Dragaera

An amusing idea about Zerika IV

David Silberstein davids at Kithrup.COM
Tue Jul 20 08:36:46 PDT 2004

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004, Mark A Mandel wrote:

>#It was been mentioned in /Orca/ that Zerika had the odd habit of
>#disappearing now and again, a few days at a time.  It's possible,
>#of course, that nothing is going on more unusual than the Empress
>#taking a bit of a breather, probably with her lover.
>#
>#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.
>
>A fascinating idea! But why should that cause her to go missing? With
>the usual kinds of time travel, you can go "elsewhen", spend as much
>time "then" as you like, and (subjective-)then return to the moment of
>your departure, leaving no gap in your presence unless someone was
>actually watching you and saw the inevitable discontinuity in your
>position, the folds of your clothing, etc.
>

Well, the thing that I've noted is that there seems to be a certain
lack of specificity and granularity when it comes to time-travel in
Dragaera.  For example, in /Brokedown Palace/, Devera is off by two
years the first time she comes to Fenario.

I don't think that the few days Zerika is missing when she
reappears after disappearing bother her too much.  And it keeps her
subordinates on their toes, as it were.