Davdi Silverrock wrote: > I am pretty sure that there is at least one point (and probably more > than one) in the texts (and both V & P sets of texts) where Zerika > and Sethra are in the same room together. As far as I know, only in Paarfi's texts, not the Vlad novels. The closest they come is in Teckla, when the Easterners are attacking the palace, and Sethra arrives to defend. That all happens off-stage, however, so we have no direct scenes with the two. As a foundation for the argument, I contend that SKZB never writes something in the Vlad books without a reason. If you read them that way, you can see things, such as odd relationships between people (ie, "I was brought back to life by Sethra after Kiera found my body in a gutter" OWTTE, in Jhereg). Which means odd things standing out in the books are probably there for a reason. Which reason is what we're concerning ourselves with here. All of these are minor. But so was the hint regarding Kiera and Sethra in _Jhereg_. Many of my Vladiad books are still scattered due to a move, so, from memory... In Phoenix, there's a mention of Dark Lady's cove, one end with a crown on it. (Vlad and Aibn-- A'bin-- Aeib'n-- hell, the drummer, are discussing where Morrolan's ship is moored, I think.) In Orca, there's the mention (with details) that the empress has gone missing just as Kiera appears, and she's gone missing before. There's a joke somewhere in the books that there are laws against undead holding the throne, likely in Taltos, said by Verra. There's the mention of speech patterns in Orca, and Kiera 'waxes eloquent' on a topic, much as the Empress does in Phoenix when she and Vlad are walking down a hallway. (One line in particular, when Vlad interrupts each of them.) In Phoenix, again, Zerika mentions wanting to see Vlad with her own eyes again, as she couldn't remember what he looked like (or something to that effect). Sethra has memory troubles as well, and may have said something like that as well, but I have memory troubles and can't recall. Sethra mentions she knows the empress's mind well, _Orca_. _Phoenix_, "I almost told the Empress that she should become a Teckla if she loved them so much, but I was afraid she'd take it the way I meant it." OWTTE. On the face of it "I home she drops dead and comes back as a Teckla." But, a bit of irony if the Empress is a shape-shifter. There's a few other things, but they don't come to mind at the moment. It's been a couple of years since my last pass through the series. Anyway, I'm throwing it out there as a holey theory (as in, a theory with big holes). As I mentioned in my very first message, Paarfi's so-called histories do damage to it quite directly, and falling back to him as an unreliable narrator is a bit too handy to explain the problem away. I'll schedule the books for another pass through here soon, and I'll scribble a few notes this time 'round. ~r. -- Every truth has a context.