Names and titles he's unfamiliar with, but he practices the pronunciation a in his head as she continues. Eventually he would get them though it might take some time. He's still listening intently when she paused and he shakes his head.
"Not at all. I was a historian in my previous life before I joined the military," he confessed. "I dabble when time permits. This time or place isn't my specialty, but I am interested to hear all you would share."
However much that would be. He motions for her to continue as he slowly continues his breakfast.
In her own effort, as polite as she's being, she's inhaling the food, it steadily disappearing off the plate in one mouthful after another. It's anything she could want, in the end, it's warm and filling and enough of it that she can't go hungry with it.
His work though, that lifts her eyebrows. "A historian and a Queen, sir, I think you might be my only natural enemy." Not so seriously meant, laughed away comfortably. "Well, as long as it's not too much."
She drinks, another sip. Placing where she was up to on her too large family - "When I married, my father married again, his bride and I were near to the same age, so she was more a sister than a new mother in some regards." She laughs to that - what a relief Chimabai had been to her, at times. "She had a son, my own brother, as it follows, but I did not - " a grimace. " - well, war, it takes its toll in many ways."
As much as needs to be said, she thinks. That part is easy to follow. "My husband's family - well, there was quite a bit of it. Too many to say for now, but we had many dependents."
He almost laughs at her initial comment though the words that follow have him regarding her more seriously. As much as he's studied Barrayar's strange feudal history, it's not something he's ever wanted to truly live through. To have it be considered normal that one's father would marry someone the same age as their daughter is horrifying in a time of required body births and arranged marriages. He wonders what the woman thought of the relationship and family she became part of.
He catches the grimace and frowns. "My sympathies." Hollow words when one has lost much to events outside of their control. "Did you all live together?"
With as close-knit as they sounded, he wouldn't be surprised.
"Of course, what else are palaces but built for such thing? No one lives alone in them. You do not have hundreds of rooms if you do not intend them to fill them." She tries not to tease too much, it seemed obvious to her, but then - he lived here, in a small series of rooms by himself. That seemed normal to him, as much as living together was normal to her. "I had my own quarters, as did my husband, his mother as well." Obviously none for this father.
Ruling came with one cost, after all.
"Though there was some things kept apart. In my home, we keep Purdah or the practice of keeping women separate and veiled in public spaces, so in some regards, we had more space than poorer familes, or as I did when I was a child."
She drums her fingers a moment. There were other things too - "My father did not want to be too far from me, and he was Brahmin -" another pause, another explanation. The way of it that becomes clear, life as she had known it was a complicated layering of meaning and position. "Of the priestly caste. So my husband granted him land on which he built a temple to the God Vishnu, and he lived there, rather than in the palace. But he would be at the palace with me just as often." She smiles again. She clearly remembers it well, happily, warmly. Enough that when she finally is done eating and settles back it's still there. "This is very... solitary, in comparison. I could not imagine life without many people near me, all the time. Whether they be servants, my ladies or my family."
Tries to say it as mildly as possible, she did not want to offend him after all.
He tries to imagine life in a bustling palace. Any visits to the Imperial Residence had been for business only and even then Emperor Gregor Vorbarra had no close, blood family to speak of that would live there with him. Most of those there would be the Vorbarra armsmen and the servants with sparingly few nobility that had nowhere else to call home in the city of Vorbarr Sultana.
A very different life, particularly if women were treated as such in public spaces. Barrayar at least had not gone that far.
"Battle is not counted as a public space then?" he questions. She certainly hadn't come in shrouded from anyone on looking. "I admit, I'm used to smaller accommodations and people packed in closer. Barrayar has more space than the domed cities of Komarr."
It's the only way it should be, in her mind, filled with people, with life, with movement. The Fortress hadn't just been one of the most well-defended structures for a good distance, such as had been its point. It had been where the songs would be sung in the morning, where she could hear the clash of morning practice of her women. The animals in their stables, the cattle moving about.
Still, he catches her there and she laughs, bright and sharp. Relaxed in his company. "Not as such, no, but women are considered as capable, when they are trained such, and they too have the right to defend their homes that no one would contest." Or rather, no one contested her about it. "I do not keep my veils in battle. A little too much trouble when I have to be giving orders. Even so. Consider yourself lucky, most men do not see my face until we are somewhere more private."
