The Mad Mirages (Part 3)

Arc poster by Milo Mars

**The Mad Mirages (Part 3)** is the seventh Tales of the Second Citadel episode of The Penumbra Podcast season 4, and the fourteenth overall. It was released May 3, 2022.

## Overview

There is very little that the regions of the Universe can agree upon. The Northern Wilds has their monster-hunting furor, the Western Wastes are known for their scholars and scientists, and in the Southern Frosts survival against the elements dominates daily life. But in all three regions of the Universe, children are taught the same lesson: do not enter the Wayward East, for that way lies madness.

But every region has its rebels. So here they stand, at the Eastern gates -- two Northerners, two Westerners, and a Southerner -- prepared to venture into madness themselves.
The truth is worth a little madness, after all. Unfortunately, it won't be a little madness meeting them out there in the Mirrored Plains: it will be quite a lot.

### Trigger Warnings:

* Sudden loud noises
* Enclosed, claustrophobic spaces
* Violence and threats of violence
* Threats of warfare and genocide
* Religious persecution
* Starvation and torture
* Sexism and xenophobia
* Discussion of illness and death
* Deception by authority figures

## Episode Summary

Quanyii attempts to explain to her companions what the Mirrored Plains will be like, and why she thinks it's worth the risk. Olala brings up how her nun sisters viewed mental illness, and Caroline expresses dread at the idea of hallucinating. Quanyii counters that the Mirrored Plains doesn't cause hallucinations, "only *interpretations*." She goes on to use a metaphor about an ant crawling through an encyclopedia to tell them that the Mirrored Plains will make them aware of thoughts literally too big to fit into their minds, and after they're through to the other side, they will not be able to remember the information, just a haunting awareness that there *are* things too big to understand. She thinks it's safe to say this is madness, but a kind that will allow them to go on living *somewhat* like before.

Ale asks *whose* thoughts they'll be thinking, if they're too big for human minds. Quanyii says it will be thoughts of the Universe, the trauma of the Universe filtered through their own limited understanding. Angelo tells her cheerfully he hasn't understood all of what she's already said, but worries they will forget to keep walking if they're overwhelmed. Quanyii pouts that she's going to make a sacrifice for them and won't be able to join in the fun. She produces a magic teacake that she will eat so she can temporarily lose *all* introspection, and be unable to interpret the thoughts of the Universe well enough to be damaged by them. Caroline is so afraid of madness that she tries to insist she'll eat the cake herself, but Quanyii scarfs it down, and giggles that she feels barely any difference from usual.

Olala is nervous to make this decision on her own, and she suggests they take a vote. Her companions are willing, so Caroline opens the gates into the East. Angelo remarks that it doesn't look too bad, just a stretch of desert with violet crystals. As they enter, a "sandstorm" rises with a rush of discordant noises. Olala finds herself alone, and asks Tail whether this being the worst her mind can show her means "we are very boring?"

Caroline comes upon her, firmly in the belief that they are in the Southern Frosts, tracking a hunter. Olala begins to worry she won't be able to control her adult companions enough to take care of them, so she gives herself gorilla arms just before the emotion in the air grows thick enough that she is no longer able to control her transformations.

Quanyii believes she is in a beautiful spring forest, talking to a deer, pig, and bird. The bird speaks in her own voice, trying to give her commentary of her surroundings and warn her that locking herself out of introspection has prevented her from being able to respond to what she may see, rather than the intended effect. She shoos the bird away. Deep in a memory of the Universe's, she is unprepared when it shifts into a scene of bombing and gunfire.

Ale, Angelo, and Caroline all hear it from uncertain distances. Caroline breaks into a run, anxious to find her. Olala is tired of running, and of wearing a warm coat Caroline gave her against the "cold." Caroline believes someone is standing over Quanyii, but Olala can only see the witch, Believing this is the "hunter" she's been "tracking," Caroline confronts the figure, which speaks in a highly distorted version of her voice. As they cross blades, Hunter-Caroline's voice clarifies. Both versions apparently believe they are the real one. Hunter-Caroline believes she has forgotten her strengths and goals. She mocks Caroline for having fallen in love with Quanyii in the Western City of Glass, when she was ordered to kill her. Caroline also guiltily begins to believe that Quanyii's prone form is the corpse of Sylvie, the witch who had enslaved and raised her, whom she was forced to kill.

