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Standing on the circle at his eldest daughter's wedding, Gregor grips Laisa's arm discreetly for support. Tears streak down his face, unheeded.
“We made it,” he gasps to Cordelia in the mob around the happy couple.
“That's what Aral said at yours,” she says.
“Well, then, perhaps we get to keep making it,” Gregor says, voice raw.
Prince Xav has come up behind them in the muddle.
“Peace in our times,” Xav declares, sweeping his father and grandmother up in a crushing hug.
“Peace in our times,” Cordelia repeats, lips quirked in an odd, aching smile. “Let's see what happens.”
...
The wedding preparations are... stressful. Laisa doesn't recall it being half so difficult when she was the bride.
“We did our best to shelter you, dear. Everyone was terrified you'd come to your senses and run back to Komarr, breaking poor Gregor's heart in the process.”
Tea with Alys is both a fount of information, and a frustrating exercise; Alys clearly desperately wishes to take over the whole operation, barely held back by good sense and years of retirement.
Laisa shakes her head. “I couldn't have run. I was already far too invested, in him and in our shared dream.”
...
“Will you be my Second?” Karina whispers.
She and Helen are ensconced under the blankets in the fourth-floor guest room in the far wing, their secret hideaway.
It's not really a secret, since the House staff know where they are, but Helen brokered a pact with Alex ages ago that if either of them snuck up here they wouldn't be disturbed by annoying relatives.
“Of course,” she answers her sister in all but name. “What did you promise Leo to make him say yes?”
Karina snorts. “I'll be Xav's Imperial Hostess, and Leo can raise the kids; he'll like that.”
...
Xav isn't sure when he realized that he wouldn't marry unless forced into it.
There are plentiful reasons, but mostly Xav hasn't met someone whom he loves enough to drag into the line of fire that is being part of the Imperial Family. His parents are outliers. Most people would take one look at his life—the actual quotidian reality of it, not the glitz and glamour, and run screaming.
So when his favorite sister comes to him with her plan to marry a minor Vor lord and establish herself as the next Imperial Hostess, he welcomes her with gratitude.
...
Sasha (no one's called him Alexander since the first roll call at basic) embraces his sister and her new husband with joy. Karina deserves it—she's got a great deal worked out for herself. Sasha is feeling a bit laggardly.
It's like this: if Xav isn't going to marry, then Sasha’s his heir. Well and good, Sasha can work with that. But, is Sasha allowed to marry? Have kids?
Rini is definitely going to have kids, she's always wanted them. Where do they fall in the line of succession? Sasha dances, mind whirling. His father's hand lands on his shoulder.
...
Miles watches Gregor quietly take his second son aside.
“Good,” he comments to Ekaterin. “I was going to step in soon if no one else noticed.”
She tilts her head noncommittally.
“Not my place? We practically raised all the kids together.”
“Vorkosigans have always been allergic to the Camp Stool. How could you…” Ekaterin trails off delicately.
“Understand ambition? Quite.” Miles’s voice is extremely dry.
Ekaterin takes his hand. “Come along, dear. Leave the Princes to their father, and dance with me.”
Dancing is more difficult now with Miles’s reduced mobility, but he can never resist her.
“Lead on, milady.”
...
The wedding comes off admirably well. Truly, Alys had full confidence in Laisa and her team. If she mutters a few criticisms under her breath during the reception, well, no one besides Simon will hear.
It is worrying that Prince Xav refuses to marry. The boy is going to play havoc with his siblings’ futures. Karina is settled, but the others are still jostling for position, and Alys knows with the part of her that still shudders at the scent of burning hair, that such maneuvers are deadly.
If only Gregor would come to his senses and arrange a match.
...
Cordelia lingers with Alys and Simon, avoiding working the reception. Everyone in the family is frustrated with Xav, but Cordelia is proud of him for sticking to his guns. Not that she says so to Alys.
She’s proud of Karina, too. Cordelia quite likes Rini’s new husband—educated in a Betan expat school because his parents wanted him to grow up saner than most Vor. It’s almost a shame that he’s marrying into the Imperial Family, but the boy is clearly head-over-heels for Karina, so that’s all right.
Simon smirks at her, guessing her thoughts. Cordelia makes a face back.
...
Mark doesn’t like the weird overtones around this wedding. He corners Ivan.
“Should I worry about a coup?”
Ivan is rather drunk.
“A what?”
“A coup. It’s important for my business contracts, and I haven’t got the same instinct for it as the rest of the family.”
“You want to know if you’re being paranoid for no reason.”
Even drunk, Ivan is annoyingly perceptive sometimes.
“Just answer me.”
“It depends. If Xav won’t produce an heir then his siblings need to define their position in the succession and his future administration. If they can’t do that—war.”
“Helpful,” Mark grumbles.
...
Ivan stares at Mark.
“This isn’t some natural disaster that we have no control over! We can help the kids figure it out. We’re their uncles, for crying out loud.”
Mark looks at him blankly.
“Hello? Friendly advice-givers? Guaranteed no ulterior motives, unlike their parents?”
“But, I don’t…”
“Look, you can send them to Kareen if you really have no idea, but I flat guarantee Sasha is far more likely to listen to you right now than he is to listen to Miles, or Gregor. You’re not the older sibling.”
“Huh.”
Ivan claps Mark on the shoulder, hard.
“Good talk.”
...
Drou watches the Family flit about the party like hummingbirds, defusing political bombs and sparking together to create new ones all at once. She sighs.
Kareen leans her head on Drou’s arm, and Drou takes comfort from her youngest and farthest-travelled daughter’s presence.
“Do you think she’d be proud?” asks Kareen. “Princess Kareen. My namesake, I mean.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” These children might be trouble, but none of them are a thing like Serg. Gregor and Laisa did their work well in that regard, at least. “Of course she would. All she wanted was for us to live and be happy.”
...
Returning from her honeymoon refreshed and feeling ready to climb a mountain, Princess Karina enters the administrative wing of the Residence for a task only slightly less onerous; a Family meeting.
She’s surprised and pleased to find Xav and Sasha chatting genially when she walks in. As usual, her father arrives at the last moment and they begin.
“I have a proposal,” says Sasha, leaning forward. He looks to Xav, receives an encouraging nod, and outlines his goal to serve on Xav’s staff once his military service is finished.
Karina nods, listening. Her siblings are following her lead. Mission accomplished.