video

[rathercommon]

Hullo everyone. It's Kitty.

[ Kitty looks a little more normal than she did the last time she made a post on the network, since the last time she made a post on the network she looked like a tiger. She's bright-eyed, cheerful, and has a pair of very elaborate and beautiful earrings. ]

So, I'm taking a class in journalistic methods at the local community college - it's a brilliant class, too, I'm having an excellent time, school really gets much more worthwhile when you get to the college level, doesn't it - and we've been given an assignment to conduct interviews. I know that some of you are willing and happy to help me out and submit to being interviewed. [ Her grin is confident. ] It's nothing too personal, I promise - just some stuff on your attitude towards the locals here, that sort of thing. It'll be fun.

[ This...is not one hundred percent truthful, since the assignment is to interview one person, not the whole community. But, hey, why not do some broad info-gathering, right? ]

Comments

[dendarii]

[ God. It seems unbearable, giving up that half of him. But turning away from Gregor is equally unbearable. He stares down at the list of baby names as his stomach churns. ]

Lord Vorkosigan isn't great. But Prince-Consort ...

[use_everything]

Might be something worth defining yourself by.

... I would not have minded Mr. Naismith over Lord Vorkosigan either.

[dendarii]

[ Miles looks up at that, not sure how to take that. He's warmed either way, but ... ]

You mean - if I'd left with the Dendarii permanently, you'd have been okay with that? Or that you'd have been tempted too?

[use_everything]

[It's not a simple question, or frankly, a simple answer. He hardly has even the beginnings of a picture of the circumstances around Miles' trip to Beta Colony that somehow ended with an Admiralty and a treason trial.

But even divesting it of its circumstances...]

I'd have been of a split mind and heart about it...

But I believe I would have understood and supported it, indeed.

[dendarii]

[ That warmth grows incrementally. However he may not want to leave Barrayar forever, it's nice to know that he would have support in whatever he chose.

He's quiet a long moment. ]

Well. Me leaving Barrayar forever isn't a risk. I was already thinking about marriage and going home. Eventually.

[use_everything]

... That Taura you'd mentioned?

[dendarii]

Of course. [ Utter warmth again, aimed in a different direction. ] It can't be, though. She only has ten years left, at most.

[use_everything]

You'll have to expound on that.

[dendarii]

Due to her genetic engineering. Her metabolism burns too fast. We can help stave it off with medication, but ... not for long.

[use_everything]

Ah.

... A failure in her project or a feature?

[dendarii]

Oh, I'm sure he intended as a feature. A way to ensure that his experiments had a shelf life. Children would be equally difficult.

[use_everything]

Deplorable.

[dendarii]

Incredibly so. But she's with the Dendarii now. And I think she's happy.

[use_everything]

[That was an odd accomplishment. A military command - mercenary at that - granting happiness. Who could call it wrong though? Certainly not one of Barrayar's children.]

There's that grace then. ... Though I am curious as to what kind of people you've gathered, now.

[dendarii]

[ Miles would have dragged her back to Barrayar himself if he'd thought it would make Taura happier. But this suits. ]

Quite a group of them by now. Tung is the real brains of the operation. A real war history fanatic, idolizes you completely. His mouth about hit the floor when he met you during the Hegen Hub conflict. Bel Thorne is a captain and a Betan hermaphrodite. They're one of my best, very clever and intelligent. Elli Quinn is essentially my second in command, though. Dangerous, brave woman - a lot like Tex really. And then Elena Bothari, of course.

[use_everything]

[There's an image, briefly, as Aral thinks of Bothari's reaction to his precious daughter in a mercenary crew... Both bemused and fondness colors the memory of Bothari holding a tiny child in his enormous hands, staring down at her with awe, love and squalid terror.]

That certainly answers whether I get the chance to meet them. Studied Komarr, I imagine.

[dendarii]

[ Warmth wars with guilt at that mental image. After all, Bothari didn't live long enough to see Elena join up with the mercenaries in time... ]

Just so. I'm not sure if he knows I'm your son. Or what he would do if he did.

[ Another hollow stab to the gut. ]

I'm going to miss them terribly.

[use_everything]

You could always suborn them. Barrayar could always use talent.

And a bit of a broader mind.

[dendarii]

[ The thought arrests him. The Dendarii, made an arm of the Emperor in truth? What a thought ... ]

To anyone who's willing. Which wouldn't be all, but ...

[use_everything]

But some, a stable, loyal force unfettered by traditional politicking and the usual chains of command.

[dendarii]

Just so. An unusual but useful force. Even if we can't go liberating any more POW camps without starting a war with Cetaganda. And I'd still be barred from field missions ...

[ A gray, foggy side of him thinks that might not be such a bad thing. ]

[use_everything]

Well, off planet ones. There is... room to maneuver, perhaps, on planet.

[dendarii]

[ That sparks a light behind his eyes. ]

Political and domestic strategy rather than military?

[use_everything]

If you don't think it's every much as fraught and complicated as anything in the Nexus, you've not been paying attention.

[And Miles certainly has.]

[dendarii]

[ He absolutely has. ]

Oh, yes. With as high stakes as anything I could possibly get into with the Dendarii. And my very first item would be preparing for my marriage to Gregor.

[ Laid out like that, the hole isn't quite as hollow. ]