Blue Sun Room FICTION - GENERAL
Over the Hills and Far Away - Ch 19 - Final Chapter
Monday, September 18, 2006
Set after OIS. Much to Inara’s chagrin, Mal accepts a job offer that takes Serenity far away from New Melbourne and to an unremarkable moon called Three Hills...Everyone finds so peace. Inara recovers.
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 4649 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
Ch 19
Part One:
The first time Inara woke she was completely disoriented. Simon had prepared Mal for this possibility, but it was still difficult to see. She was muttering, words muffled by the oxygen mask, lost completely. Mal tried to hold her hand, but it didn’t much clam her down. Simon didn’t let her surface for more than ten minutes before he deemed that she was doing herself more harm than good, and sedated her. He ordered Mal to go to bed.
When Mal woke, they were in the air. Zoe had made the executive decision to start sailing. There was no point in staying, she said, when their employers were dead. Mal was inclined to agree. He then headed towards the infirmary. Simon said Inara was doing much better than the night before, but still asleep. Mal busied himself for hours going from crew member to crew member assigning tasks and demanding status reports.
He found Shepherd Book in his room, praying. Mal tried to back away from the door quietly, not feeling his usual urge to disturb the man’s worship, when Book spoke. “It wasn’t Gilbert Crane’s money,” Book said quietly. Mal found himself frozen. “Gilbert Crane was the son of his father’s second wife. The money belonged to his first wife’s family. Its rightful heir was Gilbert’s older sister – Brelin Crane.”
Mal took several moments to order his thoughts before he spoke. “That’s a very saddening tale, preacher,” he said. “But we took that money with no knowledge that it was anything but honest. Got no obligation to give it back.”
“It wouldn’t matter much if you did,” the Shepherd replied. “Brelin is a simple girl. Can’t be any smarter than your average eight year old. She’s got a congenital heart defect, Mal. She’ll be gone within a month.”
Mal felt his stomach go hallow. “How… how do you know this?”
Shepherd Book bowed his head.
~*~
Inara woke next that afternoon. She was tired, ill and injured, but also very much herself. She asked Simon is she could go back to her shuttle. Simon told her that she was in
Comments
Monday, 18 September 2006 14:08
Love, love, love this - but that is NOT the end, I hate to tell you ... there is so much you could do with this, I hope you think about expanding this and exploring Mal's back story ...
I loved each little bit of closure for the characters - the S/K moment was unbelievably sweet ... of course, I always think you could more with them, but I am a bit biased.
Please continue to write more and we'll keep reading! Brava!
I loved each little bit of closure for the characters - the S/K moment was unbelievably sweet ... of course, I always think you could more with them, but I am a bit biased.
Please continue to write more and we'll keep reading! Brava!
Monday, 18 September 2006 14:25
Hey Arcadia -
I love the commentary! Yay for seeing the reasoning behind a story. You know I like that. ;)
I somehow missed out on a lot of the middle of this, but this last chapter was fabulous! I must go back and fill in...
Beautiful Mal/Inara conclusion, not too neat and perfect but very touching. I agree with TamSibling - a sequel that goes into Mal's background is just the thing. I hope you take a well-deserved break (a short one) and then continue on!
I love the commentary! Yay for seeing the reasoning behind a story. You know I like that. ;)
I somehow missed out on a lot of the middle of this, but this last chapter was fabulous! I must go back and fill in...
Beautiful Mal/Inara conclusion, not too neat and perfect but very touching. I agree with TamSibling - a sequel that goes into Mal's background is just the thing. I hope you take a well-deserved break (a short one) and then continue on!
Monday, 18 September 2006 15:01
Oh, this was a very nice, appropriate ending.
Of course, I agree with Tamsibling that you could do more with the S/K moments but I am a bit biased. Their little scene was nice and sweet.
I, too, like the authors notes at the end:) Maybe you could incorporate some of the things you wanted to do in this one into a sequel?
Of course, I agree with Tamsibling that you could do more with the S/K moments but I am a bit biased. Their little scene was nice and sweet.
I, too, like the authors notes at the end:) Maybe you could incorporate some of the things you wanted to do in this one into a sequel?
