singing open the great gates

[middlingalong]

The following day, very little happens, except for Vorreedi mentioning that Yenaro has been arrested (by the civil police, for theft, on charges from a ghem-lord Miles has never heard of, as opposed to by Cetagandan security for treason).

Also, Ivan gets bored - with all the bodyguards Vorreedi now requires for them after the incident at the bioestheties exhibition, the possible spontaneity of going out with his ghem girlfriends is much reduced.

But the next day they get to attend the Singing Open of the Great Gates.

And oh, is there ever singing.

Comments

[exerce_imperia]

The remaining Cetagandans undergo a remarkable transformation, from haut-blankness to a more expressive affect. The Emperor looks angry. Lisbet looks... slightly amused.

"Give the boy a chair, Fletchir," she says. "He fell onto the inside of a haut-bubble force-screen; if you make him stand up for much longer, he's going to fall over."

"As you wish," says the Emperor. He manipulates a control; a station chair rises from the floor next to Miles.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles collapses therein.

[exerce_imperia]

"I am sure you all see now," says the haut Fletchir Giaja, "the wisdom of our ancestors in arranging that the haut and the Empire shall have only one interface. Me. Only one veto. Mine. Issues of the haut-genome must remain as insulated as possible from the political sphere, lest they fall into the hands of politicians who do not understand the goal of haut. That includes most of our gentle ghem-lords, as ghem-General Naru has perhaps proved to you, Nadina."

Nadina nods unhappily.

Lisbet shakes her head. "More to the point, look at Ilsum Kety. That is what I would call the true result of our ancestors' wisdom. The culmination of their high art. I am not yet sure where the solution lies, except that it certainly isn't with the late Celestial Lady's intended Imperial mitosis."

Fletchi regards Lisbet thoughtfully. She regards him right back, direct and calm. "Backups," she says firmly. "Backups, and perhaps an Imperial edict or two to encourage constellation crosses and genetic diversification. We need more experiments," is that a slight incline of her head towards Linyabel? "not less."

"Hm," says Fletchir. "And—Nadina—whatever possessed you to spill the contents of the Great Key across the entire Eta Ceta system? As a joke, it does not amuse."

[thisvorlunatic]

"My idea," interjects Miles from his chair. "And no joke, sir. As far as we knew, we might all have been about to die sometime in the next hour. It was my understanding that the highest priority was the recovery of the Great Key. The receivers got the Key but no lock - valueless gibberish, without the gene banks to go with it. One way or another, we assured you would be able to recover it, even after our deaths, regardless of any measures Kety might take. The upload was only canceled after Benin charged in and arrested everyone. Live or die, the job gets done—that's the best kind of strategy, in my opinion."

"Hm," Fletchir repeats. He glances at Nadina, then Linyabel. "Is this true?"

[isthisart]

"Yes," Linyabel agrees.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles takes a breath.

"What will happen to - um, everyone? Naru, Kety, the other governors, Vio..."

"Naru will be executed," says the Emperor. "Haut Kety will... retire. Immediately. To a supervised estate. If he objects, suicide is also an option. The other governors will finish out their current appointments, after which they may find new ones hard to come by."

[exerce_imperia]

"And Vio," says Lisbet, "despite... certain other suggestions, will be permitted a painless suicide. Externally administered, if necessary, but I don't believe it will be."

"As for everyone," says the Emperor, with a faintly exasperated glance between Miles and Lisbet, "that is a problem on which I shall now retire and meditate."

He summons Benin to herd Miles away, which Benin does, reuniting him with Ivan and Vorreedi in the process. The three of them are taken to the Western Gate of the Celestial Garden, where a car from the Barrayaran Embassy awaits.

[middlingalong]

Benin addresses Vorreedi before the car carries them off.

"We cannot," he says, "control what goes into your official reports. But my Celestial Master... expects that none of what you have seen or heard will appear as social gossip."

"That, I think I can promise," Vorreedi says sincerely.

"May I have your words upon your names in the matter, please?" says Benin.

He can have Ivan's, sure as anything.

[thisvorlunatic]

And Vorreedi's, and Miles's. And with this assurance, he permits them to depart. Miles guesses from the colour of the sky that it's maybe two hours till dawn.

Vorreedi waits until halfway through the ride to ask Miles coldly, "What did you think you were doing, Vorkosigan?"

"I stopped the Cetagandan Empire from breaking up into eight aggressively expanding units. I derailed plans for a war by some of them with Barrayar. I survived an assassination attempt, and helped catch three high-ranking traitors. Admittedly, they weren't our traitors, but still. Oh. And I solved a murder. What more d'you bloody want?"

Vorreedi looks like he is just barely restraining himself from throwing up his hands. "Are you a special agent or not?"

"Well," Miles says pleasantly, "if not... I sure succeeded like one, didn't I?"

[middlingalong]

Ivan groans.

When they're back in the embassy, and back in their suite - well, it's hardly a secret anymore, he was on her lap in front of everybody.

"So you weren't kidding about your friendly haut-lady."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I wasn't," Miles agrees. "And apparently she wasn't kidding either. But God only knows what Emperor Fletchir is going to decide. He was very keen on reasserting control of the interface between the haut and the... not."

[middlingalong]

"How friendly is she?" wonders Ivan.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Ivan."

[middlingalong]

"You were sitting in her lap! I wondered!" Ivan exclaims, holding up his hands defensively.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Not that it is your business in any way, but we haven't done anything friendlier than that. And now for God's sake I'm going to sleep." Miles stomps off to bed.

[middlingalong]

Ivan leaves him be.

Well, for a while.

Then he shakes him by the shoulder.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Urgh," says Miles, attempting to haul a blanket up over his head.

[middlingalong]

"Are you having post-mission sulks?" Shake shake. "Up you get, come on. You look great, very formal and ceremonial, force-screen bruising on forty percent of your surface area."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Shut the fuck up, Ivan," groans Miles. "What time is it? Why are you awake? Why are you here?"

[middlingalong]

"Ghem-Colonel Benin is on his way here to pick you up. In an Imperial land cruiser, half a block long. The Cetagandans want you at the cremation ceremony an hour early, and no, I don't know if they're going to prep you for bonus cremation or a wedding."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles throws a pillow. It misses, an impressive feat at this range.

(Despite himself, his heart leaps.)

"Fine, I'm up, I'm up," he grumbles, shambling out of bed.

[middlingalong]

"Start depilating. I've brought your uniform and boots from the embassy laundry. Anyway, if the Cetagandans wanted to assassinate you they'd probably do something subtler."

Ivan also produces a coffee bulb.

[thisvorlunatic]

Coffee, oh God, coffee. Miles will forgive Ivan everything in exchange for coffee. He gulps it down, grooms himself as best he can in his exhausted state, and lets Ivan hurry him into the appropriate uniform.

[alicornucopia]

In the lobby, they find, not Benin, but Mia Maz, in funeral garb and keeping Vorob'yev company. She looks very chipper for the early hour. She will be, she says, accompanying Ambassador Vorob'yev. Who asked her to marry him the prior evening. She said yes, she reports cheerily. "Still. Lady Vorob'yev. How did your mother cope, Lord Vorkosigan?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"You mean, being an egalitarian Betan and all? No problem," breezes Miles. "She says egalitarians adjust to aristocracies just fine, as long as they get to be the aristocrats."