>yes. Teckla yes. I think my weakest "House Sense" definitely comes >from Athyra or Phoenix. Actually, if you consider that an Athyra wizard (and Loraan in particular, given that he's been something of a key figure in our view of Dragaeran history) is remote, mysterious, frightening, powerful, and ruthless yet also fascinating then you can say that _Athyra_ is a pretty good attempt at applying the House characteristics to a Vlad story. This is one of the reasons that the third-person narrative works well in that story. It puts Vlad at arm's distance, allowing us to view him in the same way that someone dealing with an Athyra noble would view the wizard in question. The "House Sense" isn't so much about elucidating the features of a House as it is about applying the features, real and symbolic, to Vlad. _Phoenix_ is all about symbolic death and rebirth. That's what House Phoenix stands for in the Cycle. If the Cycle is Ouroboros then House Phoenix is both the head and the tail. It's true that we don't learn a great deal about the House in that book, but with only one current member Vlad doesn't have much occasion to encounter that House in his adventures. It'd be difficult to generalize from Zerika in any case - One might come to the conclusion that all Phoenix have a penchant for sexual perversion. (e.g., keeping Easterners as lovers.) Of course, becoming inevitably Decadent probably involves that sort of thing for many Phoenix emperors. If Zerika wasn't historically considered the Reborn Phoenix, then her choice of lovers might already have inspired some Dragon to attempt taking the Orb under the assumption that she had become "decadent". Of course, when we get to relatively undeveloped Houses like the Jhegalla or the Tsalmoth then the story itself will probably spend more time hilighting the features of that House.