A/N: A massive thank you to the readers and reviewers, including all the new ones. Thank you so much for supporting this story. I apologize for the delay of an update, starting a new job is quite taxing and time consuming. That being said, I recently wanted to tweak the original ideas for these upcoming chapters, and that also has set me back some. I do believe it will only add to the story, however, and hope everyone enjoys it. Happy reading. :)

Sky Song

Half A Universe Away

He had always known it would happen. Eventually, they would want back what was rightfully theirs, or so they believed with an iron grip. It was never a matter of when or why; it was always about what she would do when it would come to fruition. It had made him nervous, scared him to a dry mouth and an uneasy heartbeat in what felt like a constricted chest. He knew he shouldn't have felt that way, because her genuine smile that was always saved for his eyes only, was a reassurance of her unconditional feelings for him. The shine in her eyes when she looked to him was an attest to her loyalty and evidence of her trust.

And yet...he couldn't help the way his stomach tied into knots, the way air seemed so much harder to breathe in whenever he thought about the possibility.

He couldn't bear losing her.

Not again, not ever.

The first time, the first time had been difficult enough. The second time would rip his heart asunder.

I've been reinstated...

The words were small in her quiet, gentle voice, not unlike a sea during the calm. But they were treacherous waters, and they washed over him violently and with all the force of a storm.

If he looked at her, he'd become vulnerable, so he didn't, no matter how badly he wanted to.

He'd always known they would send for her, always known they'd try taking her away again because just like him, they couldn't part with something so enthralling, so incomprehensibly and undeniably magnetic. If Inara was a sun, she'd pull apart an entire galaxy, he was certain of it.

A full pardon, with a few amendments.

Of course they would. He stifled a chuckle, knowing she wouldn't take kindly to it if he dared let it slip. Her involvement with the rebels would be misconstrued, maybe turned into a kidnapping. Out of fear for her own life, she'd acted according to the captain's demands. She'd done it to save her brothers and sisters at House Madrassa, to prevent their entanglement with two dangerous, opposing forces. From there, the stories and rumors would only grow.

He had forced her into his bed, taken advantage of her in every possible way before sharing her with the rest of his crew.

She was tormented for months until she'd broken, beaten so beyond recognition that she'd needed reconstruction surgery after they'd found her again.

The lies addled his mind, whispered to him of all the horrors that he would never even be capable of, that he could never fathom committing, lest of all to her so dear.

He wanted to believe in her affections. He wanted to believe her words, dripping with genuine emotion whenever she addressed him. He wanted to believe so desperately that he was good enough for her, that she hadn't made a mistake when she'd chosen him after all had been said and done. But even after all that time, he still couldn't quite give into it fully. She deserved better than him, she deserved a real, full life, like the one he'd robbed and uprooted her from. He'd snatched her away like a thief in the night, and no matter how much he told himself that it didn't matter, he couldn't ever shake the feeling that it did.

He could never give her what they offered; heck, he could barely compete. All he gave her was all that he had; an old ship that, like him, had seen too much, a somewhat ragged crew that had become like family, and a warm body to sleep next to in the coldest of nights out in the black. He was a fool to think it was much, but yet he unwisely hung on to the hope that it might have been enough.

But if Malcom Reynolds ever learned anything valuable in his life, it was that things seldom ever went in his favor. True happiness was fleeting and then, ever elusive.

"Good guys never get the girl. Ain't you learned that yet, Mal?"

Monty, in his bachelor ways, rarely imparted wise words on his fellow comrades, often japing and joking crudely about all his conquests instead. But Mal had found the burly man hiding away inside a bar on Boros, not long after the war had been declared lost and the Alliance had rounded up the rebel survivors, still deciding their fate. It had resulted in a truly humble and honest moment from the defeated warrior, and there was a real longing and sadness in his glassy eyes when he spoke. However, Monty had also been very drunk, so far deep into the bottle, he could barely keep his eyes open and Mal had wondered if it had been the drink speaking instead.

