For what it's worth, I find Paresh's account highly implausible, and the identification with T/A even more so. That P would have solitary unfettered access for so long to a library, especially if that's Tazendra's library (surely Khaavren would have overseen the disbursal of the estate even if everybody else is dead), seems unlikely. That a Lyorn would (deign to) attack him with sorcery seems further unlikely. That a Lyorn would physically show up in person to find someone (especially post-interregnum, when he could use the Orb to phone ahead, or have a servant phone ahead) I consider absolutely impossible. Ridiculous, in fact. And almost impossible to reconcile with any other House but perhaps the Dzur - which would make the rest of the story ludicrous. That P would escape unpursued and unexecuted still more unlikely (I think the nobles would restrict access to such power and go to some trouble to track him down - say, call up all his chattels and have them grab any odd Tecklas they see - or use some sorcerous tracking method. Though presumably P could teleport after a year's concentrated study - well, there's an arms race in assumptions which I assert the superior sorcerer Arylle would win.) It's possible that Aerich doesn't make it out of the Viscountiad and Arylle is not a Lyorn and that Paresh and Vlad are accurate in their account and I'm entirely deluded, but I think this story is most likely just evidence of SKZB's early thoughts about the Paarfi romances and most consistently explained as P trying to impress a credulous weirded-out Vlad with a well- (or actually in my view not at all well-)polished lie. On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: > > I don't see Aerich dying off--I am in the process of reading _Teckla_ and > > Paresh, a Teckla, is recounting his history to Vlad--he mentions Aerich, or > > at least, the Duke of Arylle, coming to the door and asking for his Master, > > presumably about why he wasn't receiving his tribute/tithe whatever. (Cause > > of a massive fire that killed everyone but Paresh). It was interesting to > > see how the character changes when it's not Paarfi recounting the history. > > But then, Paresh is Dragaeran, and so the story he tells might well have > > been before the Duke of Arylle is presumably killed in _Sethra_. > > Paresh's story doesn't actually bode well for our Aerich. Quoting my > timeline again: > > ??? PI > [Miscellaneous events that aren't exactly dated, but are Post-Interregnum > and Pre-Vlad.] > > Paresh grows up in a Dzurlord's home (Tk 27). > At 60, Paresh gets land (Tk 28). > At 80, Paresh's loans are paid off (Tk 28). > At 81, Paresh's home burns down (Tk 28-29). [This implies subtly that > his master is Tazendra, who has some history of exploding experiments (FH > 52, 434-435). Her literary model, Porthos, was also noted for his > extensive (if largely unread) library.] > Paresh spends "most of a year" learning sorcery (Tk 30). > Paresh fights Aerich's son(?) (Tk 31-32). [Paresh was almost certainly > born after the Interregnum, since sorcery figures highly in his biography, > and he makes no mention of any interruption of it. He battles "The Duke > of Arylle", who is "about my age" (in Dragaaeran terms, quite a young man). > We can infer that Aerich has either died or retired. His literary model, > Athos, died and left his estate to an adopted son in _The Man in the Iron > Mask_. The Duke refers to Paresh's master as "him", but this is probably > a mistranslation of the genderless Dragaeran pronoun on Brust's part (it > being unlikely that Aerich's heir would be either misinformed or rude).] > > Alexx > > Alexx Kay > Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers > alexx at world.std.com > http://world.std.com/~alexx > My commitment is to truth, not consistency. > [Seen on a Nancy Button, http://www.nancybuttons.com/] >