Illyan is gravely ill and in the clutches of the ImpSec infirmary. Miles has spent some time there in past books—It’s not a place where good things happen.
Note: This reread has an index, which you can consult if you feel like exploring previous books and chapters. Spoilers are welcome in the comments if they are relevant to the discussion at hand. Non-spoiler comments should also be relevant to the discussion at hand. Like Earth, Barrayar and other places in the galactic nexus live out sets of cultural practices that range from beautiful to genocidal. Regardless of what may be commonplace as a cultural practice in any place at any time, comments that question the value and dignity of individuals, or that deny anyone’s right to exist, are emphatically NOT welcome. Please take note.
Alys returns from Komarr and tells Miles she’s dismayed that General Haroche is keeping her away from Illyan. Lieutenant Vorberg tells Miles that Illyan has been asking to see him. Miles bullies his way through to ImpSec’s clinic, where Illyan asks Miles to slit this throat for him.
Like many of you, I have been enjoying this lovely story about a depressed man who hires domestic help. Here is your regular reminder that Lois McMaster Bujold is NOT DEALING IN SMALL CHANGE. Now that you’ve been reminded, you will, of course, recall that Aral made a similar request of Cordelia back in Shards of Honor. At the time, Aral was in good health, but he was concerned that this could change rapidly with the fortunes of war. This was not the first time that the issue of throat cutting came up between Aral and Cordelia; They had discussed it with regard to her Ensign Dubauer. They discussed it again when they talked about Miles after the soltoxin attack in Barrayar, although in deference to the peculiarities of that situation, and, I imagine, in deference to Cordelia, they weren’t specific about the notion of throats. And since this is a re-read, and not a first pass, a number of you will know that, although no throats were cut, Cordelia honored Aral’s preferences in the end—her decisions at the end of his life reflected his preferences about not living with significant brain damage.
Miles’s parents are very much on his mind here. Alys’s appeal to Miles to join his two fellow young louts (Ivan and Gregor) in setting the situation to rights reads like a reminder of her role as a member of his parent’s generation. Her rejoinder to Miles’s assertion that Illyan isn’t recognizing people—“…how can he, if no one he knows is allowed to see him?”—is a beautiful reminder of the aspects of Illyan and his life that are unknown to us in this moment. Later in the book, we’ll be able to think back on this as a glimmer of hope. Vorberg calls Illyan Miles’s father’s liegeman, and calls on Miles to come see him for his father’s sake. Miles’s first effort to gatecrash into ImpSec’s clinic fails. Haroche’s scheming undoubtedly played a role there, but I’m unwilling to suggest that Miles’s lack of tact was completely irrelevant. Vorberg suggested that there are few left who care enough to about being Vor to make it real. Sitting with Martin on a bench outside ImpSec, Miles has a revelation. He says that he suddenly understands why he hasn’t taken steps to get his head fixed, and I believe him, but it’s also a decision to become something he hasn’t been before—Miles chooses to become a real boy, and he realizes that he alone decides what is real for him.
In the next scene, Miles lays out all of his military awards and attaches them to his Vorkosigan House uniform. Then he takes a shower. Both of these processes are about deciding who he is. In wearing all of his decorations, Miles is deciding to own everything he has ever done, in all of his personas, even if only in front of the very small audience that’s allowed to know. During his shower, he thinks about his mother, and her people’s custom of baptism.
Cordelia has long been identified as “some sort of theist,” a faith which put her in contrast to Ezar, who found comfort in the simplicity of his atheism. Bujold hasn’t said what kind of theist. Up to this point, her nebulous faith seemed like a personal quirk. Now we know that it’s not just her, it’s her people. She shares a faith with a bunch of Betans. Unless she shares a faith with a galactic community of people who practice baptism, some of whom are Betan and some of whom aren’t. Miles doesn’t spend enough of his shower time musing about who his mother identifies as her people. It’s one of his little shortcomings. The reference to baptism suggests that, if Cordelia’s religion is of Earth origin, she is most likely either Christian or Sikh. The galactic nexus is a mysterious place, and many things are possible within it—both of these and many others. I am intrigued by these options. Bujold has put Cordelia to many uses. She is the fountain, the humanist in space, an advocate for science and education. Many readers have noted her as a fierce proponent of the uterine replicator. Bujold has also used her to talk about faith, when she’s in the mood. It’s audacious. You don’t see a lot of faith in space opera, and it’s most often when someone is dying.
