> was also thinking about that 'but you must see, you are the perfect > choice'.. she have in him mind as a military overlord/placed > king of the > easterners? why praytell would he be the perfect choice? > what else don't we > know about friend vlad.. I think y'all are reading a bit too much into this. "Spare me" Vlad voicing his displeasure about StY's ambitions re: conquering the East. I see no reason why she wouldn't understand this, it being rather obvious on the face. The idea that she might take him literally is an unlikely one, IMO. Whatever StY thinks of Easterners in general, she has enough personal and anectdotal acquaintance with Vlad to realize that he's not the sort to beg for his life, especially when it's not even being threatened. Indeed, if she was making the misjudgement of thinking of him as a Jhereg first and an Easterner second, she'd consider him "one of us" rather than "one of them". He wouldn't be on the list of "people to be conquered". StY's beef isn't with Easterners as a race, neccesarily. She wouldn't find any particular honor or satisfaction in "defeating" the Easterner ghetto in Adrilankha. She wants to conquer the East because it's the most convenient enemy at hand, and nobody's really ever managed it before. Kieron certainly put the hurt on them, but I can't recall any evidence that he ever set up an actual dictatorship over the East. In fact, the East appears to be a whole bunch of loosely allied kingdoms rather than a single political entity. "Conquering the East" is a lot like someone in the USA suggesting that we "Conquer the Middle East". You'd be trying to conquer a continent rather than a people. Logistically, a nightmare but certainly a chance for a commander on the order of an Alexander or a Napoleon to shine. These are the sorts of aspirations that drive StY, IMO. She wants to be the Dragaeran equivalent of Alexander the Great. As for "You're the perfect choice", she's once again merely commenting on his relationship with Morrolan and Aliera. He's personal friends with them, so he can broach topics with them that others might not be circumspect about. Likewise, as both a Jhereg and an Easterner, he's outside the societal mores that might prohibit StY from just proposing the deal herself. We don't really know why StY feels like she needs a go-between. It might be some sort of pride or ettiquette thing within House Dragon or it might simply be that she knows that Aliera dislikes her and she thinks that having Aliera's "pet Easterner" on her side will grease the wheels. Either way, Vlad IS the perfect negotiator. If you have a potentially shady deal or you're bargaining for a priceless heirloom like Kieron's Greatsword with someone who's likely to be offended by your temerity then you start the negotiation with the trusted associates. You don't just walk up and say "Hey, how about we swap swords?" I think that this is one of those cases where the cigar is just a cigar.