Wash dumped a sleeping Mally on Inara’s bed. “Thanks again for watching them for me.” Kaylee came in struggling to hold the sleepy Gabe. She plopped him down on the bed beside his brother. Amina came trailing in as cheery as sunshine. “The boys should sleep most of the time…We shouldn’t be long. Shuttle one has on mechanical problems. We gotta go and bail them out.” Wash said out of breath. Inara smiled warmly at Wash. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure we will have lots of fun. Won’t we Amina?” Amina just smiled. Wash just looked at Inara and then back at Amina. “Yeah, shiny.” Wash looked around Inara’s shuttle. “What are you looking for?” She asked him. “Paper and a pen.” Inara found some parchment and a fountain pen and handed them to Wash. He gave her a funny look. “So this is a list of things…in case the boys wake up. Just follow this and baby sitting should be no problem.” Wash smiled nervously at Inara. “Don’t worry about PuppyBoy. He’s been fed and all that stuff.” Wash stopped writing and looked at the paper. He laughed to himself, “can’t forget to put that down…” “Wash we gotta go.” Kaylee said from outside of Inara’s shuttle. “Kay, just a sec.” Wash finished writing and handed Inara the list. “Ok, this is the abridge version, but the basics are here. Thanks again Nara.” Wash said as he kissed her on the cheek. “My pleasure.” Inara smiled. “Whatta bout me?” Amina said extending her arms to her father. “Be good for Nara, Dong ma.” “I will.” Amina said ever so sweetly. Wash kissed her on her forehead and left. Amina pouted as she watched her father leave. She turned around to investigate what Inara was doing. “Whatcha doing?” Amina sat down on her knees and placed her hands on her face by Inara. “Calligraphy.” “What’s that?” Amina asked. Inara did another stroke and put down her brush. She smiled at the girl. “Calligraphy means ‘Beautiful Writing’ it is an ancient Chinese art form. It originated during the reign of the Yellow Emperor a man named Cang Jie back on Earth-that-was. But it did not become an art until the reign of Qin Dynasty and started to blossom in the Han Dynasty...” Inara noticed the blank stare in Amina’s face. She realized that she was sounding a lot like her old house mistress, boring. “Do you want to try?” Amina nodded. Inara handed Amina another brush. “You need to hold the brush straight up, like this.” Amina followed suit. “Good. Now make sure that you hold the brush between your thumb and middle finger.” Inara demonstrated. “Like this?” Amina struggled to hold the brush in her small hands. “Hen hao xio gongzhu …now your pointer finger should lightly touch the top part of the brush…while your ring and pinky finger are tucked under the bottom.” Amina struggled with the brush. “I can’t hold it.” She tried again and failed. She threw the brush down. Patiently Inara picked up the brush. “It takes time. But I know that you are a smart girl. Here.” Inara placed the brush back into her hand. “Look at how I am holding it.” Amina studied the way that Inara held the brush. This time she was able to hold it still. “See, I knew you could do it.” Inara got up and went to her truck and pulled out a small huàzhān. “What’s that?” Amina asked still holding her brush. “My old huazhan. My mother gave me this when I was about your age.” Inara placed the small pad in front of Amina. She then placed a piece of xuanzhi. “Now I want you to watch me carefully as I write.” Inara took her own piece of xuanzhi and began to work. Amina watched her carefully mimicking her to the tee. When she was finished Inara showed Amina her work. “Do you know what that says?” “Serenity.” The girl said smiling from ear to ear. “Right. Now your turn.” Inara watched the girl work. She was surprised at Amina’s determination to get the symbol correct. It took her a few times before she was satisfied with her work. Inara didn’t know how she had done it but Amina had ink all over her face and hands. She laughed at the mess the girl was. “They look like Jayne’s nakked girl pictures.” Mally said laughing. “What are they doing?” Gabe asked. Gabe held a large book in