Ah, she's a legend, back at home. She emigrated from another planet, but she used to be a scientific survey ship captain before she came to Barrayar to marry her husband. She's brilliant in a hundred different ways and terrifying, but only dangerous when she absolutely has to be. She also happens to be my foster-mother.
[Gregor hesitates for a beat.]
And therefore Miles' biological mother. Cordelia Vorkosigan née Naismith broke into the Imperial Residence where Miles' replicator canister was being held captive at the end of an attempted coup to take power from Miles' father, who was Regent at the time. My own mother was killed during the ensuing chaos and Cordelia beheaded the man responsible with a swordstick, burned down a whole wing of the Residence, and carried, along with the replicator, the head back in a plastic bag to dump on the negotiating table in front of her husband, father-in-law, and all of the other side's conspirators. She is also one of the most deeply decent people I have ever known. Though she does make a hell of a first impression.
So, ah, you begin to get some of an idea of where Miles gets it from.
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[Gregor hesitates for a beat.]
And therefore Miles' biological mother. Cordelia Vorkosigan née Naismith broke into the Imperial Residence where Miles' replicator canister was being held captive at the end of an attempted coup to take power from Miles' father, who was Regent at the time. My own mother was killed during the ensuing chaos and Cordelia beheaded the man responsible with a swordstick, burned down a whole wing of the Residence, and carried, along with the replicator, the head back in a plastic bag to dump on the negotiating table in front of her husband, father-in-law, and all of the other side's conspirators. She is also one of the most deeply decent people I have ever known. Though she does make a hell of a first impression.
So, ah, you begin to get some of an idea of where Miles gets it from.