"We didn't know what it was, at first. And there were cities." Maybe that can be a comfort here--that they're in a tiny mountain camp, not even a village, and it's not like they're entertaining people from all over Barrayar right now. "People got on planes with it. It was all over the world before we realized what it did."

She shrugs. If she had to show up on the planet, carrying the disease with her, at least she didn't wind up in a city. She's tempted to tell him all about the way things happened--the way they could only see what was happening in retrospect and only partially, imperfectly--but it's an instinct she shakes off. "But we know about it. We can make sure people stay dead."