Case Study: Ekaterin Vorsoisson, Part 2

Note: Fans jokingly refer to A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners as “a Regency in space,” because McMaster Bujold openly modeled parts of the plot on Pride & Prejudice. In addition, she dedicated the book to Jane Austen, along with Charlotte [Brontë], Georgette [Heyer] and Dorothy [Sayers]. You can read a spoiler-laden companion to A Civil Campaign in PDF or e-book form, which details exactly how the four grande dames of romance influenced the book, with assists from Shakespeare: A Civil Campaign Companion. Now let's conclude the case study.

Remember the Dark Forest is traditionally a safe, nurturing environment where the Journeyer can learn important lessons, make friends, and grow into their own person.

Eye of the Storm / A Temporary Shelter

In A Civil Campaign, Ekaterin stays with her aunt and uncle on Barrayar. Their home is a nurturing refuge, just as Miles predicted. In the beginning of the story, Ekaterin frets about becoming employable with only a college degree to her name, but no work experience.

The Journeyer Learns To Work

Miles hires Ekaterin to design the gardens at the Vorkosigan estate. She’s elated, privately planning to present the garden as a gift to him. Even more, she’ll plant what’s left of her prized skellytum bonsai in the Vorkosigan garden. The garden will allow the bonsai to grow to its true height as a full-sized tree. The project is a worthy test of her mettle, exactly what she needs.

Furthermore, Miles introduces Ekaterin to Tsipis, his “man of business.” Tsipis gets Ekaterin to go from how could I possibly succeed? to making flow charts, schedules, and proposals to make her vision a reality.

Note: Tsipis is technically a Mentor, and Ekaterin muses she ought to pay Tsipis for what he’s teaching her. While Miles’ motive for introducing them would constitute a false rescue, Ekaterin is not a witting party to it: the courtship of Ekaterin is a secret from Ekaterin, which even Miles’ friends warn him will end in disaster.

Miles is treating courtship like one his intelligence operations — only it doesn’t work that way. I believe false rescues have to be willingly chosen by the protagonist in order to count as such. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Back to Ekaterin, she’s astounded by her salary. Miles explains he based it on what Tsipis said was fair for the work she’s going to do, and her level of responsibility. After being trapped in destitution for all of her adult life, Ekaterin is elated: she can contribute to her uncle’s household, and now has a certain independence.

Independence is vital, because her father wanted her to live with him in his tiny apartment in the boonies. No economic opportunities for her, and no educational opportunities for her son. The other “approved” option is to live with her mother-in-law, even though the senior Madame Vorsoisson never extended such an invitation.

Before leaving, Miles invites Ekaterin to his dinner party, which he’s throwing to honor the Koudelkas. The Koudelka family and the Vorkosigans are battle-tested friends, ever since Barrayar, the second book in the saga’s timeline. As Ekaterin has no female friends, and the five Koudelka sisters are lively and fun, the party is the perfect chance to widen her social circle.

In a quiet moment, Ekaterin savors lying in bed alone, without Tien. Like a numb limb coming to life again, her soul comes awake when she contemplates life without her husband.

I didn’t know what prison was until I was freed, she thinks.

Tests

On a consultation visit to Vorkosigan house, Ekaterin meets Mark, Miles’ clone-brother, and manages to resolve a thorny legal issue for Miles. She observes Miles is suffering the side effect of, ahem, a catastrophic injury he acquired during the events of Mirror Dance.

When she’s alone with Pym, Miles’ armsman, Pym agrees with Ekaterin that Miles shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. What he needs, claims Pym, is a proper Lady Vorkosigan who can stand up to him and give him what-for. He doesn’t want Miles to marry one of those simpering ingenues that men are after “these days;” Miles would steamroll right over such a woman.

Alone, Ekaterin ponders that an ingenue would indeed be all wrong for Miles. She’s furious when she imagines how such a woman might hurt Miles with a callous remark about his old injuries.

But Ekaterin is lying to herself about surviving without affection. One morning her sister-in-law Rosalie shows up, with news that a suitor sent a Baba to Ekaterin’s father. In Barrayaran society, a Baba is someone respectable families use to facilitate betrothals.

