s p o i l e r s f o r _TEoDM_ Paarfi at several points notes Aerich's antipathy for Easterners and Eastern ways - for example, someone suggests solving a problem using witchcraft and he blows a fuse (relatively speaking). However, note pg 155 of _TPG_ - Khaavren says it's 50 leagues from the Redface to the Pepperfields, and A asks him, 50 leagues of the city or 50 according to the Eastern reckoning? And in _TEoDM_, we learn that A speaks a dozen or more Eastern languages. And (pg 290) he's citing Eastern opinions with his last breaths. (Ok, he says, "unless one accepts Eastern superstitions", but entertaining the possiblity seems significant to me, esp. in the context.) I wonder if here we see some evidence of a dual consciousness (not the right phrase but it's late) on A's part - he can see that the East has useful things to teach, even if he can't straitforwardly accept them. Much as (I think Paarfi suggests) he feels for Tazendra but won't act.