"The idea that this is a modernity thing is very strange to me, coming as I do from the twenty-second century."

"Yes, well, Barrayar," says Miles.

"Coming as I do from Earth, if you like."

"If you came from our Earth you'd be at least somewhat more prepared for our planet's tangled history."

"From what I've been able to gather, the timelines didn't diverge that much until well after the date of my death. Anyhow. I will not suffer terribly from being a wingless tailless creature whenever this is convenient."

"Right, but you still need someone to generally interface between you and people who aren't prepared to hear that you're a magical demon from another universe, and that person might as well be someone who won't mind the optional anatomy. Hey, Gregor, can I steal Ivan for this?"

Gregor blinks. "I don't see why not. Whatever for?"

"I just have the feeling it might be handy to have someone around who'll do what I say without fussing too much. In case of Komarrans who won't touch me with a ten-foot pole, or whatever."

"Who's Ivan and why does he do what you say?"

"My cousin. Sort of thoughtless but generally helpful."

"And he will not object to the optional anatomy either?"

"He'll probably make some stupid remarks, but he won't run away weeping or start a riot or try to shoot you, and I expect he'll get used to it soon enough."

"Okay. I am sort of curious about what sort of stupid remarks."

"Well, you'll get to find out soon enough."

"Apparently. What kind of schedule are we on here?"

"What kind of schedule would you like?"

"My understanding is that getting all the way to Komarr takes a while, so whenever's convenient for my escorts, I suppose, I'm excited about the project but I've waited this long. In the meantime I can give somebody a crash course on generic summoning in case you want more than one demon's worth of magic done. I'll help you pay the fairies and angels if you like."

"I'll take the crash course," volunteers Miles. "Since I'm already in line for the uncertain side effects."

"And we can start seeing how, exactly, it works to have daeva summoned here, since as far as I know that's unprecedented, and I'd like to be sure that you can dismiss and resummon me before I go off to the middle of nowhere to attempt to make wormholes."

"...If I can't dismiss you, I want to find that out before I summon anybody else; but if I can't resummon you, I want to find that out after you do whatever you're going to do to Komarr," says Miles.

"I could look through my old notes and see if there's any daeva I can specify for you who wouldn't object to the change of scenery? But yeah, reasonable point."

"By all means, look through your old notes."

Cam pulls out his disguised computer and starts poking around on it. "Here's hoping there's overlap between that set and the set I'd trust unbound, because being stuck here indefinitely bound would kind of suck..."

"Yeah, sounds like it."

"Eh, bindings aren't that bad, you can make them nice and loose even, but there's being attached to a particular task for a couple of months for a big project and then there's years and years where you can't just - do things." He gets to where he was going in his notes. "And - nope, there's no crossreference. Sorry. So I guess get the essentials out of me and then I'm guinea-pig for resummonability."