Of cloudless climes and starry skies.
'Twas Grace that brought us safe thus far
And Grace will lead us home
Lucy's voice rang in Inara's ears as she walked. Her heart was heavy with remembered words and looks, too full of emotion to show a drop of it. Every step she took shook the dust of this distant moon beneath her boots, sending it up in faint clouds which clung to her skirt and drifted higher. She had to close her eyes against it. There would be no more tears - not here, at least, where anyone could see.
Lifting her head, she caught sight of the back of Mal's head, reading his own grief in the angle, the way he held his neck, the line of his shoulders. The whole crew, walking back to Serenity, had fallen unusually silent, burdened with the last traces of the sobriety that had wound through Nandi's funeral. She clutched her things against her belly, as if that would chase away the dull ache that sat there. Vestiges of guilt and jealousy wound together with the hurt of her loss, and still Inara's face remained cool, impassive. The remaining dust of the incense from the funeral was on her fingers still. She could sense Kaylee just off to her side, stealing concerned glances, all too aware that Nandi had been Inara's friend.
She did not waver.
Coming back to the ship - to their home, Inara thought, watching them - seemed to shake them free of their somber mood, but she paid little attention to their quiet talk. The last to start the walk up the ramp, she already knew what she had to do. It might be the last time she boarded this ship. The time to leave had come; it had come a long, long time ago, were she honest with herself, but now she saw it. There was a closeness to them as walked ahead of her. They belonged that way. She hadn't been careful enough - she nearly belonged, too.
There at the top, standing just inside the doorway, she paused and took a heavy breath. One last look at Nandi's world, at what had been lost; one look to reinforce the lesson she had learned. Inara turned slowly to see -
- the glint of sunlight off some shining surface. It burned into her eyes until she narrowed them, lifting a hand for shade.
This was not Nandi's moon, nor any other they had visited recently, and that which had caught the light was nothing other than a vast expanse of water, stretching out to the horizon, lapping at the edges of an unfamiliar shore. Bewildered, Inara let out a soft gasp and took a few steps forward, her hand dropping to her side. "Mal," she called, turning around again to beckon to the crew, "what -"
But they were no longer there. She looked into Serenity's hold, but already they had returned to their rooms. "Mal!" she yelled. "Kaylee?" Her voice dropped to a mutter: "Zāogāo." Something here had gone very, very wrong; that, or she was hallucinating, an option Inara preferred not to consider. "Mal, somehow this is your fault." It didn't even matter if he could hear her - except for the part where, as she glanced around at an unrecognizable terrain, it very much did.
[Everyone who has any reason to be on or near Serenity is totally welcome to tag her. This is a traditional debut post - everyone gets to explain. Zāogāo: crap.
ETA 8:58 pm: As of this moment, I'm closing this entry to new tags (except from any remaining crew who want to tag her now instead of later) so that I can get to everyone without going mad. XD There will be another post for her in just a couple days. Thank you SO MUCH, you guys, for being so enthusiastic about her. I'm so excited right now. ]