>particularly willing to let her go in the first place), or was Devera >conceived during the events of Taltos? (And if so, when?) The biggest argument against this is that Aliera never leaves Vlad and Morollan. The entire episode in the Halls of Judgement takes place over a few subjective hours. There's no time or occasion for Aliera to have had a tet-a-tet with Kieron, nor is there any indication at the time that they would be emotionally inclined towards such a relationship. Rather the opposite. However Kieron manages to father Devera, it happens in some other time and place. As boring as it sounds, I think Verra's reference to Aliera's "companion" is simply a reference to Vlad who has already been told that he's being allowed to leave. If she wasn't the Dragon heir, then they wouldn't have re-corporated her and Vlad and Morollan would have been forced to stay as well.