is holy it's so sad it's so sad i think like that moment like when i read this the first time my heart sank i was like oh my god all the nuns he probably enjoyed that one bastard yeah but it's not just Lyra. Malcolm's also missing, and so is Alice, who's helping at the priory. And this is what's giving Malcolm's parents hope. They've been trying to make sense of it. So they're like, so you think that this boy rescued the child and floated away with the kitchen girl?

And they're like, are you sure that they have the child? Yeah. They had found the crib at the inn but all the blankets were gone which didn't make sense to hannah and hannah also brings up gerard ball and v she's like you know i kind of mentioned him at dr elkisey's but you all spoke over me and tried to exploit a child spy instead so i didn't really have an opportunity to bring it up again. Haha. And Ted Nugent sits forward and George is like, how does this fit in? So she explains Malcolm expressed fear of the man due to the demon's behavior. And the man tried to break into the priory and claimed to be Lyra's father. Nugent says, oh, yes, we know of that man. We had interest

in him for a while. He was a scientist leading an elementary particle research, the Russikov field. And also he wrote a theory about consciousness that sent the magisterium spinning. It stated there must be a particle associated with the field, and dust is probably that particle. Yes, and as we all know, because there is another trilogy that preceded this by like a decade more than a decade almost two he was right you know bonneville was right um and it's interesting that bonneville was just like so revolting of a person as we're gonna find more about in a second that despite this very important discovery they just like were like let's forget he ever existed and name the particles after that other guy and the field that he discovered even though he didn't

i guess discover the particles because they do end up calling it the ruzakov particles right yeah so they're just like let's just use his name for both. Nugent goes on, saying, The gist is that everything is material, matter is conscious. Bringing spirit into the discussion means the Magisterium's likely keen to shut the guy up. George pipes in, Gerard had been in prison for a sexual offense, and Nugent agreed that was part of his downfall. Marisa Coulter was involved, perhaps in testifying, he thinks, and now he's claiming to be Lyra's father. And, adds Hannah, Mrs. Coulter knows

Bonnevie. She came to Hannah's house. She explains what happened and that Coulter clearly knew Bonnevie but wouldn't admit it. She wanted to know the child's location but didn't say it was her daughter. They're interrupted by the arrival of Bud Schlesinger. He's about 30 or so with his small demon owl. He asks if he's interrupting and Hannah says, no, no, she must be, and tries to leave. But Nugent's like, no, you need to stay, and he introduces them. He gives Bud the summary of her story,

very concise, as Hannah notes, and George makes coffee. Bud brings them some information in return. Yes. He tells them... He gives a confirmation, right? We all kind of knew it, but he confirms that Lyra is indeed Mrs. Coulter and Asriel's daughter.

No one else is involved. And that the witches of the Inara region heard voices in the Aurora that the child was destined to put an end to destiny and they don't know what that meant and he doesn't either could be good could be bad but the main condition is that the child must do it without knowing that she's doing it the magisterium had heard of this prophecy through their own witch contacts and set to finding the child, which is when Lyra was taken into, quote unquote, safekeeping. Yes, a refresher from the Northern Lights on why the witches can see through the auroras.

Because the charged particles in the aurora have the property of making the matter of this world thin, so we can see through it for a brief time. Witches have always known this, so we can see through it for a brief time witches have always known this but we seldom speak of it yeah so i love about this prophecy bud says yeah like they heard voices on the other side of the roar he's like i don't know i think it's a metaphor and we all know no literally like they heard voices on the other side of the roar it's kind of funny because he's kind of wrong about a lot of this stuff, right? Like, some of his information's right, but he's got a handful of things where he's like, ah, the other

prophecy, it could be about this kid. And I'm like, I don't know that it is. Yeah. Why would you just not believe that there are voices on the other side of the roarer? Like, they're literally magic. It's not... I mean, they're flying in the sky in front of you telling you this. Come on, dude. Yeah. Well. Gerard Bonneville. it's not i mean they're flying in the sky in front of you telling you yes come on dude yeah

