Chapter One: Slave

By Cassandra E

A/Notes: If any of you are wondering when the Serenity crew will be showing up, I’ll say around Ch.4, where the story will be in the present- 2517 after River and Simon’s arrival. In the meantime, I am sure you’ll be seeing some familiar faces in the following chapters. Saffron or Yolanda married Durran Haymer in 2511, so I am taking the liberty of writing that she got bored after two years, when she decided to escape with security programmer and start her con game. Hence her appearance in this chapter. Feedback always most welcome.

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2513- Two Years Later

The Harrow Estate, Sihnon

Inara scrubbed the floor viciously, the harsh soap drying her once soft hands. They were now red and callused, workers hands, hands of a slave. Her knees and body ached from kneeling; she wore a uniform of brown and white. Her once beautiful black hair had lost its luster, hacked off to chin length, covered under a white cap. After that fateful day that her mother had casually sold her to a slave trader, the following two years had went in a blur. She remembered vaguely trying to escape before reaching the slave trader’s post, but she barely got two feet away when she was dragged back. Already severely beaten by her mother, they had decided to whip her for her trouble. Inara was obedient from then on, knowing that she wouldn’t survive another beating. Dipping the rag into the soap and water bucket, she slapped the rag down again to scrub.

She was one of the lucky ones; Inara had been sold to a family that mainly uses slaves to do the work around the house. It was very hard labor, long hours, and hardly any rest. They were fed two meals a day, meager servings to all. But it could have been worse; there were girls that were sold into the sex trade, a life much harsher than the regular standards. At first, when Inara had recovered enough from her mother’s betrayal and her own injuries, she had sobbed for days on end, until she was flogged for making too much no