"No kidding. Not long afterward, she left the planet pursued by unexplained criminal charges; reading between the lines a little, I think they tried to lock her up - well, put her in therapy, that's what Beta Colony does - and she took exception, made a moderately violent escape, and fled to Barrayar. The 'fled to Barrayar' part at least is established fact; she married Aral, settled in, and then the dying Emperor made Aral regent to his five-year-old grandson and promptly died. Aral held things together pretty amazingly well, considering what he had to work with." He smiles, then shakes his head.

"While Cordelia was pregnant with their first child, somebody lobbed a nasty gas grenade in their bedroom window, and as a result she had to transfer the kid to a uterine replicator and apply medical experts to the problem of his dissolving skeleton. That would be my brother Miles. His gestation was imperiled again when an attempted usurper kidnapped his replicator as part of a general drive for hostages. Cordelia took exception, mounted a rescue with a few loyal retainers, and came back with not only the replicator but also the pretender's head in a bag. Thus ended that short-lived civil war. They lead exciting lives, my family."