A gaggle of teenage girls, doing laundry in a creek:

“... and then she STABBED him RIGHT in the crotch.”

    “She did not.”

        “Bullshit.”

            “Uh-huh.”

“Well that’s what they said on the radio.”

    “I’m gonna ask my cousin next week, betcha he listened to that story too and says you’re full of it.”

“You’re all just jealous because you don’t have a radio.”

A squad of guards pulling their boots on in a barracks:

“The fucking farmers are getting too used to these motherfucking radios, that’s what it is. They never used to call us in for bullshit like this, they knew they’d be fucked if they used their scrolls and something more serious came along.”

    “Just get your compensation from a pretty girl when we’re done. Might even be a virgin, that far into the backwoods.”

“Ugh, I hope not, virgins squeal too much.”

A boy of fourteen and his father, working late into the night at a kitchen table:

“Father?”

    “What?”

“May I have the radio tonight? Just for a little while before bed.”

    “At this hour? I think not. You have school tomorrow.”

“I have school every day! I just want to hear the story, they promised it would be extra cool tonight!”

    “...if you finish all your sums. And don’t you come whining to me if you get whipped for being half-asleep at school tomorrow.”

A group of field hands walking home at dusk:

“Think I’ll try and get Tomàs to give me a turn at the boss’s radio tonight.”

    “Bribing Tomàs is a waste of good liquor.”

“Worth it. I wanna listen to a new thing they’re gonna try today. They haven’t said what it is, but they’re promising it’ll be something different.”

        “You know what’ll be different, it’ll be different if the boss finds out what Tomàs is doing with his radio. Both your asses will be fucking grass.”

“He won’t find out. Unless you tell him, and then your ass will be the one that’s grass.”

A shopkeeper opening up in the early morning, and an unexpected visitor:

“What the hell do you want.”

    “You have a radio, right? And you sell parts for them?”

“No, you can’t borrow it, and no, you can’t have anything for free.”

    “That’s not what… they’re gonna ban them.”

“What!?”

    “I take it you weren’t listening to the new show last night. It’s called Freedom Radio. They claim they’ll tell people the truth even if that makes people mad.”

“...”

    “...”

“...so?”

    “...oh fuck you. You know I’m not going to fucking report you. Just… hide some stuff so when the priests come along to tell you to destroy all of it, you can pretend to be a nice obedient little citizen.”

A bunch of teenage boys slacking off in a field:

“Why are you so slow today, anyway?”

    “Da took his belt to him last night. For asking about the radio.”

“Oh. Serves you right, dumbass. Don’t piss off your parents if you can’t take them in a fight.”

Four young women spinning and sewing in a yard on a nice day:

"What did they even say? How do you say something that annoys the powers that be enough that they stop allowing radios?"

    "Mateu reckons it was a coincidence. Says it wasn't anything extraordinary, just some news from far away and some farmers talking about how to make wolves and dire weasels go away without dying."

        "Oh, well, if Mateu says so."

    "You don't believe me, listen to your own radio. Oh wait, you don't have one."

        "Neither do you, anymore."

"We assume."

    "Oh come on, like we're going to throw away a radio just like that. They'll relax about it in a year or two, and Mateu says they're saying useful things and we should keep listening."

            "Well if Mateu says, he must be right."

Two maids scouring the floor in a baron's manor:

"...and then she asked why Abadar and his church haven't done anything about slavery."

    "Wow. Why should they? It makes plenty of money, and they like money."

"No, see, the Abadaran she was talking to had been going on about how really Abadar wants everyone to... to choose the things they will do for money."

    "Well that's a load of crap. No one really chooses what they do for a living. That's just how the world is. I sure wouldn't choose this if I was choosing anything.

A young couple sitting on a riverbank at dusk:

"...he said... he said 'to work for Abadar is to be trustworthy'. And at first I thought, well yeah, Abadar is a Lawful God, they taught us all about Law at school. But now I think he meant something else maybe. - is something wrong?"

    "No! ...yes. ...I'm pregnant."

"But we haven't... not - oh."

    "I didn't... it wasn't... don't look at me like that! It was Honored Vilaró, okay? He told me to stay after the sermon one day and, and..."

"Oh."

    "Then he told me to come by every week. I, I don't know if I should kill it now or if he'll be angry with me for it or if he'll be angry if I don't. I shouldn't have told you. Why am I so stupid. Please tell me you're not mad. I know I'm pathetic and stupid, but please."

"...I need to think."

Three teenagers, a brother and a sister and their father's apprentice, huddled up in a dark loft with a tiny candle and a wrinkled pamphlet:

"...by keeping the promises She was known for, and there is trying to be like Iomedae, by making your own."

    "Gods. I didn't know people could talk like that."

        "People can't. Not normal people like us. Who aren't... Galtans or Andorens or whoever she is."

    "Father is making copies of these! Fifty copies, you said, and maybe more!"

"Okay maybe not fifty, I don't know, it's not like he let me count them."

        "Or look at them."

    "Whatever. Father's a normal person, is the thing I mean. And maybe he doesn't talk like this, but if he's making copies... do you think he thinks like this?"

"Keep your voice down, if we get caught with these, your father will make us wish we were never born."

        "And if he gets caught with these, it will be much worse than that. Fuck."

"Yeah."

    "...I don't care. I'm glad he's doing this. It's the thing she says, right? 'to draw a line in the sand and say you'll die before you cross it is the freedom it is most difficult to deny people, and the most precious one I've ever known'."