Daughter of Smoke & Bone Chapter 56

The Invention of Living

• When Madrigal takes off Akiva's mask, he looks just like Ricky Gervais.
• Oh, wait, no, that's The Invention of Lying, not "the invention of living." Honest mistake.
• Now it's Akiva's turn to tell Madrigal his people's origin story: the seraphim came from light and the chimaera came from "a hideous shadow" (56.8).
• Funny how each story makes the race who tells it out to be the superior one, huh?
• Together, Akiva and Madrigal decide to make a new, happier myth.
• They think of a planet that "had never known war. […] It had earth and water, air and fire, all four elements, but it was missing the last element. Love" (56.19).
• Basically, they stole the plot of the Captain Planet cartoon.
• Real original, guys.
• Madrigal then shares the lore of the wishbone, which she wears around her neck, with Akiva.
• They make a wish, and break it.
• It breaks exactly in half.
• "Maybe it means we wished for the same thing" (56.52), one of them says.
• Madrigal's wish was to see Akiva again. But we don't get to hear what his wish is.
• Madrigal gets her wish; she does see him again, and they carry on a secret affair.
• Each time they get together, they break a wishbone.
• But their wishes start to change. Now they wish for a way to change the world into one where they can peacefully co-exist.
• Is it too much to ask to be able to be with your lover without being executed?