This news tests Ekaterin’s heart, because she was secretly thrilled when she thought Miles had sent the Baba. Even so, she’s also fearful Miles may have hired her not out of respect, but as a ploy to gain her hand.

However, her suitor turns out to be a Vor lord who is playing the role of “Mr. Collins” (Pride and Prejudice) in this story. Adroitly, she retreats behind her last coping mechanism, propriety: the year of mourning she’s entitled to. No one can make her marry during this time.

To Ekaterin, the marriage proposal is a Tien-shaped trap, and she fears her secret joy was a betrayal of herself. All because she wants and needs affection.

“You can’t cheat an honest man,” she scolds herself, because any manipulation happened with her full cooperation.

When Rosalie “assures” Ekaterin that the family would never push her to marry a “mutie” like Miles, Ekaterin silently vows to make sure Miles and Rosalie never meet. During a cold shower Ekaterin reminds herself that she owns herself now. Sexual repression is no longer necessary. Would it be okay to fantasize about Miles? He could fantasize about her if he wants…

Being the honorable woman she is, Ekaterin makes up her mind to bring her dreams and reality into honest congruence.

Betrayal / Rejects False Rescue

But during Miles’ disastrous dinner party, Ekaterin is again betrayed: she discovers Miles hadn’t hired her because he believed in her, but rather so that he’d have exclusive access to her attentions.

In front of everyone, Ekaterin flees from Miles’s marriage proposal, swearing in fury as she runs from his house.

On her way out, Ekaterin literally bumps into Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan, who are returning from their stint as vice-regents of the planet Sergyar. Cordelia is fascinated by Ekaterin’s behavior, which sets her up to play Wise Woman / Mentor to Miles.

The next day, while Ekaterin is battling a hangover, Aunt Helen muses aloud that Ekaterin never actually said “no” to the marriage proposal. Ekaterin objects that it wouldn’t have been polite, and Aunt Helen parries that she could have said no thank you. This observation leaves Ekaterin with much to think about.

All Is Lost

Ekaterin begins severing ties with Miles, though doing so will put her right back where she started: trapped in the dependent world, with no prospects of escape. But her own self-respect requires it; she cannot be true to herself if she does otherwise. Just as Elizabeth Bennett rejected Mr. Darcy’s first proposal, it is crucial that Ekaterin passed the false rescue test. Failing it would have put her in a different type of dependent world.

For a moment she considers uprooting her skellytum from Miles’ garden, then decides that after so many moves she’ll allow the plant to die in peace. However, there’s one thing she refuses to get rid of: the Barrayar Bauble, the jewel Miles gave her. She reminisces about the circumstances leading up to him giving it to her. The jewel was a reward, one she paid for “with bruises and terror and panicked action.”

The Journeyer finds friends and helpers: Just as Ekaterin is at her darkest moment of despair, Kareen Koudelka comes by. Before the party, Kareen and Mark Vorkosigan had begun involving Ekaterin in their business venture.

After the party, Kareen ups the ante. Having also suffered an all is lost moment, the college-aged Kareen is punished by her parents with a duenna, in the form of one of her sisters. A duenna is a chaperone given to unmarried Barrayaran women in respectable families. Though resentful of her sister’s presence, Kareen is still clear-headed enough to seize a business opportunity.

As a partner in Mark’s butter bug business, Kareen has a vested interest in convincing people to buy the product he’s creating. Butter bugs, made by Mark’s crazy scientist friend, produce delicious butter like bees produce honey, but the damn bugs are hideous. No one will want to eat anything produced by the bugs in their current iteration.

But, Kareen notices, Ekaterin has a gift for making things beautiful. And she has training in biology. Would she like to redesign the butter bugs to be beautiful? Yes, she would. Ekaterin almost dismisses the idea of being paid for her work, when Kareen, as Wise Woman, swiftly demolishes that mentality:

“What they pay for, they’ll value. What they get for free, they’ll take for granted and then demand as right. Hold them up for what the market will bear.”

Soon enough, Ekaterin redesigns the butter bugs to be beautiful. Glorious. Taking Ekaterin under her wing, Kareen Mentors her in the rudiments of business. This is a true rescue, because Kareen recognizes Ekaterin’s value. Her motives for helping Ekaterin are pure, as a fellow inmate in the dependent world. An important subplot involves Kareen’s own Virgin’s Journey; she and her sisters have their own roles to play in this story.

