On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, David Silberstein wrote: > Weak defense: Morrolan may have meant "other than by Humans" (that > is, Dragaerans). Greenaerans are of the same species as Dragaerans, > for all that they are not part of the Empire. > > Hmm. That is pretty weak. OK, let's see if I can do a little better, > given that I am away from books: > > Vlad never told Morrolan that he was held prisoner by the Greenaerans. > He was pretty close-mouthed about the whole affair, as I recall. Flap flap flap. "Look, Morrolan, it's Loiosh". "Hmm, he says Vlad is in a building on Greenaere and can't get out for some reason I'm not curious about. Let's go spring him and run away." > As long as I'm talking about Phoenix, here's some thoughts: those > events that he partook in are why Vlad was so pissy when he met Verra > again in "Issola". I think that in "Phoenix", when Vlad accepts the > commission, he had some vague notion that since his Goddess wanted > this assassination, it was somehow for the greater good of all. For > all his vaunted cynicism, I think there were *some* things he thought > of idealistically. He says as much at the end of _P_. Though imho the killing was intended for the commonweal, Easterners included. > Of course, poor Lady Teldra had no idea why Vlad was being so rude, > but I think her forgiving attitude -- especially when she says that > Vlad "always" acts appropriately -- says quite a bit about her, > although I am still not sure if it's because she likes Vlad (along > with everyone else), or was a little bit in love with him even then. Note that Vlad is the narrator here. If you go through _Issola_ and count the number of times that women smile at him, you'll need a new abacus. I think he's deeply needy after the collapse of his marriage and carreer his time in the wilderness, so I'm not sure how much to trust what he says on these matters. Also note that as M's high priestess Teldra might well know something about V's interactions with tDG. Also note that Teldra probably can't entirely escape looking at V as a child, as she says most Dragaerans see Easterners. And V can't escape seeing Dragaerans as adult figures relative to him, either - for example his outburst about M and A's adolescent behavior is itself rather adolescent.