"They either die, or leave ya. The real broads, anyhow. Ever love 'em for good, and they don't stay. So forget 'er. Be best fer e'ryone, yeself included," Monty slurred.

Mal sighed before taking a spot next to the veteran and ordering up some hard liquor himself.

"Easier said than done," Mal answered him.

Monty laughed heavily and then picked up his glass and tipped it in Mal's direction. "That's what this is for...," he took a long swig in demonstration.

A few drops fell down into his soup catcher and tainted some of the bristly, thick black and grey hairs nestled in his bushy beard.

Back then, it had been a different woman from a life he'd long since abandoned. Nonetheless, Monty's words rung true no matter the time.

She was leaving him again.

While on a grim train of thought, he realized that even if she had stayed, Inara would otherwise be doomed to die a gruesome death, according to Monty's wise words. If he couldn't have her as selfishly as he wanted, then he'd much rather she lived far away from him than to live a few years at his side before succumbing to a horrible fate. It was a conclusion he'd reached that hadn't differed from Zoe's own resolve to part with Astra. He'd come to realize his first mate's pain and hardship in that moment.

I'm taking their offer.

He should have seen that coming, too. He didn't stand a chance against fancy dresses, extravagant parties, expensive champagne, and all of the rich delicacies the universe had to offer. And really, he couldn't blame her, but he did anyways of course.

He wasn't good enough for her, and although he knew that, it still stung to learn that she did, too...

"You said it was impossible."

Simon was focused on his task of working a way to get Jayne up to snuff, if only temporarily, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take the rare opportunity of questioning the companion when she was alone with him. After all, Jayne and Zoe were both in a deep, anesthetic sleep and Inara had volunteered some of her valuable time to give Simon a much needed hand in his part of the scheme.

Yet Inara seemed confused by the doctor's accusation. Even though he was carefully measuring the medication in the vial he was drawing up from, he was still patiently awaiting a response. After all, doctors had to be good at multitasking.

"Pregnancy," Simon continued once her silence had gone on long enough, "You told me it was impossible that you could ever carry a child to full term. I believed you."

There was a palpable silence in the medbay and Simon could feel the intense lights overhead making him sweat on the back of his neck. When he pulled out the syringe and made to look at the woman next to him, Inara had to avert her gaze.

"Now, I realize that as a companion, sterility is often a desirable status to have in the trade. Less medications, less precautions, less check-ups and paperwork. Simply removing the chance of conception saves a companion a lot of time and money. I should know; I've done a few of the procedures myself back on Ariel," Simon explained very matter-of-factly.

Nonetheless, the exchange seemed to be making Inara rather uncomfortable. She stood staring at the floor, hugging her arms.

Ignoring her chastised behaviour, Simon continued, giving her his back as he prepared his equipment and organized the medications; "The effects of the procedure are irreversible. However, a few do request to save some sperm or ova in the event that they do change their mind and opt for a surrogate, or wish to go through with in vitro fertilization. Most don't, but it's a service we offer since the results are final."

Simon put on a new pair of surgical gloves and turned to face Inara again. "Now, knowing all this as a medical professional, I'd like to think I'm not so easily fooled by a slip of words. Yet, now I can't help but think on what you had told me back then; impossible to carry a child to full term."

He paused and glanced at her with piercing eyes. "Knowing you were a long practicing companion with the utmost professionalism, I did something a proper doctor should never, ever do with a patient; I assumed. And yet you never did correct me in my error, which begs the question...why?"

Inara looked up at Simon with eyes as wide as saucers, deep brown searching the handsome planes of his face for a piece of the innocent boy that had first boarded Serenity. She found no traces of him in his steely conviction.

"Why would you lie about your situation? Why would you choose to hide the truth about your condition? Why would you take off shortly after you'd learned about your pregnancy? Why wouldn't you come to me, knowing that I'd have kept your secret safe, because I'm your doctor while you're on this ship? Why would you be making frequent visits to doctors on Ariel instead if you were indeed sterilized like the majority of companions are? Why, Inara? What is it that you're running from?" he barraged her with the questions, taking steps towards her the more she moved back, wishing to physically remove herself from his onslaught of an interrogation.