Baptism is about choosing who to be. Miles has chosen to be Vor, and Gregor honors his choice to show up as “the sinews of the Imperium, the Emperor’s right arm” by appointing him Auditor. This job is so naturally made for Miles, I’m amazed we haven’t heard of it several books ago. I’ve enjoyed the Dendarii and Miles’s career as their admiral, but when I take a long look back I wonder if he mightn’t have been an Auditor years ago if he had taken his father’s advice at his grandfather’s funeral and gone to work in the District from the start. I might be undervaluing the benefits of Miles’s exposure to the rest of the galaxy there, but a lot of things might have happened in that hypothetical alternate career. An Auditor speaks with the Emperor’s voice, and he needs someone who he can trust to take his orders. That would be Ivan. It makes such a difference, Miles having someone on whom he can thoroughly rely.
Ivan calls the Auditor’s chain of office a choke chain. It’s relatively light. Simon Illyan has lived his life as Emperor Ezar’s recording device. The job has taken him to many strange places—imagine living thirty-five years without having the memory of what you saw in Admiral Vorrutyer’s bedroom drawers fade. It may not have been Ezar’s intention to take everything from Illyan, but somehow he has. Illyan is perilously close to having nothing but ImpSec, which at this point is both his job and his place of residence. His closest friends are on Sergyar. Miles can’t think of any other closer personal relationships Illyan has. That might be Miles being dense. I hope it is, anyway. The chip gave Illyan the ability to remember everything—it didn’t require that he think about his memories all the time, or recall them unpredictably. That’s what Haroche has done, and that’s why Illyan has been driven to beg for his own death.
Illyan’s path to removal from office didn’t come with an honorable offer of suicide. What little we know about his time in ImpSec’s clinic suggests that he has been trying anyway; His combative behavior has complicated medical care, and he has refused food. Illyan is clearly concerned that these measures will not be sufficient. I believe that if Aral had been available, Illyan would have asked for him instead. I infer that this is important enough to Illyan that he forced himself to keep track of which of his friends was on the planet even when he could not reliably know the year or understand many aspects of his own situation. I’m a romantic, so I’d like to think this speaks to his desire to spare Alys. My path to proof is a convoluted one, and Miles’s recent role as Illyan’s trusted subordinate makes sense too. Miles is the wrong man to ask to cut anyone’s throat; He specializes in rescue missions.
This is a wonderful set of scenes here. When I first read it, I thought it was veering away from the narrative direction of the series. But looking back I realize that this was the direction where Bujold was heading all along. Miles truly steps into his name in these chapters.
Interesting that the worse thing to do to both Illyan and Miles is to screw with their heads. Sitting in with Illyan sounds like one of the most terrible things to endure. Then Illyan has it worse. Ouch.
I really wish LMB had mentioned the concept of Auditor in any of the prior books. It’s a great role for Miles going forward but an obvious retcon.
Miles bullies his way through to ImpSec’s clinic, where Illyan asks Miles to slit this throat for him.
It’s a very common theme in Barrayarans that they don’t deal well with being injured or crippled, not at all.
Cordelia honored Aral’s preferences in the end—her decisions at the end of his life reflected his preferences about not living with significant brain damage.
A cleaner and more sanitary death than his enemies might have thought he deserved, but respectable in the way of choices, however it lead me to the scary thought about how many people on Kibou Dani are kept in that eerie state themselves, neither dead, nor expecting a chance to be alive.
This job is so naturally made for Miles, I’m amazed we haven’t heard of it several books ago.
Like 3, I’m pretty sure it didn’t exist before, even the auditors in the Mountains of Mourning framing story aren’t portrayed that way.
