During their winding journey, the past day and a half, Jin had slowly unburdened himself of what he suspected were far too many of his secrets to Mina, partly to shut up her incessant questions, mostly because, well, he hadn't had any other kids to talk to for so long.

"Yah."

Jin's own abysmal failure as a courier troubled his mind.  Would Miles-san believe Jin hadn't stolen his money?  How was he getting along with Gyre?  You had to be gentle but firm with the bird.  The chickens were easier, except for the part about climbing down and carrying them back up the ladder or the stairs when they fluttered over the parapet.  With that cane, could Miles-san manage both an indignant chicken and the stairs?

"Does Miles-san have any children?" Mina asked.

Jin frowned.  "He didn't say.  He's pretty old—thirty-something, he said.  But he's kind of funny-looking.  I don't know if he could get a girl."  Once the drug effects had worn off Miles-san had been a nice enough fellow, with that face where smiles seemed at home.  Plus, he had seemed to understand Jin's creatures, which made him quite smart, for a grownup.  Jin wasn't sure whether to wish him a short, understanding bride, or not.

After a long, thoughtful pause, Mina said, "Do you think he'd like some?"

"What?"

"Children.  Like, if he's lonely."

At Jin's baffled stare, Mina forged on: "We read this book for school this year, about two orphans adopted by a man from Earth.  He took them there and they saw everything about where our ancestors came from."  She added enticingly, "They got new pets . . ."

Jin vaguely remembered that one from his own second school year, otherwise made burdensome by the infliction of beginning kanji.  There had been a lot of sickly stuff about the girl getting a fancy kimono, but there had also been a chapter about going to the seaside which had featured some Earth sea creatures—much too short an episode, but at least there'd been pictures—and a cat who'd capped her excellence by having kittens at the end.  "Miles-san isn't from Earth.  He's from Barrayar, he said."

"Where's that?"

"Somewhere beyond Escobar, I guess."  Escobar, Jin knew, was Kibou's closest nexus trading partner, by a shortish multi-jump route.  Farther worlds didn't much come up till galactic history in high school, except for Earth.  Jin had studied a lot about Earth on his own, because of the zoology.  Now, if only some benefactor would come along and offer to take Jin to Earth . . .  Although come to think, Barrayar as Miles-san had described it might be almost as good, with its double biota.