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The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [113]

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by Baron Ryoval, who thinks he is Miles at first, and Mark's personality splits into five parts during his captivity. Miles and Rowan are held by Baron Luigi, who tries to figure out the best way to profit from the whole mess. With the help of a Durona clone girl who had been rescued by Mark, but who had chosen to return to captivity, Rowan escapes, and so does the clone girl Lilly, before Ryoval's men come for Miles, part of a Deal Baron Luigi had made with the other baron. After repeated torture sessions, Mark kills Baron Ryoval and escapes his hidden compound, which falls apart with the baron's death. Miles is taken there, escapes his guards, and calls for help. Fell, as half brother and next of kin, comes to collect Ryoval's body, and they are all contacted by Mark, who wants a meeting with Fell to make a Deal. He arranges for Fell to take over House Ryoval, the Duronas to leave Jackson's Whole for good, and a hefty profit, enough to set up the clones with an excellent education, and some money left over for himself as well. Mark and Miles head back to Barrayar and the Winterfair celebration, where Mark keeps a promise he made to Kareen Koudelka at the Emperor's Birthday before he left to save his brother—a dance with her, as Mark Pierre Vorkosigan.

Memory (1996)

Miles Vorkosigan's life grows even more complicated, beginning with his accidental maiming of the ImpSec courier he and the Dendarii had been sent to rescue, due to the unusual seizures he has been suffering from since his resuscitation from cryo-stasis. Convinced this isn't a permanent problem, Miles leaves the cause of the accident out of his report to Simon Illyan, but gets into a heated argument with Elli Quinn over it, as he hadn't told her about his problem before the mission either. He promotes her to commodore, but their argument leaves them both tense and rattled. Another surprise is the requested resignation of Baz Jesek and Elena Bothari-Jesek, who want to settle down and start a family. They ask to be released from their armsman's oath, which Miles grants. Recalled to Barrayar, Miles spends the weeklong trip with Sergeant Taura, and realizes that she is growing old fast, owing to her accelerated metabolism, and may die in the next couple of years. He is greeted with disastrous news on Barrayar, after cooling his heels at Vorkosigan House and getting the place in order while his parents are away during Aral's appointment as the viceroy of Sergyar. Simon Illyan knows all about Miles's medical condition, and even worse, knows he falsified his mission report to ImpSec. He requests Miles's resignation immediately, leaving him adrift without the Dendarii or his military career to anchor him. After literally being washed out of his depression by Ivan and Duv Galeni, Miles spends the next few weeks soul- searching, including going up to the Dendarii Mountains to visit the village where he had solved Raina Csurik's murder a decade ago. He finds some peace there, and begins to rebuild his life. His attempt to help Duv win the heart of a Komarran heiress, Laisa Toscane, goes disastrously awry when she catches the eye of the Emperor instead, leaving Duv, who was moving too slowly for his own good, brokenhearted. Despite Duv's animosity toward Miles, he comes to him with the next pressing matter—Simon Illyan has been having memory problems, reliving events that happened months or even years ago. With Illyan placed incommunicado in the clinic at ImpSec headquarters, Miles is stonewalled by Simon's replacement, General Lucas Haroche, leading him to request Gregor's intercession. The Emperor makes Miles an Imperial Auditor, one of the Emperor's own high investigators, with broad, undefined powers. The circumstances around Simon's health failure grow more troublesome, as the doctors discover that the eidetic memory chip implanted in his brain is failing. They remove it in a successful operation that leaves Simon more or less intact, but somewhat less than the man he used to be. During his recovery, first at Vorkosigan House, then at Vorkosigan Surleau, Miles comes

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