At most, you could construe it as a form of the Emperor’s Voice, like Miles was the Count’s, but yeah.
Given that a free associating Cordelia associates the number twelve with Apostles I think it’s pretty certain she’s some very liberal brand of Christian.
@5 I seem to recall Bujold has described Cordelia’s religion as vaguely Presbyterian.
@5 – Did Mehta ask about the number ten?
MAN this is my second favorite scene in the entire series. (My favorite being the disastrous dinner party in A Civil Camaign, and a CLOSE third being Nikki calling Emperor Gregor in same.)
When Miles puts on every single medal and comes at Gregor…CHILLS. And then the payoff when he shows up at ImpSec!! So good.
Of coirse, Bujold only lets us savor the agony of victory for a moment before it gets turned into just another stakes upping, but DAMN if that moment isn’t the sweetest.
I agree with RobM@3…waves….It is a great role for Miles, and like his relationship with Illyan, he only answers to one man, Gregor. I suppose that’s appropriate, given that he is about that close to the camp stool himself, Gregor’s closest friend, and a proven leader. But yeah….I wish we’d heard of it earlier. Perhaps another Auditor story/character mixed in somewhere.
I love the part where Harouche gets Miles ejected from Impsec and denies him access, forcing Miles to “choose” who he is. And I love his display of medals in Gregor’s office. I so wish he could wear them to a ball some time and watch the jaws drop.
7, Nope, she asked about 17, birth, death, Vorrutyer, Vorkosigan, sex, and July. And her response to 12 included eggs and days of Christmas.
But this does lead me to thinking about how Barrayar is very religion-lite, there’s a vague bit of ancestor reverence, the semi-superstitious amulets that barely got mentioned, but other than that, not so much. I’m not even sure if Father Frost counts as a Santa or not.
@6, Wow, Presbyterians have sure gotten laid back over the centuries! Predestination and all?
Koudelka was also considering cutting his own throat in Barrayar – apparently throat-cutting (as opposed to any of the myriad other ways to kill oneself (or to be killed by someone else)) is seen as particularly appropriate on Barrayar.
Isn’t throat-cutting also what is done to mutant infants?
12, well, they also have starvation, execution by beheading, the odd plasma arc, quartering and the method they used on Mad Emperor Yuri, which involved being cut to pieces it seems.
13, yep, the purpose of the marriage scalpel I believe.
That moment where Miles pins on every military award, makes that choice to own his present, past, and future, is glorious- and surpassingly rare in fiction. You see a lot of protagonists owning up to the past, or facing the future, but integrating it all is too seldom saved for the deathbed scene. Which, in some ways this secretly is.
This comes up, in a comic moment in Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, when it’s revealed that Illyan used to have, courtesy of his memory chip, an astonishing collection of pornography in his head that he was unable to get rid of. The more I consider Illyan’s implicit ability to not think of things, the more awed I am. Not thinking of pink elephants isn’t just an exercise in self-control; for him it’s a mental health requirement.
Also in this bit:
And
As far as I’m concerned, Ivan and Miles are binary stars of this series. Ivan’s continued appearances is probably as good a clue as any that Miles’ ultimate fate will always be with Barrayar.
@14 The marriage scalpel was blunted as a guarantee that it wouldn’t be necessary to use it.
The audit that happened in the Borders frame story almost certainly WASN’T a capital-A Audit. Imperial Auditors are, well, Imperial. IIRC that audit was pushed by a faction in the Counts, and possibly also in the military, but not driven (or opposed) by Gregor. If there was an Auditor involved, he was there as a spectator or a resource or a leash, not an instigator. So even in retrospect, that doesn’t seem like the right moment to introduce the role.
Prior to Memory, there actually aren’t a lot of good moments to do more than name-drop the notion of Imperial Auditors.* The pre-war parts of Barrayar would be the best chance, as Aral’s getting up to speed on the Regency and there are some investigations going on. You could maybe fit something into Warrior’s Apprentice or possibly Vor Game, and maybe-possibly Mirror Dance too. Given publishing order, though, having Gregor semi-facetiously offer Mark an Auditor in Mirror Dance (and then having someone else explain the role) is going to look like a clumsy shoehorning more than deep forethought.
