Oh, yes! Yes, absolutely yes to all of this. Alys and Simon really are a match for each other in so many ways, and the narrative is constructed so we think of them that way. They are both people who have served willingly all of their lives, with all of their considerable abilities, and who have lost so much in Imperial service, in their ways. And something else I love about them and their unconventional mid-life love story is how they've both been so very lacking in agency - Alys subject to all the Vor constraints on womanhood, and Simon who has suffered so much abuse from his life in ImpSec (I find it chilling, that Ezar thinks nothing of forcing him to undergo the procedure), and their relationship, unconventional, unwed, and loving, is something they choose to do for themselves, because it's not too late, after all.