He touches his lips lightly. He does...not want to overencourage this, of course. It is clear enough that Sonia's presence here is important for morale. The fighting men see her, feel her presence, and they fight. Her abandonment of the camp might well lead to a decrease in spirit - hell, it might well lead them to break and run, if she flees at a time when things are so bad. For Barrayar, she should stay. But the poor girl. Here since she was thirteen. Trapped in this life. How could she even consider escape?

Quietly, dispassionately, he offers her this diagnosis - this diagnosis which he, himself, scion of the Vorrutyers, tries to believe every day. "One's surname is not one's destiny."