Tulily. Jedily was originally an observer who somehow displeased the Regents of Heliarctos and was dumped into The Mask Factory to be used up as a test subject. Upon discovering that Phaedrus still exists, they dispatch assassins to destroy him. Through a convenient quirk of fate, Phaedrus is summoned to the local ruler when the attempt occurs. His lover and adopted children are not so lucky. Initiating Change again, Phaedrus becomes Nazarine, a young woman who is barely out of her teens. Nazarine realizes both that she cannot Change again without becoming an infant and that the Regents (unknown to her at this point) won't stop trying to kill her. Following back through her past, she recovers some of the documents from The Mask Factory that lets her determine that Jedily was an off-world observer. After making that connection, Nazarine travels to the only spaceport, intent on traveling off-planet. She purchases a ticket on a ship while the Regents' assassins follow closely behind. One of her companions is killed by an assassin but gives up her new name in the process. Faren Kiricky, a ship tech, and Dorje, a ship security officer, befriend Nazarine and help her to identify the assassins. After using her art of divination, Nazarine confronts the data processor of the assassin pair and convinces her that Nazarine already knows how to win. In despair, the data processor commits suicide. The killer of the assassin pair evades capture by entering the bowels of the ship. Nazarine and Faren track and finally confront him. Nazarine tells him that no matter what he does, his actions will actually destroy the Regents - and then she lets him go. Nazarine discloses what she is to Faren and asks Faren to take care of her. Faren agrees, and Nazarine initiates Change resulting in a male infant. Others Foster also wrote the standalone novel Waves (1980), and four novelettes collected in Owl Time (1985). He writes an occasional column for Acme Comics called Eyeless In Gaza. Bibliography Ler The Warriors of Dawn (1975) The Gameplayers of Zan (1977) The Day of the Klesh (1979) The Book of the Ler (2006) collects the Ler trilogy Transformer The Morphodite (1981) Transformer (1983) Preserver (1985) The Transformer Trilogy (2006) collects the Transformer trilogy Stand-alone novels Waves (1980) Collections Owl Time (1985) References External links Review of The Gameplayers of Zan by Jo Walton, with comments