*The characters and their world belong to Mr. Whedon and company; the mistakes and the follies are solely mine.

*Previously: Prologue and Chapter One and Two.

*I've borrowed from the floating idea that Inara likes jasmine. see note below. - - Chapter Three - - ::Family compound of Mang Gong, Lotus:: - - Mal’s clever plan of ignoring the fine lot of precious he conjured made up a clan leader’s happy home is shot to hell when the guards push them to a side garden. That is, they push Mal towards to a side garden; they usher Inara and Zoe. It’s removed from the house and surrounded by a jasmine-covered stone wall, half again as a tall as a man. Mal feels a slight buzz, akin to static electricity, as he passes through a wide arch in the garden wall. Gun scanners well hidden in the leaves, he figures. Flowers smell sort of like Inara. One guard follows them, the one holding his and Zoe’s guns, he notices. The scanners beep momentarily, but the guard waves a card and walks though. Charles Mang is waiting for them, hands open at his sides, on a path of tiny gray stones. Simple Chinese suit and calm face suggest nothing dandified. Hell, Simon wore more fanciful things when first aboard. Mal decides to take pleasure in crunching through the patterns raked into the gravel. Zoe stops well short of the man, and gives Mal a stare that halts him, too. Looks like a standoff, he thinks, hands at his gunbelt, despite the fact the hun dan guard behind him still had his pistol. Inara keeps walking; Mal notes how her feet fit into the pattern below, though she never looks down. He wonders if Mang had someone rake the stones it to fit her feet, her walk. Could you even do that? Why would you... though that question fades away as Inara walks on, looking all the ‘verse like she belonged in this garden, as though it were made for her and she it. Like she could never leave. Gorram dancers, he swears, forcing a change in thought. Too many of ‘em on his boat of late. ‘Nara then River, who couldn’t do nothing so simple as walk from a to b ever, always floating or sidesteppin’. But then even Kaylee and the doc had a way with their hands, making them elegant in movement. Hell, Wash flying was a thing of grace, though not so much once off the bridge. For all their gifted hands, three of them together couldn’t hit the broad side of a....dancers. Not fighters. Not like to last in his part of the ‘verse. What with just him and Zoe and Jayne to stand betwixt them and all the trouble that all the worlds spinning could pitch at them. Which they all seemed so bent like hell on doing. Inara’s talking softly to Mang, and he’s smiling. Takes her hand and kisses her cheek. Looks to continue, but Mal’s over to him in a moment, sticking out his own hand. Inara’s eyes narrow only slightly. “Charles, I am happy to introduce to you Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of the ship Serenity. And Captain Reynolds’s first-mate, Zoe Alleyne. Captain Reynolds, Ms. Alleyne, this is Charles Mang, Gong of the Mang Chi clan of Lotus. Mang bows to Zoe. Mal does his best smirk, one that’s always ready when he gets Inara off-balance, and he catches the slight strain in her voice clear enough. But he’s surprised when Mang accepts the proffered hand with willing ease. “Well met, Captain Reynolds. I count myself fortunate to engage your services.” Mal changes vectors quick, but he knows lots of ways of being annoying. “Due respect, Mr. Mang,” deciding to ignore fancy titles since this here was business, “but we ain’t agreed to nothing but a sit-down. We’ll need to hear a bit more about this job of yours before I can go saying we’ve got the services you be wantin’ to hire. As a warning, what I’ve heard don’t sound so promising. Breaking and enterin’ is one thing, take care of vegetation, another. I don’t rightly know we’ve got what you need.” “Forgive me, Captain Reynolds, for presuming. Though I appreciate your honesty. Not to mention your prudence. I have not, of late, dealt with men possessing much of either. I see its effect on my manner. But I repeat what I said about fortune, now that I am doubly sure of it. Will you not all sit? In such dry weather, business discussions are best held over tea, do you not think? Inara, once her introductions were done, keeps her eye on Zoe. The first-mate is alternately watching the garden’s arch and scanning its perimeter, the top of the wall, and the well-armed guard behind them. For a moment, Zoe catches Inara’s glance and nods slightly. Satisfied to turn surveillance of the outside world over to more capable eyes, Inara focuses her worry and concentrates on the two men, trying to distinguish what each needs to hear and say in order to get the job settled. She wants nothing more than to finish the deal and, as Mal would say, be on their merry. But she smiles, and takes Mang’s arm when he offers it, leading the group to the gazebo, pouring everyone cups. Inara and Mang chat of botanicals and weather, slipping fine, light tea. Zoe watches. Mal keeps playing at being a unschooled brigand, but Mang seems neither irritated nor convinced by the act. However, Inara’s quick to steer the discussion, and Mang readily shifts to an outline of the job, so Mal tones it down some. The fact they actually need a job keeps running through his mind. He suspects it would bother Inara some, to know his own thoughts, rather than her snapping eyes, were what was keeping him tolerably civil, but maybe she’d just be glad something was working. Just as details get specific, Mang asks Mal to walk with him through the garden. “I think better while moving,” he explains simply. Zoe and Mal look at each other, but Mang heads down to the fancy stone paths, and Mal