>However, I still can't help but have >the mental image that it was just a long kiss between friends, not >anything reminiscent of having had Kiera for a lover in the past. Their >relationship just doesn't seem to have that flavor to it. I've no doubt you're correct. There's no indication that Vlad and Kiera have ever been lovers or that they ever would be. I'd say it's more a titillation thing. A man and woman in the Real World can get away with that kind of thing when they both know in advance that it's not going to lead anywhere. In _Yendi_ Vlad compares sex with Dragaerans to bestiality. Implication that he's tried it and found it kinky, perhaps, but ultimately unsatisfying compared to "normal". He probably had a teen-age crush on Kiera at one point and she's probably teased him in that regard at various times. I can't see them having the sort of ongoing relationship they have if it was ever requited though. In other words, it's a fun way to play but there isn't any "passion" behind it. Assuming he did have fantasies about Kiera as a boy, I wonder what he'd think about those same fantasies now...