dissonance

[isthisart]

Dr. Cheung's at a funeral all day, so Linya decides to go up to London and see if Miles is out of his Mood.

Security has decided to be deeply unhelpful today. She is currently showing them various forms of ID and repeating in a slow, patient voice that she has been here before, there is not more than one of her, and she promises she is not there to assassinate her husband or whatever fool thing has them skittish today. Perhaps she shouldn't drop in while the captain's missing; it seems to make them worse. But she got in before while he was missing...

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

"Sure," he says gamely. "Hmm... Ilari Antoly, Berin Antoly - Byron Antoly? - Valentin Antoly, Vincent Antoly... Rav Antoly... I have to say, Loren and Casmir are still beating most of these. Hm. Kir Antoly? Kiril Antoly? Isay Antoly? Makari Antoly? Terenti Antoly? Elya Antoly? Lias Antoly?"

[isthisart]

"Kir's good. Makari's not bad either, but doesn't work as well with Antoly, I think."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I like Elya, but Elya Antoly sounds a little odd. Casmir Antoly, Loren Antoly, Kir Antoly, Elya Antoly, Lias Antoly. My options have multiplied, not narrowed. Help."

[isthisart]

"Kir's my favorite."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm not sure it's mine. I'm being indecisive again. It's very unusual."

[isthisart]

"I'd make a joke about it being out of character but I don't think it would be funny."

[thisvorlunatic]

"No, probably not." He snorts. "Maybe I'll ask Mark for an opinion next time he interrogates me."

[isthisart]

"That'd be almost cute." She pauses. "Does the name tradition thing apply to everyone? If Mark has kids one day and decides to abide by the tradition does his firstborn son get named Aral Something too?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Only if Mark decides to abide by the tradition. Did he strike you as the type?"

[isthisart]

"Not in the least," she admits.

[thisvorlunatic]

"I didn't think so either."

[isthisart]

"If anyone were going to become alarmed about my disappearance I'd expect it to have happened by now," she sighs.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Maybe they have. No one's likely to become alarmed about mine."

[isthisart]

"And they've been alarmed about Galeni for days and haven't found him, although how much of that is Mark sabotaging the investigation I couldn't say."

(Galeni stirs at his name but doesn't wake.)

[thisvorlunatic]

"Right. I... suspect Mark is a very effective saboteur."

[isthisart]

"I'd bet you're right."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah."

He falls silent.

[isthisart]

Eventually Linya goes to sleep herself.



This doesn't stop the guards from preemptively stunning her next time they open the door. She slumps a little.

"Pick her up," one of them tells Galeni. "And both of you, out." They look agitated - one solemn, one about to break into nervous laughter.

[thisvorlunatic]

...Miles is deeply unhappy about this.

But there's no advantage to staying in the cell.

On the other hand...

"Captain Galeni," he says, "I think now might be a good time for you to talk to your father."

[alicornucopia]

Galeni makes a complicated series of expressions that all agree on little more than the fact that he is unhappy. He manages to haul Linya off the ground and over his shoulder. The braid she went to sleep in trails on the floor.

"That way," says the guard, gesturing them towards the lift tube.

[thisvorlunatic]

"It's not just your life you're throwing away," hisses Miles, unimpressed with Galeni's willingness to literally carry Miles's wife to her death for the sake of his principles.

[alicornucopia]

Galeni hisses, but says, "I wish to speak to my father," he says, as they approach the garage.

"You can't."

"I think you'd better check with him before you sound so sure."

"He's not here. He gave us our orders and left."

"Call him."

"He didn't say where he'd be. And if he had, I wouldn't, anyway. Over by that lightflyer."

[thisvorlunatic]

"You know," Miles says suddenly, as a different strategy occurs to him, "what did my wife ever do to you, anyway? She married me, granted, but for a haut-lady that's not really a matter of choice as such. And you can hardly argue that she's Barrayaran. Barrayar does not love her, I guarantee you that. So what? Someone stuck the name Vorkosigan to her like a 'Kick Me' sign, and now you're going to—what are you going to do to us?"

[alicornucopia]

"Stun you, fly you out over the water, drop you in," says a guard.

"Didn't sound like a marriage of convenience to me," says the other, but dubiously.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Convenience doesn't enter into it. She's literally a bloody prize for good behaviour from the Cetagandan Empire. Just because she's made the best of it doesn't mean she deserves to die for it, or wants to. Look, I can divorce her first if it makes you happier. It's a bit legally tricky to declare myself Count's Voice for the purpose and then petition myself for a divorce, but given the emergency conditions and the fact that you're about to kill me anyway, I don't think anyone's going to waste energy arguing with the details afterward. You just have to wake her up and let me explain the situation and then talk to myself for half a minute."