"That's good! You two settling in all right?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"You're entirely welcome. I have sent Aunt Cordelia and Uncle Aral the awkward letter. They'll get it in a week and a half, ish."

"Won't that be a surprise."

"Yes, I imagine."

He laughs. "I hope they're not too upset."

"Well, I imagine Uncle Aral pacing a lot. Aunt Cordelia will probably be very Betan about it."

"Very Betan?"

"...I'm not sure how else to summarize it. She's probably... got some businesslike attitude towards finding two unplanned clones of her child have been raised by a villain backed up by lots of cultural history, a pithy saying, and a very down-to-earth handbook entitled So Your Child Was Cloned Twice Without Your Knowledge?"

Aaron giggles.

"Yeah, that does sound typical," says Mark.

"Anyhow, turns out th'Captain is your captor's son. Weirdest thing. Squeaky clean far as I can tell though."

"Yeah," says Mark.

"Let me know if you two need anything, will you?"

"Absolutely," Aaron assures him.

And Ivan leaves them be.

They're a quiet bunch, are these extra Vorkosigans. Mark just doesn't seem to leave their room at all, and Aaron is polite and friendly but not very talkative when he's out fetching food or other necessities. (He doesn't ask Ivan for anything.)

Ivan checks in on them once a day, usually in the late afternoon when he's done with work but hasn't gone out for the night yet. "Mark, why are you always cooped up in here?"

"Because I'm a terrifying abomination who shouldn't interact with people if I can avoid it," says Mark.

"You'll learn. Or you won't, I suppose."

"May I ask what manner of warning sign exactly should be on the door? 'Do not enter, abomination' is non-specific."

"Eh," he says. "Hard to explain." He pauses consideringly for a moment, then—

"Extreme trouble relating to people, if I had to summarize," he says, in an unnervingly accurate imitation of Miles.

Ivan backs into the doorframe with a thump. "The fuck did you just do."