She bumps into Olala, making the girl's things fall from her pack. Olala realizes the Thoughtstream cards are glowing. After brief reflection, she realizes that because the cards show thoughts and intentions, but not emotions, while the Mirrored Plain is pure emotion, the reason Olala has not been seeing visions is that she has been holding the cards, and they have provided a protective filter. She presses Caroline to take hold of cards, eventually shoving a few into her mouth when she continues to describe her vision of Hunter-Caroline.

Caroline normalizes and thanks Olala for helping her and Quanyii. They give her a card, but Quanyii doesn't grow more alert. Caroline apologizes, thinking she said something in her daze that upset Olala. Olala heard Hunter-Caroline call her an abomination, but doesn't admit it, and changes the subject. Caroline helps Quanyii, still out of it, stand, and invites Olala to lead the way.

Angelo believes Galahad has been slain, and he and Ale are now a couple. He has built a house for them, and plans to change careers and look after young children. As he shows Ale the house, Ale remarks that Galahad still needs to be defeated, and there is no house, so it vanishes. Angelo and Ale begin to cut lumber to build one. Angelo says wearily that he feels as though he's carried these planks a hundred times. Ghouls attack, they fight them, and continue their circular conversation about the future.

Angelo says sadly that he imagines a future with Ale, but not one with an Ale who doesn't also see Angelo in *his* future. When the ghouls are defeated, Angelo asks whether Ale loves him. Ale's answer is incomprehensible. Angelo continues to explain that he doesn't think their relationship can flourish if they keep putting it off until an uncertain point in the future. Ale, voice distorting, asks how Angelo can ask him to drop everything because Angelo is insecure.

But Ale isn't there, and hasn't been for the whole conversation. Olala has snapped him out of the vision, and it's only been in Angelo's mind. The group can hear Ale singing in the distance, so they follow his voice. Olala tries to give him a card, but he brushes her off. Angelo explains that he's singing a funeral song. Ale agrees. He's been preparing bodies for burial, and every time he thinks he's finished, he finds more, and he cannot see an end in sight. Caroline tries to tell him it's an illusion, but Ale tells her that these events, Galahad killing his neighbors, really happened to him, so how can he believe it isn't real now?

Olala says they can help him. She claims to see her own dead among the "bodies," and Caroline and Angelo catch on and acknowledge their own. Ale, half-understanding that they're playing along, and appreciating it, agrees that he can see their loved ones, too. He gives them some direction, and Olala encourages him to start moving Eastward. Angelo helps him disengage from seeing his duty as undone, and the group advances together, singing the funeral song with him as they catch onto the lyrics.

Ale breaks out of the vision gradually as they walk, and begins to complain of the size of the desert, Olala recognizes a sea grass and runs up a dune to look at the horizon, Angelo and Ale running in her wake. Caroline tries to snap Quanyii out of the lingering effects of her teacake and faint, but is unsuccessful. They join the others, and all look at a silver beach and the city Olala saw in Pellinore's crystal, humans and monsters walking the streets together. Quanyii groggily calls it "Silvershore, the city where the end begins."

## Cast

* Marge Dunn as Olala
* Leslie Drescher as Caroline
* Melissa DeJesus as Quanyii
* M Sutherland as Angelo
* Anjimile as Ale

## Quotes

*To grow the future of our kin,*

*And when we fall we raise the soil*

*To grow the trees for our children —*

*Who down our trees to raise a house*

*To grow the futures of their kin,*

*And when they fall they’ll raise the soil*

*To grow the trees for their children.*

*For as my father raised his house*

*To grow myself and all my kin,*

*So I must die and raise the soil*

*To grow the future once again.*