*A too-blatant name-drop isn’t satisfying either, IMO. It’s less “seamless world-building” than direct foreshadowing.
Cordelia’s religion is interesting. There are enough hints (apostles, baptism, some of the things she says about sin) to suggest that she’s probably in some kind of Christian tradition. But she doesn’t seem, aside from this reference to her people, to speak often of coreligionists. She doesn’t have any on Barrayar, evidently, which is reasonable enough. But even Miles, who has spent quite a bit of time with his Grandma Naismith (that year in school: if she was a churchgoer, we can assume he made at least a token visit), generally talks about her beliefs in the singular: “my mother believes tests are a gift,” and so on.
If those were beliefs that Grandma Naismith shared, that were doctrine in some Betan sect, one imagines Miles wouldn’t have attributed them quite so singularly to Cordelia. I think she’s pretty self-sufficient in her doctrine, and might well have outgrown* whatever Betan church she once belonged to, even before leaving.
I’m sure Beta Colony’s Presbyterians are pretty laid back, by our standards (they’re Betans). But there’s no particular reason to believe Cordelia is a doctrinaire example either. The sole religious practice we know for sure she shares with others is baptism, which is VERY lowest-common-denominator.
*At least in terms of her theological needs. Whether it was a functional, mutually-supporting human community or not, we have no idea, and she might have been happy there if it was.
I also take heart that Cordelia didn’t foist her religion onto her child. I’m sure it was explained and offered but not forced. That’s clearly my own baggage though.
I love the medal scene, but my favourite bit is yet to come. “the best of two falls out of three”
Wow, Presbyterians have sure gotten laid back over the centuries!
Well, yes. That’s generally how you get little Presbyterians.
(Another episode of “the importance of hyphenation”…)
I try not to nitpick, but this sentence dragged me out of the flow:
Vorberg suggested that there are few left who care enough to about being Vor to make it real.
Suggested replacement:
Vorberg suggested that there are too few left who care enough about being Vor to make it real.
14, the one mentioned in Memory, would have been, if not for being eliminated, though that might have developed after re-contact once they had the technology for genescans. Still, there were times they were used in the not so distant past, and possibly even in the present.
17, an easy fit would be in Barrayar, when introducing the various sinews of government (and even that’s lightly done), with a possibility of a slight usage of one in Shards of Honor and reflecting on their duties wouldn’t be out of place in Cetaganda but let’s face it, Bujold needed to do something with Miles, found it, and she regularly beats continuity with a lead-lined rubber hose.
@20, Ajay,
I wonder if he mightn’t have been an Auditor years ago if he had taken his father’s advice at his grandfather’s funeral and gone to work in the District from the start.
Possibly. However that would have to be a considerably different Miles. Prior to Memory his defining ambition was to be recognized for his successes, or at least Naismith’s successes. When he meets with the other auditors in Gregor’s office at the end of the book, they’re specifically described as being past personal ambition, having achieved their own personal goals and not needing to prove anything to anyone. I can see him taking up the mantle of running Vorkosigan District while his father was Prime Minister, especially after the experience in Silvy Vale, and going at it with the determination to be the best damned administrator it’s ever had, but that still wouldn’t give him the attitude of personal satisfaction that he had when he completed his final Auditor report for Gregor, and not caring what anyone thought of it.
24, sometimes I wonder about the Vorkosigans, they do love their district, and they’re good at military problems, but they apparently have a history of poor performance on the profit/loss scale. It may be nurture, not nature though, if Mark is any guideline.
Still, they’re somewhat in the way of impoverished, not because they spend poorly, but because they spend all they have for others. Making them richer in more ways.
@24
not needing to prove anything to anyone
And that’s the key – in all books going forward, Miles now knows who and what he is. He no longer craves the recognition of all and sundry, he doesn’t need the Little Admiral, he is simply content to do what he does well for the greater benefit of Barrayar. And then he realises he needs a girlfriend,and it all comes crashing down again.
