A/N: Thank you for waiting, as well as all of the feedback :)

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My Dearest Inara,

I’m sorry that on this day I am unable to be there, but I wanted to wish you a happy twelfth birthday. Along with that, I wish you courage and poise as you start your new chapter in life at the Training House. You are beginning a Serra family tradition that will bring you closer to your destiny in life…

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“I called him a backbirthed yokel that wore a brown coat.” Zaira supplied, sipping on her tea as if they were chatting carelessly abou the latest summer fashions.

“Wears a brown coat.” Mal corrected. “I still like the look. Take it you have done your homework on a search engine?"

"Decidedly so."

"And?" There was a charged pause. "Come on now, let's hear the truth of things." Mal prodded, drawling on purpose as it made the elder wince.

Zaira set her teacup down. "You are a nihilist and a marauder."

Inara's face and neck turned a dark shade of red that matched her expression. She looked ready to ruin her manicure.

"I was a marauder." He announced truthfully. "Never a nihilist, life's got plenty a meaning, just none of the meaning come from your plum colored dogmas."

"Very well then. You're a maverick and a black mar on this universe."

"I'm inclined to agree to disagree."

"As do I." Inara entered the conversation with a defensive inflection.

"Inara you know I have never been keen on union, but of all the men or women in the system you chose to bed and breed with this one?" Her mother lamented, gesturing to Mal as if he was a poorly formed horse. "My love this is a nonconformist of all in the galaxy, a pirate, a murderous Independent..."

"How dare you judge him!" Inara lunged forward from her seat, completely forgetting her daughter and how she had vowed never yell in front of her. "You do not have the right to..."

"I AM YOUR MOTHER IT IS MY NATURAL RIGHT."

"You have no natural right for my beginning was hardly