On pg 95 of the hardcover edition, as Zivra and Piro leave Lewchin and Shant, he admits to envying their relationship and says, "at least one good thing ... has come from the Disaster." She says, "You think so?" in what I now take as slight surprise, and goes on to say she'll miss them, and Piro as well. On first reading, I thought this exchange was merely sociological, perhaps in part Paarfi's way of explaining Zerika's scandalous behavior in Vlad's time (we see more of this on pg 289). Now it seems to me that this is almost a pass - she would have been interested in an interHouse arrangement with Piro, had she known his approval of such relationships - but of course it whooshes past him. The conclusion of the conversation now strikes me as more of this - she's nearly asking (ok, very elliptically) for a kiss goodbye but he's oblivious. Sometimes rereading means "rereading into", though. Rereading Chapter 21 I was struck by the prevalence of the word "friend" in the conversation between Pel and Aerich - I count some 22 occurrences in perhaps three pages of dialogue (though I'm hardly an arithmatist [to quote yet another typo in the hardcover]) - perhaps this is Paarfi's way of implying more tension between the noble and the devious man.