Go back a book or two, and he really doesn’t know what he wants. That’s the sort of epiphany that only ever happens out of the blue once you have a certain amount of experience. His condition is the sort of firm external trigger to bring it about.
The Auditors themselves are such an interesting group of people too. Well, except for the old bore, but he’s just there as an honorary role until he dies anyway.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but reading this book helped me prepare for dealing with my mother after a stroke. It is quite jarring when someone who you depended on becomes someone who is utterly unable to care for themselves, and loses the capability to think clearly.
You know, I’d forgotten that Illyan asked Miles to cut his throat if his chip couldn’t be fixed. Looking back it’s because I never saw it as an actual request. I always viewed it as an afterthought, if you can’t save me sort of thing.
I’ve always viewed the scene between Miles and Illyan in that hospital room is both horrifying and incredibly heartwarming. It was always about trust in my mind. When everything has gone to pieces, and you can’t trust the inside of your own mind, who do you trust? Who is it that, whatever they tell you, no matter how strange or bizarre, you’ll believe?
For Illyn, this is Miles. He doesn’t ask for Aral or Cordellia or Alys or Gregor. When things have down right crazy, the man Illyn wants at his side is Miles Vorkosigan. I think this is partially habit, that is what Miles has been to Illyn for the past 10 years or so. He’s been the guy Illyn has turned to when Illyn needs the impossible done.
I also like the foreshadowing earlier in the book when Illyn fires Miles. He says “I’d rather have mistrusted my memory implant before you” and later in the book, that’s exactly what he does.
As far as throat-cutting goes, it seems to be what Barrayar prescribes for those whose lives are deemed medically unfit to live. Perhaps seen as a kindness – one quick cut and it is done, as opposed to some of the more torturous means of murder used as executions. So anyone from a newborn “mutie” to a disabled soldier would fall in this group.
@26 He finds in this book that all the things he did in pursuit of what he thought he wanted wasn’t really getting him closer to his goals. He’s got years of honorable service he can’t tell anyone about and a chest full of medals that he can’t explain. Even his Cetagandan which he actually won for being Miles deals with above top secret affairs. His Imperial Thanks and being taken up into the Star Creche in Diplomatic Immunity may very well be his first public rewards as Miles Vorkosigan. Imperial Auditor was more of a harder job than a reward.
26, I suspect General Vorparadijs may be more worthy than it looks like on first glance. Sure, now he’s over the hill, and a little worn out, maybe somewhat hidebound, but in his day, he would have been working for Ezar, who didn’t suffer fools gladly.
25) Historically it seems the Vorkosigans, at least from Piotr onward, spent more time serving the Empire in the field or in Vorbarr Sultana, leaving the district proper somewhat adrift, a fact exacerbated by the fact Vorkosigan Vashnoi destroyed in the Cetagandan Occupation, which probably took out not only the district’s governmental but also economic center. Even some fifty years after the event, the new capitol still has the feel of a sleepy village in Barrayar.
I suspect that if Aral’s elder brother had lived, Aral would have thrown himself into improving the District, as Cordelia had suspected in GJRQ. Likely Silvy Vale would not have wanted for power around the time of MoM.
32, I don’t recall Hassadar being described as such, though certainly the Cetaganda efforts were a major problem(even if a bit unrealistic), I can’t recall how much of the District was off-limits, but I know it was mentioned somewhere that it was a fair portion of the usable land, so that had to hurt things locally.
Many places like Silvy Vale would likely still be suffering, regardless of the efforts of Vorkosigans, and it’s possible Aral might have ended up less involved in the District if his brother (still unnamed) had lived, though perhaps that brother might have done more himself.
I’ve never quite had a sense of how Piotr was as a Count, though I doubt it was all Polo Matches, he was probably breeding horses for quite utilitarian purposes as well.
By the end of the book, Miles has made peace with himself and with Barrayar. He is committed.
His reward for Illyan’s and Gregor’s trust is a very exclusive job. One of the hardest. It is quite an honor in and of itself!
