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The following day, very little happens, except for Vorreedi mentioning that Yenaro has been arrested (by the civil police, for theft, on charges from a ghem-lord Miles has never heard of, as opposed to by Cetagandan security for treason).
Also, Ivan gets bored - with all the bodyguards Vorreedi now requires for them after the incident at the bioestheties exhibition, the possible spontaneity of going out with his ghem girlfriends is much reduced.
But the next day they get to attend the Singing Open of the Great Gates.
And oh, is there ever singing.
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middlingalong
isthisart
"When do we leave?" asks Linyabel. "And how long is our route from here to Barrayar?"
thisvorlunatic
"We leave soon. Like, as soon as Ivan's packed, pretty much," he says. "The trip's a couple of weeks, maybe a little less if they sent a fast courier."
isthisart
She nods. "Do you think I should learn some of the languages spoken on Barrayar? Russian or Greek or French? After I'm more familiarized with the English dialect, anyway."
thisvorlunatic
"It's not necessary, but it could be handy," he says. "On the other hand, sometimes speaking a language somebody doesn't expect you to just lets you hear all the nasty things they say when they don't expect you to understand..." He shrugs.
isthisart
"I'd rather know what they're saying than not, if they'll say it either way," she remarks. "Besides, languages are a good thing to switch to if I need a break from technical activities, especially since I won't have my music group anymore. Which first, of the three?"
thisvorlunatic
"Smallest speaking population is Greek - that's the one I learned first," he says. "Russian and French are about tied overall, but you get more Russian-speakers near the capital."
isthisart
Linyabel nods and makes an invisible note of this. One may presume that's what she's doing, anyway.
"Haut Linyabel was asking me about whether there are any established protocols for how she's supposed to address assorted Vor she's likely to meet," Maz says conversationally. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's any precedent for it, and if there were I'm not versed enough in Barrayaran customs to enlighten her."
"Haut Linyabel was asking me about whether there are any established protocols for how she's supposed to address assorted Vor she's likely to meet," Maz says conversationally. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's any precedent for it, and if there were I'm not versed enough in Barrayaran customs to enlighten her."
thisvorlunatic
"This I can explain!" says Miles cheerily. "Do you want the rundown?"
thisvorlunatic
"The sort of minimum courtesy for anyone with a Vor in front of their name is just 'last name, Vor included'," he begins. "So Vorreedi, Vorpatril, Vorkosigan - never Mister or Monsieur for the men, but the women get Mademoiselle Vorsomebody, or Madame if married. Formally speaking, a Count is Count Vorsoandso, his wife is Countess Vorsoandso, his direct heir is Lord Vorsoandso, and all his siblings and his heir's siblings and his heir's children - but not the children of his siblings or the children of his heir's siblings - are Lord or Lady Firstname as appropriate. With me so far?"
isthisart
"Yes, but my question wasn't so much about what the titles are as whether any of this changes when I'm related to them."
"For obvious reasons, this interests me too," laughs Maz.
"For obvious reasons, this interests me too," laughs Maz.
thisvorlunatic
With a brief smile for Maz, Miles says, "I'm getting there. I can't really explain how things change without making sure you understand what they're changing from," he says. "So by default, you would address my father as Count Vorkosigan. Being married to his son, you can also get away with the less formal but still somewhat arm's-length Count Aral. My mother, who is Betan and still doesn't really buy into all this Vorfoolishness, will invite you to call her Cordelia, which as a friend-or-relative you may freely do. If Father tells you to call him Aral, then likewise. Except in formal legal settings like a District Court or the Council of Counts, where it's always appropriate to use the most formal title."
He takes a breath and keeps going.
