>Vlad says > "'First you tell me--are you coming back to me?' > She didn't look away, as I'd expected. Instead she studied me carefully, >as one studies a stranger whose mood and meaning one is trying to read from >his face. She didn't say anything, which I think was an answer." >The Book of Taltos, Phoenix, Lesson 17, page 384. >She had a very good reason. She knew Vlad. She knew what he had just gone >through in Teckla and Phoenix to save her. She's standing there looking at >Vlad and wanting to tell him. But if she tells him, he won't leave. She >knows he won't last long if he stays around. She is trying to save him by >not telling him. Hmmm... Well, as speculation it does fit the idea of Cawti knowing at the point of Vlad's departure. Not neccesarily before that, though. Even with a strained marriage, I can't see why she'd keep it a secret during the preceding storyline. However, I think it's more likely that we list members are giving the books the I Ching treatment. That is, with no new story to talk about, we go over the previous stories, subjecting small details to scrutiny and finding meanings between the lines of what would otherwise be innocuous and straight-forward paragraphs. Yes, the paragraph referenced above could be a hint that Cawti knows her condition and wants to spare Vlad. Based on the preceding story, though, we have no reason to believe that. Rather, we have every reason to take it at face value. That is, the recounting of the final goodbye of two people who have grown apart to the point where they have very little in common any more. I'd chalk this up to "more data required". Until there's reason to believe otherwise, I'd just take that paragraph at face value. IMO, what you're looking at there is not a hidden clue about Cawti's pregnancy. Rather, it's a pretty accurate description of something that Steve felt when his own marriage dissolved. The ring of truth in that one paragraph is simply overwhelming. > [Kieron] started to smile, stopped. He said, 'I do not choose to leave again. I have done--' > 'Nothing for two hundred thousand years. Isn't that long enough?' >The Book of Taltos, Taltos, Chapter 15, page 151. >Again? >Could Aliera be right and Kieron could just escort them out of the Paths? That's an interesting reference. I'd never noticed it before. Apparently Kieron CAN leave the Paths if he has a good enough reason to do so. I guess we'll have to wait and see if he decides to come after his sword like he promised. Of course, given the way that time works in the Paths, he might react immediately while Dragaera experiences a couple of centuries of time passing.