Okay, that's sort of cute.

—Miles splutters.

Mark giggles uproariously.

"Apparently I like him more."

"Apparently you do!"

"Suspect he likes hugs more."

"I suspect the same."

Ivan snorts.

"So, what the hell am I going to do in here for the next ten days?"

"There's not a ton to do. Catch up on your reading? There's a gym?"

"Oh. Joy."

"You could talk to me," Mark suggests.

"...Unlikely to be boring," Miles acknowledges.

"They'll probably put you next door. Unless they've got a reason to prefer moving Mark."

"Next door would suit me just fine."

"Less hassle that way. ...You should probably tell th'captain that Mark saw through your cover."

"To what end? The Dendarii are my problem."

...Mark seems deeply puzzled by this statement.

"Well, they're enough your problem that I'm not planning to tell him, but, I don't know, seems - polite."

"Yeah, well. What's your read on him, am I going to be in trouble for having a psychic brother?"

"Not more than 'confined to the embassy' amounts of trouble, I wouldn't expect. Possibly also a lecture?"

"I," says Mark, "am still very stuck on how your secret mercenaries came to be named after the bloody Dendarii Mountains. Isn't that just a touch obvious?"

"I didn't mean them to be my secret mercenaries when I named them. I didn't actually mean them to exist when I named them. It all just sort of... happened," says Miles.