well gerard bondable bud knew him in paris bud knew gerard bonvieu in paris and heard he'd come to the north and had asked around on him he'd been released from prison for a sexual crime lost his academic job access to resources the lab libraries pretty much everywhere that a scientist needs to work right and not only that but he was kind of a pain in the ass to work with he was demanding obsessive creepy and his demon well his demon had four legs the last time bud had seen it so he says that he heard maybe coram ben texel had something to do with the three legs interesting interesting because this whole time of course melchizedek was like oh he must have

done that to his demon but it was probably after you know quorum's fight it was quorum the only father that i respect in this whole the only dad well nope there's. There's the master. Hyena murderer? Well, no, that was sad. That was sad, but also it was in self-defense. I will stand Corbin Texel till the day I die. Oh my god. Bud continues on. Bonneville thought that he could just buy his way back into favor by bargaining with the magisterium and giving them the child. But Bud asks

where Bonville might be now, and George is like, well, we have a theory that maybe he's chasing after the little boy and this other girl who have Lyra in their canoe. It's a working theory. It's like

the truth, but also it sounds crazy yeah and everyone's like yeah that that sounds legit and i mean i guess that's that's what happens with someone like bonneville and he asked hannah where do you think that the children went and she tells them about the time that malcolm asked her about sanctuary and that if colleges still offered it to scholars, she told him that Jordan still had some form of it. Papa Demetrio confirms, right, something that we talked about last chapter, that there

is a Latin formula to invoke sanctuary through the master. And Dr. Rolfe doesn't think that they're going to make much headway in the current, and George says, you know, it's not going to work anyway because the baby's not a scholar. And I'm like, you take that back. She's full of beans.

She's full of beans. Fuck. Lyra is full of beans. Hannah asks, well, what if she were granted scholastic sanctuary? How safe would she be? The law has been tested safely in the courts begins george who's interrupted by bud who says queen tilde vasara of the inara tribe had a prophecy about a boy the voices in the aurora had spoken about a boy who had to carry a treasure to a place of safety

well i had no interest in a boy so i clean forgot about it till you started talking about a place of safety sanctuary could this boy of yours be doing that so a couple things here isn't it so interesting that they predetermined lyra's destiny for her in scholastic sanctuary that that was a promise that she had to grow up to be a scholar a promise that she would study and that was a promise that she had to grow up to be a scholar, a promise that she would study, and that was what protected her, right, at Jordan. But, like, she also is supposed to bring about the end of all destiny, so these people are trying to plan her destiny when she's literally, like, the killer of destiny. It is.

And everyone's been trying to do that to Lyra for her whole life. Yeah, and I think that does carry through.ra for her whole life except for I guess the master right the master and the librarian they're the only good ones the master and the librarian in Coram Van Texel John Fah

he's okay a little ambitious but I like him this is a great passage though because this prophecy here is probably about will right to get a treasure to a special place the the subtle knife but it could also be malcolm because prophecy is always in the eye of the beholder which is something very important to consider and having a man like bud in place giving these kind of prophecies is fun because bud is not a very serious character when you meet him. He's not

like some creepy, oh this is going to happen the dark guy is coming and he's going to murder Lyra. He's not some creepy like monger of prophecies. He's just like, oh I heard a prophecy once and it went like this. Isn't that funny? Yeah, and

I think that it seems as though Pullman kind of likes playing with that idea of someone who has prophecies or visions like that it's kind of a little more down to earth right like he touched on it a little with um the background right when we find out what will's father what what jopper used to be like. And I think that the show interpreted that the way that they did, which is maybe in line with Bud. But also Bud kind of gives me sort of Lee Scoresby vibes. That's so funny because I started going Southern in that quote.

Yeah, maybe that's why. He's got, he's got, I mean, he does have that energy to him. He's kind of happy-go-lucky in a way. And kind of like, I just go and listen and bring the info back. Make my dollars. Yeah, and he's not, you know, lovely, but also I'm just like, you didn't try, I mean, why would you not just note anything that happened in the prophecy, right?

That could be important at some point. Yeah, dangus. Anyway. Hannah confirms that this very well might be what Malcolm's doing, because that's the way he thinks. She calls him intensely romantic.

