Lots of page breaks in this one - the larger page breaks are trying to show years passing whereas the smaller ones are just switching between Mal and those on Serenity. I'm trying to mimic the "log scene" where Simba grows up, but showing Mal at each stage of his life compared with Inara, since they are growing up in totally different situations. Then at the end, we reach more familiar The Lion King territory. More action happens in the next chapter!

Nandi raced into her shuttle to find her daughter just as she'd left her, her head bowed over the Eileen Chang novella, her pen gliding over the piece of paper she had next to her for notes.

"Inara," Nandi said, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Stop that for a moment."

Inara looked up. "Aiya huaile."

"Yes, something's wrong. Always seems to be these days."

"It's not any of the usual difficulties, is it? What's going on?"

Nandi didn't want to tell her. "There's a Reaver ship. It's just coming into range of the fleet. Come with me, please."

Wide eyed, Inara stood, and her mother guided her over to the bed. Lifting the skirt, Nandi motioned with her head to her daughter. "Get under there." Inara dropped to her knees, sliding awkwardly underneath. She looked up at her mother. "Don't you come out," Nandi said sternly. "No matter what happens, no matter what you hear or what you think, you do not come out from under that bed – or make so much as a peep – until someone you recognize tells you that it's alright. You hear?"

Inara nodded. "Mama…"

"Shhh, baobei" Nandi said, dropping the blanket. Her daughter disappeared from view.

Nandi fell on her knees next to the bed and bowed her head.

Zoe, having determined she could not fight efficiently while carrying any more weapons than she already had, raced up to the bridge. "Wash," she said. "Wash, what's the status?"

The pilot glanced at her. "We can outrun them. But…"

"What?" She sank down next to him.

"But I don't think we'll have to."

"You think they're going to pass?"

Wash shook his head. "No. Atherton keeps asking about the positions of the ships at the back of the fleet. And about the slower ones closer up."

Zoe paled. "Is he planning on distracting them from Serenity by offering up the people we've sworn to protect?"

"If he tells me to run…" Wash said, shaking his head. "I'll have to run. If they chase us, we'll have to run. But whoever's in the back…"

Zoe closed her eyes, putting her hand on Serenity. "Nee boo go guh, nee hwun chiou," she whispered under her breath.

"Is this what our life is going to be now?" Wash asked, already knowing the answer. He gave a sigh. "Fantastic."

"I've never had this kind of food before…" Mal said hesitantly, looking down at his plate. "Are you sure there ain't no strawberries or apples?"

"Listen kid," Universe said. "We've been living on this stuff as long as we can remember. And if you live like us, you gotta eat like us."

"Hakuma Mawawa," Jayne said through the handful of the stuff he'd crammed in his mouth.

"It just…it looks so gross."

"It's a rare delicacy out here," Universe said. "Try it."

"Well," Mal said, scooting closer to the plate, "hakuna matata." He took a chunk of the foot and put it in his mouth. It tasted good. He swallowed. "Huh!"

Universe slapped him on the back. "There you go!"

"Hey," Jayne said to Universe. "We gonna show him the underground?"

"Ain't we already underground?" Mal asked.

"Oh-ho-ho," Universe said. "He means the spring."

"Spring as in season, the helical metal coil, or water source?"

"What did he say?" Jayne asked.

"Water source," Universe said, raising an eyebrow at Jayne.

"Hey, I didn't…"

"Ba ba!" Universe warned. "Lie down before you hurt yourself." He turned back to Mal. "Underground used to be this front for the Browncoats in the Unification War. The lights still work, but water's seeped through and there's a bunch of little water falls, and cool little pools you can bathe in. The downside is it's really hot and humid, but if you tug on some of the roots in the walls you can open up a new way for the water to flow. It's almost like a little shower!"

"Where's the water coming from?" Mal asked.

"Hera's an agricultural planet," Jayne said. "They've got plenty of water sources." And this way we can get water without interacting with people when we don't wanna. And when we wanna, there's the bars."

