I just think Lois McMaster Bujold needs to lie down for a while or fall out of a moving car or have a fairly bad acid trip. Some combination of these experiences may serve to solve the problem.
She's writing basically the same characters and the same story over and over and they get worse every time. She should take a break/have a traumatic experience to knock her brain loose from whatever it's stuck on.
I mean, if you put her on a fairly bad acid trip and then start driving her around, odds are nonzero she'll fall out of a moving car, and if that happens in that state she'll probably lie down for a good while.
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