If I remember correctly, each of the Auditors came from unique backgrounds, thus providing a range of knowledge, skills, and viewpoints. Without the Dendarii, Miles would not have had the Galactic expertise to be the group’s specialist in this area. It’s nice to see the Little Admiral’s skills integrated into the Barrayan Miles.
34, there’s 3 Generals/Admirals confirmed, Vorparadijs, Vorkalloner, and Valentine. And even Vorhovis had been a soldier, then moved into the Diplomatic line. Vorthys and Vorgustafson are the two explicit civilians. Vorlaisner is something of an unknown. I wouldn’t say the military guys are completely identical, and two of them are “technically” retired anyway, but how different they are is hard to say, and perhaps they might have another hole to fill, but since Miles never pursued another route, it’s hardly meaningful to worry about.
I do wonder if there’s any thought of a Komarran to add to the picture, I doubt there’s anybody old enough to qualify who would count as a Sergyaran, though it’s possible to stretch it.
@35 I wonder when a woman will make Auditor. Imagine Cordelia in the role. Or Helen Vorthys, with her analysis skills. Or one of the Koudelka women, later in life…
Actually, I wonder what job(s) Gregor gave Simon after the events of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance. He’d make at least as good as Imperial Auditor as Miles.
(As Miles and Mark reflect in Brothers in Arms, idle experts can become a trial. It’s a pity that neither mentioned this to Gregor before Simon acquires Jacksonian refugee baronial step-in-laws.)
I still get excited reading the scebe when Miles dons his medals.
I like the explanation @28 of why Ilian calls for Miles and not Aral. it hadn’t bothered me previously until Ellen pointed it out in her post though.
@12 In Barrayar, Piotr introduces Bothari as a throat cutter, and he probably doesn’t even know about Bothari and Ges Vorrutyer.
@36 I’ve also thought about Illyan as an Auditor when Gregor wonders what to do with him. Perhaps as the Ninth Auditor instead of one of the permanent positions. There’s a story in AO3 with Illyan as an Imperial troubleshooter on Jackson’s Whole, but I can’t remember if he had an Auditorial appointment.
@35/36
It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see a Komarran named as an Auditor following the death of Vorparadijs – most likely someone with extensive Trade and Galactic experience, independently wealthy, and no direct links to the Toscanes. Barrayar needs someone able to investigate those sorts of issues now that they are becoming a star empire in truth as well as name.
Not to mention that someone needs to be able to crosscheck Miles as needed.
I’m not sure though that Illyan would make for a good Auditor even if he wanted the responsibility any more – most of his professional experience has been in foiling plots and seeing the worst in everyone while pulling the strings from HQ. He doesn’t have the wide spread of professional contacts that the others bring to the table – Auditors all seem to be well connected within their fields.
On the other hand he’ll make a wonderful “The Emperor is Watching You” figure to deploy when someone needs unofficial reminding – a former Chief Whip equivalent who literally knew where all the bodies were buried. And still might, that ambiguity is very useful.
36,38, I’d probably not have Simon as an Imperial Auditor in the long term, he’s wanting to keep a low profile for various reasons, but he may be serving as some sort of “Flag-rank” adviser and Imperial envoy.
He could also have taken over from Aral with the Academy class on illegal orders.
I don’t doubt Helen Vorthys had some role in the Dowry document, and it’d hardly surprise me if she wasn’t consulted on some other matters.
39, I was actually wondering if a Toscane with a very sterling reputation might be a choice, nepotism is a Barrayaran tradition after all.
And who is the Imperial Counselor anyway?
I’m pretty sure Illyan would like to stay retired, albeit with some hobby that doesn’t involve making bets with rogue Jacksonians. A stint as Ninth Auditor in a crisis would be fine but I doubt he’d want the job full time. Miles has most of the relevant expertise anyways.
@38 I’m pretty sure throat-cutter in that context means sneaking up behind sentries and the like.
42, I have to give LMB credit, she did have Illyan specifically disapprove of the folks at Impsec letting him get away with what they were doing just in the dance practice.
@43 He did stack the deck by making sure Allegre et al weren’t available. Especially since he probably still has security clearance, so his presence is pretty easy to construe as some level of official endorsement.
