What Enric Is Wearing Is Funny

Chapter 9 of A Ceremonious Campaign is one of my favorites in the book—information technology'south dinnertime! Miles is allegedly throwing this dinner party for the purpose of welcoming Kareen Koudelka domicile from Beta Colony. Which I judge is what the kids say these days when they mean "wooing his landscape designer despite her stated want to not exist wooed by anyone at to the lowest degree until the end of her mourning year."

For this occasion, Miles has called to wear a dignified gray adapt. It wasn't an like shooting fish in a barrel choice—he put on his Vorkosigan Business firm compatible and pondered some Dendarii greys. The greyness adapt is Armsman Pym Approved. Ekaterin is attired in "sedate" evening-wearable, also in gray, accessorized by the Barrayar necklace Miles gave her for saving the wormhole back in Komarr. She divests herself of gardening gloves as she enters the house; She has just planted the first institute in Miles'south garden. Marking is wearing a lot of black. Illyan is wearing a dark tunic and trousers. Alys is wearing an expression of approval, and is probably non going to try to steal Ma Kosti from the eye of Miles's dinner party. Enrique is wearing a clean adjust, with his eye on his sleeve; He'southward excited to see Ekaterin again, and ask what she idea of his thesis. Dono is wearing Vor-style mourning garb. Miles refuses to be surprised to see him, "Yous have been to Beta Colony, I perceive." I SEE WHAT You DID THERE, BUJOLD. It is just a little bit sad that, in the aftermath of the events of this chapter, Miles and Dono didn't become flatmates and solve mysteries together. Everyone else is wearing clothes, I imagine. Dono has stolen the show for the balance of the pre-dinner gathering for hors d'oeuvres in the library, and no 1's apparel thing anymore.

The menu matters! It reflects both a Vorkosigan District-to-Tabular array culinary ethos and some changes from Miles's original plans. This evening, Dinner starts with a common cold, creamy fruit soup and a salad. Bread is accompanied past an herbed spread. At this indicate, Enrique announces that there is issues butter in everything and shows off some Vorkosigan liveried butter bugs, with a design that is genetically programmed to breed truthful in future bug generations. Miles deals with this as tactfully as he can, and sends orders to the kitchen to omit ingredients that started life as bug barf. The next course is poached salmon. This is followed by a grilled vat-beef fillet. Ma Kosti is upset—and I think rightfully and then!—about having to make terminal-infinitesimal substitutions for her planned sauces. Desert appears to be a problems butter-based, sculpted sorbet with fresh fruit; In that location wasn't time to replace information technology. Dinner is served with All The Wine.

Like the menu, the seating programme is also not what Miles originally had in mind. Bujold reports that she laid out both Miles'south original seating chart and Mark and Ivan's improvisational revisions with a chart and post-it notes. I have done my best to replicate this process from the text. In Miles'due south program:

• Miles is at the head of the table with Ekaterin on his right.
• Marker is at the foot of the table with Kareen on his right.
• Ivan is seated next to Lady Donna in the middle of the table, as far equally possible from both Ekaterin and Kareen.
• Illyan is on Miles's immediate left.
• Duv and Delia are next to each other, uncomfortably shut to Marker—which could mean anything really, as Mark is uncomfortable having Duv in the same room.
• Count and Countess Vorbretten are next to each other.
• René Vorbretten is adjacent to Lady Alys.

In the revised edition:

• Miles is at the head of the table with Alys on his right and Illyan on his left.
• Ekaterin is next to Illyan.
• Mark is at the foot of the tabular array with Kareen on his right.
• Lord Dono is as far from Ivan equally possible, in the seat previously intended for René.
• Ivan is "by Mark."
• Duv, Drou, and Kou are now all closer to Miles and further from Marker.
• Drou is betwixt Duv and Delia.
• Ekaterin is between Illyan and Duv.
• Enrique is three-quarters of the way downwards the table.
• Dono has a good view of Enrique's butter bugs when they are fix betwixt Alys and Miles.
• The Vorbrettens are seated beyond from Enrique.
• Delia is seated beyond from Kou.
• Professora Vorthys is next to Enrique.
• Olivia is next to Kou.

