i made a post like this before but I can't find it now. so. I'll just redo it.
What's the first "big news story" you remember from when you were a kid?
It's something I love to ask mixed-aged groups sometimes because I think it's really interesting to see the responses. I've gotten answers from the Olympics of [whatever year] to Watergate to more recent stuff from my niblings.
My first news thing I remember is the OJ Simpson trial. I vaguely remember watching the news with my grandparents before that, but that's the first story I remember, in part because my second grade teacher had us go play so she could watch the verdict 😂
I just realized that the reason Byerly was ‘courting’ Ekaterin in ACC was because ImpSec wanted a set of eyes on her private dealings. They didn’t know that Miles would marry her so quickly and probably wanted a more controllable/neutral pair of eyes on her behavior.
Miles says during his conversation with Allegre that ImpSec was never happy that Ekaterin was involved without being part of any chain of command. And Allegre asks Miles not to talk to Ekaterin until after his analysts can “evaluate her place in this.” I always thought that this would be a desk jockey looking through information, but now I think it’s By nosing around to see if she’s talking to any of the Conservative party.
He’s not there for Ekaterin at all when he visits her, he’s there for Alexi! (Miles thinks By is there courting Ekaterin, because he perceives any male within ten feet of her as a threat, but Ekaterin herself notes that Byerly “didn’t even pretend to be serious.”) ImpSec does indeed delay Miles telling Ekaterin about the murder rumor later on to have her place in it evaluated by an analyst (per Allegre), so a desk jockey evaluating her involvement is right; they’re also investigating her at that point for the first time, because they hadn’t been keeping an eye on her separately (though doubtless By’s passively-collected testimony from that earlier visit would be one of the data points in the analysis). Given how top-secret the whole business is it’s especially difficult to imagine them giving By any reason at the beginning to look at her too closely, since from a security perspective that would be creating the very problem they’re trying to avoid!
Meanwhile By and Alexi arrive and leave together from the Vorthys household, and two different POVs in the book observe that By appears to be cultivating Alexi specifically to a weird degree—presumably because Alexi is a pipeline to what’s going on with Boriz Vormoncrief and the conservatives, though their association doubtless also helps with hustling Richars.*
Here they are arriving and leaving together, plus Miles’s thought that By must be hanging around Alexi for his money:
"Ah, here's your driver at last," Byerly added. "Lend me your coat, Alexi; I don't wish to damp my lovely new suit. What do you think of it? The color flatters my skin tone, no?"
"Hang your skin tone, By."
"Oh, but my tailor assured me it does. Thank you. Good, he's opening the canopy. Now for the dash through the wet; well, you can dash. I shall saunter with dignity, in this ugly but inarguably waterproof Imperial garment. Off we go now . . ." Two sets of footsteps faded into the drizzle.
[…]
"Vormoncrief first turned up a few days ago. I'm afraid he's a bit of a bore, poor man. Vorrutyer just came in with him this morning; I'm not sure he was exactly invited."
"He's found a new victim to sponge off, I suppose," said Miles. Vorrutyers seemed to come in two flavors, flamboyant and reclusive; By's father, the youngest son of his generation, was a misanthropic pinchmark of the second category, and never came near the capital if he could help it. "By's notoriously without visible means of support."
Later, Ivan similarly observes that By is cultivating Alexi:
They slid into a table toward the back; a man in well-cut civvies lounging at the bar turned his head as they passed. Ivan recognized By Vorrutyer. Most town clowns didn't frequent the officers' bars, but By could turn up anywhere. He had the damnedest connections. By raised a hand in mock-salute to Vormoncrief, who, expansively, beckoned him over to join them. Ivan raised a brow. Byerly was on record as despising the company of his fellows who, as he put it, came unarmed to the battle of wits. Ivan couldn't imagine why he was cultivating Vormoncrief. Opposites attracting?
And they have this conversation shortly thereafter:
By smiled briefly with one side of his mouth. "Now, now. I was there. Vormoncrief bored her to tears."
"Yes, but . . . maybe her situation isn't comfortable. Maybe she would take the first ticket out that was offered . . . wait, you? How did you come there?"
"Alexi . . . leaks. It's a habit of his."
And then of course By is still continuing to hang around with Alexi after the disastrous dinner party, when he attends the dinner where Alexi et al. originally develop the slander against Miles—notable chiefly for the fact that By indicates he’s there because he was invited by Alexi, not Richars, even though Richars by that point already thinks By is spying for him on Dono:
"I went to a little private dinner with Alexi Vormoncrief last night," By began.
"How exciting for you," growled Ivan.
By waved his fingers. "It proved to have moments of interest. It was at Vormoncrief House, hosted by Alexi's uncle Count Boriz. One of those little behind-the-scenes love-fests that give party politics its name, you know. It seems my complacent cousin Richars heard about Lord Dono's return at last, and hurried up to town to investigate the truth of the rumors. What he found alarmed him sufficiently to, ah, begin to exert himself on behalf of his vote-bag in the upcoming decision in the Council of Counts. As Count Boriz influences a significant block of Conservative Party votes in the Council, Richars, nothing if not efficient, started his campaign with him."
Bujold also actually remarked on this on the listserv back in 1999, though I’m (shrug) at Word of God, in this case I honestly always just thought it was evident from the text! You can find this in the ACC Companion:
“A side note on Byerly Vorrutyer … I would draw your attention to his comment to Ivan in the bar: ‘Alexi … leaks.’ In my mind, By (counter-intelligence, remember) was following Alexi. I feel that Alexi, while loyal, has had some problems in the discretion department …” (LMB to the List, 15 Dec. 1999).
*Lately I have come to think that this may have in fact been “ordered by Gregor to spy on Boriz Vormoncrief and his party via the means available to him,” since Gregor’s reaction to By’s arrival at Vorhartung Castle would seem to imply that By actually did have an assignment directly from Gregor at the time on top of playing agent provocateur…