I'm not running from anything...

This time, when she looked up at him, she saw the hurt and betrayal that she'd been responsible for in his youthful features. He was angry with her, yes, but he was also saddened by what he'd come to realize slowly; that she had lied even to him. Someone more than just her doctor; her very dear friend to whom she had been quite open with about many a thing.

Her voice was shaking when she finally found it again; "Simon, I-"

He put up his hand to silence her. "No more lies, Inara. If I'm going to die for this, if I have to force an injured man into a life or death situation, if a little girl is about to become an orphan, if I have to bring the captain back from the dead one more time, and if I have to watch either my sister or my fiancée put their lives at risk anymore, I think it's fair to say that I deserve some honest words in the least. I deserve to know why."

It was silent in the room, and all that could be heard was the faint beeping of the machines keeping Zoe and Jayne sedated while monitoring their vital signs. If they listened carefully beyond that, Serenity's thrum of life could also be heard in the background.

Simon watched and waited while Inara decided she needed to take a seat, and also a deep breath through her nose. However, the doctor was defiant in his cause, and made it clear that he would not continue with the necessary procedure if he didn't get what he wanted out of her. Inara was truly starting to understand what Mal went through on a regular basis. She almost couldn't blame him anymore for his lack of compassion at times. Still, she wouldn't let that drive her, no matter that it was the easier route. She reminded herself that Simon Tam was her friend, and that he was also right.

"He was a preemie...," she started, staring emptily at the floor beneath her boots.

"So small, no one thought he'd make it, not even the best doctors at the Guild," she continued, almost smiling at the fond memory of him in her arms.

"You mean Liam," Simon stated, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back against the counter.

Inara nodded once.

"They suggested an abortion, claiming that it would be the safest option even that late in the pregnancy. That's how serious it was, how much my body was...rejecting him...," she clarified, staring into her lap now where her fingers lay still and entwined.

"I said no, much to the Guild's dismay. They told me I'd die with him, and that it was a total waste; all words and sentiments I'd heard before, I assure you. I don't really know why I put up such a fight...Maybe I just wanted to annoy them after everything they'd said and done to all of us. It doesn't really matter, I suppose. Eventually, my body was going to force him out, and we'd both die in the process. Blood loss, trauma, I'm sure you know the spiel."

Simon listened in silence, wearing a look of deep contemplation.

Inara continued her story, accepting his pause as a right to do so, "Obviously, that didn't come to pass. It was true that they had to perform an emergency operation and that he'd certainly left the womb far too early to have a good chance of survival, and yet...survive he did. Granted, it hadn't been easy. I'll have you know, he was incubated, treated, and had many moments of near death despite all the medical intervention. He was in so much peril, the poor thing, he had to be monitored carefully for a very long time. He always came out of it, though. He always proved me and the others wrong..."

There was definitely a smile on Inara's lips this time, and when she looked up to meet Simon's stare, her eyes were shining, like she couldn't have been prouder.

"You asked me why I had to lie...The answer at the time had been simple; I couldn't put Mal through it. I had been convinced that the child wouldn't live, or that we'd both perish. I had been told this fact by every doctor and specialist almost all my life, that the risk is far too great to ever take such a gamble in my life. Even if I would be able to conceive, my body would abort the child way before I'd even come to realize it. A genetic mutation, they called it. My father was the carrier, and he'd passed it on to me."

A beat. She leaned forward, long waves and curls becoming a curtain of ebony obscuring Simon's view of the pained look on her face.

"How could I do that to Mal? How could I have made him choose when I knew he'd choose me? How could I ever expect him to understand such a decision I was making, that I was excluding him from? Yes, I knew that I could come to you, Simon. I knew you'd help me take care of it if need be, and that you would never tell a soul or dare judge me for it. Truth be told, I almost did, because even if I were to happen to have a healthy child, Serenity would be no place for it. Zoe and Astra are proof of that. Why do you think Mal is so against your engagement to Kaylee? The captain may have a jiānchíle tā de pìgu, but he is not a stupid man." Her voice was breaking, her eyes betraying her composure. Her shoulders were shaking, too.

