bioestheties exhibition

[middlingalong]

The following day they visit the 149th Annual Bioestheties Exhibition, Class A, Dedicated to the Memory of the Celestial Lady. This dedication, though rather last-minute, makes it a key stop for offworlders on Eta Ceta for funerary proceedings. Lord Vorreedi is, unexpectedly, present too; he may be hard to slip.

The exhibits are gorgeous. Unnatural colors of various flowers are sufficiently routine to be used as borders for the real show - fish with clan marks on their scales (this exhibitor is about twelve), a pet unicorn (this one is possibly not even an exhibit), a tendril of vine that attempts to entrap Ivan's foot (its keeper dislodges it), and a kitten tree.

Ivan is displeased by the kitten tree, believing there to be glue involved in the attachment of kittens to their pods. He picks one in a determined rescue attempt. It is not ripe; the kitten expires when detached. Vorreedi offers to discreetly dispose of the poor beast, for which Ivan is intensely grateful.

Their erstwhile friend Yenaro is present. When Ivan notices, he points the man out to Miles.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

Yenaro, making impotent protests and trying without success to get Ivan's hand off his arm, eventually obeys, cut off mid-vague-threat by the bright flash of heat.

[thisvorlunatic]

"And that was only a gram of the stuff, if that. Multiply this," he gestures at the scorch mark on the quasi-marble tile, "out to the full mass of your little carpet bomb - about five kilos, I'd guess. But you probably have a better idea. I imagine you carried it in here personally. You've obviously never had military training, or you would've recognized it yourself, by the smell—sensitized asterzine. You can dye it to almost any colour, mold it to almost any shape, and until it meets the right catalyst it's totally, harmlessly inert. But as soon as they make contact," scorch mark. "Which is what would have happened to you, me, Ivan, the ladies, the exhibit, and anyone else who happened to be passing by, if you'd dumped that pitcher like you planned."

[alicornucopia]

"This is - some sort of trick," Yenaro insists.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Of course it is. But this time the joke is on you. Tell me, what effect did your good friend the haut-governor say this was going to have?"

[middlingalong]

"He -" Yenaro looks desperately at the scorch mark; sniffs his catalyst-damp fingertips. "Oh."

"Confession is good for the soul," says Ivan. "And the body," he adds menacingly. "What did you think you were doing?"

"It... was supposed to release an ester. That would simulate alcohol poisoning. You Barrayarans are famous for that perversion. Nothing that you don't already do to yourselves!"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Allowing me and Ivan to stumble through the rest of the exhibition blind drunk, I suppose. Charming. Did you come pre-antidoted?"

[middlingalong]

"No, it was - supposed to be harmless - I had arrangements to go and sleep it off. I thought it might be an - interesting sensation."

"Pervert," trills Ivan.

Yenaro glares at him.

[thisvorlunatic]

"That first night, at the Marilacan embassy," says Miles. "When I was burned - you weren't entirely faking all that apologetic fluttering, were you? You didn't expect that level of... severity."

[middlingalong]

"I - thought perhaps the Marliacans had adjusted the power. It was supposed to shock, not - injure. I was told."

"The zlati ale was yours, though, wasn't it?" growls Ivan.

"You knew?!"

"I'm not an idiot."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles leaves the pitcher on the floor next to the scorch mark and stands, gesturing to a little bench tucked against one side of the nook. "I've got something to tell you, Lord Yenaro, and I think you'd better be sitting down."

[middlingalong]

Ivan helps with the sitting down thing. Yenaro looks aggrieved.

Ivan then also pours the remaining liquid onto the nearest potted tree.

[thisvorlunatic]

"This isn't just a few cute tricks played on the unsuspecting envoys of an old enemy," Miles says quietly. "You are a pawn in a treasonous plot against your own Empire. The last such pawn I know about was Ba Lura - I assume you've heard how it ended up. You were all set to play out the same pattern, just now." He gestures at the scorch mark for emphasis.

[alicornucopia]

"That - that can't be," says Yenaro after a silent moment. "It's too crude, it would have started a blood feud between his clan and those of the - bystanders."

[thisvorlunatic]

"No," Miles corrects. "It would have started a feud between their clans and yours. Because who would be around to say you hadn't set the trap yourself, and then incompetently walked into it with the rest of us? It would be the obvious conclusion, from the evidence available. A very elegant way for your backer to dispose of you at exactly the moment you ceased to be useful."

[alicornucopia]

"The Ba Lura..." says Yenaro slowly. "Committed... suicide."

[thisvorlunatic]

"No. It was murdered. Your Imperial Security is already headed down that trail. They'll reach the end eventually; I'm just not sure it will be soon enough."

[alicornucopia]

"You must believe - I would have no regrets if you two fell off a cliff. But I would not push you myself."

[thisvorlunatic]

"So I judged," he says, nodding. "For the sake of my curiosity - what were you promised, in return for all this? Or was the scheme its own reward?"

[alicornucopia]

"A post. You don't know what it's like - to be in the capital without a post. No position, no status, you're no one. I was tired of being no one. I was going to be Imperial Perfumer. It might not sound like much but - it would have gotten me entrance to the Celestial Garden, maybe the Imperial Presence itself. Would have worked among the very best of the Empire. I would have been good at it."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yes," says Miles. "I imagine you would have been. Which governor was it, by the way?"

[alicornucopia]

"...Haut Ilsum Kety."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Thank you." He checks the time. "God, I'm late - you'll have to take it from here, Ivan. Good day, Lord Yenaro, and a much better one than you were meant to have."

[middlingalong]

Ivan nods grimly.

Yenaro wilts.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles nods shortly to both of them and heads off to the appointed meeting place.

[alicornucopia]

There is the ghem-lady, who hands him off after a walk to the same little ba he's been following, who takes him to a bubble in a secluded alcove in a cathedral-esque building.

"Hello again," says Linyabel. "Any luck?"