Though “What the hell, Simon?” was such a lovely moment for Ivan.
44, exactly why it made such a good test. I imagine he’d have replied “Of course I made it unfair, do you think our enemies won’t cheat?”
Give poor Illyan a break. He doesn’t need to be an auditor, he deserves a well-earned rest. I retired last year, and trust me, even though I have skills, I have no interest in applying them, other than perhaps giving sage advice here and there to the young folks who followed in my footsteps.
@46 – Illyan had his rest, and was Getting Bored. Hence the second half of CVA.
He doesn’t need to be a full-time Auditor, but he does need something to keep him from playing high-stakes games while Bored. And he can’t be left to his own devices to figure out his hobbies – see, again, the second half of CVA for what happens when you let him do that.
@29
That’s what I’m thinking – it’s considered a merciful way to die, and an appropriate favor ask a dear friend or relative to do for oneself if one is incapable of it to due to disability; the murders of mutie babies used to be done that way when the practice was legal (Ma Mattulich didn’t, but only to keep her crime secret), so that fits too (since the killers of mutie babies would prefer to think that what they were doing was merciful).
Women can be the Emperor’s voice in certain roles; Alys has that power when she goes to see Laisa’s parents. The Empress certainly can act for the Emperor (just as a countess can act as a deputy for her husband); it is mentioned that the counts will be swearing oaths to her (and the Empress is the one woman whose oath to her husband and an oath to the Emperor cannot conflict). However a woman as an Imperial Auditor would probably, under Barrayaran law, have to be single (or married to another Imperial Auditor).
@49 Erp – I think the gender bias on Barrayar is mostly traditional rather than legal; a female Auditor is unthinkable rather than illegal. So there is probably no formal barrier against Gregor appointing a female Auditor.
I don’t think a woman’s oath to her husband would be a problem, there seems to be no conflict between Miles’ Auditor oath and his oath to the Count his father.
Lieutenant Vorberg addresses Miles as “Vorkosigan, not “Lord Vorkosigan”. Just two missing “Lord”, but it is enough to create an frank barracks atmosphere to the exchange. Masterly.
50, that’s hard to say, there is specific mention that a woman’s oath to her husband was considered superceding to any other duty, which was an excuse to justify an excuse for treason, and Prime Minister Vortala seemed adamant that Cordelia was excluded from certain spheres of influence.
It’s certainly possible that Vorberg was addressing Miles as a fellow officer, not a social one. The details of proper form are quite complicated.
Women, including married ones, do take liege oaths, and accept them too. Cordelia is also expected to swear allegiance to Gregor and her medical students are oath sworn to her, not Aral.
Ekaterin may not be a totally reliable narrator on the point of the Marriage oath. As her marriage deteriorated she became obsessed with the oath binding her to Tien. Divorce is clearly not unthinkable on Barrayar so any number of women, including Lady Donna, have been absolved from their marriage oaths.
52, I think Ekaterin’s reference was historical, but then on Barrayar, that means traditional, and nearly, if not more so, forceful than law itself. Being expected to swear is one thing, prioritizing the oaths is another. And they may all be honored more in the breach than the actual.
Divorce is complicated, it may not quite be at the galactic level, but on the other hand, Falco could have been messing with Ivan.
Oh Falco was definitely messing with Ivan!
But how much? I mean, clearly Ivan didn’t want to get divorced so much as not be married.
It was of course obvious to any casual onlooker that Ivan and Tej were in love. However I do think Falco meant every word of his warning about playing fast and loose with voluntarily assumed oaths in his jurisdiction. However he also accepted that adultery and abuse, as well as genetic issues a very Barrayaran clause, were grounds for absolving a marriage oath. Barrayaran women and men are not expected to take anything an abusive or neglectful mate dishes out in the name of keeping their oath.
