sunchime | ☆ the vorkosigan saga psl post, volume 3

He's privy to my mission because I report to the damned dwarf.

[ He sighs and stretches. His manner is both weary and affable. ]

God help me.

[ sonia's damn near in danger of giving herself a haircut with how hard she's biting at her hair. the ghem-colonel raises his eyebrows. ]

Dwarf? Is he a mutant? [ that's such a barrayaran word for it, but then, he is interrogating a barrayaran. ] Is that the reason he was kept secret, then?

He's been kept secret because Piotr Vorkosigan would kill him or himself if he found out they were related. Do you know how the Great General would shit himself if he learned he had a mutie grandson?

[ He laughs. ]

It'll come out eventually, I suppose. Oh, how I want to be there when it does...

[ sonia's eyes go wide and her mouth all but drops open. no, byerly, god, no... it isn't his fault, but she still feels sick all the same.

the ghem-colonel leans forward, his face unreadable. ]

General Vorkosigan is thirty-two.

[ Byerly leans forward in return and says, mockingly mimicking the ghem-Colonel's accent: ]

We're time travelers.

[ sonia's throat works, a look of disbelief shimmering over her face -- miles she'd known about, yes, but byerly -- then again, the clues were all there. she just hadn't put them together, somehow. stupid, stupid...

the ghem-colonel looks like he doesn't want to believe this is possible, but then, they have a dragon and a bunch of talking space rocks. ]

Time travelers. From the future.

Mm. Yes. About sixty years from now.

[ A grin cracks his face. ]

And guess what? I'm Barrayaran, not a subject of the Ninth Satrapy. And - ooh. Go on, ask me what happens to all of you after you're recalled off this planet back to Cetaganda. Ask me, please.

[ sonia almost chokes on her own breath. they win? they win the war? the vorbarr sultana that byerly's been painting all this time -- does it really exist? she knows he can't be lying, he can only say what he believes is true, but sonia can't take him for a madman. she covers her mouth with both hands and start to cry, silently.

the ghem-colonel's face is hard now. this isn't a simple interrogation anymore. this is going to be a problem. this time, when he speaks, it's through his teeth. ]

By all means.

[ He laughs. The sound is affable, cheerful - and all the more chilling for that. Because immediately afterwards, he looks to the ghem in the room and tells them - ]

You're executed. And you're executed. You're all such blunderers that none of you are allowed to live.

[ Another laugh, cheerful as anything. ]

So tell me...any second thoughts about defecting? Oh, it's cold, yes, but it does mean life for all of you...

[ sonia wishes she had something to hold onto right now, anything. she feels like the room is tilting out from under her. please stop asking, she thinks fervently, frantically. please stop asking, i don't want to know.

the ghem-colonel snaps his teeth shut, nostrils flaring. coolly: ]

I think the rest of that line of questioning is better saved for another interrogation. The ghem-General will want to sit in on that one. What I would like to know right now is why the Countess was included in your mission. Don't you Barrayarans think less of your women?

[ If he were more in control of himself, Byerly would keep picking at it, boring at that little crack, driving after the ghem-Colonel's fear, fanning its flames. That's what he does best. Plants doubts, plants bad ideas, flatters and flirts. Turns people away from their usual purposes. Finds out where the seeds of doubt are and reports it back to his superiors. Under fast-penta...he just cheerily nods and moves along. ]

You know, it's sweet. I think the old man genuinely loves her. I think he respects her.

[ sonia's brow knits at that. of course he does. she may not be piotr's biggest fan, but olivia wouldn't pick anyone less than him. the ghem-colonel raises his eyebrows. ]

Enough to include her in top-secret missions over his general staff?

Ask her.

[ Byerly's bright eyes focus on Sonia's face. ]

She knows.

[ sonia shrinks back in her chair, unprepared to be the sudden focus of the interrogation. the ghem-colonel purses his lips and mutters: ]

I just might. [ sonia swallows. the ghem-colonel continues. ] I'm asking you, Vorrutyer. Why would he share that information with the Countess, and only the Countess?

[ He looks for just a moment stricken - no, no, don't, I'm sorry, I don't want them to notice you - before it smooths over into affable complacency again. ]

I really didn't ask. I cared more about other things.

[ sonia bites her lip at that look on his face, all of it genuine. he's terrible at being honest, yes, but the fast-penta is taking care of that for him. there's no room for doubt.

the ghem-colonel taps his fingers on the tabletop. ]

What other things?

[ A little ripple of his lips. ]

Telling Sonia. He wouldn't permit it.

[ sonia finds she can't look away now, her breathing painfully shallow. she has the sudden uneasy sense that they are close to something perhaps better left unknown. the ghem-colonel raises an eyebrow. ]

You wanted to tell her?

Of course.

[ Mildly, indifferently, he says: ]

She's very important to me. And betraying her like that has shattered everything we had. And it may have been completely pointless.

[ sonia's trying to keep the trickle of tears back, but this is -- it's so much. everything since seeing byerly here for the first time has just been so much. the ghem-colonel lets out a little hm. ]

What was the nature of your relationship with the Princess?

[ That draws a laugh out of him. ]

I don't know.

[ sonia looks about as perplexed by that as the ghem-colonel, except he looks annoyed. ]

What do you mean, you don't know? You've said yourself you're loyal to her.

I am.

[ He gives a little sigh. ]

I suppose she's everything, in her way.

[ sonia feels dizzy. it had been such an elaborate game with him, back at the camp, all fun but genuine enjoyment. this should be a relief, to hear it -- in a way it is -- but with every word she feels worse for what she did, what she's done, what point she's brought them to.

the ghem-colonel looks at byerly with distant curiosity. ]

Do you love her?

[ at that, sonia's head snaps toward him, the bottom dropping out of her stomach. she opens her mouth to interject, to jump out of her chair, but it's already too late. no. no, no, why would you ask him that? ]

[ And he laughs. The sound is somehow sort of - distant. Strange. And he answers quietly: ]

As I love my own native soil. As I love Barrayar. Yes.

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(metric's "gimme sympathy" plays muffled in the background)

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