[Dragaera] FW: Gah! My books are packed!

[Scott Schultz]

Hopefully this isn't a duplicate. It turned out that I'd accidentally sent
it to dragaera-bounces the first time around.

>I believe the only substantive information we have on this 
>particular topic can be found in this short excerpt from the 
>end of /The Lord of Castle Black/

There's a bit more scattered through the stories, though I don't have the
books handy to give a citation. Let's see if Amazon Search Inside can reveal
something -

_Paths of the Dead_, pg. 179:

(Speaking of the breaking of the Cycle due to the death of House Phoenix)

"You explain it," said Verra to Keurana. The breeding of humans is your
domain; I cannot explain why two that are hidden can produce one that is
seen."

"Let Moranthe explain, because she understands the phoenix and its
significance, and how it lives when it dies, and creates when it destroys,
and prophsesies while making its prophecies come to pass."

"No, let Veraa explain," said Moranthe, "because she comprehends the Cycle
better than I, and moreover knows how, to preserve itself, it can summon the
phoenix, and even cause two people to fall in love who otherwise might not
have met."

"Well," said Verra. "That is true, but it needs help from time to time."

-----

Additionally, there's the warning from Teldra to Vlad that the Gods each
embody a concept or symbol, and that Verra is the embodiment of perversity,
essentially, so that he should be a bit wary of trusting her too far.

Ah, here it is. _Issola_, pg 72,73:

"A god," said Lady Teldra, "is the living, sentient embodiment of a symbol."
... "By tradition [Verra] represents the random arbitrariness of life."
"That's the rumor." "Well, look around. Does her home appear random and
arbitrary?" I grunted, because I don't like giving obvious answers to
pointed questions. "What are you getting at?" "That she isn't just a symbol,
she's also a person." "Uh..." "The tradition isn't wrong," said Teldra, "it
is merely imprecise. She--" Teldra stopped and frowned, as if looking for
the right words. "Your goddess is capricious. At any rate, that is her
reputation. It may be only that we expect a being with her power to behave
with a certain consistency and decorum, whereas she follows her whims as
much as any of us do. But don't depend on her."

-----

_Brokedown Palace_ probably has something to say about the nature of Verra
as well, but it's been way too many years since I've read it to try and
remember what it might be, other than her nature as one of the bulwarks
supporting the Establishment and fighting against Change.