[ A version of Barrayar that does exist, but one she'll never live to see. He watches Byerly quietly as he talks, looking away slightly after a while. ]

Sonia let me braid her hair, once. Asked me how many sisters I had. [ Smart girl. A pause, here, before he continues. ] I was going to surprise her on her birthday -- she told me she liked daisies, baby's breath. Earth flowers.

[ Maybe not quite an equivalent to what Byerly just gave him, but. Still. An even more direct admission than before of just where Sonia sits, for him -- for them both, maybe. Another pause, longer, this time. ]

I told her to be angry at the betrayal, but not at herself. Not to hate what had been there, not when it was real to her. [ And real to Byerly, too, he'd known at the time, but of course that -- he couldn't say. ] I don't know how much she listened to me.