56, other way to think about it, did Falco really have to have a reason not to allow them to divorce? How much they really go through in terms of marriage dissolutions, well, who knows? Forcing people to stay married who really don’t want to…well, Kareen and Aral could testify about that problem. Does point to the problem of having a personal relationship with the law’s arbiter. I’d say there is a bit more of a problem with Ivan’s use of the marriage as a “creative” solution to a more or less legitimate grievance. They were individuals without proper documentation, and if hiring one worked, then why not both? (To Bujold’s credit that is acknowledged in the book. Oh Ivan…)
Even if a more plausible solution is simply hiring a reasonably competent advocate on Komarr. Asylum as a policy is hardly unwarranted, both are reasonably skilled individuals and capable of contributing to the Imperium. Slight concern of them being targets for assassins, but what else is new? They’re still worth more than certain wayward Ghem Lords.
Fortunately, through the magic of narrative dynamics, it all worked out well. Better than can reasonably be expected.
@52/@53: Middle-class Vor like Ekaterin may be more conservative than high-Vor like the Vorrutyer (in fact, doesn’t Ekaterin describe her family that way?).
@58, that is almost certainly why Ekaterin stuck with Tien as long as she did. His genetic flaw gave her the perfect grounds for divorce. She could have used that as leverage to force him to get treatment for himself and Nikki. It would either have ended their marriage early or saved it and Tien. Unfortunately Ekaterin was too kind and too afraid of emotional confrontation to be so brutal.
58, I think the wording used was “More Vor than the old Vor” ? or something? Sasha Vorvayne was certainly considered conservative, if not his wife, and it’s not unusual for the middle-class to be more concerned for preserving itself over those at the other ends. Something about them having the most to lose?
Falco had good reason to prevent them from divorcing. They were, essentially in a fraudulent marriage to commit immigration fraud, and perhaps Vor-fraud, claiming Vor privilege for one who is not genuinely Vor.
What Falco, and the other Counts, don’t need is to have people realize that you can marry a Barrayan, claim the rights of a Barrayan subject, and then easily divorce without consequences.
Hence the showy precedent, that Ivan and Tej can’t use marriage just to give her temporary Vor status and protection.
Falco, and the other Counts, might also want to think about their protocols for what constitutions a “legal” marriage as well, though they’re really victims of Bujold pulling a historical example (not that Komarr’s capital is exactly Gretna Green), it is a bit dubious that they’re still taking simple witness as lawful.
I do wonder if there’s an actual immigration office dealing with these things, unfortunately our only other example is nearly as fast and loose, but even then, it has a whiff of legitimacy given right of ancestry.
@39 – I don’t see a Komarran Imperial Auditor anytime soon. An Auditor has all the authority of the emperor, which is why they tend to me middle-aged or older and have a lifetime of history to show their loyalty. Not to mention judgement, skill, understanding of Barrayaran interests, and temperance. And, perhaps most importantly, the Emperor’s trust in them.
However is Komarran going to be able to have – and show – all these characteristics? Coming from a planet where people are still gunning for Barrayarans, are still suspicious of anyone named Vorkosigan, and have had little ability to delve deeply enough in Barrayaran culture to be able to represent it and its interests faithfully? Not to mention someone who can balance the interests of the planet Barrayar, the plant Komarr, and the Empire properly? Then add in the problem of getting Barrayarans to accord the Komarran Auditor the proper status. Even Galeni still has problems fitting in.
So no, I don’t anticipate Gregor appointing a Komarran as Imperial Auditor.
Don’t forget that Falco talked with Alys before hearing Ivan and Tej’s plea. She clearly was in favor of their staying married and we know how well Alys works the Vor system.
63, all of those are valid concerns, but they are also reasons for integrating Komarrans into the sinews of the Imperium. An Auditor, as the trusted hand of the Emperor, says a lot.
Actually, I wonder who the Imperial Consular is. And how are they chosen? A direct appointee or some semi-elected position?
@65, I believe that is known as “putting the cart before the horse”…
66, I really can’t see that particular idiomatic expression as applicable, Gregor’s already got a policy of integration in law and body. The last thing he would want is an appearance of avoiding integration due to a lack of trust.
And all it takes is Bujold making the decision to do it, and it’ll happen.
Oh, at last. ♥