"And if there was exactly one each of every Lord Vorsoandso, that could be the end of it, but in fact there's also 'courtesy titles' - Ivan is an example - people for whom some ancestor impressed an Emperor and was rewarded with the privilege of calling himself Lord Vorlastname and his wife Lady Vorlastname, which is then passed on to his eldest son, and so on and so forth, a little bit like a teeny tiny miniature Countship. Their siblings and non-heir children get to be non-heritable Lords and Ladies Firstname too, and because you can now potentially have two distinct Lords or Ladies Vorsamelastname in the same conversation, any Lord Vorsomebody can be addressed as a Lord Firstname for disambiguation purposes. So if the Vorpatril heir started hanging out with Ivan a lot, they'd be Lord Ivan and Lord I-forget-the-damn-kid's-name - you get the idea, though, I hope - but it would be weirder to address me as Lord Miles, because the Vorkosigans family tree has been pretty aggressively pruned and I'm the only Lord Vorkosigan around. Does that answer your question or should I babble some more?"
He takes a breath and keeps going.
"And if there was exactly one each of every Lord Vorsoandso, that could be the end of it, but in fact there's also 'courtesy titles' - Ivan is an example - people for whom some ancestor impressed an Emperor and was rewarded with the privilege of calling himself Lord Vorlastname and his wife Lady Vorlastname, which is then passed on to his eldest son, and so on and so forth, a little bit like a teeny tiny miniature Countship. Their siblings and non-heir children get to be non-heritable Lords and Ladies Firstname too, and because you can now potentially have two distinct Lords or Ladies Vorsamelastname in the same conversation, any Lord Vorsomebody can be addressed as a Lord Firstname for disambiguation purposes. So if the Vorpatril heir started hanging out with Ivan a lot, they'd be Lord Ivan and Lord I-forget-the-damn-kid's-name - you get the idea, though, I hope - but it would be weirder to address me as Lord Miles, because the Vorkosigans family tree has been pretty aggressively pruned and I'm the only Lord Vorkosigan around. Does that answer your question or should I babble some more?"
thisvorlunatic
"A somewhat more difficult question. 'Sir' is a safe bet. 'Gregor' if and only if invited. Avoid 'sire' at least at first - it's reserved for Barrayaran Imperial subjects, of which you can technically be said to be one, but it denotes an oath relationship and you haven't taken any. Avoid Your Adjectiveness-type addresses, too - Barrayar doesn't use 'em. See, Barrayaran formal address for Gregor is 'sire' the way Barrayaran formal address for one's own Count or his heir is 'my lord', but we spent six hundred years having lots of Counts and only one Emperor - there was never a reason to have a tradition for how to talk to the Emperor when you're not his subject. And we've only had eighty years to deal with the new situation, so nothing's really stuck yet. You can also get away with addressing him as appropriate for Count Vorbarra, which he also is, if you see him in his House uniform - black and silver as opposed to the Imperial red and blue. 'Emperor Gregor' by analogy to Lord or Count Firstname has sort of been tried now and then and hasn't caught on hugely, but it's technically acceptable if you get tired of sir-ing him all the time but still aren't on friendly terms."
isthisart
"Understood." (Pen wobble.) "And I assume I call you Miles now."
isthisart
"You could call me Linya, if you like," she offers, after a pause. "I've always liked the concept of nicknames, but it's sort of - not done."
thisvorlunatic
"Linya," he repeats. "I would be delighted to call you Linya."
isthisart
Linya giggles again.
Maz is quietly having some kind of protocolgasm over on the other sofa.
Maz is quietly having some kind of protocolgasm over on the other sofa.
thisvorlunatic
Miles is... fairly oblivious to Maz, at this point. (He made her laugh! Again! That's a thing he can do! And he can call her Linya!)
middlingalong
Ivan and an embassy staffperson thump down the stairs with his luggage. "Time to go?" he asks.
thisvorlunatic
Miles blinks. "Right. Yes," he says. "That. Let's get all our stuff hauled to the shuttleport."
middlingalong
Stuff gets loaded into a vehicle. The vehicle gets driven to the shuttleport. Stuff gets removed from the vehicle and loaded onto the shuttle.
isthisart
Some joker, or possibly well-intentioned individual, or maybe just somebody concerned about available berths, has assigned Miles and Linya to the same cabin. This will be obvious to Miles before it is to Linya; she is staring down various people who are gaping at her rather than investigating their room assignments at the moment.
thisvorlunatic
...Miles... takes a deep breath and resolves not to be weird.
"Our, er, cabin is this way."
"Our, er, cabin is this way."