In the fourth Penric and Desdemona novella, Penric ends up fleeing from pursuers with an injured former General Adelis and his widowed sister Nikys. Forced to adapt a variety of disguises and strategies as they try to reach safety, at one point Penris ends up disguising himself as a woman and taking on the persona of his demon's former rider, Mira, a long-dead courtesan. Meanwhile he clearly fancies Nikys, but although she is initially introduced as a smart, decisive woman, she seems to suffer a lot of indecision, as well as a few hang-ups about Desdemona. Overall, I thought Penric's transformation into Desdemona was handled pretty tastefully; it wasn't treated as a humour moment, while at the same time both he and those around him struggle to understand how he literally contains the personality - and memories, and talents - of a courtesan - but I'd be interested in hearing perspectives from readers more directly relating to trans or drag communities who may feel the story was representing them well or poorly.

I was disappointed how short this story was and how it seems really just a mid-point continuation of an ongoing story, rather than a complete tale in itself. I also found Nikys pretty annoying with her indecision and sudden lack of personality. She's supposed to be wrestling with some pretty serious questions about demons and a relationship with someone who contains multiple personalities, but mostly she comes across as wishy-washy and annoying.

Also, being a big fan of Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, I see very strong echoes of Ekaterin Vorkosigan in Nikys (even reflected in the fact Ekaterin is a widow with a son called Nikki). There are very clear similarities between both their situations and the way they react to the men in their lives, and since I'm pretty certain Ekaterin came first, I wonder how much was conscious and how much unintended.