Someone asked a while back why, if "Pike's ghost" were Quetzal, he would fly in, fly out again, then come back to pose as Pike. Actually, the answer is simple. Like Kypris, he wants to have a look at the man whose name is being touted as a calde candidate in graffiti "everywhere but the Palatine." Both he and Kypris have to decide whether to support this man or not. Thus Pike flies in, but the room is dark and Silk begins to stir. He flies out hastily and then, when Silk goes downstairs, conceives of the Pike impersonation. He thus gets a look at Silk's face before he does his disappearing act and whizzes off.
Alice Turner (if not aloe, how about algae? then there's alder, which seems too dignified)
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