While the clues are quite definite on some aspects of the seating arrangements, I was left with a number of choices. In the initial programme (Fig. 1), I put Olivia and Martya next to Ekaterin because I thought it would exist savage of Miles to stack his end of the table with ImpMil and ImpSec personnel—"My dearest Ekaterin, come meet my friends, literally the most intimidating people on the planet"—and he lured Ekaterin to dinner with the promise of coming together the Koudelka girls. This decision, and a handful of others, have no particular backing in the textual evidence. Matters were somewhat more definite in the Mark/Ivan revisions (Fig. 2). The seating arrangement on the left side of the table is very clear. The right side is wild speculation from Dono on down. Olivia could be on Kou's left or right, simply I chose to put her on Kou'southward right because I like the idea that she met Dono at Miles'due south dinner. This puts Martya across from Enrique, which pleases me for similar reasons although she's non described as sitting next to her male parent. I also had to guess where the Vorbrettens and Lord Auditor Vorthys were sitting.

Miles passed up his earliest opportunity to pursue his agenda with Ekaterin—he could take gone out to come across the first plant—Ekaterin's skellytum, from the bonsai Tien smashed on Komarr, a symbol of rebirth from the ashes of her commencement matrimony—and to inform her of his intentions. Looking forwards from the beginning of the chapter, it seems excessively hasty. Looking back from the cease of the chapter, it seems similar that MUST have been a better opportunity than the one he threw himself on equally if information technology was a alive grenade. A trip out to the garden would, at the very least, have had the benefit of being relatively private.

Miles's plan for tonight is to be charming. He wants to introduce Ekaterin to his social circle. He's already communicated to them that they're supposed to like her, and she is unfailingly kind and diplomatic. Dinner is supposed to make her like them. This isn't a nighttime or terrible purpose for a dinner political party; The problem is that this is the beginning pace in Miles's quasi-military romantic campaign and everyone except Ekaterin knows about it. Miles still might take pulled it off were information technology not for the series of awkward events. Enrique's bug presentation derails discussion of the food, and his comments on the goals of the project uncover Mark and Kareen's trip to the Orb—Kou about dies of traumatic wine inhalation. Enrique'due south social ineptitude is an awe-inspiring strength for destruction. 1 of the Vorkosigan House kittens shows up with a Vorkosigan issues in its mouth to take downwardly Lady Alys'due south conversational gambit on the soletta mirror—also Enrique's error.

At this point, dinner is interrupted by a brief interlude in the lab where Miles almost strangles Enrique. Kareen Koudelka—whose parents have just been informed nearly the sexual nature of her relationship with Mark—offers to help. I'g torn almost this part of the chapter. On the one hand, I don't think anyone deserves to be strangled, but on the other, I think unleashing an insect infestation and talking virtually someone else's sex life in front of their parents is farthermost provocation. Enrique might deserve a picayune light, non-permanent strangling. Miles manages to revive the conversation with innocuous anecdotes most the planning for Gregor's hymeneals, just an awkward suspension leaves Illyan to brand a direct research about Miles's progress in courting Ekaterin. Miles panics and blurts out a proposal. Ekaterin genuinely thought Miles was interested in gardens.

I think she was existence willfully obtuse there, but certainly, I can see that she thought Miles wasn't interested in making a public proposal during her mourning year. This is a painfully awkward situation, and I would feel very lamentable for Miles if I didn't think that it's a vitally necessary office of the setup for affiliate xix. Ekaterin falling in love with Miles and saying yes is a sweet story, but there is a better story that won't work if they're happy in chapter 9. Miles needs to be shaken into letting Ekaterin detect her ain way. Until that happens, we need to accept Miles and Ekaterin separated by misfortune. Miles makes his own luck, and the luck he made here is bad. Ekaterin leaves the table and Miles pursues her to the door. She is demanding a cab, and Miles is attempting to talk her out of it, when Count and Countess Vorkosigan arrive home unexpectedly early. The cavalry has come! Miles flees the scene, retreating to his bedroom as his guests decamp. A storm is brewing in the Koudelka household. Lord Dono had an enjoyable evening and made some important political connections—I'm glad someone had a good time.

 Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer teaches history and reads a lot.

citation

felicianowhissent.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.tor.com/2018/04/30/rereading-the-vorkosigan-saga-a-civil-campaign-chapter-9/

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