"I realize now that it was a cowardly thing to have done. I didn't have the nerve to tell Mal I was going to take that risk. I couldn't. If he knew that there was a likelihood I'd die, and that by some off chance, the baby lived and I didn't, he'd have hated him, Simon. My decision to leave Serenity may not have been much better than the other options, but at least it would save him the trauma of losing us both, and blaming himself for it for the rest of his life." There were tears in her eyes, and she was trying so very hard not to let them slip by, but the companion wasn't as careful with her emotions as of late. They consumed her, warred within her, and it wouldn't be long before her soul was alive with them.

Simon crouched before her then, and took her cold, fidgeting fingers in his gloved hands, wrapping them in his warm palms. "You can't have known that. Those are way too many ifs and maybes, Inara. Zoe loves Astra more than anything in the universe, even though that girl is a constant reminder of her dead husband. You couldn't have been certain of Mal's reaction."

He knew his words were empty now, the past being in the past. Yet he couldn't help and feel guilty for what had transpired when the raven haired beauty had opted to leave her home for a second time due to what she deemed to be complications. Simon never saw it that way, and he was certain that Kaylee's carefree spirit didn't either, but for some reason, both Mal and Inara seemed to torment themselves out of the happiness they both longed for. As an outsider, all Simon could do was watch and maybe try helping guide them back to one another. It was the least he could do for a friend as dear as Inara. She had, after all, helped him and Kaylee in more ways than one.

"It doesn't matter anymore, not when I stand to lose them both now," Inara admitted, her voice sounding small and defeated.

Simon sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "No, you won't, not without a fight anyways. Now help me sit Jayne up so I can give him the injections."

"Entering Athens' atmosphere." River's voice echoed throughout the ship's comms.

She never had to do it, and she usually didn't. Her position on the matter was that if the crew wanted to know where they were, then they should come and have a look themselves. It drove Mal and Jayne up the wall, but like a good inside joke, everyone else aboard Serenity knew that River just enjoyed watching them storm into the cockpit looking pissy and furious. Simon claimed that she'd always had a strange sense of humor.

It came as peculiar behaviour that this time she'd bothered to make the announcement. Then again, maybe it was mostly since there wasn't a captain to annoy, and the usually hulking mercenary was currently coming out of what was practically a medically induced coma. It therefore didn't appeal to her this time, and she also knew how important this mission was.

"Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down," she repeated the captain's words to Inara when she sensed the older woman enter the cockpit.

She could feel her unease almost instantly nowadays. The woman was a mess of rioting emotions and thoughts. It was all River could do to stay out of her head; listening to it all gave her a buzzing headache and made her want to scream.

Inara had always been the scariest to feel.

At first, there was nothing. She was contained, everything on the surface only there because she allowed it. But the captain had a way of changing that about her. There were cracks afterwards, and River seeped into them, curious like a cat's shadow. It had been a mistake, even then. But now, Inara exuded it, wore it around her like a mantra. The fear, the anguish, the pain, it was all too real and if River wasn't careful, it would infect her, too.

She brought the woman's thoughts back to love, back to something familiar, helping her ease out of the dark places she often visited in her mind.

"Love tells you when she's hurting before she keens." River thought that last bit was especially important for Inara to hear in her current state.

"There's a battle on the horizon, xiǎo jiāhuo," Inara told her as she leaned over the pilot's chair and stared at the planet they were quickly approaching.

River could smell the sweet scent of her honeyed perfume, no longer laced with the familiar incense the companion usually carried on her skin and clothes. But she could still smell the lavender in her hair, the last hint of the life of luxury she had had before reuniting with Serenity for the second time.

"As much as I hate to admit it, love isn't going to help us win this one. Kerosene and grenades will. When it comes, we have to be ready for it," Inara informed River, fiddling with a few switches and levers on the board.

