façade

[isthisart]

Linya gradually feels her way around being proper friends with Ekaterin, not wishing to wreck things with a premature "will you be my Second at my duplicate wedding" request. There is companionable gardening. There is, when Linya and Jocelyn make an unexpected sudden breakthrough in causing the nibs to behave, which holds when they fabricate a prototype and test it out, a fountain pen for Ekaterin. (In addition to Miles's and Count Vorkosigan's. And one for Emperor Gregor, which has got to be worth all the R&D in advertising alone.) When Miles's legs are more or less completely healed, they skip off to Vorkosigan Surleau for a few days and he teaches her to fly a lightflyer, which she enjoys very much and picks up very quickly. Linya writes Miles a song. (It has no words, she doesn't feel up to lyrics, but it is very pretty and slightly different every time she plays/sings it.) With the nibs handled and all the Barrayaran languages learned Linya spends more time reading textbooks and signs up for a university placement exam to see how far ahead into advanced classes on various things she can skip, and awaits her results.

And snuggles her tiny Barrayaran.

Comments

[ofthestars]

"I don't mind if you grab what he needs as long as my leg still works afterward," says Asterion, touching the knot in his calf. "But that's you, not him. I think it'd be a good idea if I didn't see Dr. Canaba at all."

[thisvorlunatic]

"That can be arranged," Miles assures him. "All right. And you have until Escobar to decide if you're getting off or staying on - I won't rush you."

[whyexit]

So Thorne goes with the samples to Canaba instead. "Here's what you were so keen on getting," it says, handing the vial over. "And the Dendarii have recruited its container, since he not only walks and has fangs but also thinks and talks and can be issued plasma arcs - what all do we need to know about his biology, beyond that he eats like three or four people? That's not hiding a mineral deficiency or something, is it?"

[pythbox]

Canaba gapes.

"You what? You - how - but - "

[whyexit]

"What do you mean, how? We put him in a uniform and started him on training and he's taken right to it. Is he going to be all right on rat bars and incidentals or do we need to scare up weird supplements?"

[pythbox]

"I mean - he hasn't tried to rip anyone's limbs off?"

[whyexit]

"Well, he's asked not to be put in a room with you," snorts Thorne, "and if I were you I'd abide very carefully by that request."

[pythbox]

Canaba gulps.

"Um," he says. "No unusual dietary requirements, except the accelerated metabolism you've already discovered - but - he's going to die. Of that metabolism. That's what killed the rest of them, in the end. Premature aging, faster and faster until a final rapid disintegration - it was ghastly. He hasn't shown any signs of onset that I've seen, but it could come upon him at any moment. Sometime in the next year, or two, or five, or ten - I wouldn't give him very much longer than ten at the outside. It's... that's one of the things I hoped to save him from."

[whyexit]

"Right, that's all I needed to know, but if you're expecting absolution for trying to get him murdered so he wouldn't have to die of old age or even of getting decently shot at for a paycheck, you're in for some disappointment."

[pythbox]

Canaba looks unhappy.

[whyexit]

"In any case, the samples are all yours."

Thorne goes to mention what it has learned to Miles.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...We'll have to tell Asterion," Miles sighs. "God knows how he'll take it. I could just about strangle that Canaba. If ever there was a semi-noble impulse more thoughtlessly executed - speaking of noble impulses, on a happier note, how is Nicol?"

[whyexit]

"Happier," says Thorne, smiling. "...But very definitely planning to jump ship at Escobar, collect gigs until she has enough to move on, and play her way back home to her folks."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles pats Thorne's arm consolingly. "Well, you have three more days until then, right? Best of luck."

[whyexit]

"Thank you, sir."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles grins. And goes off to catch up on his lost sleep.

[ofthestars]

When appraised of his projected lifespan, Asterion takes the news with a philosophical shrug. He also takes to basic training with alert enthusiasm and superhuman aptitude. It's pretty clear even before they reach Escobar that he plans to take his trainee's oath and stay on with the Dendarii.

[sweet_song]

Nicol, however, kisses Thorne goodbye and floats away.

[whyexit]

About which Thorne sighs.

But then it is time for Miles to be transferred elsewhere for his roundabout route home.

"Say hi to the wife for me," suggests Thorne, not particularly expecting Miles to follow up.

[thisvorlunatic]

"It'd only make her jealous," he jokes, grinning. "See you around, Bel."

And homeward he goes. Happily, he doesn't even have to delay on his way in, although he is required to make his report to Illyan in person before contacting anyone else.

Illyan listens with limited sympathy to Miles's tirade on the subject of complete mission briefings, reminds him that Bharaputra was the house they were supposed to be stealing from and it's not Illyan's fault if Miles insists on assigning himself quixotic side missions, allows that it would nevertheless have been a good idea to offer him a more thorough background on the target planet, agrees that he will keep this in mind for future briefings, sighs and shakes his head when he gets to the part of the written report about the abandoned cargo, and then turns Miles loose to do what he will.

What Miles wills is to see his wife. His wife, it turns out, is on Komarr. He sighs and sends her a message.

[isthisart]

Linya sends back a message (voice, no vid) detailing her estimated time of return in one week (she needs to assign someone to look after pen things on Komarr and then get on a ship).

And then a week later she is home!

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles bounds down the stairs to greet her in the front hall.



He skids to a halt just past the bottom step with one hand still on the banister, utterly arrested by the sight of her.

[isthisart]

Linya beams and giggles and scoops him up. "I missed you!"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I forgot how pretty you were," Miles says in a small, embarrassed voice. Then he beams and hugs her fiercely. "I love you. I missed you too."

[isthisart]

"Oh goodness, you forgot?" chuckles Linya, squeezing back as snugly as is wise. "I'll have to have a nice holo taken for you to remember me by. I love you too." She kisses him.