"Weird," he says. "But - in a good way."

"I tend not to watch a lot of holos because everything in them looks sort of - flat and unreal and sad," she says. "I mean, the pen takes pictures in all colors, but most media isn't designed for it. I suppose if I weren't a tetrachromat everything would look like that all the time and I just wouldn't know the difference."

"'All' meaning all the ones you see - I assume there's still more that you can't?" he says. "You should make my pen take tetrachromat pictures too, even if I can't tell the difference."

"In theory there could be pentachromats, but as far as I know none have been made, so - all the colors that anyone can see. And sure, I can make the cameras the same - are you thinking you'll be taking pictures of things to show me?"

"I'm thinking that if I did, I'd want them not to look flat and unreal and sad," he says.

"That makes sense."

"I think," she says, tucking her pen away, "that I need lunch."

"Then let's get lunch!"

...Well all right then.

Om nom nom. She makes a very subtle face at the first bite but doesn't complain or make more faces as she continues her meal.

Miles decides not to ask any questions whose answers he won't like, such as for example 'how's the food?'.

"Can't complain," she says, responding seamlessly to her new form of address. "I'm going to learn Russian and design a consumer version of my," she taps her pen, "gadget. If that doesn't take two weeks I'll think of something else."

"...Is it likely not to take two weeks?"

"That probably depends on whether you talk to me in Russian."

"Well, I won't swear I'm the best conversational partner you could ask far - in Russian, anyway - but I can if you'd like."

"That'll help, then. I mean, I don't claim I'll step onto Barrayar with a native-level vocabulary, but I should be able to hold basic conversations."

"Two-week language learning. What else can you do?"

Linya raises an eyebrow at Ivan, but answers. "See more colors than you can," she starts off. "By galactic standards I'm a good programmer, software designer, and electrical engineer, and a reasonably good pianist, singer, and human geneticist. But that's about it."

"By galactic standards, implying - not by haut standards?"

"Oh, no, I'm not good at anything by haut standards. I'm eighteen. Even if I did one thing for twenty hours a day I wouldn't be good at it by haut standards."

"Haut standards seem - excessive, in that case," Miles observes.