Just listened to Part 2 of this story. Powerful, worthwhile stuff. Not of the type I would typically think of as fantasy — I might have classified it as science fiction—but I don’t quibble over genre; the key for me is whether a story works, and this one definitely does.
I’m trying my best to avoid spoilers, so I’ll just say that I hope part of Nouelle’s healing is finding and reconciling with the character who departs near the end. That may be too neat of a resolution, though.
Thanks, PodCastle, for this story.