Hi everyone. I'm Josh, and this is The Emerald,

currents and trends through a mythic lens.

The podcast where we explore an ever-changing world and our lives in it

through the lens of myth, story, and imagination.

The Emerald.

All that's happening on a world covered in frost.

You know, the kind of frost that looks like foliage almost, like silver and white leaves on the window, arranged in an almost impossibly perfect geometry, like silver and white lace,

or silver and white tile on the ceiling of a mirrored mosque, and the sun rises, and the light shines

through, and it's like a whole dazzling world. Frost like this always reminds me of the

1965 movie Dr. Javago. There's a scene where the protagonist, Yuri Javago,

and his lover, Lara, escaping the atrocities

of both the red and white armies during the Russian Revolution,

flee deep into Siberia in the middle of winter,

and find an old abandoned country home.

It's got those classic Russian minarets all covered in deep snow.

And as they make their way into the house, the inside is covered in such deep frost. It's like an

ice palace, a little palace frozen in time, and they walk through the house breath steaming,

banisters and chairs bristling with crystal stalactites until they find the study where there is a single desk.

There is less snow and ice in there. It's almost recognizable as a room.

Javago approaches the desk and rubs the frost off the surface of it. It could be usable.

He slides a drawer open and finds pen, ink, and paper. This little Siberian Ice Palace is,

of course, where he will write his poetic masterpiece, pen scratching upon paper by candlelight

...