I love Cordelia- I think she and Aral had one of the awesomest courtships ever, and she's such a perfect foil for Barrayar with her Betan sensibilities.

Yeah, with Spark, I'm remined of a Calvin & Hobbes quote: "how can something be so plausible at the time and so idodic in retrospect?" I bet it helps to have someone else around who's at your mental level and will say, 'hey, maybe that's a TERRIBLE IDEA!'