River turned her gaze on her then. "No one is ever ready to die."

Inara paused in what she was doing and gave River a grim expression that was also laced with fear.

The pilot girl then turned in her chair again, and went back to her task of preparing Serenity for landing.

"I'll bring her down safely," she said to her, as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.

"Wake up, you hóuzi de pìgu!"

Mal regained consciousness abruptly as the ice cold water splashed his warm, sweat ridden face and exposed torso. He could barely open his eyes, the glare from the overhead light intense and blinding.

"Don't tell me the big, bad soldier wasn't taught how to withstand torture and interrogation properly during his training. That would just be no fun, sweetie."

He knew that voice, no matter that there was a bit of water in his good ear and that the other one was busy ringing and burning something fierce.

He managed to open his eyes enough to see her silhouette, until she moved in front of the hot glow of white light, and smiled at him cheekily once she'd noticed she had his undivided attention. She waved at him with her fingers, and it was a slow blur in front of him.

His jaw clenched as he saw the flash of familiar, short titian hair framing a feminine, heart shaped, pale face. Mal's breathing escalated, and his chest tightened in pain, his nostrils flaring from trying to contain his rage and anger. The pulse in his neck was visibly bounding, his heart rate escalating at the burst of adrenaline in his veins.

"Shoulda known... it was you...devil woman," he managed to spit at her through clenched teeth and waves of intense discomfort.

She giggled, amused by his response. "Resorting to name calling, darling? That's not how a husband should address his wife, Mal. Most especially not a wife who has cut off one of his ears."

Mal laughed, but stopped when he winced at the sudden sharp pain in his abdomen. "Katya is it this time? You can...paint yerself up as pretty as you like...Even...the cheapest o' whores...can do that, Katya." There was so much venom in the way he said her new given name that she slapped him hard in retaliation for his insult, jerking his head with the motion.

"And you would know so much about whores, wouldn't you, captain? Heck, you even managed to defy the gods and fill one with your bastard child! Quite an accomplishment, I must say. A companion as uptight as that yúchǔn de biǎo zi, and even you couldn't resist," she quipped, nudging his ribs with the handle of a knife hard enough to make him groan in pain.

She leaned in to his face then, the point of the blade dancing on the skin of his jaw and the only thing separating her mouth from him. "Did she taste better than me, hubby?"

She ran the sharp edge of the blade along his cheek, like a loving promise she was going to keep.

"Saffron...or Katya...darlin', I'd imagine...cow dung tastes better than you...," Mal chuckled despite the throbbing pain he was coming to learn about the more he came to.

That earned him another hard backhand and a sharp jab with the butt of her knife.

"Watch it, honey," she warned him icily. "My hand might slip and cut you open."

Mal gave her a bloody grin. "Niska don't like his playthings dead...otherwise, you'd have already done it...by now. I can see...how much you want to..."

"I can change the old man's mind. Accidents happen, Mal." She gave him her back and fiddled with what sounded like other torture devices on the table near her.

"As a matter of fact, right now, I have total free reign. After all, I was the one who brought you in for the sick bastard. Hefty reward for your head, Mal. Who'd have thought someone would place so much value on something so...worthless. Oh well, it was easy money for me, and more than makes up for what you and your little crew of rats stole from me," she explained with a false, cheery smile.

He hadn't really gotten a good look at her, having trouble opening his eyes under the bright light as well as the pain from being punched in the face a couple of times by Niska's men. When he managed to open his eyes enough to see her there in the distance, he noticed that her usual shoulder length hair was cropped short, cut up awkwardly on her head in chunks and layers, barely grazing the nape of her neck. She'd also lost a few pounds, her clean clothes somewhat baggy on her typically voluptuous figure.

Mal smiled smugly to himself; it looked like she'd been forced to do her time in prison, and it hadn't been kind to her in the least. It was the little victories that mattered in situations such as these.

