And, now a post that is actually on topic: While I don't have any text references available, it seems that we might not be able to use Loiosh in any life-span calculations of jhereg, since it appears that Ambrus the cat has been Noish-pa's familiar for as long as Vlad can remember, which appears to be longer than the normal life-span of a domesticated cat. My impression of that was always that witches can extend their own lives, and also the lives of their familiars through heavy drug use, er, herbal supplementation. Yeah, vitamins, that's it. And, while I don't recall seeing any dogs (assuming that Lyorn are a different species than dogs) mentioned in any of the Dragaeran novels, I can't remember if there were any in _Brokedown Palace_, or if I'm just mixing up the taltos horse and Huan the hound of Valinor? -- Matthew S. Klahn Software Architect, CodeTek Studios, Inc. http://www.codetek.com