Paarfi uses "useless" on occasion slightly unidiomatically (for English): Pel tells Jenicor it would have been useless to have been seen, Zerika tells Tazendra it would be useless to order a charge. However, in French one could use "inutile" in such circumstances, as Dumas does. I wonder if SKZB got this from the original or if the old translations were too literal. In this week's New Yorker there is a discussion of the Amber Room, which was originally built by Frederick I of Prussia. His second wife liked to debate Leibniz (coinventor of calculus). The article quotes her as saying (rather more wordily) 'That idiot Leibniz wants to teach me about infinitesimals. Does he think I haven't met my husband?' I could hear the Consort saying this... Infinitesimal reference to _Paths of the Dead_ follows: Paarfi describes Pel in _tPG_ and _FHYA_ as small, beautiful, given to changing the color of his eyes a la Aliera, and clapping in a feminine manner. Crazy speculation: Pel is female, and is in drag for plot reasons. Presumably those reasons evaporated with the Orb, but perhaps it was simplest to continue crossing. Aerich in _tPotD_ points out that he hasn't had any children and they hug. Well, later they do. The hug makes the "female" theory a bit less likely, though maybe Dragaerans, being so thin and not having beards, have less prominent secondary sexual characteristics than Easterners. Speculation duo: Pel is gay, and Paarfi's translator has made the wrong assumption about the gender of his conquests. Or the translator was right _and_ both speculations are right.