Monday, 18 September 2006 20:23
Thanks! I've been telling myself since chapter nine or so that there will not, under any circumstances, be a sequel. And, of course, now that its been mentioned, I've already started reviewing my notes on Mal's backstory, ha! We'll see. I make no promises.
I am actually thinking of branching out and doing an S/K story. I have a premise for one. 4-years post Serenity. In my mind, I call it "Brown Eyed Girl". I swear, I am capable of coming up with original titles that aren't from songs. This one, however, it fits. Again, no promises.
I've realized I forgot to include one very important character in my notes: Abaddon! How I forgot him I don't know…
Abaddon was tricky. I wanted to be careful to make him "the same, but different" from Mal, if that makes sense. Inara, as I see her, is a free thinker, and has been probably before even she realized it, which is why she's attracted to the rogue-ish personality. So, I wanted Abaddon to be a rogue. Even since I heard about Tim Minear's vague explanation of the black vial as a drug that kills people you sleep with, I knew that Inara would end up killing her lover. (I don't buy into the school of thought that Mal is Inara's first love – she's just too jaded, I think, for that to be so.) So, Abaddon had to be a spy. I decided to make him Asian at the last minute. While his spirit was similar to Mal's and they believe in many of the same things, I wanted to make sure that he was refined. He was Buddhist (in the original notes, in fact, he had a sister of who was Buddhist monk and, in protest of Alliance control, lit herself on fire in the spirit of Vietnamese monks protesting Vietnam, which is why Abaddon joined the war effort in the first place, but that was way too complicated to fit in the story, just a fun back story for me).
Another little titbit, since I am a name nerd: Abaddon's name is biblical and means "ruin" because he was doomed. Layla is Arabic (just like Inara) and means "dark" (while Inara means "light"). Bonamici means "good friend".
I am actually thinking of branching out and doing an S/K story. I have a premise for one. 4-years post Serenity. In my mind, I call it "Brown Eyed Girl". I swear, I am capable of coming up with original titles that aren't from songs. This one, however, it fits. Again, no promises.
I've realized I forgot to include one very important character in my notes: Abaddon! How I forgot him I don't know…
Abaddon was tricky. I wanted to be careful to make him "the same, but different" from Mal, if that makes sense. Inara, as I see her, is a free thinker, and has been probably before even she realized it, which is why she's attracted to the rogue-ish personality. So, I wanted Abaddon to be a rogue. Even since I heard about Tim Minear's vague explanation of the black vial as a drug that kills people you sleep with, I knew that Inara would end up killing her lover. (I don't buy into the school of thought that Mal is Inara's first love – she's just too jaded, I think, for that to be so.) So, Abaddon had to be a spy. I decided to make him Asian at the last minute. While his spirit was similar to Mal's and they believe in many of the same things, I wanted to make sure that he was refined. He was Buddhist (in the original notes, in fact, he had a sister of who was Buddhist monk and, in protest of Alliance control, lit herself on fire in the spirit of Vietnamese monks protesting Vietnam, which is why Abaddon joined the war effort in the first place, but that was way too complicated to fit in the story, just a fun back story for me).
Another little titbit, since I am a name nerd: Abaddon's name is biblical and means "ruin" because he was doomed. Layla is Arabic (just like Inara) and means "dark" (while Inara means "light"). Bonamici means "good friend".
Tuesday, 19 September 2006 09:51
And here we are... :o)
'Hope' is a great place to end this... not perfectly wrapped up, but suffused with hope for them, and the beginnings of trust all over again. Nice.
I love Mal just being there, always there, especially through the scary moments of Inara's recovery.
I have loved this story, and while I'm so happy for you that you've finished it, I'm sad that it's done too :o) But the prospect of a look into Mal's backstory makes me happy - after a nice break of course!
Your commentary was very interesting to read, I really enjoyed that...
And now, I'm gonna go read it all over again :o)
Congratulations, and thankyou for such a wonderful story!
'Hope' is a great place to end this... not perfectly wrapped up, but suffused with hope for them, and the beginnings of trust all over again. Nice.
