"I'll tell Carolyn you like 'em. He was the orchestrator of the plot. No reason to believe th'captain himself's not squeaky clean, though."

"If you say so..."

"He replaced the Tau Ceti courier, he expressed his desire that Galen not die in my little raid as a preference not an order, and Mark has been bunking unharmed a yard away from my head since that time, I don't think they're connected beyond the technical relation."

"Yeah, it'd take a real paranoid to suspect him," Mark contributes. "Suspect me first, I'm the one who was specifically raised to hate you and your entire family. It didn't work, mind, but you don't have a good way to know that."

"Just what was in fact the plan?" he asks, morbidly fascinated.

"Replace and kill you, kill your father, kill Gregor Vorbarra, become Emperor of Barrayar. As told to me. As actually planned, of course the next step was for me to go the way of Mad Yuri, preferably in as violent and lengthy a civil war as possible, while Ser Galen organized a revolt on Komarr. I'm sure he had no idea I'd figured him out. Seemed to think that as long as he didn't tell me outright, I'd never come to it on my own, as though my brain was only capable of generating pre-approved thoughts."

"The plan also totally failed to factor in the involvement of time-traveling bars."

"Those are harder to predict, though."

"Sure blindsided the hell out of me. Especially the way you literally vanished while I was making for the door and there was, like, a lingering echo for a second."

"An echo of what?"

"You giggled. You disappeared before the giggle did. I didn't mention that? I guess it didn't come up."

(Miles is busy blinking away visions of what would have happened to Barrayar if this plot had proceeded as planned. God, what a horror.)

"Sorry," says Mark, glancing at him. "I didn't want to. As soon as I was on Barrayar I probably would've just - stopped. Spilled it all to your parents and let them decide what to do with me. Well, that or killed myself."

"Our parents," Miles corrects. "And - thank you, sort of. I like that plan better than the plan that ends in civil war. But I think the best outcome is the one where we're both still alive, eh?"

"Thank Ivan, then. He's the one who rescued me."

"You're welcome," Ivan says magnanimously.

"Yes. Thank you, Ivan, for saving Mark from having to murder me."

"I exist to save Vorkosigans inconvenience."

"Oh, is that what you're for."

"That and hugs. Don't forget hugs. Hugs are important."

"I suspect you'd find not being hugged on a routine basis kind of inconvenient, correct me if I'm wrong."

"I don't know if 'inconvenient' is exactly the word..."

"Eh." Ivan shrugs. "Hugs may be included as an addendum if you like."

He beams.