Don't tease the poor man, Lakshmi, he was doing his best. "Ko-marr." She says it slowly, carefully, making sure she has it right. "I take it is very different there?"
"Consider myself honored," he replies simply. Hopefully she would be able to adapt. A veil would only draw attention here and pretending to be haut to hide herself would cause trouble on Barrayar. Going bare-faced was the best option whether she wanted it to be or not.
He nods. "Very different. It's an entirely separate planet. Barrayar has been isolated for 800 years from the rest of the Nexus, so its development has a greater variance than other planetary governments."
"You make me feel remarkably childish the way you say that. Another planet, being separated for 800 years." She flicks her fingers at him, her nose scrunching a little. "I feel quite sheltered in comparison."
But not so put out that it drives her curiosity from her. "Do you prefer it here, or there? Is that why you are no longer a scholar?" One question at a time was probably more sensible, but not thought of when she's avid with it. Her focus ever a singular thing, no different from when she'd sat in her armour in his office to now after a meal in the comfort of his home. Her gaze is direct, it never leaves his eyes. Watching him, like she could not look at anyone else but him.
He frowns. "That is far from my intention. It's an unfortunate side effect of the situation we're in." The fact that she's time traveled and so far removed from home makes this difficult to explain.
He meets her gaze even as he finishes the last bites of his meal. He should offer her more like a good host, but that could come after their question and answer session. Something about the way she held herself told him she'd do just fine on this planet.
"I prefer Komarr," he answers without hesitation. "Barrayar has its merits, but it's not home. Komarr is a recent addition to the Barrayaran Empire. Since the military is the best route for social mobility, I signed up for the Service Academy once it was opened to Komarrans."
She doesn't touch on Empire, on being conquered. Though, from what he says, he already had more than the English gave her own people. Oh many of them could join the English army. But they would never receive half the rank that the Captain in front of her hand.
But all the same, she nods, "I am glad to know that some things haven't changed, in all this time."
"I plan to go back there. My last posting was at the Imperial Security HQ in the capital." And it had been hard to leave when he had been reassigned here, but necessary. If he was to make it to his end goal, he had to continue moving up the ladder.
"You may be the first to claim imperial interest bring comfort," he says dryly. She's not the only one who can tease though his preferred route is sarcasm.
That picks her up, happily, far too used to just rolling over the top of others. Natural for a Queen, after all. All bright and keen with that playfulness.
"I am a ruler. It's very familiar. Having someone follow me about, read all my letters, right down to taking notes on the last thing I ate. Why, it's practically like home to me."
"Unfortunately our goal will be the opposite while you're here. The less attention you can draw to yourself the better." He waits a beat before continuing, "Unless you're expecting me to take such notes."
In which case she would be waiting some time, but he doesn't get the impression she cares much for that part of her former life.
"Oh, no, I am you will... use your... book of light, somehow." She nods to it, where it's sat nearby. "Or whoever it is that I keep seeing you all talk to your wrists to."
Which had to be... well, the strangest thing since arriving. Him, and Illyan, a man at a doorway when they passed through. She'd thought it was a mark of greeting before she realised that no, they were definitely all talking to someone.
"I assure you if documentation of your every movement is required, I am more than qualified." He wouldn't need to enlist someone else's help. However--
"I didn't get a chance to explain how any of these work. Do you want that to wait until you are rested?"
Her smile then is tired. "Perhaps another day. Finding yourself... apparently some 1000 years old to things around you is a great deal to take in."
Which is pointed, really, when she turns her face away to yawn. Wider than is at all polite, twisting herself a little and - there's a crack as her back arches up, the toll of battle, and not being able to take the blackwater to replenish herself.
"There are Barrayarans alive today who could relate." Give or take a century or two. He nods in understanding and stands to collect their dishes.
"You're free to retire to the bedroom. I'll be out here should you need me." Catching up on work until he passed out on the couch. There was always something else he needed to do and his day had been thrown out of sorts with her arrival.
