Work Text:
Gregor,
What a thrill to come home this afternoon to Alexander with a letter from you! It had been so long I worried the radical republicans had gone shopping in Vorbarr Sultana, as my mother would say. But a handwritten letter all the way from Old Earth is worth waiting for. Call me a sentimental old fool, but when I touch paper your fingers have touched, my breath catches in my throat.
My little house, as you call it, grows to feel more like home every day. Humble Kosigan’s cabin is a new palace for a new Barrayar, a record of our memories and dreams. Helen has painted a garland of roses over the door, like the tangle Ekaterin had in the garden of Vorkosigan House. It reminds me of all I once lived for, and all I live for now. I hope there are roses where you’re staying, to go with the music. How are you spending your days?
When we first arrived here, battered and exhausted, and were living in the camp near Chaos Colony, we would hike to the station every day and watch the shuttles land. Waiting for my Lili Marlene, as you say. Every day as I walk into town to collect water from the well, bundled in my father’s old blue raincoat, I still hope to see Ekaterin arriving in the distance.
But yes, I am better. The children look after me and prod me when I get too maudlin. Alexander earns a bit of money teaching children in town (their loyalist parents are thrilled they’re being taught by the Viceroy’s grandson), and Taurie has started a business repairing comconsoles. We old Vor may have done ourselves out of a job, but the next generation adapts easily enough.
I feared, as your Empire toppled, that our troubled planet would plunge into chaos, but by all reports, dear Barrayar has proven much more resilient than that. Freedom suits her, and to see her clear of the trouble we Vor have wrought makes even heartbreak worthwhile. The lock of my hair is for you to burn in memory of our cruel, loving Imperial Mother.
We’ve built a beautiful future; if only there were room in it for us.
In desert heat and December rain, I remain forever yours,
Miles