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One summer day, a baby appears on the literal doorstep of the Imperial Residence's west servants' entrance. She is in a basket. She doesn't look Barrayaran; while Barrayar is not uniformly Caucasian, it has very few people of east Asian extraction, and that is where this baby appears to have been toted from by more or less circuitous routes of migration and inheritance.
It is not terribly difficult for ImpSec to find the person who put her there - recent hire to the kitchen staff, competent but not overwhelmingly concerned with security when it was literally just a baby and not an explosive and he was offered a large chunk of change. Tracing back this chunk of change leads through a long meandering trail of people, variously shady, none of whom acted with particular malice beyond greed and the sort of vague dishonorableness of putting packages on the doorstep of the Imperial Residence.
The trail ends at someone who - under fast-penta - has no memory whatever of having interacted with the baby, the cash, the shady person who druggedly identified her, or anything else about the affair. She doesn't even have a similar-looking sister to explain the mixup. She has nothing in her background to explain how she would come by an offplanet baby or why she would convey it by such a circuitous method to the Imperial Residence. It's definitely not her baby - the lady's six months pregnant and the baby isn't that old.
In the meantime, the baby is parked with Droushnakovi, who found her in the first place; Cordelia, who was the first person she went to; and Gregor, as Drou is his personal bodyguard.
The baby and her basket are searched and found to be: a baby, and a basket. There is no note, it's the middle of summer and the child wasn't even in a blanket, the basket itself and the baby's onesie turn out to be local products that a Vorbarr Sultana thrift shop didn't even bother reporting stolen.
The baby babbles in her sleep. She's very cute.
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hatchedplan
"Do they drink tree blood?"
"Vampire horses!"
So does Nika. "Horse horse horse I will sit on a horse."
greatcomposure
"Yes you will."
Piotr comes back, leading a horse. It is a very calm-looking horse, but also reasonably pretty. Cordelia allows him to pick up Nika and set her down on the back of the horse.
Piotr comes back, leading a horse. It is a very calm-looking horse, but also reasonably pretty. Cordelia allows him to pick up Nika and set her down on the back of the horse.
And Nika clings to the saddle and beams. "Does the horse have a name?" she asks.
"His name is Acrobat," says Piotr.
"Acrobat!" repeats Nika. "Does he know his name?"
"Yes, he does."
"Hi Acrobat! I am sitting on you."
Acrobat doesn't seem particularly impressed.
"How does he know when to go? Go, Acrobat!"
He does not go. That is apparently not how he knows when to go.
Acrobat doesn't seem particularly impressed.
"How does he know when to go? Go, Acrobat!"
He does not go. That is apparently not how he knows when to go.
"When you get to ride a pony, I'll teach you how to tell the pony to go," Piotr promises, chuckling. "For now..."
He walks along a little bit, leading Acrobat. Acrobat goes. Piotr keeps a close eye on Nika to make sure she still isn't falling off.
He walks along a little bit, leading Acrobat. Acrobat goes. Piotr keeps a close eye on Nika to make sure she still isn't falling off.
Nika holds on tight and grins. "Acrobat doesn't fall!"
"He's a horse," says Piotr. "Horses don't fall much."
"They have more feet though. Two feet is complicated."
"Four feet don't fall over as easily as two," he says. "Think about tables. Have you ever seen a table with two feet? It'd never stand up."
"Oh. Can I get more feet?"
"Humans have two feet each," Piotr says firmly. "That's the right number."
"But I fall."
greatcomposure
"But think how silly you'd look, walking around in a horse costume," he says. "Everyone would laugh at you."
Cordelia... observes this exchange.
Cordelia... observes this exchange.
"Can I have wings instead?" she tries. "There is nothing to trip on for flying things and I could be a fairy."
greatcomposure
"Fairies aren't real," says Piotr. "Real people don't have wings. But if you learn to ride a horse, you can go around on four feet - and not even your four feet, so you won't have to deal with how complicated they are."
Cordelia smiles slightly at this feat of diplomacy.
Cordelia smiles slightly at this feat of diplomacy.
"I will go on a pony and know how to tell the pony to go," Nika agrees. "But, I am from a basket. I could be a fairy."
greatcomposure
"Is that how it works?" inquires Piotr.
"I don't think your Grandda believes in fairies," says Cordelia.
"I don't think your Grandda believes in fairies," says Cordelia.
"If I was a fairy I could do fairy magic," says Nika. "I play fairy magicking people, sometimes."