There's a passage where Vlad, Morrolan, & Aliera are sitting around in Castle Black and, approximately, Morrolan says something about "that thing", referring to Loiosh, then cocks his head as if listening and says to L., "You, that's who I'm calling a thing." Do we ever see Loiosh communicating with anyone else than Morrolan, other than Vlad and Rocza? Also, near the end of (_Phoenix_? the "work" on Greenaere Island), Loiosh told Morrolan of Vlad's captivity, after his heroic flight across the water and up to Castle Black. That was off stage, but IIRC not in doubt. It's not so clear (I think-- AFB) how he brought Noish-pa near the end of _Teckla_. ISTM that the simple fact of his showing up without Vlad would have conveyed a lot to Noish-pa, and Loiosh might have flown over to his sword as a way of telling him, "Bring this!" More distantly, does he communicate with Noish-pa's familiar Ambrus (a cat)? -- Mark A. Mandel http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/ a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website