She stands there with a polite nod of her head as he gives her leave to go. Hovering a moment. "Whatever it might be worth to you. Thank you for your kindness to me, Captain Galeni." It's strictly formal, that measure of a Queen, rather than a woman who had shared a meal with him. Something to cover just how vulnerable that woman might be.
But for the first time she had arrived, she didn't feel quite so exposed.
She turns away from him to the bedroom. Perhaps she has a lot of intentions for dressing down into night clothes, saying prayers, cleaning her knife, or even closing the door, but in the end - by the time he's done and passes back that way, she's out cold. The mistake is sitting down on the bed at least, feeling the warmth and something that wasn't unforgiving ground underneath her, that she topples like a great pillar under the weight of a storm. Lands where she falls and doesn't move. Asleep in his uniform still, on top of the blankets without the energy to get under them. One minute awake, heavy, so very, very heavy, every limb dragging her down in a quickly caught up exhaustion from running hard for three weeks without pause. Now that she finally can take that breath, she goes under that weight like a child's toy. Sprawled one leg on the ground still and the other on the bed, holding grimly onto the pillows.
He takes his time cleaning, having no intentions of bothering her until tomorrow. It's been a long day for him and no doubt tenfold longer for her. Dishes washed, he's about ready to fall asleep in his uniform himself when he passes by the bedroom and notices the door open.
There's concern as he peeks his head in, ready to pull himself back out if she had undressed for bed. Instead he's greeted with the sight of her askew atop the bed, passed out from exhaustion. He smiles faintly as he quietly steps in and finds a blanket to cover her. He contemplates readjusting her leg so it's back on the bed, but decides against it. Waking her up through unwanted contact would only break what little trust he had built with her.
He grabs a blanket for himself on the way out and quietly closes the door behind him to give her privacy. He would settle on the couch for some time to work before he fell asleep himself, datapad resting on his chest.
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no subject
"Not at all. I was a historian in my previous life before I joined the military," he confessed. "I dabble when time permits. This time or place isn't my specialty, but I am interested to hear all you would share."
However much that would be. He motions for her to continue as he slowly continues his breakfast.
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His work though, that lifts her eyebrows. "A historian and a Queen, sir, I think you might be my only natural enemy." Not so seriously meant, laughed away comfortably. "Well, as long as it's not too much."
She drinks, another sip. Placing where she was up to on her too large family - "When I married, my father married again, his bride and I were near to the same age, so she was more a sister than a new mother in some regards." She laughs to that - what a relief Chimabai had been to her, at times. "She had a son, my own brother, as it follows, but I did not - " a grimace. " - well, war, it takes its toll in many ways."
As much as needs to be said, she thinks. That part is easy to follow. "My husband's family - well, there was quite a bit of it. Too many to say for now, but we had many dependents."
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He catches the grimace and frowns. "My sympathies." Hollow words when one has lost much to events outside of their control. "Did you all live together?"
With as close-knit as they sounded, he wouldn't be surprised.
no subject
Ruling came with one cost, after all.
"Though there was some things kept apart. In my home, we keep Purdah or the practice of keeping women separate and veiled in public spaces, so in some regards, we had more space than poorer familes, or as I did when I was a child."
She drums her fingers a moment. There were other things too - "My father did not want to be too far from me, and he was Brahmin -" another pause, another explanation. The way of it that becomes clear, life as she had known it was a complicated layering of meaning and position. "Of the priestly caste. So my husband granted him land on which he built a temple to the God Vishnu, and he lived there, rather than in the palace. But he would be at the palace with me just as often." She smiles again. She clearly remembers it well, happily, warmly. Enough that when she finally is done eating and settles back it's still there. "This is very... solitary, in comparison. I could not imagine life without many people near me, all the time. Whether they be servants, my ladies or my family."
Tries to say it as mildly as possible, she did not want to offend him after all.
no subject
A very different life, particularly if women were treated as such in public spaces. Barrayar at least had not gone that far.
