In a message dated Mon, 5 Aug 2002 5:58:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, Thomas Yan <tyan at twcny.rr.com> writes: > > Hm. At the start of ch9 of _Teckla_, Vlad has stayed up > all night: > > "When daylight began to filter down through the > orange-red haze that Dragaerans think is a sky, I still > wasn't feeling sleepy." > > I think this particular sentence is ambiguous regarding > whether it means the sky is always orange...but perhaps > this is, in part, because I don't clearly remember how > [visible] / [well-lit] clouds are at night here on Earth. Since Vlad's living in a city, there's probably a good deal of light from street lights and night businesses; the "light pollution" amateur astronomers keep complaining about. > Hm. I don't remember one way or the other: Are there any > moons? I believe Vlad mentions tides in _Phoenix_, and that would pretty much guarantee a moon. > As I recall, Vlad doesn't seem to pay much attention to the > stars, so who knows if that solar system has other planets > that sometimes shine more brightly than stars. As far as we know, Vlad may never have *seen* the stars from this planet, except through Noish-pa's memories. He's seen stars in the Halls of Judgement (did he see stars in _Issola_?). Of course, he's made at least one trip East, so he may of seen stars then, but then again, maybe not. He didn't seem to stay there very long (he didn't improve his language skills). --KG