Sonia shakes her head, a little ruefully. She's not the one who's really away from home. "This is my home, too. It's not like I don't love Barrayar. But my sister and I were visiting for a while when the Cetagandans hit. So it was all sort of...very abrupt, you know?"

She claps the snow off her gloves, pursing her lips in thought. "Beta's not very close, no. It takes a little over a month to get there. It's...mm." She looks around, taking the scene around them in as if for the first time. "It's a very different kind of place."