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When the Rols Royce pulled up to Inara's mansion, Carlisle opened the door for them and flashed a look of concern in Serephs direction. Nobody had said a word the whole ride home.

"Carlise, please tell Oliza I'll be taking my meal in my room. I'd like a bit more than usual."

That was all the dismissal he needed.

With him gone, Inara took her time leading her new slave to her room. It gave him time to take in the small bit of the mansion on the way. There was no way she was going to give him a guided tour. One simply does not do that in a home with over 100 rooms.

Once they got to her room, she led him into a chair by the window. "Try and stay awake long enough to eat."

Inara was worried for him. She knew he would survive, but she knew it would take some time for him to recover himself. It still made her wonder why she'd bought him. There was nothing spectacular, besides the fact that he'd been the one to pick her. She remembered a time when she'd been in his condition on a daily basis. Maybe that was why she'd gotten him. She saw herself in him.

She'd taken a seat across from him, barely keeping herself from pacing and chewing on her thumbnail. When the food arrived she felt herself almost breathe out a sigh of relief. Inara set the tray in front of him. It was beef stew. Carlisle seemed to have the same worry that he wouldn't be able to keep so much down so soon.


"Eat slowly or else it will all just come back up."

She, herself, did not eat. She was hardly ever hungry. Instead she took to staring out the window at a few of her servants children played kickball outside.

Inara turned to him when he spoke and eyed him critically. Color seemed to have returned to his cheeks and his eyes seemed to be less distant. Pleased, she returned to her seat across from him. "I don't think I ever asked your name. That was bad manners. Can I have it now?"

She saw that Sereph was in need of rest, but these were things she needed to know. She would let him sleep all he wanted after she was done interrogating.

'Good. He's not timid but he's not rude either.' Inara crossed her legs and rested her cheek on her hand.

"My name is Inara Serra. I prefer Mistress or Mistress Inara. If you last more than a month happen to prove yourself trust worthy, you can then feel free to call me whatever you like."

She stopped talking when a maid, Sari, came in to clear away the food. She was also new and untrusted as of yet. When she was safely out of earshot Inara continued.

"Do you have any particular skills or hobbies?"

She nodded, grateful that he at least knew hw to defend himself. At least if anything ever happened while he was here he could take care of himself, especially since it was effective on the streets.

"Very good. I was wondering what I would be doing with you." Inara paused to sip at the wine that had been left behind for her. "Worse case scenario, you'd be a common servant. Rarely would you have seen me. But now that's not happening. Now, you will be my personal bodyguard. My shadow. When your not with me, you'll be working with Carlisle and getting familiar with the house and your duties. If you last more than a month....well we'll get t that when the time comes.Clear?"

Inara was half out of her chair when Sereph pass out cold. 'Maybe I pushed it a bit too much. Oh well.' She sighed as went down to her knees beside him. Then she took one of his arms and draped it around her neck and wrapped one of her arms around his waist. When she tried to lift him up to move him to her bed, she found she couldn't move him an inch. 'Hell, he's heavier than he looks. Where does it all come from?'

Luckily for her, Oliza had decided just then to peek in on the new slave. The last thing she expected was to find him on the floor. "Geez, what did you do to the poor thing?" She came fully into the room and went on her knees in front of Sereph.

Inara flashed Oliza a long suffering look and sighed. "I didn't do anything. Don't just sit there, help me move him to my bed!"

"Alright, alright no need to get so snippy." Oliza pulled his other arm over her shoulder and together they picked him up. "Geez he really is heavy, no joke." With no small amount of effort they finally dropped him ungracefully onto her bed. Amazingly he didn't stir a bit. "Your really going to let him sleep in your bed?"

Inara was busy trying to push him more into the center of the bed and pull the covers over him. "I don't see why not. I don't plan on sleeping tonight anyway."

Oliza crossed her arms and tutted disapprovingly. "Inara your human. Humans sleep. Last time I checked you weren't yet part of an undead bovine."

Inara almost smiled at that. "Hm, yeah. But I have a lot of things I need to take care of. Besides, I don't sleep much these days even when I want to." She pet Serephs hair lightly as she stared down at him. She really wanted him to work out, just as much as she wanted him not to. It was the same with Oliza and Carlisle and everyone else that worked for her. But she was too selfish to let them go.

Watching Inara closely, Oliza could tell she was thinking a mile a minute. 'Probably wondering if she should fire us all again. Silly girl.' She took one of Inara's hands in hers and gave it a light squeeze. "Come on, let's go get you some food. I know you didn't eat any of that food I sent up."

With that she dragged Inara down to the kitchen as she whined petulantly about not being hungry the whole way.

Not long after Sereph woke up, Inara came quietly creeping into the room with a piece of toast dangling from her mouth with a few more pieces on a plate. Mid-creep she noticed he was awake, he was breathing too quickly to be asleep. "So your finally awake then? About time. You slept through the night. Hungry?" She waved the plate for him to see. He should be hungry, he'd slept a lot.