"Battle is not counted as a public space then?" he questions. She certainly hadn't come in shrouded from anyone on looking. "I admit, I'm used to smaller accommodations and people packed in closer. Barrayar has more space than the domed cities of Komarr."
no subject
Still, he catches her there and she laughs, bright and sharp. Relaxed in his company. "Not as such, no, but women are considered as capable, when they are trained such, and they too have the right to defend their homes that no one would contest." Or rather, no one contested her about it. "I do not keep my veils in battle. A little too much trouble when I have to be giving orders. Even so. Consider yourself lucky, most men do not see my face until we are somewhere more private."
Don't tease the poor man, Lakshmi, he was doing his best. "Ko-marr." She says it slowly, carefully, making sure she has it right. "I take it is very different there?"
no subject
He nods. "Very different. It's an entirely separate planet. Barrayar has been isolated for 800 years from the rest of the Nexus, so its development has a greater variance than other planetary governments."
no subject
But not so put out that it drives her curiosity from her. "Do you prefer it here, or there? Is that why you are no longer a scholar?" One question at a time was probably more sensible, but not thought of when she's avid with it. Her focus ever a singular thing, no different from when she'd sat in her armour in his office to now after a meal in the comfort of his home. Her gaze is direct, it never leaves his eyes. Watching him, like she could not look at anyone else but him.
no subject
He meets her gaze even as he finishes the last bites of his meal. He should offer her more like a good host, but that could come after their question and answer session. Something about the way she held herself told him she'd do just fine on this planet.
"I prefer Komarr," he answers without hesitation. "Barrayar has its merits, but it's not home. Komarr is a recent addition to the Barrayaran Empire. Since the military is the best route for social mobility, I signed up for the Service Academy once it was opened to Komarrans."
no subject
She doesn't touch on Empire, on being conquered. Though, from what he says, he already had more than the English gave her own people. Oh many of them could join the English army. But they would never receive half the rank that the Captain in front of her hand.
But all the same, she nods, "I am glad to know that some things haven't changed, in all this time."
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"You may be the first to claim imperial interest bring comfort," he says dryly. She's not the only one who can tease though his preferred route is sarcasm.
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"I am a ruler. It's very familiar. Having someone follow me about, read all my letters, right down to taking notes on the last thing I ate. Why, it's practically like home to me."
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In which case she would be waiting some time, but he doesn't get the impression she cares much for that part of her former life.
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Which had to be... well, the strangest thing since arriving. Him, and Illyan, a man at a doorway when they passed through. She'd thought it was a mark of greeting before she realised that no, they were definitely all talking to someone.
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"I didn't get a chance to explain how any of these work. Do you want that to wait until you are rested?"
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Which is pointed, really, when she turns her face away to yawn. Wider than is at all polite, twisting herself a little and - there's a crack as her back arches up, the toll of battle, and not being able to take the blackwater to replenish herself.
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"You're free to retire to the bedroom. I'll be out here should you need me." Catching up on work until he passed out on the couch. There was always something else he needed to do and his day had been thrown out of sorts with her arrival.
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But for the first time she had arrived, she didn't feel quite so exposed.
She turns away from him to the bedroom. Perhaps she has a lot of intentions for dressing down into night clothes, saying prayers, cleaning her knife, or even closing the door, but in the end - by the time he's done and passes back that way, she's out cold. The mistake is sitting down on the bed at least, feeling the warmth and something that wasn't unforgiving ground underneath her, that she topples like a great pillar under the weight of a storm. Lands where she falls and doesn't move. Asleep in his uniform still, on top of the blankets without the energy to get under them. One minute awake, heavy, so very, very heavy, every limb dragging her down in a quickly caught up exhaustion from running hard for three weeks without pause. Now that she finally can take that breath, she goes under that weight like a child's toy. Sprawled one leg on the ground still and the other on the bed, holding grimly onto the pillows.
no subject
There's concern as he peeks his head in, ready to pull himself back out if she had undressed for bed. Instead he's greeted with the sight of her askew atop the bed, passed out from exhaustion. He smiles faintly as he quietly steps in and finds a blanket to cover her. He contemplates readjusting her leg so it's back on the bed, but decides against it. Waking her up through unwanted contact would only break what little trust he had built with her.
He grabs a blanket for himself on the way out and quietly closes the door behind him to give her privacy. He would settle on the couch for some time to work before he fell asleep himself, datapad resting on his chest.