Yes and yes. Neither Miles nor any of my observers in the area have mentioned it to me, but that doesn't rule out his being involved somehow. Thank you for this datum; I will add it to my collection.

That's all Linya hears from her agent that isn't perfectly ordinary check-ins about the agenting she's doing.

Before I say anything else: Miles is on his way home, injured but in stable condition and fully repairable.

The facts, as I understand them, are these:

The Lairouban delegation turned out to be a front for an assassination attempt on the Toranirans. Miles conceived a suspicion somehow, and in the course of investigating further before alerting his subordinates, he was captured by the Lairoubans and held captive on their ship. For reasons that remained obscure at the time this report was written, the Lairoubans gave him fast-penta; he sustained the majority of his injuries when they took exception to his idiosyncratic response. His Dendarii noticed that his wristcom's tracker had been partially disabled but was still locatable, and mounted a rescue operation, which succeeded with no further casualties. The Lairouban delegates have been turned over to local law enforcement, the Dendarii have terminated their contract early but kept the remainder of their pay as a penalty to the Lairoubans for kidnapping their commanding officer, and Miles should be home within ten days.

At some point during those several hours, she acquires a quiet audience.

Linya looks over her shoulder and plays quietly enough to be heard speaking over the notes. "Hello."

"I assume you've heard the news?"

"Yes. Having been in a room with a fast-penta'd Miles and an upset interrogator before I can construct more thoroughly detailed mental imagery than is strictly comfortable."

"Oh, dear."

"I'll be fine. So, reportedly, will Miles. But sometimes I am glad I play an instrument."

"It helps?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad."

"What do you usually do?"

"Remind myself that Miles is an amazingly capable young man, and try not to dwell."

"Sometimes I'm not so sure... but yes, it is. It's just hard to know that he's been hurt and still have to wait for him to come back."

"Simon didn't say exactly what injury it was. I wonder if he's going to have more emergency bone replacements."

"Reading between the lines of Simon's failure to say what injury it was, I'm guessing yes."

"Well, at least there's a finite number of times that can happen."

"I'm not sure I find that very comforting."

"I will actually feel somewhat better once he is no longer particularly breakable. Certainly there are other things which can also go wrong, but at least he will no longer be so plainly handicapped."

"Maybe it's too much to hope for that he won't need any more emergency bone replacements..."

"Oh, I'd prefer that, certainly - the ideal would be that he'd get the rest of his bones swapped for plastic models on a schedule without breaking them all first."

"Ah. I have no hope whatsoever of that. I know Miles too well."