Top of page 259 - Sethra is talking about what the Jenoine will do when the Orb returns. She says however "when the Orb is gone" - further stating that certain illusions will go with it. Actually this paragraph is confusing to me as well because at the end of the novel there is so little dialogue between S and Zerika along the lines of, "Ok, I'm teleporting you here where it's safer from the J.", or concerning whatever we'll see happening in the next installment. Bottom of page 260 - Sethra has cast cards to determine when Zerika et al. will head north. Sounds like witchcraft to me - in particular... Chapter 6 - we learned in the preceding chapter that Arra has been able to forsee raids. Note that in _Phoenix_ (end of Lesson 12) Ambrus and Noish-pa were able to sense/scry that an assassin was waiting outside the shop for Vlad (incidentally this is one of the high points of the Vladiad to me - "I stood and drew my rapier. 'I know how to make the shadows vanish.'" - maybe because of the contrast between domesticity and nonchalant heroism.) How is it that Blackchapel is taken unawares? Perhaps manipulation by tDG? Page 285 - Zerika declares herself to be of the House of the Phoenix to Ryunac, an officer of Skinter. He doesn't bat an eye, although it is generally believed the Phoenix are extinct (see the council of Houses, for example). (Interestingly, this belief seems to suggest that one could easily enumerate and locate the members of the House pre-Disaster. Is a group of 50 Phoenix too few to maintain genetic diversity given intermarriage? Can, as has been suggested, a Dragon enter the House if the phoenix-overflight requirement is met? I don't believe so, because otherwise what's the fuss about Zerika? Has the Dragaeren genome been purified and otherwise improved [say by making the mutation rate negligible] to the point that intermarriage among a small group doesn't lead to problems?) Page 311 - paragraph on Southmoor. The word "stretchers" appears - rather odd for Paarfi, I think. This word is associated with Mark Twain in my mind - see for example the opening of Huck Finn. No doubt the translator's affinity for Mr. Clemens has led him to use this word, perhaps because Paarfi is making reference to a regional storyteller here. Page 59, 3rd paragraph - I recently saw an article describing a comparison of grammar/spelling results for average and honor students writing essays without and with a (MS) spell/grammarchecker. The assisted students did worse on grammar because the software made dumb suggestions. Perhaps this is why one finds "low cottages had been built there to the house those who..." here. Page 329 - Deathgate Falls. Zerika says that Kieron was "[T]he first human to pass this way". A pun on "pass by" and "pass away"? I assume it means his was the first body tossed over. Presumably the soul-recycling system was in effect before this. Bottom of page 349 - StY expresses a wish to learn a great deal from The Necromancer, whom she has just named. I wonder if she does so... Bottom of page 392 - "Zerika the Fourth". Maybe we knew her title already, but I was surprised. It takes some chutzpah to name one's child after the cofounder of the empire...