Miles in Love - Lois McMaster Bujold [231]
"Do you think so?" said Enrique, anxious and pleased. "I couldn't get anyone interested, back on Escobar."
"This is Barrayar. For a long time, burning and composting was the only way to terraform the soil, and it's still the cheapest. There was never enough Earth-life based compost to both keep old ground fertile and break in new lands. Back in the Time of Isolation they even had a war over horse manure."
"Oh, yeah, I remember that one from my history class." Kareen grinned. "A little war, but still, very . . . symbolic."
"Who fought who?" asked Enrique. "And why?"
"I suppose the war was really over money and traditional Vor privilege," Madame Vorsoisson explained to him. "It had been the custom, in the Districts where the Imperial cavalry troops were quartered, to distribute the products of the stables free to any prole who showed up to cart it away, first-come first-served. One of the more financially pressed Emperors decided to keep it all for Imperial lands or sell it. This issue somehow got attached to a District inheritance squabble, and the fight was on."
"What finally happened?"
"In that generation, the rights fell to the District Counts. In the following generation, the Emperor took them back. And in the generation after that—well, we didn't have much horse cavalry anymore." She went to the sink to wash, adding over her shoulder, "There is still a customary distribution every week from the Imperial Stables here in Vorbarr Sultana, where the ceremonial cavalry squad is kept. People come in their groundcars, and carry off a bag or two for their flower beds, just for old time's sake."
"Madame Vorsoisson, I've lived for four years in butter bug guts," Enrique told her earnestly as she dried her hands.
"Mm," she said, and won Kareen's heart on the spot by receiving this declaration with no more risibility than a slight helpless widening of her eyes.
"We really need someone on the macro-level as a native guide to the native vegetation," Enrique went on. "Do you think you could help us out?"
"I suppose I could give you some sort of quick overview, and some ideas about where to go to next. But you'd really need a District agronomy officer—Lord Mark can surely access the one in the Vorkosigan's District for you."
"There, you see already," cried Enrique. "I didn't even know there was such a thing as a District agronomy officer."
"I'm not sure Mark does, either," Kareen added doubtfully.
"I'll bet the Vorkosigans' manager, Tsipis, could guide you," Madame Vorsoisson said.
"Oh, do you know Tsipis? Isn't he a lovely man?" said Kareen.
Madame Vorsoisson nodded instant agreement. "I've not met him in person yet, but he's given me ever so much help over the comconsole with Lord Vorkosigan's garden project. I mean to ask him if I could come down to the District to collect stones and boulders from the Dendarii Mountains to line the stream bed—the water in the garden is going to take the form of a mountain stream, you see, and I fancied Lord Vorkosigan would appreciate the home touch."
"Miles? Yes, he loves those mountains. He used to ride up into them all the time when he was younger."
"Really? He hasn't talked much to me about that part of his life—"
Mark appeared at the door at that moment, tottering along under a large box of laboratory supplies. Enrique relieved him of it with a glad cry, and carried it off to the dry bench, and began unpacking the awaited reagents.
"Ah, Madame Vorsoisson," Mark greeted her, catching his breath. "Thank you for the maple chippings. They seem to be a hit. Have you met everyone?"
"Just now," Kareen assured him.
"She likes our bugs," said Enrique happily.
"Have you tried the bug butter yet?" Mark asked.
"Not yet," Madame Vorsoisson said.
"Would you be willing to? I mean, you did see the bugs, yes?" Mark smiled uncertainly at this new potential customer/test subject.
"Oh . . . all right." The gardener's return smile was a trifle crooked. "A small bite. Why not."
"Give her a taste test, Kareen."
Kareen pulled one of the liter tubs of bug butter from the stack