Taking his mother’s advice, Miles sends Ekaterin a letter, à la Mr. Darcy after Elizabeth Bennett’s rejection of his marriage proposal. In it, he confesses to his great sin: using her heart’s desire to trap her.

“I wanted to give you a victory. But by their essential nature, triumphs can’t be given. They must be taken … victories can’t be gifts.”

Abjectly remorseful, Miles doesn’t ask for a response or forgiveness. He tells Ekaterin he loves her, and seals the letter in his own heart’s blood, a fact that moves Ekaterin.

Recognizing that she has grown too much to let herself be made small again, Ekaterin is terrified of marriage. Especially of the kind she endured with Tien. Having that fear hanging over her leaves her in too much turmoil to respond to the letter.

Later, Ekaterin receives a visit from an illustrious guest, ImpSec’s most legendary — and legendarily sinister — spymaster, Simon Illyan. He apologizes for his role in the disastrous dinner party. It was innocuous, but a spoiler for the events of Memory.

Initially, says Illyan, he thought he ought to put in a good word for Miles. But then it occurred to him he had no idea what sort of husband Miles would make: “It was a privilege and a terror to command him.”

However, he praises Miles’ gift for choosing — or creating, he’s not sure which — great personnel. If Miles thinks Ekaterin would make a fine Lady Vorkosigan, then of course she would be so.

If her genius uncle thought Miles was a genius, and a great man such as Illyan thinks Miles is a great man, then Ekaterin figures maybe she ought to have Miles vetted by a really good husband.

But during Illyan’s visit, Ekaterin catches the “Mr. Collins” figure interrogating Nikki, and telling Nikki that Miles killed Tien. The rumor is all over town, he says. Ekaterin gives Mr. Collins a bloody nose. Illyan, playing on his own reputation, sends Mr. Collins fleeing in terror.

In this matter, Miles is her only hope, and Illyan offers her and Nikki a ride to Vorkosigan house. Before he leaves her, Illyan promises to do what he can to hang “Mr. Collins.”

Kingdom in Chaos

News of the disastrous dinner party spreads far and wide, reaching even the ears of Tien’s cousin, whom we will get to shortly.

A plotline in A Civil Campaign involves the question of succession or expulsion for two members of the Vor aristocracy. Because Miles sided with the threatened pair, their enemy became his enemy. That enemy has used Ekaterin’s rejection of Miles’ marriage proposal to start a whisper campaign that insinuates Miles murdered Tien to gain Ekaterin’s hand.

Though Ekaterin is still angry with Miles, he’s one of the few people who knows the truth about Tien’s death, which is classified. So, she joins forces with Miles to help Nikki understand what happened to Tien. This leads to…

True Rescue: Gregor, the emperor of Barrayar, and Miles’ foster brother, has personal experience with discovering that one’s father was a loathsome monster. Tien’s crimes were merely dishonorable rather than heinous like the late Emperor Sergyar’s, but the point remains.

When Miles explains the problem to Gregor, Gregor in turn explains to Nikki about Tien’s dishonor. Doing so brings Nikki into the conspiracy — thus ensuring his silence — and eases Nikki’s fears that he may have to kill Miles to avenge his father. Ahhh, kids!

Seemingly, all will be well as far as Nikki is concerned.

Enter Vassily Vorsoisson, Tien’s distant cousin.

Partly because Miles is a “mutant,” and partly because of the machinations of “Mr. Collins,” Vassily fears to leave Nikolai in Ekaterin’s custody. Under Barrayaran law, he has the right to take Nikolai from her. A right he intends to exercise…

Ekaterin can’t grey-rock her way out of this. Her brother has accompanied Vassily on this errand, and between the two men, the consensus is that Ekaterin is a naive child who cannot manage life in the Decadent Capital City. But Nikki is her heart, and she cannot lose him. He is her final gate.

If Vassily takes Nikolai, Ekaterin will have to find the means to go to Vassily’s district and argue that Vassily is unfit to care for him. An impossible argument, given that he’s a normal, straight-arrow bachelor who lives on a military base. So, not inherently unsuitable to raise a child. Again, note how LMB never gives Ekaterin an easy out: High stakes make her victories sweeter when she earns them.