"And once I'm done with you and the brat, you can bet I'll be going after the rest of them, too. Hope that's the last comforting thought in your head when you leave this 'verse, sweetie," she prattled on.

Mal's blood went ice cold then. He gulped and forced himself to stare at her as wide eyed as he could. He tried to look around him, tried to see what and who was there, but he found nothing in the dark corners of the isolated room. When he returned his attention to Katya, she was standing before him with a wide smile, and a new, shiny tool in her delicate hands.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you that bit? How scatterbrained of me! You see, my intention had always been you, Mal, but then again, so was half the 'verse, and you are a hard man to catch distracted and alone on that garbage ship of yours. So, just as things were starting to look bleak, someone up there decided to throw me a bone," Katya explained, her smile growing wider and more carnivorous as she took pleasure from watching Mal squirm for once.

"That's right; your offspring isn't much smarter than his parents, it seems. I found him wandering the cargo bay all on his lonesome, unsupervised and oh so curious, just like stupid kids typically are. He thought I looked like a nice enough lady, and I made him believe it, the gullible little fool, and, well...I'm sure you can fill in the rest."

Mal's lips were a tight line, but he said nothing in response.

Katya's fingers then brushed Mal's exposed chest gingerly, her sharp nails raking a path down his bruised, heaving torso. "I believe the term is, like taking candy from a baby," she laughed sweetly all the while watching him.

She then stared at the hand roaming his bare upper body, feeling the warmth radiating off of Mal's skin, asphyxiated by the way he felt beneath the pads of her fingertips. When she spoke, her voice was a breathy whisper; "You know, we could have been good together, you and I, if things were different. Really, really good..."

Mal continued to steady his glare in her direction, intense and unchanging. He also started breathing through his nose to prevent injuring himself any further. He would be needing his strength sooner than he had thought.

She met his eyes then and grabbed him by the chin, searching his handsome face earnestly, before rolling her own eyes and moving away while declaring, "What a shame. It'll be your loss, sweetie."

As she put the strange tool away, she commented on it with indifference, "I've never been one for torture myself."

His eyes followed her every move, every sway of her seductive hips, watching her like a hunter would watch his prey, and he could tell it was unnerving her, most especially when it was paired with his sudden silence on the matter.

"You keep lookin' at me like that and I'm gonna get the old man to take those pretty eyes of yours out of their sockets," she threatened him, brandishing the blade again.

Mal was unfazed by her warning, and still he gave her his deadly, defiant silence. The muscles of his jaw twitched, but that was all she was going to get from him.

It was then that she came to understand his sudden resolve. With a look of amusement on her fine features, she said, "It's the boy that's got your captain underwear in a bunch, isn't it? Looks like you care about the whore's son more than you let on, Mal. I think I might just tear up a little bit here." She pouted convincingly in his direction, and then it was replaced with a malicious grin.

"How about we make a deal? You be a good little torturee, and I'll see what I can do to ensure the old man doesn't go beyond traumatizing your brat. Besides, what would be the point if he watches his father's slow death and doesn't live out the rest of his agonizing life with that image in his mind? Defeats the purpose, if you ask me."

Jayne was unsteady. Inara had never truly appreciated the mercenary's full size until he had stood next to her, armed to the teeth with guns, grenades, and ammo. She felt him leaning towards her before she saw it; he was in no condition to fight, that much was apparent to anyone taking a long look. She was hoping Badger wouldn't be half as observant. Jayne was paler than usual, and there was a thin sheen of sweat coating his face and arms. He very well looked like he was just about doing everything not to collapse. Simon had said that in order not to shock his system and have him crash abruptly, the drugs would have to take a slow effect, but even then, they were racing against time. Inara couldn't help but actually feel concern and worry for the man trying his damndest to stand up straight and tall. It was probably one of the few times she'd ever really been genuinely worried for him.

"Why'd you volunteer?" she asked him as they waited in the empty, vast plains, miles away from the closest town of Patras.

She could barely see it there in the distance, the fifth biggest settlement on Athens itself. The wind was strong on the planet, and it violently picked up loose strands of Inara's hair and tossed them about her face and shoulders.

