Your favorite literary chaos agents Abby and Ronnie are back with the delightfully chaotic "Onyx Storm: Loose Ends!" We tackle all those burning questions from Onyx Storm that they couldn’t quite fit into an episode, but still deserve their time to shine! Some come from you, our amazing listeners, while others are plot points we've been stewing over that deserve answers in the next book!

First, we explore possible mistranslations in Warrick's journal entries. Could Violet's shaky command of Old Lucerish have led her astray? Would Violet and Dain would even know the proper words for "Venin" or "Irid" in Old Lucerish?

Next, we analyze those mysterious black bracelets—Mira's black tourmaline bracelet from Niara and the onyx cuff Violet gives to Xaden. Could these bracelets offer psychic protection? And what about Xaden's onyx cuff containing a piece of Riorson House roof? Is it helping ground his magic or protecting his soul?

We debunk the theory that Sgaeyl, Tairn, and Andarna are the three dragons who died from broken bonds—the timeline just doesn't work! Then we dive into the fascinating colors of bonds between riders and dragons. Why is Xaden's bond to Violet shimmering onyx? Why can't Xaden see Andarna at all? Could it be that Andarna and Violet don't have a traditional bond at all?

Our investigation continues with what it means that Violet is Xaden's "leash" or "tether." We explore the thread imagery throughout the books and wonder if every Venin has a tether to their humanity that the Venin leadership aims to destroy. Is this why Jack hated Violet so much from the beginning? Was he a Venin plant all along?

Things get wild when we question why nobody tried using Andarna's scale-changing magic against the Venin again after it worked once! And what was that first rune they removed from the Wardstone? If it wasn't preventing flyers from channeling, could it have been blocking the power of the gods?

In our wildest Precog Corner yet, Ronnie theorizes that "the six and the one combined" might be describing an Irid's ability to change colors, while Abby wonders if the Venin understand signets as ways to traverse different planes of existence—physical, dream world, and astral!

We wrap up with what we're currently reading (Ronnie's forever loyal to ACOMAF and ACOSF, while Abby's struggling through Song of Achilles after being spoiled by Sarah J. Maas's rich worldbuilding).

Spoilers for the entire Empyrean Series (Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm)

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Time Stamps:

00:00 Intro - Everyone should own a pizza stone

05:45 Corrections, Omissions, Social Media Shout Outs - Tairn and Brennan,  Bodhi's more powerful than we thought

10:29 Which other journal entries from Warrick might be mistranslated?

22:47 What role will Mira and Xaden's bracelets play in the next books?

32:43 Who are the three dragons that have died with their riders?

35:59 What do the different colors of the bonds between Violet, Tairn, Sgaeyl and Andarna mean?

44:37 What does it mean that Violet is Xaden's leash?

49:47 Was Jack always planning to turn Venin?

52:39 Why was Jesinia assigned to the rider's quadrant?

55:07 What's going on with the Cordella family tree?

57:15 Why does Violet never follow up on magic feeling different when Andarna changes her scales?!?

01:01:06 What was the first rune that Violet + co. removed from the wardstone?

01:08:26 Precog Corner - The One combined, The Astral Plane

01:14:46 What we're reading - ACOTAR, Song of Achilles