"What . . ."  To his surprise, Vorlynkin did not pursue this, but turned the letter over again.  "What did he seem to be about?"

"Um . . . he asked a lot of questions."  Jin thought a moment, and offered, "He's not kidnapped anymore, you know."

"But why send a child as a courier . . . ?" Vorlynkin muttered.  Jin wasn't sure if the question was addressed to him, so did not attempt to volunteer an answer.  It didn't seem the time to explain about almost twelve, either.  He was beginning to think that the less he said, the safer he would be.

The other fellow—Lieutenant Johannes, Trev-san, whatever—stumped back into to the entry hall, waving the envelope at his boss.  "This part's real.  Now what, sir?"

"We still have to find his Armsman just the same—he seems to think Roic was taken.  No change there with respect to the locals.  I suppose we have to do exactly what this says.  But send a holo of the letter to ImpSec Galactic Affairs on Komarr, priority, scrambled."

The lieutenant looked hopeful.  "Maybe they'll have an order.  Some other order.  One that makes more sense."

"Not for some days.  And think who they'd have to go to for an override."  The two men looked at each other in mysterious perturbation.  "We're still on our own, here."

Jin diffidently cleared his throat.  "Miles-san said I was to bring back a reply."

"Yes," said the consul.  "Wait there."  He pointed to a spindly chair against the wall, one of a pair flanking a little bureau with silk flowers atop it, and a mirror above.  Both men thumped downstairs again.

Jin sat.  Only the firmness and brevity of that Yes gave him the courage not to run away while he had this chance.  However doubtful they were of Jin, they seemed to take Miles-san's letter seriously, which was a relief.

He was left alone for a long time.  He got up once, to peer into the rooms flanking the entry hall.  One was a sort of living room, very fancy; the other was more severe and office-like.  No sign of pets, not even a bird in a cage or a cat.  He was glad he hadn't gone poking around searching for any when another man emerged from the back hall, looked at him in surprise, and said, "May I help you?"

This fellow spoke in a normal Kibou accent, at least.  Jin shook his head vigorously.  "Lieutenant Johannes is seeing to, um, it.  Me."

The ease with which Jin spun off the lieutenant's name seemed to reassure the man.  "Oh," he said, and wandered into the office, to sit at the comconsole and begin some sort of work there.  Jin stayed in his seat after that.

After a great deal more time, Vorlynkin came back.  He held another sealed envelope in his hand, plain and businesslike, much bulkier than the one Jin had delivered.

"Do you think you can give this back into the hand of Lord Vorkosigan—only?"