Jayne grunted in response, and Inara didn't know if he simply refused to answer, or if he was in too much pain to muster any sort of cohesive sentences.

When she learned that she wasn't going to get anymore from him, she confessed, "Well, I'm grateful you're doing it anyways, no matter your reasoning."

Jayne readjusted the heavy gun in his muscled arm, resting it on his shoulder instead. Inara stared at the communicator in her gloved hand, recalling Kaylee's words of caution in her head.

"They're gonna pick up on it sooner than later, you gotta remember that. Now, when that happens, River and I'll try and buy you some time and freeze the image. It ain't gonna get you a lot of minutes, but maybe it'll get you just enough, if Badger ain't as smart as he claims on bein'."

River's parting words hadn't been any less daunting, either.

"Press this button when you need to get out of there. I'll come flying, but make sure you're able to get to the mule, just in case."

None of it had been rather encouraging in the least. As if on cue, Inara turned to look through wisps of her hair at the yellow vehicle they'd rode in on, idle in the distance, the orange light of the setting sun casting light and shadows against it.

The noise of a mule in the opposite direction brought Inara's attention front and centre. Her heart leapt into her throat as she stared ahead of her where the purring of the machine was coming from. She could feel Jayne tense up next to her, enough to get him to stand up straighter and to attention. It never mattered if he was well enough to shoot the gun; he just had to convince Badger that he could and would.

Inara brought a hand to her head in an effort to block out the bright light of the sun and get a look at the approaching vehicle. She squinted, and sure enough she could tell it was racing towards them, a four seater mule. She licked her dry lips and clutched the comm in her sweaty, gloved hand, very much aware of the various weapons tucked away in easily accessible spots of her clothing.

"Follow my lead, Jayne," she instructed the mercenary as the mule closed the distance, the wind picking up suddenly and violently, taking up gusts of dirt and soil with it.

She stepped forward to greet Badger and his man as they stopped a few feet from them. The little businessman was brandishing one of his finer hats today, as well as an amused smile that no one with a proper thought would believe in. Inara recognized the goon at his side as one of the burly guards that had given her a hard time when she'd tried entering his hideout. This time, though, his beady eyes were fixated on Jayne, and both men looked to be in some sort of staring contest. Inara could only silently pray that Simon had been right about the drugs.

Badger stepped off the mule gingerly. Donning a flashy pair of freshly polished dress shoes, he was careful as to where he stepped. There were puddles littered about the wild plains from a previous shower. Inara, on the other hand, splashed into some of it, not caring for the new mud caked on her leather boots.

"Badger," she greeted him with a steely gaze and a tight lipped, forced smile.

He grinned toothily up at her, bringing his arms behind his back after he'd given Jayne a quick once-over. The guns were apparent enough, and seemed to dictate who would be in charge during the exchange, but it did not slip past Inara that Badger's man had a handgun tucked into his holster.

A precaution, he'd tell her, after pointedly looking at the heavy artillery Jayne was toting. Of course, she'd have to accept that in fairness. Not because she'd want to, but because she'd have little choice and fewer time.

When he addressed her, he did so with just as much petulance and insincerity in his tone as he had had when she'd first waved him from Serenity; "'Ello, love. Ain't it a pleasure meetin' yah here on such a lovely evenin'."

A/N: Some revelations here, as is owed to the readers. I've been hinting at Inara's background quite a bit, and I think it's fair I give you all a small taste of that, seeing as how I may have a teeny sequel in the works pertaining to that very thing. I haven't decided quite yet if I can fit it in Sky Song, but if not, rest assured, I shall in another installment! As per usual, feedback is most welcomed, and translations to any butchered mandarin (I really apologize to all who actually speak the language fluently, but there's only so much google translate can do) used will be below.

Translations

jiānchíle tā de pìgu: stick up his ass

xiǎo jiāhuo: little one

hóuzi de pìgu: monkey's ass

yúchǔn de biǎo zi: stupid bitch