A/N: Special thanks to valeriebean and McQ, who provided wonderful help and ideas to get this section off the ground. The quote in Inara's artwork is from Jetsun Milarepa. I crave constructive feedback of all kinds!

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The silence of a grounded spaceship was all-encompassing. Standing on the catwalk railing, balancing effortlessly on metal bars narrower than her feet, head tilted to the side, eyes closed, River reached out, listening. Just listening. She could hear the dreams of Serenity’s sleeping crew and passengers. The faint buzz of noise from the humanity-clogged docks filtering in from outside. Kaylee’s quiet humming as she tinkered about. The serene, meditative rhythm of Book’s morning prayers. In the black, the life of the ship herself—the sounds of her breathing and her beating heart—masked the sounds of the life she carried. Made it harder to concentrate. In the black, River caught bits and snatches of the music that comprised the crew’s lives without being able to follow the tune. Here, where a ship on the ground ceased to be a ship and existed only as a shelter, she could hear beyond the silence to experience the whole orchestra.

River shifted her weight further onto one leg, leaning, as she felt Inara’s melody, smooth and elegant as the silk she wore, flow into Serenity. Moving softly, drifting closer, a balance of sadness and hope, grace and indecision, passion and control.

The sudden blast of emotion that radiated from Inara’s presence, unexpected against the backdrop of the woman’s usual poise, nearly knocked River from the catwalk. She lurched, hands clutching at her head, balance gone, unable to block out the tidal wave of the other woman’s feelings. Then she was falling, knee striking the railing, body twisting out over the cargo bay, when a pair of strong hands seized her around the waist and pulled her back to safety, her feet resting firmly on the catwalk floor.

“Gorram it, Moonbrain, gonna take a header off that rail