Miles bolts after it - futilely; the bubbles aren't all that fast in absolute terms, but they can still bob along faster than he can run. He loses sight of it halfway through the shrubbery, and emerges shortly afterward onto one of the Celestial Garden's main walkways, where half a dozen visually identical white haut-bubbles are floating unhurriedly along the white-jade-paved path.
With a breathless growl, he turns and—stops just short of bouncing off Vorreedi.
"Vorkosigan, what the hell is going on? And where is Vorpatril?"
"I'm just about to go check on that right now," he says, trying without success to sidle out from under Vorreedi's hand on his shoulder. "Sir."
"Cetagandan Security had better know. I'll light up their lives if—"
"I don't think Security can help us on this one," Miles cuts in. "I think I need to talk to a ba servitor. Immediately."
Vorreedi frowns in puzzlement, and as a side effect loosens his grip on Miles, who promptly ducks past him back into the shrubbery. A red-uniformed guard in the black-white-red Imperial face paint is just visible in the distance, approaching them at a fast walk - not nearly bloody fast enough, in Miles's opinion; five minutes earlier he would have been a help, but now he is just one more obstacle. Miles ducks past him too, only hearing half of his "My lords, the pavilion is this way" speech; the guard falters slightly, and then seems to decide that Miles is headed in the right direction and stays to listen to Vorreedi's explanation that they have mislaid Lord Vorpatril and would appreciate his prompt return.
He encounters no ba on his way back to the latest refreshments pavilion, but once inside it, he spots an old bald one right away. Good; that's his favourite variety right now.
"Excuse me, Ba," he addresses it politely. "I must communicate immediately with the haut Lisbet Serise. It's an emergency."
The ba appears slightly puzzled, but leads him a short distance into an otherwise unoccupied service area, where it speaks into its wrist-com briefly. The result of this exchange is a surprised ba yielding its wrist-com to Miles and stepping out of earshot.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-07-17 08:29 pm (UTC)With a breathless growl, he turns and—stops just short of bouncing off Vorreedi.
"Vorkosigan, what the hell is going on? And where is Vorpatril?"
"I'm just about to go check on that right now," he says, trying without success to sidle out from under Vorreedi's hand on his shoulder. "Sir."
"Cetagandan Security had better know. I'll light up their lives if—"
"I don't think Security can help us on this one," Miles cuts in. "I think I need to talk to a ba servitor. Immediately."
Vorreedi frowns in puzzlement, and as a side effect loosens his grip on Miles, who promptly ducks past him back into the shrubbery. A red-uniformed guard in the black-white-red Imperial face paint is just visible in the distance, approaching them at a fast walk - not nearly bloody fast enough, in Miles's opinion; five minutes earlier he would have been a help, but now he is just one more obstacle. Miles ducks past him too, only hearing half of his "My lords, the pavilion is this way" speech; the guard falters slightly, and then seems to decide that Miles is headed in the right direction and stays to listen to Vorreedi's explanation that they have mislaid Lord Vorpatril and would appreciate his prompt return.
He encounters no ba on his way back to the latest refreshments pavilion, but once inside it, he spots an old bald one right away. Good; that's his favourite variety right now.
"Excuse me, Ba," he addresses it politely. "I must communicate immediately with the haut Lisbet Serise. It's an emergency."
The ba appears slightly puzzled, but leads him a short distance into an otherwise unoccupied service area, where it speaks into its wrist-com briefly. The result of this exchange is a surprised ba yielding its wrist-com to Miles and stepping out of earshot.