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Gregor Vorbarra knows the worst is over when no one comes to get him. Usually, hands sweep down and pick him up and then his guards scold him for playing hiding games, and all it means is that Gregor has to be better at hiding next time. He's gotten very good at hiding, he thinks. It's been hours and no one's found him yet.
Mama said, you have to be very quiet, can you be quiet for me, Gregor? And Gregor had been very quiet, but she'd gone away anyway and then the guards had come and taken Gregor to the Emperor and the Emperor said his mother had gone away, but he was going to be a good boy for his father, could he do that? And Gregor had nodded and said yes, sir, and he hadn't cried then, he didn't cry until he was alone and by himself and then he was very quiet, because if they heard him making noise, they might take him away, too.
And there are crowds outside, shouting and setting off fireworks, and Gregor stays very small and very quiet in his hiding place.
And then someone comes running in and he sees boots from beneath the small crack of light and then someone shouts, "he's in here!"
And then the man pulls him out, but he's not wearing a guard's uniform, and he's covered in dirt and he's holding a life signs scanner and he has a medic patch and he sits Gregor down on a chair and Gregor stays very still and silent as the medic checks him over.
Another man with a medic patch comes in and he takes the first one to the side and has a short, whispered conversation with him and Gregor waits, watching them carefully, and then the second man comes over to him and kneels in front of him and says, "Gregor, do you remember who I am?"
Gregor shakes his head.
"I'm Timothy Vorinnis," he says. "I'm your mother's brother. That means I'm your uncle."
"Like Uncle Ges?" Gregor asks.
Uncle Timothy looks very sick. "No, no, nothing like Ges Vorrutyer. Gregor, do you remember the last time you ate?"
Gregor nods. "Breakfast."
Uncle Timothy reaches down and pulls out a ration bar. He gives it to Gregor. "Here, eat this. We'll get you a new breakfast as soon as we can clear the kitchens and get things running again."
"You're with the rebels," Gregor asks, remembering the Emperor's rages about treacherous relatives, remembering him shouting at Gregor's mama if she was passing them information. "Aren't you?"
"I'm with the winners. I'm here to make sure nothing happens to you," Uncle Timothy says. "We're going to go to a safe place while we finish taking the capital, so if someone tries to hurt the Residence, they won't hurt you. Okay?"
"You should tell him, my lord," says the first medic and Uncle Timothy looks up at him and then nods.
"Gregor," Uncle Timothy starts carefully.
"I know mama is dead," Gregor says. "She told me. She said she'd come for me and if she didn't come in five days, she was dead, and she didn't come, so she's dead, isn't she?" He doesn't cry at that. He knows not to cry when people can see.
"I... didn't realize Serg hadn't told you," Uncle Timothy says. "Yes, Gregor. I am very, very sorry, but your mother is dead. And," he takes in a deep breath. "So is your father."
"Oh." Gregor is silent for a long moment, considering this. "Did you kill him?"
"No," Uncle Timothy says. "But my side did. We had to. He was hurting a lot of people."
"He hurt mama," Gregor says. "And Droushie. He made her go away. And all the people in the square. He hurt them, too."
"Yes, he did," Uncle Timothy says. "But do you understand what this means, Gregor? You're the Emperor now. General Vorkosigan is taking the capital, but it's in your name. We're going to give you a Regent and... and someone to take care of you, like your mama and Droushie did. And when you're twenty, you're going to hold all the power, like your grandfather did. Do you understand what I'm saying, Gregor?"
Gregor shakes his head. "Father's the Emperor," he says quietly. "And he hurts people. I don't want to hurt people."
"You're not your father," Uncle Timothy says. "You're a lot like Kareen, do you know? You resemble her a lot. I'm her older brother, so I remember her when she was your age. I can tell you so many stories. Would you like that?"
Gregor shrugs.
Uncle Timothy stands up and offers Gregor his hand. "Come on, Gregor. Let's get you some breakfast. And then we're off to where your mama grew up, where we can ride out the storm."
And they go down to the kitchens, where there are men in uniform putting together very basic food, and they give Gregor a sandwich and call him 'sire' and then Uncle Timothy takes him to Vorinnis House and Aunt Alys is there, who Gregor remembers from his fourth birthday, and she has a baby, and she lets Gregor hold him when he's sitting down.
"His name is Ivan," she tells him.
"Hello, Ivan," Gregor says to the baby.
Aunt Alys takes Gregor and cleans him up and puts him in clean clothes and then she asks him what he knows about the war.
Gregor doesn't want to talk about the war. He doesn't want to talk about the Emperor or Uncle Ges or about the people he could see from the windows or about his mama telling him that General Vorkosigan was going to come and make sure no one hurt him, or playing hide and seek from his guards and not telling them first, or anything at all.
"General Vorkosigan was my Gran'da's friend," he says, because that's the only thing that isn't on the list of things he doesn't want to say. "Gran'da trusted him a lot, mama says."
"Your mama was right. We did this," Aunt Alys says, "because that's how your Gran'da wanted it. He wanted you to be Emperor. And he trusted that General Vorkosigan could make that happen, because General Vorkosigan had made your Gran'da the Emperor."
He meets General Vorkosigan the next day and General Vorkosigan asks him if he understands that he's the Emperor now and Gregor says he does and then General Vorkosigan goes down on one knee and gives Gregor his oath and Gregor looks over at Aunt Alys and she prompts the response to him and Gregor repeats it.
He memorizes the response very quickly, because it seems like no matter where he goes, people are giving him their oaths.
Aunt Alys takes him back to the Residence a week later and she and Uncle Padma and baby Ivan stay there with him and Gregor goes through his father's rooms to make sure he's really gone. And he is. He's really gone. He can't hurt any of them anymore.
And then General Vorkosigan takes him to Vorhartung Castle and Gregor doesn't like that, because he remembers the last time he was there and it was horrible, men were dying in the square and no one would help them, they were just chained up there and starving and it was terrible; but it's okay, Aunt Alys tells him soothingly, no one's there now, it's going to be okay.
And then General Vorkosigan takes oath as the Lord Regent and Gregor asks him if that means he's his da now and General Vorkosigan says of course not. A Regent's like a bandage, he says, a bandage that you put on an Imperium for years until you're ready to pull it off to reveal the Emperor.
And so that's what they're going to do, General Vorkosigan promises. He's going to hold the Imperium together until Gregor is twenty. And the Lord Regent isn't the Emperor, because Gregor is the Emperor and General Vorkosigan won't let anyone try to take that away from Gregor.
Gregor doesn't want to be Emperor, but he knows he's not supposed to say that.
A few weeks later, there's someone new at breakfast. He looks like Uncle Padma and Uncle Timothy, so Gregor asks him, are you my uncle, too? And the man says, yes, in a way, but if you consent, sire, I'll be your guardian, I'll stand in the place of your parents, I'll raise you like your mother would have wanted. Would you like that, sire?
And Gregor says, "okay."