Realizing that she can’t win a battle on such grounds, Ekaterin wisely maneuvers Vassily into defining terms agreeable to her. Outwitted, he concedes that she can take her mourning year to “settle this business” concerning the rumors that Miles murdered Tien. This is not a true victory; however, Ekaterin has only bought herself some time.

As for Ekaterin’s brother Hugo, he’s horrified to learn Miles asked Ekaterin to marry him. He thought that detail was just a crazy rumor. Per Hugo, Ekaterin should stick to “their kind of people.” As a woman, their kind of people are “upright,” a thought that makes Ekaterin suddenly want to get gloriously horizontal with Miles. But out loud, she asks her brother,

“You think I should have a house?”

“Yes, certainly.”

“Not a planet?”

Because in that moment, it occurs to Ekaterin that Miles was always pushing for her to have a planet. After all, his mother has a planet (she’s the vicereine of the planet Sergyar). She wonders how her brother became so small-minded, and is shaken to realize he is the same as he ever was, she is the one who has grown in outlook.

Now, in Heroine Journeys, the protagonist must not only prove herself to herself, but once she does, she must then integrate into her kingdom. The integration comes from a position of strength, not as a dependent who needs others to take care of her, but as a partner, an equal.

Wanders in the Wilderness

Having averted passage through the final gate, Ekaterin visits Miles. Facing them is uncertainty concerning their enemies. What tactics will preserve their honor and solve their problem? In the end, they both conclude they don’t want to have to push their “moral re-set buttons,” as Miles puts it. They will do the right thing as best they can.

When Ekaterin frets that she shouldn’t have suggested her mourning year as a period — she had the option of Winterfair, which is coming sooner — Miles soothes her.

“A tactical retreat … first you survive. Then you choose your own ground. Then you counterattack,” he explains.

Then, he passes along hard-won wisdom from his father, concerning the difference between honor and reputation: your reputation is what others know about you. Your honor is what you know about yourself.

With his honor intact, Miles will endure damage to his reputation if it’s necessary. But Ekaterin knows she’s no longer good at merely enduring. Endurance was a coping mechanism for life with Tien.

Kingdom in Chaos / Gives Up What Kept Her Stuck / Final Gate

For Ekaterin this stage comes again at a pinch point. She had thought she'd put her kingdom to right, at least temporarily. However, Vassily, who is a naive rube, hears a silly rumor that makes him confident a revolution is about to happen. This prompts his return, for he believes Gregor will cut all lines into and out of the capital. Therefore, Nikki must come with him.

Uncle Vorthys is off-planet on business; crucially it’s just Ekaterin and her aunt. On Barrayar, male authority is law, female authority … not so much. Hugo accompanies Vassily, not for Ekaterin’s sake, but to ensure she understands that taking Nikki away is for her own good.

Loses Her Last Weapon: Ekaterin always followed the rules. She always behaved like a proper Vor lady. Now, none of her old ways will avail her, particularly not “propriety.”

However, Miles discussed with her the idea of being ambushed by old habits. In the old days, she always yielded to Tien where Nikki was concerned. She didn’t want Nikki to be a pawn in arguments. But she’s not about to yield to Vassily, a man she never once swore an oath to.

What if, instead of player and pawn, Ekaterin and Nikki fought this next battle as allies?

Subtly, Ekaterin signals to Nikki to unleash hell. Because Vassily is a childless bachelor, Nikki and Ekaterin are ten to fifteen steps ahead of him. Barricading himself in Uncle Vorthys’ office, Nikki uses the comconsole to call for aid. Moments later, Barrayar’s equivalent of the Secret Service shows up, and whisks the entire family away to the parliament building.

In session at parliament, Miles is preparing for a showdown with the main villain. Though royally pissed off, Miles is obliged to be careful and stay on his toes. However, Ekaterin and her family are taken to Gregor’s office, which leads to…

ACT III: Restoration

True Rescue: Emperor Gregor gives Vassily and Hugo a right set-down, and makes it clear that Ekaterin has his confidence. Of course, Gregor knows Ekaterin single-handedly saved Barrayar, at great risk to her own life. She already proved her worth; Gregor’s got her back in this crisis.

