[ He rolls his eyes to the ceiling - and then switches over to Barrayaran French. A bit paranoid, perhaps, considering that they're well out of earshot of any of the others, but, well, it can't hurt. (He'd have liked to switch to Greek instead, as the odds of anyone being able to eavesdrop would go down further, but he does not know any Barrayaran Greek, because who the hell bothers to learn the Greekie hicks' language.) ]

No, Illyan. I'm going to lie to them.

[ A vague twitch of his chin takes in the other outsiders. ]

The General needs all the fighting force he can get. Having someone out here working to get them to like Barrayar a bit better might help with that.