follows, cursing Core living in both its languages. He looks back at Zoe and Inara; Zoe’s face is calm. Inara waves. She does roll her eyes at Zoe after a moment. “Thievin’ and women don’t mix?” Zoe asks. Inara looks over at the men walking through birds-of-paradise. “There are times when I don’t miss the Core at all.” - - Mang walks softly. He does laugh a bit at Mal’s first question. “In truth, Captain, he simply annoyed me during an important social event. Were he to have crossed me in trade, he would not be above ground.” “You’re offerin’ an awful lot of coin over an annoyance. ‘Specially seein’ how you come off as quite the tolerant type.” “My business succeeds as it does in part because of good management. But the sense on this world that I am not a man to irritate also makes things easier. Byron Park is young. He has much to learn, and is still grieving a father lost too soon. I am sympathetic to his position. Thus I hope to awaken in him a sense of his place, or at least restraint, without having to resort to violence.” “And taking some flora and fauna gonna do that?” “The tree and bird are of considerable value, in themselves. Both are descendents from Earth-that-was; pure genomes are scarce, useful, and doubly precious. But more to the point, I believe it will show him how deceptive stone walls and armed guards can be, in this world of dragons. Perhaps it will lead him to consider with what ease anything, including his breath, may be taken, and how the time for childish words has passed.” “Right. Well then. Me and my people will get you your lesson, and you can school this boy as you like.” “The Park family compound is not so subtly guarded as mine, but there are some decent security measures. Perimeter scans along the walls, sensors in the garden at night, not to mention armed guards, alarms, and, I hear, tigers.” “Tigers. That a metaphor?” “In this case I believe not. My informant is thorough, but not terribly poetic.” “Tigers. Great. So long as they don’t got bullet-proof fur.” “I don’t believe they will serve anymore more than an amusing addition to the tale. I would prefer it if you managed not to kill them; they are rare and great creatures. It is not their fault their master is a fool.” “That go towards the armed guards, too?” “On no, of course not. They choose to serve a fool.” - - Zoe’s relaxes some; Inara was right about Mang. The man was all business, he’d have sprung a trap already, were that his game. Wouldn’t be pacing about flowers ‘less he really was looking to hire. Although there was something a bit malicious about making Mal tramp through all this greenery. She leans back. Also, amusing. Inara is sitting calmly though Zoe sees her eyes weren’t still. Checking on the two’s progress, watching Mal’s hands float around, and then Mang’s step change pace. “This is a nice place.” Inara looks at Zoe, wondering what sparked the comment. “This gongzi’s got it well set up. Calm. Ain’t too showy. Just is.” “Yes. His restraint is excellent. Especially compared to some of the other clan leaders.” “Would think you’d be eager enough to get back to this sort of livin’ on this sort of world. If you are leavin’ Serenity for good.” “Trade thrilling discussions of criminal masterminding for... flowers?” “If it’s criminal conversations you’re looking for, Serenity’s still got those aplenty.” “Trying to convince me to stay, Zoe?” she asks, as light and dry as fine sake, a tone and taste she hasn’t had much in her mouth this year. But Zoe ignores the flippancy, and instead repays Inara’s earlier earnestness with quiet truth. “It’s for your choosing, Inara. We’ll all of us miss you, but that ain’t reason enough to stay flyin’.” “Nor is beauty reason enough to go back.” Zoe just waits, “Mal hears one thing and not the next. I haven’t thought through—I wasn’t going—nothing’s decided, Zoe. I’m concerned, but,” she sighs, “you look for a middle path.” Zoe doesn’t ask between what, and Inara doesn’t offer the answer. She just sighs, “even in the woods,” and goes back to watching. Zoe rechecks the doors, corners and walls. - - “Will one-thousand platinum suffice as payment?” The setting’s really not so different from his negotiation on Jiangyin, he thinks. Though thinking of that job isn’t exactly comforting. “It’s a round figure, to be sure, but not terribly compelling. And, I imagine we’ll be needing some substantial supplies to pull this off. Stun guns for the pets, not the least pressing.” “True. Perhaps five-hundred up-front, to cover costs, and another eight-hundred upon its completion. Which I assume will be within the week.” “Now that sounds like we’ve got ourselves a deal.” “As to the manner of payment, Captain, I am correct in the understanding you do not much care for my trade?” “People got a right to make money as they will. And I can’t much complain about those that don’t follow Alliance law to the letter. “I could of course offer you money from of my more legitimate enterprises.” “Don’t much see how it matters.” “Some people are contented by ambiguities of economics. I have all possible information needed for entrance to and movement within the compound. If we walk back to Miss Serra and your first-mate, I can turn it over to you.” “Fine by me,” Mal says, glad to hear things might be wrapping up. He had a powerful longing to be back on Serenity. - - Translations: - - hun dan: bastard. gongzi: gentleman/nobleman

- - - note: regarding jasmine, I've read it often that Inara wears jasmine, and it fits well into my story, so I borrowed it, rather like I borrow the 'verse. If it is the IP of a specific writer, I hope my stealing is acceptable. If not, I'll go back and change it, but it falls so nicely into my ending chapters.