Sky
"When was the last time you saw the sky," their lady asks, and the worker realizes they barely remember what the sky is. They hand over their hard-earned money and down the bottle, half out of longing and half out of curiosity.
The moment its contents touch their lips, images flood the worker's mind—images of something big and blue and neverending, with what they vaguely remember is called the sun shining brightly in the midst. It's similar but completely different from the ceilings of Hadestown with their harsh neon lights, and the worker's eyes fill with tears as memories flood in.
They'd once stood under that same sky, once laughed and danced and smiled in the good times. But like most things, the sky was duplicitous. Storm clouds rolled in, harsh rain and wind and snow, and they know it was part of why they left.
In Hadestown there is no sky at all, and the worker wonders if that's what they wanted.