On Tue, 25 Feb 2003, Mark A Mandel wrote: @> #During that window visit in _P_, Veera reveals (in a conversation in which @> #she is bizarrely deferential to Vlad, or rather he presents her that way) @> @> I think she's his mother. That's an interesting thought. A couple of things immediately spring to mind: Verra tells Vlad he's from peasant stock, which seems unlikely to be something she'd do if he was, in fact, descended from her as well. I suppose it could be chalked up to her being deceptive, or to her not including the godlike side of his heritage when talking about who his ancestors were. Or perhaps she thinks of herself as a peasant. Heh. Aliera seems to have some physical indications of her demigoddess state (eyes and hair particularly). There doesn't seem to be anything similar occurring in Vlad; nobody ever seems to see him physically as anything other than an average Easterner.