[ And here Miles hasn't even gotten into the circumstances of his own birth. His existence as he knows it is fantastically fragile; he's not just being narcissistic by being certain he can't exist outside of the very specific circumstances that created him. So many things about him change at even the slightest alteration.

He stops when Wash squeezes his arm to look up at him. It is comforting to have contact. Helps him from falling back into his old head, though this part is all old history. Was old history. ]

I'm surprised you didn't catch on sooner. How else does a man like me become heir to someone like Piotr? He literally had no other choice.