-----Original Message----- From: Philip Hart [mailto:philiph at SLAC.Stanford.EDU] >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.) You're thinking like an Easterner. Dragaerans have no reason to hurry. Probably Paresh's account of his brave exploits are exaggerated, but the skeleton of the story may well be true. The Duke of Arylle may have tried, unsuccessfully, to contact Tazendra with sorcery, and eventually showed up in person because he was unable to "call" ahead. Perhaps the sorcerous attack was true, perhaps an exaggeration of Paresh's. Other than that, well, Paresh just wasn't worth chasing. The Duke had better things to do. Extreme measures to catch someone worthless are only taken when that worthless someone has pissed off someone important (I'm thinking about Vlad here). Rachel