Miles Vorkosigan and Gregor Vorbarra's trust and Auditor appointment

Miles Vorkosigan and Gregor Vorbarra’s trust becomes consequential when Gregor turns Miles’s personal concern for Simon Illyan into an official investigation. Their bond joins private familiarity to public responsibility: Gregor grants Miles unusual independence, while Miles uses that authority to uncover the crisis inside ImpSec without surrendering his judgment to either political pressure or personal ambition.

A private bond within public office

Gregor is both Miles’s foster brother and the Emperor; their conversations move readily between familiarity and affairs of state. When Miles reports that Haroche has twice blocked his attempts to see Illyan and threatened to have him stunned if he persisted, he explains that his concern is not simply professional. He invokes his status as his father’s son and a Vor, arguing that the obligation to reach Illyan comes through a different door from ImpSec’s military hierarchy. His own experience of cryo-amnesia also makes him fear what it means to be lost inside one’s mind. That personal identification does not settle what has happened to Illyan, but it gives Miles a reason to insist that the situation cannot be left to Haroche’s handling.

Miles asks Gregor for more than permission to visit. He wants access to every scrap of raw medical and other data, oversight of the case, and real authority to withstand Haroche’s resistance. Gregor answers by appointing him acting Imperial Auditor. The appointment makes their trust legible as a constitutional act: Gregor describes an Auditor as his independent listener and probe, someone able to go where the Emperor cannot and report an unfiltered view. He considers Miles unusually suited to that role, while explicitly limiting the assignment to matters related to Illyan’s breakdown and expecting evidence and care in any investigation.

Independence and mutual confidence

The appointment rests on a balance rather than simple obedience. Miles can act for Gregor, but the value Gregor places on him lies precisely in his independent angle of view. Miles’s investigative authority is broad enough to challenge ImpSec’s handling of the case, yet its stated bounds prevent the appointment from becoming a general license. The arrangement lets Gregor reach into an institution whose own leadership is under scrutiny without pretending that the Emperor can personally conduct the inquiry.

Miles’s account of the Vor system also illuminates the political world they share. He describes Barrayar’s military as emphasizing merit while often pretending Vor status does not matter, and the high Vor as acting as if the system matters intensely. Whatever their private assessments, he says, those who remain are oath-sworn to uphold it. This is not a direct statement of Gregor’s personal view, but it frames the tension his appointment must navigate: authority in Barrayar is at once bureaucratic, military, and aristocratic. Miles’s position draws on more than one of those sources, combining his family identity with an Auditor’s independent mandate.

The investigation tests their trust

At an Imperial Residence reception, Gregor’s concern becomes immediate when ImpSec arrests Captain Galeni, one of his guests. Gregor quietly demands an explanation from Haroche, making clear that the arrest has disrupted the gathering and requires accountability. Miles is present as Auditor, but the scene also shows Gregor exercising his own authority as Emperor rather than leaving the matter entirely to the investigator. Haroche defends the arrest as a precaution intended to protect Gregor and those with him; the explanation does not end the larger inquiry.

When the evidence points toward Haroche, Miles orders the arrest of the General and names treason as the charge. The order is a severe use of his Auditor’s authority, and the men present react to the charge. Later, Gregor hears that Haroche offered Miles the Dendarii and a captaincy to return to work for him. Miles had not told Gregor about the offer earlier. Once it is disclosed, Gregor recognizes that Haroche attempted to bribe one of his Auditors, a capital charge. Miles nevertheless asks him to let that charge go, reasoning that Haroche is already ruined and should not face an additional prosecution for the bribe. Gregor accepts Miles’s request. The exchange shows the limits and substance of their confidence: Gregor can seek an explanation from Miles, but he also allows Miles’s considered judgment to shape the consequences for Haroche.

From acting appointment to lasting office

After reading Miles’s report, Gregor calls the snap decision to appoint him one of his more fortunate ones. Miles attributes his success to having been placed where he had useful expertise and notes that another man might have done the same. Gregor rejects the modest account. In his view, the investigation needed a former ImpSec insider, and he cannot think of another person who combines Miles’s passion with his dispassion. His praise identifies the quality he trusts: Miles knows the institution from within but can still examine it independently.

Gregor then offers Miles the permanent position of eighth Imperial Auditor. He first puts the appointment before the assembled Vor lords, who agree that Miles is suitable, and then asks Miles directly whether he will accept. Gregor notes that the office is not literally irrevocable: an Auditor may resign, be dismissed, impeached, assassinated, or die. The practical gravity of the decision is nonetheless clear. Miles accepts, turning an emergency delegation of authority into a continuing public role. Their relationship has therefore changed through the investigation: Gregor’s trust is no longer only familial confidence or a temporary response to a crisis, but the basis for placing Miles among the Empire’s independent investigators.