My belated reply, now that I've read the novel and gotten a good nights sleep. On Sat, Aug 02, 2003 at 07:35:00PM -0500, Matthew Hunter wrote: > [SPOILERS below] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > * The comments of the Gods in _The Paths of the Dead_ regarding > Phoenixes come to mind, particularly how "two hidden can combine > to produce one visible". This seems a clear indication of a > recessive gene. . . I believe the text of the various novels argues against this. In at least one case we find someone who's seen to be triple hybrid, ie, 1/2 one house, 1/4 another, and 1/4 a third. If a single gene (or single chromosome) determined house,this would be impossible. It also seems very unlikely that Illista and Zerika will breed. :-)