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.