--- > However, I was thinking about Devera, and I found myself > wondering if perhaps Devera was taking Zerika with her on > jaunts through time to find young Phoenixes to be persuaded > to be relocated into the future, thus rebuilding the House. I tend to think of Devera as an in-joke, rather than a character in her own right. We don't really know anything about her personality or her motiviations. The Demon Goddess might send Devera on an errand like the one described, but then she might as well do it herself as entrust it to a child. To complicate such things, if Zerika has a patron goddes it's probably NOT Verra, so her own Goddess ought to be the one taking care of things like insuring that the House doesn't vanish utterly. Then again, Laszlo worships Verra IIRC, so maybe that's one of the things that he and Zerika have in common. For rebuilding the House, I think a more likely solution may lie in the field of genetics. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Didn't one of the Vlad novels note that a mixed marriage was the only way to create a Phoenix? I can't remember if that was meant as an ironic comment on the current Phoenix situation, or something else. I do recall you are not a true Phoenix unless one flies overhead at the moment of birth. . . . which leads to another conjecture. Are there Drageraens of pure Phoenix blood running about that are not "true" Pheonixum (heh) due to a lack of appearance of the aforementioned avian? If that is the case, as the head of the house, Zerika could rescind the stricter standards, and repopulate the house with them. Jeff _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/