I love Mal just being there, always there, especially through the scary moments of Inara's recovery.
I have loved this story, and while I'm so happy for you that you've finished it, I'm sad that it's done too :o) But the prospect of a look into Mal's backstory makes me happy - after a nice break of course!
Your commentary was very interesting to read, I really enjoyed that...
And now, I'm gonna go read it all over again :o)
Congratulations, and thankyou for such a wonderful story!
Tuesday, 19 September 2006 15:17
I was a little hesitant to feedback this because I wanted to like it more than I ended up doing. The excellent quality of the series as a whole set me up, perhaps, with a lot of expectations, but somehow this chapter left me unsatisfied.
After all the almost's and maybe's and the instances of personal realization, I really would have enjoyed a moment of actual communication between Mal and Inara, especially since their conversation starts out so promisingly. But then Mal suddenly pulls back - and without his POV it seems really abrupt and out of nowhere, considering he did admit loving her to himself, quite openly - and Inara's breathing problems take over and somehow his physically caring for her seems to take the place of any actual honesty and talking and, I guess... it just made Inara's note of hope seem hollow to me. I can get her breathing as a metaphor and everything, but still. It's a sudden twist in her physical condition, nothing more.
There was so much conflict, real and solid conflict, that I would have loved to see put into words, and being able to sleep in someone's arms really... it's easy, it's not as hard as talking. Not even close. And nothing more comes from Mal, at all. Everything is unresolved, but in an empty way.
So I was a little dissappointed with this ending, I guess.
But that doesn't take away from the fact that every part up to now has been a truly wonderful experience. You put such depth of emotion into your scenes, created compelling characters that I liked even when I hated them, and you have a looooovely and lyrical way of writing, of which there is simply not enough on the net. So, still, many many compliments for writing such a long and wonderful story. It's one of my favorites, either way. :)
After all the almost's and maybe's and the instances of personal realization, I really would have enjoyed a moment of actual communication between Mal and Inara, especially since their conversation starts out so promisingly. But then Mal suddenly pulls back - and without his POV it seems really abrupt and out of nowhere, considering he did admit loving her to himself, quite openly - and Inara's breathing problems take over and somehow his physically caring for her seems to take the place of any actual honesty and talking and, I guess... it just made Inara's note of hope seem hollow to me. I can get her breathing as a metaphor and everything, but still. It's a sudden twist in her physical condition, nothing more.
There was so much conflict, real and solid conflict, that I would have loved to see put into words, and being able to sleep in someone's arms really... it's easy, it's not as hard as talking. Not even close. And nothing more comes from Mal, at all. Everything is unresolved, but in an empty way.
So I was a little dissappointed with this ending, I guess.
But that doesn't take away from the fact that every part up to now has been a truly wonderful experience. You put such depth of emotion into your scenes, created compelling characters that I liked even when I hated them, and you have a looooovely and lyrical way of writing, of which there is simply not enough on the net. So, still, many many compliments for writing such a long and wonderful story. It's one of my favorites, either way. :)
Wednesday, 20 September 2006 15:22
Well now...can't say the nod wasn't unexpected but thanks for it anyway, Arcadia;)
I truly have enjoyed this series from the beginning, and the whole project does lay down a mighty plausible reason for why it took Inara so long after OiS (in Those Left Behind) to jump on Mal for keeping her away from the Training House she's teaching at in the BDM. I do, however, really wanna see a sequel to this where Mal's background is explored. Especially to help use see why he has issues with Inara's work, since his disdain for Companions - I think - is interlinked to his issues with PDAs and hearing about sex. We know he isn't shy about getting intimate (as seen with his moments with Nandi), but you have to wonder what makes him all "GAH! Not in front of me, gorramit!" when he sees Zoe and Wash (or Simon and Kaylee, presumably after the BDM). I have my own ideas about why he's like that, but I would really like to see how you handle things:D
Gotta admit though...some of the stuff you mentioned in your Author's Notes would have actually made the end a bit more...weighty. Things like Mal's decision to leave Brelin without money to help ease her remaining days and Inara being injured worse than she ended up being would have given the finale a lot more power in its unfinished business. Mal would be further stuck with the issue of whether he took the smart road or the right road in keeping the money from Gilbert, and his almost-lost chance to tell Inara that he loves her (due to the severity of her injuries) would have meant a lot more "what will happen next?" kind of emotion floating around. Cuz I think part of what makes Mal so fascinating is that he's quite capable of making the executive decisions about things...but he is left secretly further darkened by the choices he has to make.