George interrupts this theorizing to assume that, well, Malcolm probably failed and has been carried downstream. And is like, so what does Malcolm's plan see? All right, where does he go then? So the men again all look to Hannah, who realizes, oh, they expect an answer. And she's like, well, I think that he would probably go to Lord Asriel then, regaling them of his visit to the Priory with Malcolm and that Asriel had repaired

and upgraded the canoe as well. And Chalice and Drew's like, oh yeah, so I've seen Asriel and Chelsea. He was preparing to go north but it might be too late and Nugent pipes in unless the flood delayed them as, you know, natural disasters and bad weather tends to do

with travel. unless you're ted cruz oh my god topical oh it is topical again hello historian hello archaeologists and anthropologists in the future welcome to girls gone canon i'm one of your hosts lord nugent looks revitalized and lays out the plan we find the children before bone v does and use buds borrowed boat he directs george to check in with egyptians and find some boats he reiterates the ccd is taking as many boats as they can they will be concentrating on this exact task and you need to do it better than them no pressure and to hannah he directs her to stop what she's doing and search for the children using the alethiometer how will i keep in touch with you she says you

won't said lord nugent you won't whether we're successful or not you'll be writing the history in due course go home keep dry and safe and watch the alethiometer. I'll find a way of keeping contact. Ah, and that's the end of chapter 17, which kind of a little parallel to Alice there in a way, right? She feels Malcolm brought her along to take care of Lyra, where Hannah's kind of feeling a little left out of the action, I'd imagine, here.

Yeah, he told her, go home, go on Twitter, just wait for the live tweets from your al sure i mean hashtag find myra yeah that's what she's putting into the alethiometer actually though well that that brings us to the end of these three chapters and the start of part two That brings us to the end of these three chapters and the start of part two. Yes.

I think the second half of the book is a banger. It literally slaps. Every chapter is so hard. Crazy shit happening, right? The river flows more. Weirder stuff is about to happen. I can't wait till we get to that fairy island. That's some weird shit.

Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of things happen and we've gotten a quick teaser of that right uh from the memory that malcolm has of coram van texel saying that there are things in the water that had been disturbed and things in the sky too that's about uh all those disturbances are about to come to the surface literally yes We'll be exploring the next few chapters next month. However, we do have a short discussion to follow. Our discussions cover the secret Commonwealth in regards to these chapters and just a couple spare thoughts we have. Eliana will be hanging out in it.

She's allowed in the clubhouse this time. But if you haven't read the secret Commonwealth, you can tune on out now. Come back in a bit come back next month hear the next couple chapters and we'll hear from you then yes so I'm gonna

start off right with a little bit of where we left off in this talk about Sanctuary it's interesting that it's really being built up in these chapters and especially in this book obviously the book ends with lyra gaining sanctuary but it's kind of shown to be this like really robust mechanism here which makes it so horrible of how it's just so dismantled and revoked from lyra later yeah he's pretty blasé they are right like george and nugen are when they say oh yeah yeah

the courts it's proven in the courts it's impregnable you can't you know nothing can happen to you if you invoke sanctuary yeah you have to like be a scholar though i guess and they're like lyra you're not i'm like what the fuck she's like studying she's a student how is this not considered a scholar maybe i i understand scholar seems to be like a formal title i guess kind of like a professor but i'm like damn she's studying all right chill she's not gonna just become a scholar overnight going back to asriel living in chelsea right and growing up and being in the parliament at some point and being kind of a high society man in the aristocracy i mean it seems he wasn't a hundred percent a scholar right like he wasn't like he wasn't a full-on scholar and

obviously coulter wasn't allowed to be one however his parentage and his status at least should earn him kind of that in is and that's kind of what we see in a way but it's all about money in the end for a lot of places and it's really crushing it kind of reminds me of the little princess right uh francis hodgson burnett 1905 girl gets brought to a pretentious boarding school after world war one her dad's loaded he ends up dying leaves her nothing and she's made to be an orphan and live above the school and then work her way through living there and like treated like crap blah blah blah obviously lyra's story goes a little differently right like she goes off attack

dethroned god the whole nine yards uh leaves to find herself which sarah didn't have that agency or that opportunity to but interesting to think of that of like how everything is ripped away like you said from her in the secret commonwealth and how horrible it is because it was such a fail-safe program yeah it was her home and she's just taken from it and this is of course that story of how lyra gets to that home and yeah yeah bud schlesinger showing up is really great i like his character i'm not sure where you are in the secret commonwealth but have you seen him in the secret commonwealth already i don't remember i feel like i thought i remembered seeing his name i don't think i've seen him yet though in the secret commonwealth i think i've seen his name well you'll get there eventually lyra visits him uh he lives in smyrna with his wife and it's nice to see him though like he's

