[Aral rocks back onto his heels. Of all the expressions Miles had seen on his father's face, uncertainty was possibly the rarest of them all.
He... didn't know what to think. This twisted child, grown in full. Time travel was certainly undeniable in this unimaginable version of their past. Could it be a trick? No... unlikely, he'd done nothing to ask for the mischief. He studies the boy.
Scarred and lined from a hard life - looking like that, there would be no easy one. He could sit on the camp stool and grant this man nothing more than he could claw out himself. Barrayar was not kind to those who are imperfect. It was a lesson he knew deeply and well, himself.
But his eyes. Miles' eyes were bright, quick and sharp (god they were hers.. she really says yes sometime. Some insanity on her part, some fortune on his. Does she leave when his genes turn out poorly? Does his father disown him and they're all wandering. Is that how they end up on Beta? Or how Miles does? Aral has more questions than he has time to race through them.)... and watching him. For what?]
no subject
He... didn't know what to think. This twisted child, grown in full. Time travel was certainly undeniable in this unimaginable version of their past. Could it be a trick? No... unlikely, he'd done nothing to ask for the mischief. He studies the boy.
Scarred and lined from a hard life - looking like that, there would be no easy one. He could sit on the camp stool and grant this man nothing more than he could claw out himself. Barrayar was not kind to those who are imperfect. It was a lesson he knew deeply and well, himself.
But his eyes. Miles' eyes were bright, quick and sharp (god they were hers.. she really says yes sometime. Some insanity on her part, some fortune on his. Does she leave when his genes turn out poorly? Does his father disown him and they're all wandering. Is that how they end up on Beta? Or how Miles does? Aral has more questions than he has time to race through them.)... and watching him. For what?]
What... happened?