“Yeah, really,” said Ivan Xav, returning the handshake and smiling in evident sincerity. “Tej, Rish, I’d like you to meet my friend Duv Galeni, and his wife Delia.”
The blond woman waved in a warm way; Galeni bowed Vor-like over Tej’s hand and murmured, “Lady Vorpatril,” and shook Rish’s, “Mademoiselle Rish.”
After they were all seated, studied the menus, had the Vorgarin District-style stroganoff recommended, and placed their orders, Tej asked, “How do you all know each other?” Because Galeni was no Barrayaran Vor, certainly; wrapped within that cultured voice Tej heard a faint Komarran accent.
“Delia, I’ve known all my life,” Ivan Xav explained. “Her father, Commodore Koudelka, worked for my uncle, back when. Aide-de-camp and secretary.”
Not unlike Ivan Xav’s job, this seemed to say. “Wait, was he the lieutenant who smuggled baby-you and your mother out of this city back when it was under siege?”
“Yep, that’s the one. Three more daughters, y’know. Where are they all, at the moment, Delia? Because I figured Tej could stand to meet some more Barrayaran women.”
The blonde replied, “Martya’s down in the Vorkosigan’s District with Enrique, working on one of Mark’s projects. Kareen’s on Escobar with Mark-I’m not sure when they’ll next be back. And Olivia’s out in the Vorrutyer’s District with Dono. Would Count Dono count, do you suppose?”
“ No,” said Ivan Xav, then hesitated. “And anyway, that’s a lame pun.”
Delia grinned unrepentantly; Galeni hid a smile behind his hand.
“And you and Ivan Xav?” Tej inquired of Galeni.
“I don’t go as far back as Delia,” he replied easily. “I first met Ivan when I was senior military attache at the Barrayaran Embassy on Earth, and Ivan, as a wet-behind-the-ears lieutenant, was assigned as one of my assistants. About…has it really been ten years?”
“Eleven,” said Ivan Xav, a bit glumly.
“My word.” The crow’s-feet at the corners of Galeni’s eyes crinkled.
As the first course arrived, Galeni and Delia took it in turns to draw Tej and Rish out about their own travels. Rish was describing their time on Pol when Tej, overcome with a sense of Morozovian deja vu, turned to Galeni and said suspiciously, “Wait. Are you another ImpSec man?”
“Well, yes, but I promise you I am off-duty, tonight,” he assured her.
His wife put in proudly, “Duv’s been head of ImpSec’s Komarran Affairs department for the past four years. He was one of the first Komarrans to enter the Imperial Service, as soon as it was opened to them.”
Commodore Galeni, it soon transpired. And another of the Legendary-Illyan’s old trainees. But he and Ivan Xav did appear to be friends in their own right, not watcher and watchee. Or not just watcher-as the conversation wended over a surprisingly wide range of topics, Tej had the distinct impression that both members of the couple were testing for the answer to the unspoken question Is she good enough for Our Ivan?
That was…kind of nice, actually, that Ivan Xav had such friends. Tej had enjoyed a string of carefully-vetted playmates, growing up, from among the children of her parents’ higher-level employees, but all were scattered now. Or worse, suborned to the new regime. When she tried to come up with a list of intimate friends, the sort who might ask, Is he good enough for Our Tej? they all came out family, or at least some of the survivors-Jet, Rish, maybe Amiri. Also all scattered. She hoped Jet was still safe with Amiri.
Galeni’s presence did account for the absence of Byerly, she realized a bit belatedly; it would not do By’s town-clown cover good to be seen dining out with one of the senior officers of ImpSec.
When they arrived, roundaboutly, at the account of how Tej had met and married Ivan Xav, she was afraid it was going to be The Coz and The Gregor all over again, or at least, Galeni wheezed red-faced into his napkin to the point where his wife stopped giggling long enough to look at him in concern.
Galeni straightened up and caught his breath at last. “At least it sounds better than your last kidnapping.”
“I thought so,” Ivan Xav agreed ruefully.
“What?” said Tej.
Galeni hesitated, then said, “One of the more traumatic incidents of my till-then remarkably trauma-free sojourn on Earth. Ivan spent a very unpleasant afternoon kidnapped by, ah, a group of conspirators, who hid him in the pumping chamber of a tidal dam.”
“An afternoon?” muttered Ivan Xav. “Try a subjective year. Pitch-dark, y’know? I couldn’t have read a clock if I’d had one. Also cold, wet, cramped, and underground. Listening the whole time for the damned pump to start, and drown me, when the tide turned.”
Tej, picturing this, felt her throat tighten. “Sounds nasty.”
“Yeah,” said Ivan Xav.
“Among the several pressing reasons I was kissing my career goodbye about then, that came high on the list,” sighed Galeni. “To be handed Lieutenant Lord Vorpatril to look after, and then lose him…not good on my resume, I assure you.”
“But he was rescued,” said Rish. “Obviously. By you, Commodore?”
“Captain, back then. Let’s say I helped. Fortunately for my resume.”
“Is your claustrophobia better now?” Delia asked Ivan Xav, more in a tone of curiosity than concern.
Ivan Xav gritted his teeth. “I do not have claustrophobia. Thank you very much, Delia. There’s nothing irrational about it…About me.”
“But Miles said-”
“I have an allergy to total strangers trying to kill me, is all. One that Miles shares, I might point out.”
Delia’s lips twisted. “I don’t know, Ivan. I think Miles actually gets rather excited by that.”
“You may be right,” agreed Galeni.
“Do you suppose it’s the attention?” said Delia. “He does like to be at the center.”
Ivan Xav choked into his own napkin at this one, and was drawn away from his little moment of irate by uniting with this old friend in trading scurrilous observations about The Coz, none of which, Tej noticed, Galeni tried to gainsay.
At dessert, the commodore pulled a small, flat case from his jacket pocket and pushed it rather shyly toward her and Ivan Xav. It contained a book-disc, she saw. Ivan Xav eyed it warily. “What’s this, Duv?”
“Something of a combination birthday and wedding present. Well, perhaps more for Lady Tej than you. A new history of Barrayar since the Time of Isolation. Just released from the Imperial University Press this week, after some years in the preparation. Professora Vorthys is going to teach her modern history class with it, starting next fall.”
“How long is it?”
“Ninety chapters, roughly.”
“And how many did you write?”
Galeni cleared his throat. “About ten.”
“I didn’t know ImpSec gave homework,” said Tej faintly.
Galeni smiled wryly. “More of a hobby, in my case. But I do like to keep my hand in, when I can. As much as I can. I have several interesting papers written, waiting for their references to age out of their classified status.”
“I should explain,” said Ivan Xav, “when Duv said he quit school to go to the Imperial Military Academy, back when the Service was opened to Komarrans, he was a professor, not a student. History. He’s mostly over it, but sometimes he reverts. Is this thing”-he touched the case with a cautious finger-“written in high academic?”
“I can only speak for my own chapters, but Illyan beat the scholastic prolixity out of me back when I was first writing ImpSec analysis reports for him,” said Galeni. “Taught me the ImpSec ABC’s-accuracy, brevity, and clarity. Although he did say he was glad to get reports where he didn’t have to correct the grammar and spelling.”
Ivan Xav laughed. “I’ll just bet.”
Tej had just enough wits to accept the book-disc with suitable appreciation. This did not seem the time to explain that she wasn’t going to need to study Barrayaran anything, because she was skiving off to Escobar at the first opportunity. Ditto Delia’s offer to hook her up with the array of sisters, when the chances arose. She managed noncommittal thanks.