Captain Vorpatril's alliance

Not unlike Ivan Xav’s job, this seemed to say. “Wait, was he the lieutenant who smuggled baby‑you and your mother out of this city back when it was under siege?”

“Yep, that’s the one. Three more daughters, y’know. Where are they all, at the moment, Delia? Because I figured Tej could stand to meet some more Barrayaran women.”

The blonde replied, “Martya’s down in the Vorkosigan’s District with Enrique, working on one of Mark’s projects. Kareen’s on Escobar with Mark‑I’m not sure when they’ll next be back. And Olivia’s out in the Vorrutyer’s District with Dono. Would Count Dono count, do you suppose?”

“ No,” said Ivan Xav, then hesitated. “And anyway, that’s a lame pun.”

Delia grinned unrepentantly; Galeni hid a smile behind his hand.

“And you and Ivan Xav?” Tej inquired of Galeni.

“I don’t go as far back as Delia,” he replied easily. “I first met Ivan when I was senior military attache at the Barrayaran Embassy on Earth, and Ivan, as a wet‑behind‑the‑ears lieutenant, was assigned as one of my assistants. About…has it really been ten years?”

“Eleven,” said Ivan Xav, a bit glumly.

“My word.” The crow’s‑feet at the corners of Galeni’s eyes crinkled.

As the first course arrived, Galeni and Delia took it in turns to draw Tej and Rish out about their own travels. Rish was describing their time on Pol when Tej, overcome with a sense of Morozovian deja vu, turned to Galeni and said suspiciously, “Wait. Are you another ImpSec man?”

“Well, yes, but I promise you I am off‑duty, tonight,” he assured her.

His wife put in proudly, “Duv’s been head of ImpSec’s Komarran Affairs department for the past four years. He was one of the first Komarrans to enter the Imperial Service, as soon as it was opened to them.”

Commodore Galeni, it soon transpired. And another of the Legendary‑Illyan’s old trainees. But he and Ivan Xav did appear to be friends in their own right, not watcher and watchee. Or not just watcher‑as the conversation wended over a surprisingly wide range of topics, Tej had the distinct impression that both members of the couple were testing for the answer to the unspoken question Is she good enough for Our Ivan?

That was…kind of nice, actually, that Ivan Xav had such friends. Tej had enjoyed a string of carefully‑vetted playmates, growing up, from among the children of her parents’ higher‑level employees, but all were scattered now. Or worse, suborned to the new regime. When she tried to come up with a list of intimate friends, the sort who might ask, Is he good enough for Our Tej? they all came out family, or at least some of the survivors‑Jet, Rish, maybe Amiri. Also all scattered. She hoped Jet was still safe with Amiri.

Galeni’s presence did account for the absence of Byerly, she realized a bit belatedly; it would not do By’s town‑clown cover good to be seen dining out with one of the senior officers of ImpSec.

When they arrived, roundaboutly, at the account of how Tej had met and married Ivan Xav, she was afraid it was going to be The Coz and The Gregor all over again, or at least, Galeni wheezed red‑faced into his napkin to the point where his wife stopped giggling long enough to look at him in concern.

Galeni straightened up and caught his breath at last. “At least it sounds better than your last kidnapping.”

“I thought so,” Ivan Xav agreed ruefully.

“What?” said Tej.

Galeni hesitated, then said, “One of the more traumatic incidents of my till‑then remarkably trauma‑free sojourn on Earth. Ivan spent a very unpleasant afternoon kidnapped by, ah, a group of conspirators, who hid him in the pumping chamber of a tidal dam.”

“An afternoon?” muttered Ivan Xav. “Try a subjective year. Pitch‑dark, y’know? I couldn’t have read a clock if I’d had one. Also cold, wet, cramped, and underground. Listening the whole time for the damned pump to start, and drown me, when the tide turned.”

Tej, picturing this, felt her throat tighten. “Sounds nasty.”

“Yeah,” said Ivan Xav.

“Among the several pressing reasons I was kissing my career goodbye about then, that came high on the list,” sighed Galeni. “To be handed Lieutenant Lord Vorpatril to look after, and then lose him…not good on my resume, I assure you.”

“But he was rescued,” said Rish. “Obviously. By you, Commodore?”

“Captain, back then. Let’s say I helped. Fortunately for my resume.”

“Is your claustrophobia better now?” Delia asked Ivan Xav, more in a tone of curiosity than concern.

Ivan Xav gritted his teeth. “I do not have claustrophobia. Thank you very much, Delia. There’s nothing irrational about it…About me.”

“But Miles said‑”

“I have an allergy to total strangers trying to kill me, is all. One that Miles shares, I might point out.”

Delia’s lips twisted. “I don’t know, Ivan. I think Miles actually gets rather excited by that.”

“You may be right,” agreed Galeni.

“Do you suppose it’s the attention?” said Delia. “He does like to be at the center.”