I, too, was completely surprised with today's revelation. Like so many others, I thought it was part of the N'Garai--a belief I held even before the N'Garai plot was introduced. The original squirrel page from issue 20 reminded me so much, both script and image, of the splash page from The ANAD #96--a page that really stood out in my recent rereading as being a beautifully done instance of art, colors, and the first two caption boxes all working together to create a greater whole.

When it became clear that the plot point wasn't related to the N'Garai angle, Proteus also crossed my mind, but Phoenix, on the other hand, never once entered into my thinking.