Though Gregor doesn’t share the details of Ekaterin’s heroism, the knowledge that she earned their emperor’s respect forces Hugo and Vassily to change their outlook concerning her.

Now Ekaterin’s standing with her family is upgraded. No longer can they justify stuffing her into the role of a “silly little girl” who needs them to run her life for her own good. Now she is re-integrated into her family on the same adult footing as the others, with her judgment and autonomy respected.

Incidentally, Gregor knows about the Mr. Collins-figure. With displeasure he observes that for the third time “Collins” has come to his attention for a negative reason. Ergo, as Mr. Collins is a military officer, Gregor sends him to a punishment outpost in a remote backwater. Miles himself once served in that very outpost during The Vor Game, and was better for it.

True Rescue: In a neat twist, Ekaterin effects a true rescue, of Miles. Remember the point of the rescue is to reintegrate the protagonist into their kingdom, and Miles is facing social downfall on account of the rumors.

As it happens, after the meeting with Gregor, Ekaterin and her family watch the parliament session from the gallery. The villain spots her, and in this moment plays “Lady Catherine de Burgh” (Pride and Prejudice): he makes the mistake of calling everyone’s attention to Ekaterin’s presence in his attempt to use her to destroy Miles.

Chooses Her Light / Rebirth

Propriety be damned, Ekaterin stands up to the villain and takes her fate in her own hands. In the process she saves Miles, and the day, yet again. This move results in Ekaterin finding her true home as well as making the kingdom brighter.

In life, Ekaterin and Miles now stand together as equals. Rather than a wounded bird he rescued, she is a partner good and true. While Miles always saw Ekaterin’s true worth, he let his own insecurities get the better of him, nearly clipping her wings in the process.

In A Civil Campaign, Miles learns to conquer his inner Hag, proving himself worthy to Ekaterin to be her Lover-King. Crucially, Miles is not another Tien; crucially, Ekaterin will not allow herself to be made small again.

Having proven herself to herself, Ekaterin has now earned respect and seized her autonomy. In their Journey together, Miles and Ekaterin learned a lot about honor and being true to others, as well as to themselves. By the time A Civil Campaign ends, they even manage to effect the rescue of others in their orbits.

Final Words

So, you’ll notice that three versions of the Fairy-Tale Journeys were used in writing Ekaterin’s story: Inanna's Descent, Psyche's Descent and Penelope's Path.

• Coping Strategy: Inanna’s Journey & Penelope's Path
• Secret Betrayal & Loss of Home: Psyche's Journey/ Inanna’s Journey
• Temporary Shelter: Psyche's Journey / Inanna’s Journey
• Journeyer Finds Friends and Helpers: Psyche's Journey
• Secret World: Penelope's Path
• Caught Shining: Penelope's Path
• Refusal of the Call: Anti-Virgin (Penelope's Path)
• Loss of Weapons: Inanna's Journey
• All is Lost: Pysche's / Inanna’s Journey / Penelope's Path
• Dark Night of the Soul: Inanna’s Journey / Penelope's Path
• True and False Rescues: Penelope's Path
• Kingdom in Chaos: Penelope's Path
• Journeyer Chooses Their Light / Rebirth: Penelope's Path / Inanna's Journey
• Tormentor is poetically punished: Psyche's Descent
• Giving Up What Kept Them Stuck: Penelope's Path
• Learning to Work: Psyche's Descent

And you’ll notice that some parts of the Journey repeated themselves. Twice Ekaterin: is betrayed, must give up what keeps her stuck, and faces a kingdom in chaos. Twice she faced the Final Gate; three times she yielded a weapon. True rescues and false rescue tests occurred throughout Komarr and A Civil Campaign.

I hope Ekaterin’s journey makes it clear that you don’t have to slavishly follow all of the steps in the precise order. And as mentioned elsewhere, characters might not pass every test. A character can be held back by lies they tell themselves, or by ghosts and wounds from their past.

What matters isn't that the Journeyer follow all the steps in the precise order. Rather, what matters is how you use the Journey to suit the story you're telling, in a way that's true to your Journeyer. Go forth and write!