Thea/Vodalus -- who were they digging up?

Hello, all! I have recently joined the list, although I have been reading the archives and am very impressed with the depth of many list-members' analysis of Wolfe's works. Anyway, by way of background, I have read TBONS/UOTNS and recently finnished the first half of BOTLS -- I started re-reading BOTNS again while I waited for Epiphany to arrive and, now that it has, am halfway through Shadow and Claw and can't put it down again. Anyway, two things have always puzzled me, and perhaps some listmembers can shed some insight on them. First, who were Vodalus and Thea (and Hildegrin) digging up when Severian first meets them in the Necropolis? It's a woman, and for some reason I get the feeling that Thea has some interest in or relation to her, but otherwise I can't figure it out. Second, in Sword and Citadel, when Sev is in the lazaret being cared for by the Pelerines, he meets a slave who tells him a story about meeting "Journeyman Palemon," and asks Severian to relay a question to Palemon if ever he meets him again. Severian, of course, does subsequently meet Palemon again, but does not (as far as we know) ask Palemon the slave's question. Any thoughts as to why? I cannot believe it simply slipped GW's mind. Is the absence of the question supposed to make us ponder what the real answer is? Anyway, I hope someone can share their insights with me, and I look forward to reading everyone's thoughts on other topics as well. Regards, Joe (no nickname as of yet! : ) )