Still...you have a ton more courage than lil' old me when it comes to actually writing out a fanfic, so I can't really get too harsh. I mean...how would we have reacted to OiS if the series had been left to go till a season/series finale? Would we still praise it as a hell of an episode, or would we see it as a great episode that works with War Stories as a major turning point for River's character? You writing this, even if some of us might not think it ended on a perfect note, really embodies the spirit of what Joss & co. were doing with the characters: exploring the big questions about choice, honour, morality, heroism, love and relationships. Take whatever you rest you think you need....we'll be waiting with open arms when you get back;D
BEB
I truly have enjoyed this series from the beginning, and the whole project does lay down a mighty plausible reason for why it took Inara so long after OiS (in Those Left Behind) to jump on Mal for keeping her away from the Training House she's teaching at in the BDM. I do, however, really wanna see a sequel to this where Mal's background is explored. Especially to help use see why he has issues with Inara's work, since his disdain for Companions - I think - is interlinked to his issues with PDAs and hearing about sex. We know he isn't shy about getting intimate (as seen with his moments with Nandi), but you have to wonder what makes him all "GAH! Not in front of me, gorramit!" when he sees Zoe and Wash (or Simon and Kaylee, presumably after the BDM). I have my own ideas about why he's like that, but I would really like to see how you handle things:D
Gotta admit though...some of the stuff you mentioned in your Author's Notes would have actually made the end a bit more...weighty. Things like Mal's decision to leave Brelin without money to help ease her remaining days and Inara being injured worse than she ended up being would have given the finale a lot more power in its unfinished business. Mal would be further stuck with the issue of whether he took the smart road or the right road in keeping the money from Gilbert, and his almost-lost chance to tell Inara that he loves her (due to the severity of her injuries) would have meant a lot more "what will happen next?" kind of emotion floating around. Cuz I think part of what makes Mal so fascinating is that he's quite capable of making the executive decisions about things...but he is left secretly further darkened by the choices he has to make.
Still...you have a ton more courage than lil' old me when it comes to actually writing out a fanfic, so I can't really get too harsh. I mean...how would we have reacted to OiS if the series had been left to go till a season/series finale? Would we still praise it as a hell of an episode, or would we see it as a great episode that works with War Stories as a major turning point for River's character? You writing this, even if some of us might not think it ended on a perfect note, really embodies the spirit of what Joss & co. were doing with the characters: exploring the big questions about choice, honour, morality, heroism, love and relationships. Take whatever you rest you think you need....we'll be waiting with open arms when you get back;D
BEB
Wednesday, 20 September 2006 23:21
Very good, loved the ending but am still anxious about Inara's recovery. Please say she will be alright? Much kudos for a shiny story, Ali D :~)
You can't take the sky from me
You can't take the sky from me
Thursday, 21 September 2006 17:04
Oh Arcadia!!!!!!!! I absolutely loved this story, and I'm absolutely bummed out it's over. :( I'll throw my voice to the sequel chant as well. I loved the way you wove the flashbacks in with the present, and would looooove to see Mal's past explored further.
It wasn't a happily ever after, but few things are in the 'verse. I hope to read more M/I stories from you in the future, heck I think I'd read anything you wrote anyway. ;)
Sooooo, *Jenn cracks the whip* get writing!!! :)
Fantastic job my friend!!!!
Jenn
It wasn't a happily ever after, but few things are in the 'verse. I hope to read more M/I stories from you in the future, heck I think I'd read anything you wrote anyway. ;)
Sooooo, *Jenn cracks the whip* get writing!!! :)
Fantastic job my friend!!!!
