The squeals of delight when Mal announced at breakfast that the eldest Reilly twins could go off on their cruise could probably have been heard on Londinium, and he made a great show of waggling his finger in his ear as if he’d been deafened.

“Thank you, thank you,” Val said, hugging her sister tightly since she wasn't allowed to hug her uncle as yet.

“There’re a few ground rules, though” Mal added quickly, “so don’t think you can just go off and do whatever you want.”

Phoebe tried hard to stop smiling, but it wasn't working. “Whatever,” she said, waving a hand.

“And the first one is to sit down and eat your breakfast,” Inara said.

“Oh, we can’t,” Valentia insisted. “We’re too excited.”

“Young ladies should be able to be excited on the inside, but perfectly composed on the outside.” Inara smoothed the red embroidered top she was wearing over soft trousers.

“Is that what you are?” Sam asked, mischief in his voice.

“Absolutely.” She spoiled the effect by smiling widely at him, then turning back to the girls. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat something.”

“Yes, Inara,” they chorused, turning back to their abandoned breakfasts and nibbling distractedly on toast.

“Right. Good.” Mal seemed a little thrown, but he gathered himself. “Okay. These rules. Number one, you don’t go anywhere until Inara or me has checked out the liner, and the folks in charge, dong mah ?”

“Of course, Uncle Mal,” Val said, trying to remain calm.

“And we need to know where you are at all times, like with your sister Noni.” He’d insisted Theo Hawkins keep them both abreast of where the Hawkins Troupe was going to be playing, just in case.

“And we’d both be expecting regular waves,” Inara added.

“Not just them,” Kaylee said, smiling widely, happy that the atmosphere of the night before wasn’t being repeated. “We all wanna see what you’re doing, who you’re meeting. Ooh, there’s gonna be so much to see, all the different monuments. And shopping. All the malls –”

“And third,” Mal