Title: Black Days: Inara

Author: CharlieBZ

Summary: Inara deals with the crew and has some reflective time.

Rating: PG for language

Characters: Inara, Crew

Pairing: Canon, if any

Spoilers/Timeline: post BDM

Disclaimer: No money is being made from by me and I certainly don’t own Firefly/Serenity.

Author's Note: This fic takes is part of a continuing series. If you’re a little lost see my blog entry Many thanks to gilliebeans at LiveJournal for all her help.

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Black Days: Inara

The small, plain dorm revealed nothing that would indicate to any subsequent lodger that a man known as Shepherd Book had ever occupied that space. There wasn't a piece of him to be found anywhere so on one particularly bleak day, Inara, the newest inhabitant of the small quarters, felt compelled to meticulously search the room. It had become inexplicably imperative that she find some physical evidence to corroborate the man's existence. Yet her search was frustratingly fruitless - no wayward bits of forgotten sundries, no old toothbrush, no hair ties, no forgotten letters or notes. Nothing. How could a man occupy a space for the better part of a year and not leave any indication that he had ever existed?

Since she never did find anything of Book’s, Inara settled on communing with him through the one object that she knew had been present during his stay on Serenity. Hanging drearily on the pale yellow wall at the foot of the bunk was someone's peculiar effort at art. Inara crossed her legs on the bunk and looked at the orange and purple weaving trying to imagine what Shepherd Book’s thoughts may have been as he gazed upon it. Did he, like her, wonder about whom had created it? Did he recognize the hardy and rough material as something a farmer or someone of modest means would have access to? Did he understand that someone had painstakin