his hands. He tilted his head to try to understand the book. “I think you got it upside down.” Mally suggested. Gabe turned the book upside to see if it would get any better. “I still don’t get it…Nara what’s these people doing?” Gabe asked. He looked up from the book. Inara had been so busy with Amina that she didn’t notice that the boys were awake from their nap. She was looking through her trunk for a towel to wipe Amina’s face. “What’s that honey?” She asked not looking up. “In your picture book…what are they doing?” Gabe closed the book and looked at the cover. He was trying to sound out the title. “Kam…ma.. Kama Suu…trr…a Sutra. Kama Sutra.” Inara dropped what she was doing and quickly turned around. “Gabriel what are you two reading?” Inara walked slowly over to the boys. Her faced lost all color to it. The boys had found her Kama Sutra book. She quickly snatched the book from the boys. “That’s not for little boys.” “What where they doing?” Gabe asked again. “How come they was all twisted up.” Mally tried to mimic a position he saw in the book. Inara was a lost for words. Normally talking about sex didn’t bother her. Sex was merely a state of being for her. She wasn’t puritanical about sex, but something about this bothered her to her core. Inara had to gather herself up and think of something to answer the boys’ questions. She knew if she didn’t answer them they wouldn’t let it go. “It’s umm a wrestling book. They were wrestling.” “Ohhh.” The boys said together. “How come they were naked?” Mally asked, not fully satisfied with Inara’s answer. Once again Inara was a lost for words. “Qinai tian mi fo ….Because sweetheart, you have to color their clothes in.” Inara said as sweet as she could. She quickly put the book on a high shelf in her shuttle. “Inara what do you do?” Mally asked. “I mean Poppa flies Serenity, Momma’s makes sure that nobody gets shot, Goddaddy is the captain, Kaylee fixes Serenity’s boo boos, Simon fixes your boo boos, Shepherd he preachers, River tells the best stories, and Jayne he’s the best shot in the verse…but what do you do?” He sat up on Inara’s bed waiting for her answer. Even though Mally wasn’t the Captain’s son he sure did take after him. “She’s a champion.” Amina answered for Inara. “That’s why she got the wrestling book. She’s a champion wrestler.” Amina didn’t look up from her calligraphy. She stuck the pen in her mouth and admired her work. “Right Inara?” Inara wasn’t sure if Amina was talking about her calligraphy or her occupation and she didn’t care. “Yes…you’re exactly right.” Inara grabbed the boys’ hands. “Why don’t we find something to eat?” She pulled the boys off of the bed. The children raced to the kitchen and Inara followed slowly behind them. Mally and Gabe fought over which chair to sit in. Gabe won and Mally pouted on the floor. “There are plenty of chairs Malcolm.” Inara pulled out a chair for Mally. He got in the chair and stuck his tongue out. “So.” Gabe retorted. Inara went to the cabinets to find something to fix. “What do you three want to eat?” She pulled out a couple of cans. “Yams.” Gabe suggested. “Rice and beans.” Mally responded. “Dumplings.” Amina added in. Inara read the cans in the hand they both were pea soup. “Ok, yams for Gabriel, rice and beans for Malcolm and dumplings for Amina.” She put the pea soup back in the cabinet. Inara was skilled in many things, cooking was not one of them. Amina peered up at the stove. “I don’t think it’s supposed to smell like that?” She pinched her nose. “It’s the spices I put in it.” Inara wiped her brow. She stirred the rice and beans again. “But it smells like Jayne’s feet.” She opened the can of yams and plopped its contents in another pot. Luckily for Inara she didn’t have to cook Amina’s dumplings because there was some left over. She let the yams cook for a while before she turned the burner off. With the grace that only Inara possessed she placed the plates of food in front of the children. They all looked at their plates disappointed. “What’s wrong?” They all looked up at her with an “are you serious” look. “Nara…” Mally whined. “Yes Mally.” “We don’t have any chopsticks.” He poked at his food with is finger. He made a face. Inara handed them all chopsticks. Gabe was the first to sample his meal. “It’s all lumpy…you didn’t get the all the lumps out.” He pointed to several lumps on his plate of smashed yams. “Just eat around the lumps.” Inara suggested. “But there’re everywhere…”

“Chi.” Gabe whined and picked over the lumpy yams. Inara noticed that Mally and Amina weren’t eating their food also. “What’s wrong with your food.” Inara asked standing in between them. “My rice is hard.” Mally looked up at Inara with big puppy dog eyes. “It’s all crunchy.” He made a face as he tired to chew his food. Inara took the chopsticks away from him and sampled the food herself. “It can’t be that hard.” When she bit down she felt the crunchiness of the rice. Inara turned to Amina whose arms where folded and her lip hung low. “And what’s wrong with your food xiao gongzhu?” “How come Mally and Gabe get new food and I got ruttin leftovers.” Amina’s lip hung even lower. “Amina language.” “It’s not fair…I want new food.” Inara took a deep breath. “Fine.” She collected all the plates and threw the food in the trash. She opened the cupboard and pulled out a half of a cake. “I know this isn’t what you use to, but I thought maybe this time.” Inara placed the cake on the table. The children looked at it greedily. “Momma never gives us cake.” Mally said as he licked his lips. “She says we’re already hopped up enough.” Gabe added. “But Momma ain’t here.” Amina went over to the counter and pulled the knife out. Inara took the knife away from the girl and carefully cut the cake into four equal pieces. “Now, this has to be our little secret okay.” The boys got the plates and the utensils from the counter and placed them on the table. “We promise.” Gabe said. Inara put each piece on the plate. They all ate it in relative silence, besides when they are asleep this was the quietest Inara had ever seen the children. After they were finished eating the children helped Inara clean up the kitchen. “So, now what do you want to do?” Inara asked as she wiped off the last crumb. “Can I let PuppyBoy out?” Mally pushed in the last chair. “I don’t see why not.” Mally quickly ran out the kitchen and his brother followed. “I’m getting some of my toys.” “Do you want to do some more calligraphy?” Inara asked Amina. The girl nodded her head. Inara and Amina headed back to her shuttle. Amina went back to work. Inara showed her some more characters too learned. Amina enjoyed learning, Inara enjoyed teaching. It almost came natural to her. “Make sure that it’s all one fluid motion…” Inara guided her hand as they made a new character. “Very good…You are definitely talented.” Amina just beamed. They continued to work. “Nara…” “Yes, dear.” “Whatta you think the boys are doing?”

Inara jumped up. She had totally forgotten about the boys. “Stay here and work on your calligraphy…I’ll be right back.” The first place Inara checked for the boys were the bridge. There was no sign of them there. She checked the cargo bay and the kitchen. Still nothing. She headed for the children’s room. “You gotta get me out!” Mally whined. “I’m trying…the lock broke.” Gabe held a crowbar in his hand trying to pry his brother out of PuppyBoy’s cage. “I told you not to go in there.” “Qinai tian mi fo!” Inara grabbed the crowbar from Gabe. “What happen?” “Mally wanted to see what it was like to be PuppyBoy…so he got in his cage and I shut it, but I can’t get it opened. The lock broke.” Gabe pointed to a very bended lock. Inara’s companion training had taught her to stay calm in any situation, but nothing had prepared her for what to do when a six year old has locked himself in a dog cage. “Ok just stay calm; Mally I’ll get you out.” “I am calm.” Inara tried to pry it open. No luck. She attempted another angle. She still couldn’t get it open. “Nara.” “Yes, Mally.” “I gotta pee.” “Well you should of thought of that before you decided to lock yourself in a dog cage.” Inara said a bit too harshly. “I’ll get the bolt cutters. Gabe why don’t you get a book and read to Mally.” “Okay.” Gabe and Inara ran into several different directions. Inara went into the engine room to look for the bolt cutters. “Ok if I was Kaylee where would I put the bolt cutters?” Inara frantically looked around the engine room. No luck. So, she decided to try again with the crowbar. When she arrived to the cage that contained Mally, Gabe and PuppyBoy sat there reading to him. “You find the bolt cutters?” Mally whimpered. He looked funny cramped up in the cage. There was only enough room for him to sit crossed leg and he was hunched over. “No, honey I didn’t. You don’t know where Kaylee would put it?” Inara asked crouching down to meet Mally. “No.” He responded solemnly. Inara sat beside Gabe and PuppyBoy. “What are you reading?” “Some book Shepherd gave us. It’s about a couple of kids who lived back on Earth-that-was named Tom Sawyer and Huck-a-berry Fin. They’re real shiny. They gets into all kinds of trouble.” Gabe handed Inara the book. “Can you read some?” Inara took the book and continued reading to the boys. Inara didn’t realize that the rest of the crew had returned. “‘The average man don't like trouble and danger.’ ” “Finally someone listens to me.” Jayne said. “Put ‘em in cages…” “Momma, Poppa…I’m stuckkkk Inara couldn’t get me out.” Mally exclaimed. Inara looked up from the book. “Zoë, Wash, I tried…” “It’s ok.” Wash said. “I’ll got get something to get Mally out.” Inara noticed that Amina was covered head to toe in paint. “Amina what happened?” Inara asked. “I ran out of paper…so I decided to paint the cargo bay doors. It’s a real shiny picture…I didn’t get to finish before they got back.” Inara was attempting to restore her shuttle to its previous immaculate state, but it was a larger task than she anticipated it to be. It looked like hurricane Amina had rip through it. Inara was just glad that she didn’t try to take off in her shuttle. “Sooo, locking them in a dog cage…that’s a new one.” Mal sauntered into Inara’s shuttle. “I mean, I expect that kind of stuff from Jayne. But, you such a civilized woman…” “At least I didn’t loose one of them.” “I didn’t loose my godchildren. I knew where they were.” Mal said defensively. “You know I don’t recall saying come in.” “I didn’t knock.” “Is there something I can do for you?” Mal made himself comfortable on Inara’s couch. “I was just wondering when you where planning to line up your next wrestling match.” “What?” Inara turned around. “Make yourself comfortable.” “Your next wrestling match…you’re a champion.” Mal gave her a devilish grin. There was a small knock on her door. “Jinru.” Amina crept in. “Does your folks know your up?” Amina shook her head. “It’s real simple Mal…knocking, even a six year old can do it. You should try it sometime.” Inara grinned at Mal. She turned her attention to Amina who was wore one of Jayne’s shirts as a night gown. “What is it sweetie?” “I was wondering if you could still teach me calligraphy?” Inara smiled. “Of course.” “But we can’t do it yet. Momma took all my paint, crayons, and pencils away. She said I couldn’t use them for a week.” “Well when you get your things back then we can start.” Amina gave Inara huge hug. “Shiny.” Mal got up from his lounging spot on Inara’s couch. “Let’s get you to bed.” He scooped Amina up in his arms. “Say good night to Inara.” “Night Nara.” Mal and Amina left her shuttle. She collapsed on her bed. Her companion training had prepared her for lots of things but nothing had prepared her for this day. Inara was just glad it was over.

Chinese translations Hen hao xio gongzhu Good little princess

huàzhān the desk pad is a pad made of felt. It is printed with grids on both sides, so that when it is placed under the translucent paper, it can be used as a guide to ensure correct placement and size of characters

Xuanzhi Special type of paper are used in East Asian calligraphy on the pad and a paper weight to hold it down Qinai tian mi fo Dear sweet Buddha Chi eat xiao gongzhu little princess jinru enter

Inara is a hard character for me to do, so this probably isn't my best. So be gentle. Hope you enjoy and will be able to actually read it, with the site acting all funny.