A/N: Not mine. Inara will show up by next chapter, I promise.

II.

By the time he joined up, Mal figured he knew about all there was to know about sex. His Ma had raised him to be a gentleman, but you don't stay dumb about go se like that on a farm. The army, though, that was an experience. The stories Ma had always hushed up around the farm about Reavers and Companions and other feng le stuff weren't the half of what he heard. It weren't just hearing, though. The crazy corrupted Core-folk weren't the only ones with appetites, and it made his stomach twist to think how close the edge of the dark must be, that he was seeing Reaver-like behavior from his own side.