See, this is why Sonia likes the outsiders -- so few of them actually know she's an Imperial Princess, none of them make with the frustrating bowing and scraping, and once in a while, she finds someone actually fun. Any Barrayaran soldier with any sense, or at least a sense of self-preservation, wouldn't touch a Princess with a teen-foot-pole in the arena of flirting. This man isn't Barrayaran -- jury's still out on his sense -- and he isn't too bad looking, either.

Sonia only answers that with an impish smile and a raised eyebrow of her own. "Both," she says, airily, and wags the cup at him. "You've never had vodka until you've had Barrayaran vodka."

And now she's turning and waltzing off to find a bottle. Better keep up, Tucker.