Mal was furious as he punched in the code to unlock Serenity. "How could no one have seen anything? It's not like she blends in! That woman is the shiniest thing on this gorram hunk of gou shi! And it's not like they weren't starin' hard enough to notice while she and I were walkin' around earlier."

Four hours had passed. They had searched the market questioning everyone they could find, which, considering that it was almost full dark, wasn't many. They had asked around in every open establishment in town. And had finally ended up asking the local law enforcement. No one could remember seeing anything. And the sheriff just shook his head and said something about her not being missing long enough. Even Jayne knew enough to keep his mouth shut as he and Zoe followed the Captain back on board.

They found Kaylee and Simon sitting at the dining table. Kaylee's eyes and hope fell as she realized that Inara wasn't with them.

"Any news, Kaylee?"

"Nothing Cap'n. Santo seems to have its fair share of unsavories, but otherwise nothing real unusual or notable for a moon this sized. Nothing that points to Inara. Nothing that points to us, even."

Mal nodded and looked to Simon. "Did River have anything new to add?"

Simon cleared his throat. "She was incoherent but basically calm up until about an hour ago when she started scratching at her wrists and ranting something about snakes cutting off her circulation. I, I had to sedate her when she started screaming."

Kaylee blanched at the memory and stared at her hands in her lap. They were all quiet for a few seconds that felt like hours.

"Well. Nothin' else we can do tonight." Mal's voice felt tight in his throat. "We'll look again in the morning. Try an' get some sleep." His heart was pounding so loud he couldn't hear if there were any protests as he left the room. Seeing the look in his eyes and unable to think of anything else that they could accomplish before morning, the others went to their bunks, though not a one was headed