On Tue, 25 Feb 2003, David Silberstein wrote:
#And perhaps Verra tipped a word to Sethra to keep an eye out for
#*this* particular Easterner. After all, how likely was it that Sethra
#met, and scanned the soul of, this one person reincarnated from her
#days of the founding of the Empire? Although it also occurs to me
#that Sethra may have super-secret soul-recognition powers - she knows
#who Devera is on the battlefield of the Gods.
Aliera seems to have recognized Vlad, her reborn brother, the moment she
saw him in the Paths of the Dead (the "place", not the book). Sethra had
known him as Dolivar ("She was supposed to hamstring the yendi*, but she
missed deliberately" -- Aliera). We don't have to suppose that there's
anything supersecret about this ability; just that if you've met this
person in a previous life you can recognize them when you meet again.
* Referring to the snake, not the House, and used as a term of contempt.
So why doesn't Vlad recognize Sethra and Aliera? He recognizes Kieron
on some level. Maybe he does but doesn't (allow himself to) realize it;
he's an Easterner, souls don't get reborn anyway (as far as he
believes), what does he have to do with all this?
-- Mark A. Mandel