The look that Mark turns on her is hard and wary and distrustful. Nothing personal, of course: in contrast to his brother, Mark's temperament tends to run to paranoid and sour, and so it takes a moment before he responds. But respond he does: after a long moment in which he searches her comment for some implicit criticism or mockery and finds none, he gives a short shrug.

"Are you?" He's vaguely aware of her, and so he knows that she's one of the less-enthusiastic ones; he's fairly assured of what the answer to that question is. And because he's fairly sure, he's comfortable enough to go on, "Barrayaran fare can be good if it's prepared correctly. Even this backcountry stuff. This is what happens when you build your army up like they have."