<snip> and the Vlad books, where Zerika IV (Phoenix) has an Easterner lover - and while that is slightly scandalous, it doesn't seem to have the stigma that would attach to actually having or being a crossbreed would. </snip> I'd forgotten about that part...never really seemed to effect a whole lot, but I guess it does show the social norms pertaining to relationships between peoples of different houses. <snip> Incidentally, when Zerika confirms to Vlad that an Easterner is her lover, she says something along the lines of "because that is where his soul resides" - which makes me wonder if perhaps Zerika will be shown to have a Dragaeran lover who is killed at some point in the Khaavren books, and the Easterner Laszlo is the reincarnation of this person. </snip> Would be interesting to find out... Wes