“Miss Serra. How nice to see you again. And so soon.” If the serving man could have spoken with less sincerity, Inara wasn’t quite sure how.

“Miss Velez.”

“Yes.”

“Where is she?”

The man clasped his hands in front of him as if he were truly sorry. “As I explained before, she is not here, and I am not empowered to tell you of her current whereabouts.”

“I’m figuring from all that fancy talk he ain’t gonna tell us,” Jayne said, moving forward out of the shadows. The serving man took an involuntary pace away.

“It seems so,” Inara agreed.

“Well, ain’t that dandy.” Jayne grinned and picked up a vase. “Hey, this is pretty.” He turned it over in his big hands, aware that several young women had stopped to watch him across the atrium.

The serving man paled. “Please be careful with that. It’s very valuable.”

Jayne looked over at him. “That so?” His hands opened and the vase fell to the marble floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. “Ain’t worth nothing now.” He took a step closer. “Pretty much like the piece of gos se I’m looking at right now.”

Jayne in full-on intimidating mode was too much for the serving man. He turned and ran towards his office, slamming the door and locking it behind him.

“Jayne …” Inara admonished gently. “That was worth more than Serenity.”

“It’s just a thing,” Jayne said, grinding a fragment of delicate porcelain into powder under his heel. “We’re talking Ethan here.”

Inara nodded. “Then shall we?” she asked, indicating he should go ahead of her.

He grinned. “You know, for a classy lady you’re sure got a good feel for being a crook.”

“It must be the company I keep.”

Jayne crossed to the door the serving man had rushed through. “Knock, knock,” he said, lifting his booted foot.

---

Mal climbed into the corridor, looking towards the galley, seeing Zoe and Jethro inside. He strode towards them.

Hank followed, having seen him leave the bunk, something in his hand. “What is it?” he asked, but he was ignored.

As Mal