The warmth is mirrored in Sonia's smile, because for all they're gleefully playing one another, he really is turning out to be good company. She rests her chin in one hand, one eyebrow raised, looking amused.

"Then fashions in Vorbarr Sultana must have changed wildly in the last ten years," Sonia says, a touch dryly, because Vorbarr Sultana's been under occupation since she was thirteen. "And you're mistaken. This right here is haut couture among the Dendarii hillfolk."

A small smirk, a tilt of her head. Her hair tumbles down over one shoulder. "Vorbarr Sultana," she says, and it isn't a lie -- Xav and his wife had taken her uterine replicator back to Barrayar for the uncorking, for the Emperor-her-grandfather's benefit. And then, even more truthfully, "I miss it."