"So what you guys do…you just hang out?" Mal said. "No commitments?"

"No responsibilities, no worries," Universe said.

This is what my life is going to be now, Mal thought. Fantastic.

.

"Headed off on another salvage mission?" Nandi asked."

"Same as always," Zoe said solemnly. "Should be used to it by now, but that family's been with us nearly twenty years. And now we're vultures, picking off our dead friends for profit."

"I really hoped Atherton would snap out of this," Nandi said. "We've lost what, nineteen ships in four years? It's a wonder anyone is still flying with us."

"Some of 'em can't find any place else to go," Zoe said. "You know that." She looked away for a moment. "Truth be told I'm surprised you're still around."

"Well, this place is my home," Nandi said. "And you know how Inara is. She's developed this...this strong sense of duty. To the ship. You know she was readin' up on tricky maneuvers small vessels can do and is teaching them to the families when we land, to give them moreofa chance?"

"Heart of gold, that one." Zoe looked sad then. "She'd have made a good..."

"Yeah," Nandi said, touching her friend's arm. "Good luck. Hopefully this one'll have enough we can go to the core for a while."

"Kind of a sad thing to be wishin', ain't it?" Zoe said, sighing as she walked off.

Back in Shuttle One, River sat on Nandi's bed, watching as Inara studied. "You're going to be a companion. Like your mother."

"Yes," Inara said. "We've requested that Atherton goes to Sihnon, where I can take my examinations."

"The pilot maneuvers won't work," River said. "The following ships are still too slow."

Inara sighed. "That's what I fear."

"You think being a companion will save them. That going to the core to screen for clients, like your mother, means more time away from Reaver territory." River spoke with complete positivity.

"A Companion is a very highly regarded job," Inara said. "And I'd be good at it. I've got a figure, I've scored well on all the lessons that Mama has given me, and I can read people as well as anyone, except maybe you. Maybe there's more to entering into this job now...under Book there would have been no necessity to it, but there is no point in dwelling on the past. I can still see the universe while protecting my family."

"They're still with you, you know," River said.

Inara paused. "What?"

"Book. And Mal. They live in you. We can see them reflected in your actions. So can Atherton. It's why he is afraid of you."

Inara gave an amused snort. "Atherton's not afraid of anyone. He's got his little Saffron, Lawrence, the new baby, and there's still about fifty ships out there he hasn't sent to their deaths yet, that should give the kuh-ooh duh lao bao jurn another ten years or so of sitting on his backside and profiting from murder."

Nandi entered the shuttle, raising her eyebrows at the fierce expression on Inara's face. "Atherton has approved our request to go to the core. He wants to bring this latest ship intact and sell it as a whole."

Inara felt genuine happiness at Nandi's words. But later that night, as the ship changed course, she thought about how different life was from the way she would have expected - the way she would have predicted just three years ago.

"Headed to the bar?" Mal asked.

"They're putting out the old tomatoes into this cannon, gonna shoot 'em up for target practice," Jayne said. "Vera'll like that."

Universe ran a hand through his hair. "You wanna come, kid?"

Mal shook his head.

"Look, we've told you, your voice isn't cracking that much. Plus, it's natural. You're growing up. Nothing to be ashamed of in that."

"I know," Mal said. "But if I go, I'll worry my voice will crack. And no worries, right?"

"Not sure I like you flipping our logic back on us," Jayne said with a smirk, picking up Vera. "You want us to bring back pictures of pretty girls?"

Mal raised an eyebrow. "I'm good."

When they were gone, he wandered down to the water source, sweating within minutes as he stared up at the walls, watching the water, in varying intensities, run down into the pool at the corner. Pulling off his clothes, Mal stepped in. The water naturally only went up to his chest, but he leaned back, floating, staring up at the glistening walls.

He remembered when growing up meant more responsibility, when flying to a location meant evaluating whether the location was where you wanted to go, or where you ought to go. And thinking about what the difference was, and what it meant. When growing up was something that excited him, but scared him, because he would need to step into duties that would be left for him.

