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

[thisvorlunatic]

"I am going to tell all three of those people that I got married, Ivan. And since my wife seems very happy with me, I plan to stay that way... do you suppose we should have a second ceremony on Barrayar? I'll ask her what she thinks," he decides. "I wouldn't want anyone to think I wasn't serious about it, just because all I did was eat some candy and hold her hand. Ought to give my proper oaths."

[middlingalong]

"And then everyone will get the message that you're very serious about marrying your friendly but not that friendly haut-lady, that sounds great. Can haut even still have children with regular people?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm pretty sure they can, Ivan. I'm pretty sure that's actually the point of haut-wives, at least if you ask a haut-woman."

[middlingalong]

"With ghem. Ghem haven't been regular for generations."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Regular enough," he shrugs.

[middlingalong]

"Okay. So then you have a little half-haut Lord Aral No Middle Name Because She Doesn't Even Properly Have Parents? That will go over well."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm hoping to give people a while to get used to it before we actually start producing children, admittedly in no small part because fatherhood is a terrifying prospect. But if you think I'm going to let any of that stop me, in the long run, I really don't know what to tell you."

[middlingalong]

"I don't think you're going to let it stop you. I was hoping you had more of a plan."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I plan to improvise, of course. It's gotten me this far, hasn't it?"

[middlingalong]

"I recall spending a lot of time passed out on the floor of the bloody Star Creche while you improvised," mutters Ivan, but he drops it.

[thisvorlunatic]

Great. Then Miles can finish packing in peace and go find his wife. (His wife!)

[isthisart]

She's sitting in the lobby, gesturing with her pen, while Maz - perhaps feeling more equal to the task than her fiancé - is making small talk with her. The current topic is what they have each respectively heard about Barrayar; Linyabel sounds like she's working more off of books and speculation than anything, though Maz has been talking to Vorob'yev.

[thisvorlunatic]

"All packed!" he says brightly, depositing his two luggage cases in the pile.

[isthisart]

"When do we leave?" asks Linyabel. "And how long is our route from here to Barrayar?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"We leave soon. Like, as soon as Ivan's packed, pretty much," he says. "The trip's a couple of weeks, maybe a little less if they sent a fast courier."

[isthisart]

She nods. "Do you think I should learn some of the languages spoken on Barrayar? Russian or Greek or French? After I'm more familiarized with the English dialect, anyway."

[thisvorlunatic]

"It's not necessary, but it could be handy," he says. "On the other hand, sometimes speaking a language somebody doesn't expect you to just lets you hear all the nasty things they say when they don't expect you to understand..." He shrugs.

[isthisart]

"I'd rather know what they're saying than not, if they'll say it either way," she remarks. "Besides, languages are a good thing to switch to if I need a break from technical activities, especially since I won't have my music group anymore. Which first, of the three?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Smallest speaking population is Greek - that's the one I learned first," he says. "Russian and French are about tied overall, but you get more Russian-speakers near the capital."

[isthisart]

Linyabel nods and makes an invisible note of this. One may presume that's what she's doing, anyway.

"Haut Linyabel was asking me about whether there are any established protocols for how she's supposed to address assorted Vor she's likely to meet," Maz says conversationally. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's any precedent for it, and if there were I'm not versed enough in Barrayaran customs to enlighten her."

[thisvorlunatic]

"This I can explain!" says Miles cheerily. "Do you want the rundown?"

[isthisart]

"Yes, please."

[thisvorlunatic]

"The sort of minimum courtesy for anyone with a Vor in front of their name is just 'last name, Vor included'," he begins. "So Vorreedi, Vorpatril, Vorkosigan - never Mister or Monsieur for the men, but the women get Mademoiselle Vorsomebody, or Madame if married. Formally speaking, a Count is Count Vorsoandso, his wife is Countess Vorsoandso, his direct heir is Lord Vorsoandso, and all his siblings and his heir's siblings and his heir's children - but not the children of his siblings or the children of his heir's siblings - are Lord or Lady Firstname as appropriate. With me so far?"

[isthisart]

"Yes, but my question wasn't so much about what the titles are as whether any of this changes when I'm related to them."

"For obvious reasons, this interests me too," laughs Maz.

[thisvorlunatic]

With a brief smile for Maz, Miles says, "I'm getting there. I can't really explain how things change without making sure you understand what they're changing from," he says. "So by default, you would address my father as Count Vorkosigan. Being married to his son, you can also get away with the less formal but still somewhat arm's-length Count Aral. My mother, who is Betan and still doesn't really buy into all this Vorfoolishness, will invite you to call her Cordelia, which as a friend-or-relative you may freely do. If Father tells you to call him Aral, then likewise. Except in formal legal settings like a District Court or the Council of Counts, where it's always appropriate to use the most formal title."

He takes a breath and keeps going.

"And if there was exactly one each of every Lord Vorsoandso, that could be the end of it, but in fact there's also 'courtesy titles' - Ivan is an example - people for whom some ancestor impressed an Emperor and was rewarded with the privilege of calling himself Lord Vorlastname and his wife Lady Vorlastname, which is then passed on to his eldest son, and so on and so forth, a little bit like a teeny tiny miniature Countship. Their siblings and non-heir children get to be non-heritable Lords and Ladies Firstname too, and because you can now potentially have two distinct Lords or Ladies Vorsamelastname in the same conversation, any Lord Vorsomebody can be addressed as a Lord Firstname for disambiguation purposes. So if the Vorpatril heir started hanging out with Ivan a lot, they'd be Lord Ivan and Lord I-forget-the-damn-kid's-name - you get the idea, though, I hope - but it would be weirder to address me as Lord Miles, because the Vorkosigans family tree has been pretty aggressively pruned and I'm the only Lord Vorkosigan around. Does that answer your question or should I babble some more?"