[Dragaera] Misc observations on Phoenix and Athyra

[Alexx Kay]

I've been doing a big re-read of the Vlad books, in a semi-random order. 
Some observations:

(minor spoilers?)

A possible crack in _Phoenix_: On page 12, Verra says that Greenaere has
"perhaps, four hundred thousand people living there."  Not long after, on
page 21, Vlad says "Something like two hundred thousand Dragaerans lived
there."  Is this an outright mistake?  Or are half the population
*non*-Dragaerans?  Are the remainder all "dwarfs" (of course the islanders
don't call them 'Easterners'; the *Empire* is to the East of them)?  Or is
there a major contingent of some other species, such as Serioli,
Cat-centaurs, or someone we haven't yet heard of?

My earlier observation about the difference between going for throat or
neck in _Jhegaala_ is explicitly supported in _Phoenix_, page 30:
"...cutting someone's throat is relatively easy, and certainly fatal, but
it will be some seconds before the individual goes into shock. Are you
certain he isn't a sorcerer skilled enough to heal himself?"

I wonder when exactly Vlad narrated _Phoenix_.  On page 1, he says, of
this story, that it is about "the last time I killed somebody".  The word
"killed" can be taken in many different ways, however.  If he means
"assassinated for money", then I think this remains technically true
through the end of _Dzur_.  In _Jhegaala_, he deliberately causes several
deaths, but does not technically kill anyone.  Vlad kills a bunch of
people in _Athyra_, some in self defense, and some deliberately, so I tend
to think _Phoenix_ was narrated before then.  However, it can't have been
narrated very soon after the events of _Phoenix_, because of the reference
on pages 183-184 to reading a history of the Uprising "A long time later,
in the cottage of an Eastern family where I spent a night..."  It seems
unlikely that any Fenarian would have such a book, which suggests that he
narrates _Phoenix_ some time after returning to the Empire after
_Jhegaala_.

Noish-Pa tells Vlad that his life isn't complete until Vlad gives him a
great-grandchild (P 212).  This is ironic, in light of later information;
Vlad has already conceived that child with Cawti, only neither he nor
Noish-pa is aware of it.

On page 51 of _Athyra_, Vlad can navigate easily in the darkness.  Good
night-vision is suggested as one explanation, but the canny reader will
suspect that his jhereg are the ones who actually possess it.

There's something odd about Vlad's relationship to sorcery in _Athyra_. 
I'm only about halfway through, but he's already used sorcery on several
occasions, without apparent fear.  At one point (A 72), when about to
perform witchcraft, Vlad hesitantly removes a necklace with "a piece of
black rock".  So, during this book, Vlad is *not* wearing the Gold Phoenix
Stone amulet!  He does not seem to have any fear of the Jhereg being able
to pinpoint his location.  He explicitly is unafraid of a direct
necromantic attack by Loraan ("I'm protected rather better than Reins was"
A 86).  At some point between _Jhegaala_ and _Athyra_, Vlad must have
acquired some means of protection from sorcery that he thinks is as
effective as the Gold Phoenix Stone amulet, yet which allows him to
perform sorcery unimpeded.  By the time of _Orca_, however, Vlad is
explicitly using the Gold Phoenix Stone amulet again, though he seems
quite willing to take it off for brief periods to do sorcery.  Perhaps
something in the interim convinced him that the newer protection method
wasn't as good, after all.  (Possibly even during _Athyra_, since I
haven't finished the reread yet.)

Alexx