Nikki had grown out of model spaceships and into begged turns at a lightflyer's controls and tentative questions about girls before Ivan realised why he liked Nikki. He wasn't a Vorkosigan either. Both of them would always be outside that golden circle, always the unwanted stepchildren of old Earth fairytales. True, Miles had discarded Nikki far more courteously than Aral had ever treated Ivan, but still they both knew what it was to watch from outside. The strangest part of their bond? Both loved Miles, though a sane man would have tipped him out of a lightflyer over Vorkosigan Vashnoi.