In part, I think that’s because Miles kind of grew up during the events of A Civil Campaign. Much to everyone’s surprise, he’s pretty much ready for fatherhood. There’s no sense of maybe-this-won’t-work-out because you know he’s gonna do fine, especially with Ekaterin involved. He’s come to peace with most of his own father-issues. There’s no threat involved in that transition. When I first read the book, I figured for sure Bel and Miles would survive, but I kind of suspected that Miles would either have his health permanently destroyed (which kind of already got explored in Memory—and did sort of happen in Diplomatic Immunity, but ultimately got brushed off in the face