Turned out growing up wasn't any of those things. Growing up was going to the bar and sweet talking the owner into giving him some. Growing up was sneaking up behind a herd of cattle and startling them so they'd run and kick up dust while Universe or Jayne pick pocketed their herd manager. Growing up was floating in the cool waters that contrasted a humid room, making him feel at peace with himself. It was getting easier. No worries.

No rules.

F'course, it wasn't what he'd thought he'd be doing three years ago. But here he was. There was no point in dwelling on the past. With the resources here, the stability, the lack of rules and lack of fear, he could see himself spending another ten years right here. At least.

.

Eighteen.

Inara was a legal adult in the eyes of the 'verse. She'd been working as a Companion for three years, but the House Priestess as well as her mother had to supervise when she screened clients, and had to sign her forms during her yearly checkup. Now she was completely on her own, if one ignored the fact that she still shared a shuttle with her mother.

The other shuttle was sitting unused, but she knew better than to ask for it. She wouldn't want it anyway. It was the shuttle Atherton and Wash had flown the day they'd failed to rescue Book and Mal. And Inara cherished the nights she spent with her mother; they were so few and far between now, with both of them working.

Mal would have turned eighteen just two days before. Inara had spent that day in solitude.

By now, he would be Captain, most likely. What was certain was Serenity's fleet would not be half the size it was five years ago. What was certain was Inara would not be practically worshipped by the survivors as someone who was trying to save them. What was certain was Zoe wouldn't be slowly turning gray under the stress of seeing the ship she loved go to ruin by Atherton and Saffron, who's older son was costing them nearly all of their blood money in medical bills and whose daughter seemed to be afraid of them. And Zoe and Inara wouldn't have to be threatened with death to keep Saffron's latest secret - the child she was due to give birth to in a month's time was not Atherton's, but Monty's, captain of another ship they crossed paths with on a semi-regular basis.

Even if Atherton was somehow still Captain, if Mal was alive Inara knew it wouldn't be so hard. She had plenty of friends on the ship, in the fleet, and at the Companion houses, but she'd never thought of anyone but the late Malcolm as her best friend.

Inara lifted the shuttle's curtain to stare out at the stars. Mal always liked looking at them, and they were nearing Hera...this would be the last night's sky he'd ever seen. As the ship made a slight bank to the left, Inara gasped quietly; certain that a cluster of stars came together to look quite like the boyish face she missed so much. When she blinked, it was gone. She sighed.

"What do you see, when you look at the stars?"

"I see all the things I want to see. Even if they seem impossible."

"Oh Mal," she said softly. "I hope you're proud of me."

"You ever just look up at those lights?" Universe asked. They were experiencing the rare occasion of a quiet, clear night that no town person had decided to take a moonlit walk along the path near their home, so they were outside, laying on their backs in the grass. "They're like lots of suns trying to do the work of the planet's sun, but aren't up to the task. That's why it's so much darker when they're around."

"They're just stars," Jayne said. "Get close enough to any of them and they're just like any sun."

"Okay," Universe said, "no creativity points for you. Mal? What do you see?"

"Fireflies," Mal said, staring skyward. "Millions of them. Cruising through the sky…free…" He stared, unable to look away. "Someone once told me that each light is a Firefly making its own way."

Jayne snorted. "They don't move. They're stars."

Universe looked at Mal, amused. "The stars are actually ships. Good one, Mal." He reached over to slap the boy's - new adult's - shoulder, laughing.

"Yeah," Mal said. "It's pretty dumb, huh?"

"Look at that one," Jayne said suddenly. "It's moving."

"A shooting star?" Universe squinted. "Naw. Say Mal, you want a ship in the sky, that one there's a ship. Can't tell what type, but that's one star that's making its way." Universe smiled over at Mal. "Don't feel too bad about us laughing at you. I think it's fascinating that we can all look at the same sky and each see a different thing."

Mal got up and walked away.