I think it's more likely that Paarfi is embellishing in order to get a point across: This man is a Witch. I recall reading in some books from my childhood (The Belgariad/Mallorean/Belgarath/Polgara) that in some texts the authors simply couldn't stand writing the simple truth, and needed to embellish with silly bits of magic and whatnot (The coldness of the winter turning Belgarath's hair white, when in reality it was simply age) In any event, I'm fairly sure that Paarfi is taking a few creative liberties. We should be careful how much we swallow that comes from Paarfi--he seems almost hopelessly juvenile at points. I really WOULD like to see Paarfi write Sethra Lavode and mention the trip into the POTD with an Easterner---just to see how he relates the story. >From there, we could cross-reference, and determine which seems more likely. Although I must add that it seems positively unlikely--Vlad wouldn't like Paarfi as much, and would not be inclined to go back in his mind to his travels into the POTD for the sake of posterity--especially watered-down, over-written posterity. Granted, Paarfi should have extensive material to write from, assuming he can figure out the playback feature on the metal box, but still.... Jon _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail