fandomhighdorms | Fourth floor common room, late Sunday morning

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Fourth floor common room, late Sunday morning

It had been a while since he'd done the open brunch thing and with things finally feeling like they were getting back to something resembling normal for him, it felt like a good time to do it again.

So here Dean was in the kitchen of the common room, dividing his attention from the food cooking and the book Karal had given him to read. Who said he couldn't multitask?

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"An alliance of planets, under a central government that is supposed to govern in the best interests of every member planet," she explained. "It works about as well as you'd expect."

"Oh, no." Evey frowned, arms crossing around herself. "So how much do they abuse their power?"

And wasn't that telling? Inara's eyelashes lowered as she thought of River, and what Zoe had told her. "More than you can ever imagine."

"That bad?" Evey didn't press. "I have some experience in that area, if you need it."

"What kind of experience?"

"Imprisonment, torture, and eventual overthrow of the government that was responsible for that being a way of life," she said quietly, without any fanfare.

Inara eyed the other girl, schooling her face so it didn't show her shock. "So that's why you're in charge of rebuilding your new government? But--why are you here, then?"

"My immediate superior thought it'd be good for me," she said with a shrug. "Reminding me how to be seventeen again, or something like that."

"Dating boys and classes?" She asked, much more gently than she might have otherwise.

"Something along those lines," Evey said with a little smile. "And you? How'd you wind up here?"

"I won a lottery," she said, much more amused now than she had been then. "To broaden my horizons and make me a more exotic Companion was the theory."

"Has it worked?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, they're definitely broader," she laughed, "but I'm not sure it's exactly what the Guild had in mind."

Evey grinned. "I'm beginning to wonder the same thing -- if this is what Finch'd thought when he decided to send me here. I'm fairly certain they didn't know about the whole magic thing, or the time difference."

Inara grinned back. "I won't tell your Finch if you don't tell my High Priestess?"

Not that the High Priestess would be coming to Fandom, and not just because Inara would be committing ritual suicide as soon as she got that letter, as opposed to introducing her to Gavin.

"That's a deal," Evey said enthusiastically. "I think he'd yank me right back to my office."

"So, I've tried to be patient about this, but...why Karal?" A master of the segue was Inara, yes. "I'm not saying this in a derogatory way, because I adore him to pieces. It's--I don't want him to be hurt."

It took Evey by surprise, and she didn't have an immediate answer. But if there was anything she'd learned over the last few years, it was that sometimes honesty made up for a lack of eloquence.

"I -- I've never met anyone like him," she said, feeling her cheeks heat up suddenly. "He makes me remember how to be happy. He makes me happy, yes. He treats me like a human -- not a drone, not a machine, not a soldier. Like a person. He doesn't expect anything of anyone, but he gives so much of himself. It just makes me want to give him a part of me. I don't really know what he sees in me, frankly, but I feel lucky that he sees something, and isn't scared off."

Inara's first response was to hug Evey, who seemed to truly understand and appreciate all of the wonderful things that Karal was and could be, but she stopped herself, remembering that she'd just met her and there had been talk of imprisonment.

Instead, she smiled, and hoped that would be enough. "Maybe he sees someone who is a person, and a strong and perceptive one at that, and would like to know her better. You'll find Karal surprisingly hard to scare off--he's more stubborn than he looks."

"Be careful with him? His experience in this area is--limited."

Evey smiled. "I'll be careful with him, I promise. My own experience isn't that great, but I have no plans of any sort, and I'm not really known for my capricious heart-breaking ways, I promise."

She leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, "He's giddy over you." It never hurt a girl to have an advantage.

And yes, Evey was blushing again. "So I'm hearing. It's mutual, if I'm not gushing enough. I'm new at this."

"No, you're gushing plenty," she laughed again, hoping this conversation didn't get back to Karal. "I'll just stop interrogating you now."

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Fourth floor common room, late Sunday morning

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