Jenn
Sunday, 24 September 2006 01:52
Okay, so I loved it. I think I sat glued to my computer for two days street devouring every word. *G*
First - OH. MY. GOD. The angst!!!! That's part of what took me so long to review. I needed about a week to recover. It was the kind of angst that makes you desperate for even the small shred or crumb of happiness, leaving me absolutely unable to do anything but go on.
Second - backstory! Wow. You really got me thinking with this. Now, I'm not usually a fan of the "past love" theory for Inara, but you set it up so wonderfully here, especially in the way you used it as a comparison to what was happening in the present. And I also liked the way you juxtoposed the innocence and freedom of first love, versus the angsty-ridden intensity of Mal and Inara. Niiiice! I especially liked that conversation she has with Abaddon in her head at the end. It brought some nice closure to the whole plotline.
Third - plot! I liked it so! There was some GREAT twists, and OMG, Heather and Gilbert are ABSOLUTELY the BEST examples of non-Sue OC's ever. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Fourth - I like the end! It's subtle and there's some underflying sweetness. But, like Agent Rouka pointed out, there *does* still seem to be something missing. Mal and Inara pushed each other to harsh and dark limits in this piece - and, well, if it's ever going to start getting better, they *do* need to address some of their issues. I don't think it needs a sequel necessarily, but maybe an epilogue?
Either way, it's still been a great and enjoyable ride. I loved your emotional depth so much.
First - OH. MY. GOD. The angst!!!! That's part of what took me so long to review. I needed about a week to recover. It was the kind of angst that makes you desperate for even the small shred or crumb of happiness, leaving me absolutely unable to do anything but go on.
Second - backstory! Wow. You really got me thinking with this. Now, I'm not usually a fan of the "past love" theory for Inara, but you set it up so wonderfully here, especially in the way you used it as a comparison to what was happening in the present. And I also liked the way you juxtoposed the innocence and freedom of first love, versus the angsty-ridden intensity of Mal and Inara. Niiiice! I especially liked that conversation she has with Abaddon in her head at the end. It brought some nice closure to the whole plotline.
Third - plot! I liked it so! There was some GREAT twists, and OMG, Heather and Gilbert are ABSOLUTELY the BEST examples of non-Sue OC's ever. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Fourth - I like the end! It's subtle and there's some underflying sweetness. But, like Agent Rouka pointed out, there *does* still seem to be something missing. Mal and Inara pushed each other to harsh and dark limits in this piece - and, well, if it's ever going to start getting better, they *do* need to address some of their issues. I don't think it needs a sequel necessarily, but maybe an epilogue?
Either way, it's still been a great and enjoyable ride. I loved your emotional depth so much.
DESERTGIRL
Saturday, 13 January 2007 05:04
Wow - I spent the last several days totally absorbed in this story. It was wonderful. The kids watched way to much tv for a few days and the house is a wreck, but what else is winter for, but laying around with a good book.
I loved Inara's back story. Everything you created for her seamed so right with what she is in the show. I wanted you to end with Mal and Inara really working it all out, but somehow it seems better just knowing they will in their own time.
The only thing I feel bad about is that Heather died wearing Inara's necklace from Abbadon. I think she will miss it inthe future. And I would really like to see Mal figure out a way to get Inara a piano.
I also really liked Simon and Kaylee's attempts at forging a relationship and Book's good counsil.
thanks for a great story - Keep it up!
I loved Inara's back story. Everything you created for her seamed so right with what she is in the show. I wanted you to end with Mal and Inara really working it all out, but somehow it seems better just knowing they will in their own time.
The only thing I feel bad about is that Heather died wearing Inara's necklace from Abbadon. I think she will miss it inthe future. And I would really like to see Mal figure out a way to get Inara a piano.
I also really liked Simon and Kaylee's attempts at forging a relationship and Book's good counsil.
thanks for a great story - Keep it up!
Monday, 02 July 2007 03:57
Gaaahh!!! *bluster, bluster* F@*%ing Stupid BSR ate my long-winded feedback! :( Curses!
I shall return with glowing comments. When I'm not so peeved.
I shall return with glowing comments. When I'm not so peeved.
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