Count Aral Vorkosigan, Viceroy of Sergyar, scanned the flimsy the aide handed him and set down his coffee mug with a deep and profound sigh of relief
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Several hours later, Will stood with Cordelia in the Residence's small courtyard gardens, watching the slanting afternoon sunlight make rainbows in the spray of a tiny marble fountain. He dipped a hand in the basin, and watched the water drip from his fingers onto the gravel of the path, and turned a little to smile at her. "It's a lovely place," he said.
Her dry smile faded slightly, and her eyes went a little distant as she ran her fingers over the rim of the fountain. The change of subject, though abrupt, was not entirely unexpected.
"I've been trying to decide whether or not I should go back to Milliways."
"And it's crossed my mind that you already know whether I have. Whether I will. Will have." She frowned, and made a small irritable throwing-away gesture with one hand. "You know what I mean."
Cordelia raised an eyebrow at him, in full appreciation of the layered ambiguity.
"Which makes it somewhat difficult to discuss the matter with you. Which is a pity, as you're one of the few people in the world who has any familiarity with the situation."
He trailed his fingers in the water again, and flicked droplets into the misting spray.
"I can listen, if you like," he said gravely. "If it would help you to talk it over with me. But I cannot make that decision for you, even by telling you what it was you decided."
Will seemed entirely comfortable with the temporal confusion. He was; paradox was not something that affected an Old One, and time was not entirely a linear road to those of his kind.
"There are precautions I could have taken. Should have taken. That would have prevented this." She watched the fountain for a moment. "And I could, of course, simply begin taking them now. To prevent anything like this from happening again.
"In which case ... it's not sufficient because it doesn't do anything to redress the wrong I've already caused. Which, truthfully, can't be redressed."
Her grey eyes regarded the fountain calmly, pitiless in introspection.
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Her dry smile faded slightly, and her eyes went a little distant as she ran her fingers over the rim of the fountain. The change of subject, though abrupt, was not entirely unexpected.
"I've been trying to decide whether or not I should go back to Milliways."
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"Which makes it somewhat difficult to discuss the matter with you. Which is a pity, as you're one of the few people in the world who has any familiarity with the situation."
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"I can listen, if you like," he said gravely. "If it would help you to talk it over with me. But I cannot make that decision for you, even by telling you what it was you decided."
Will seemed entirely comfortable with the temporal confusion. He was; paradox was not something that affected an Old One, and time was not entirely a linear road to those of his kind.
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Her tone was flat and uninflected. It might have been an order, or a prediction, or a plea.
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"For some reason that doesn't feel sufficient."
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Her grey eyes regarded the fountain calmly, pitiless in introspection.
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