Title: Cantonese Opera

Author: Nos4a2no9

Spoilers: Set one week after the BDM

Rating: NC-17

Characters: Mal/Inara

Disclaimer: Mal and Inara (and their angst!) belong to Joss. I merely make them do naughty things to each other.

The soprano’s voice darted and soared, bird-like, around the small confines of his cabin. The orchestra backing wasn’t much: a few strings, some woodwinds, a gong keeping up a steady, reverberating thrum beneath it all. But the woman’s voice didn’t really require the support. Her voice was more beautiful than the words she was singing, saying more than the route subject matter of the aria – love lost and found – could ever manage on its own. Probably why this opera star was making headlines all over Sihnon, illegal downloads proliferating across the Cortex and into the black. And Mal liked the thought of it, this angel’s voice speeding through the stars, beaming itself right into Serenity‘s hold and pouring out the woofers in his bunk, a wave of beauty washing over everything gone tired and gray. He was almost glad he didn’t know the Chinese dialect of the opera well enough to understand every word: the mystery made the whole thing a little more private-like, as if she’d crossed all those miles of darkness just to sing for him.

It was the most unexpected and immediate consequence of the revelations about Miranda. While the news that the Alliance had created the Reavers didn’t quite topple the government, it had certainly freed things up a bit. Now restricted music and art flooded the Cortex; books that had been banned since the war were available to anyone with a good IAN connection, and folks on the Rim could access whatever their hearts desired in the way of culture, entertainment and news. Old flicks from Earth-That-Was, new operas like the one he was currently enjoying, novels, short stories, poetry...it sure as hell opened things up. Of course, Mal wasn’t so addled as to believe that most folks would want anything more than the cheap detective novels, romances and h