really fun he's a fun character and like light and jovial and it's like uh it's been a decade you know since he's or well it's been a couple decades since he's seen lyra so he's probably in his 50s or so and he just feels like a really one of the old men we could adopt him into our group of old men is what i'm saying okay good you know he can sit with quorum yeah he's fun so something else that was uh stood out to me right that i noted was strange to me is calling lyra a little flirt as a baby and i guess it's supposed to be regarding her attachment to malcolm and i'm just like okay interesting i want to die yeah it does feel weird i know earlier you and i were discussing that like especially with the imbalance of child care. Like, why? It feels specifically formulated.

His relationship and bond with Lyra is specifically very carefully chosen and formulated, and it's not in a way that I like. Yeah. And that's how I feel about it. Same. That's how I feel about it as well. And, you know, I think we're just going to have to wait

until the Books of dust three to understand and for malcolm to die so that i don't have to worry about it yeah same i just don't know i don't know what else he could be doing i think there was some good you know there was this line in the episode today we talked earlier in the second chapter in the episode today. We talked earlier in the second chapter in the pharmacy, Asta and Malcolm discussing what happens to demons when people die. Maybe he got left behind. Obviously that's huge foreshadowing for what happens later where Malcolm separates from Asta,

right? And obviously a past-slash-foreshadowing for Lyra and what happens in the Land of the dead but it also does make me wonder like could it be added to the foreshadowing pool of does malcolm die i don't know maybe uh something that i was thinking of right when they were like well where is her demon and they were like i guess her demon could be a bird and could be in her pocket. Reminds me of Lyra trying to

explain to people like, oh, my demon's not with me because it's small, right? It's in my pocket. All the excuses she uses to conceal. I think that about wraps up the discussion. I don't have a lot right now because we're just getting into this

meat. I think next week we'll have oh, there's going to be so much stuff next week to talk about. Next month! We will have a lot to talk about next week with Catlin's chapters. Yes, in our A Song of Ice and Fire read-through where we reread A Song of Ice and Fire point of view by point of view, we are

starting a new point of view character next week, next month in March to pop March off with and that is Celine stark so if you are listening to those make sure to tune in it's march 2021 again for uh and the future chroniclers future future uh scholars if you will but until next month at the end of next month of course we will be back with another labelle savage episode we're getting closer and closer to the end to the finish line which means we'll get to start the amber spyglass eventually so stay tuned for more info on that and of course for our

patreon special episode for patrons in the stranger five dollar5 tier and above. Every month you get an episode very special in that tier. Every other month it's His Dark Materials. Every other other month it is A Song of Ice and Fire, so this month it is about Serpentine. Yes, and if you want to talk more about His Dark Materials, whether it's Books of Dust or the original trilogy, you can, of course, again, subscribe to our Patreon. For patrons $10 and above above that's the Thunder tier and

up you get access to our Discord where we have many channels where people continue to discuss about both these series Historic Materials and A Song of Ice and Fire as well as many other series that people feel like bringing up every now and then Chloe referenced the Vampire Diaries earlier

and she'll spark a conversation about that and and also modern family she'll spark a conversation about that too and we also of course spark other conversations amongst ourselves in our modern family our modern electronic family via our uh brunches and happy hours that we do once a month where we get on like voice video chat and hang out. And sometimes we'll do presentations. We'll ask people to do presentations on topics that they're interested in. Or sometimes jackbox games now.

Yeah, we contain multitudes, first of all. Second of all, I mean, we even have a respectful thirsting channel and I think it's very respectful, very clean, very classy. Yes. Well, make sure you tune in there, as Eliana said. And if you're not already, subscribe to us on the

bajillion platforms we're available on. If you're a Spotify listener, an Apple podcast listener, a Google Play, an Audible, an Amazon, whatever you are, we're on it. Take a look. You'll find us yes and thank you again everyone for having joined us this month for the bell savage i have been one of your hosts eliana and i have been another one of your hosts chloe goodbye see you soon