From sea to land

[Miri]

Inara handed over the last item of her days' pilfering to Bastet, her hired fence, thanked the feline and then stood back to survey her surroundings.  What she saw brought a smile to her lips.
Before her was a forest, filled with creatues, and beyond that a road that would eventually lead to either towns or moongates.  To her right was the coast, filled with pesky sea snakes.  Behind lay the ocean, it's salty tang filling her nostrils with the secents she equated to home.  Above was the house she had built with her own two paws, and to the left, just around the coast, lay the little village of Paws and the newly built abode of her sister, Navun.

Navun had come far since Inara had found her, beaten, broken and chained to that post; a slave in every sense of the word.  She now walked with her head held high: strong, confident and self-assured as a cat should be.  The time she had spent in the quiet solitude of Keely's house had done her the world of good, a thing for which Inara would be eternally grateful.
It lifted her piratical heart to see Navun strutting along the streets as if she owned them, every inch the queen of the world now that she had recovered from her ordeal.

But look at yourself, Inara thought ruefully.  You've set up a house, a shop.  You spend more time landbound now than ever before.  Where is the fearless mistress of the seas?  Where lies the cheerful scoundrel?  Whose heart have you broken recently? Whose possessions have you acquired?  You've been domesticated!

Inara snorted in disgust, the smile fading from her dusky features.  She brushed a lock of strawberry blonde hair away from her face, then strode gracefuly across the sandy gravel floor of her home, her light steps making almost no noise on the gritty surface.  Leaning against the post that held up the first floor, she crossed her arms beneath her breasts and stared out at the glassy water.

Was it true? Had she really changed so much in such a short time?

Bah! she thought, batting at a fly that had come too close.  I just haven't had much time, that's all.  Now that everything is all set up and shipshape, I'm free to do as I please again.

She knew that Navun did not approve of her lifestyle.  Oh, her sister never said anything to that effect, of course, but it was plain to see in her face; a certain little wrinkle to the nose, a slight narrowing of the eyes and, on the few occasions she wore her human form, a thinning of her lips.  But why should that matter?  It was Inara's life, after all, and not Navuns.

Inara pulled a gold piece from her low-cut bodice and flicked it into the air.  The hazy sunlight reflected off it in a most satisfactory manner, bringing a mischeivous grin to her lips.  Deftly, she caught the spinning coin before it could fall too far and, replacing it in her bodice, sauntered from the house.

The building would do her well, she decided cheerfuly as she stepped onto the telepad that would put her back in Magincia.  She had Bastet to fence her stolen goods, a basket in front of a fire, a lookout post to keep an eye on passing merchant ships and a sandy beach from which to launch her ship.
Aside from being a cozy abode and a shop, it would be a good place to lie low should any of her less reputable ventures turn sour.

Back in Magincia now, she sauntered along the street.
There was always fun to be had if one knew where to look, and Inara was attracted to fun like a magpie to glitter.

[Reasey]

As luck, or perhaps fate, would have it. He himself was in Magincia that day on buisness. His stores of food and provisions short what with the recent increase of customers from the outlaying lands outside of MarketVale and his larders running low.

Despite the heat of the day, and the sun still high in the blue sky he still wore his usual attire of dark cloth that on occasion have become both his forehadowing and his irony. His hat set low on his head, and his muscled arm wrapped tightly with a small barrel of sugar under his arm as the Brim covers all above the nostrils of his nose, he easily loses himself within his mind as the world above the pavement becomes black.

Walking, thinking, carrying a heavy load. Never indeed a good mix of circumstances when walking along the street into the path of oncoming familiar faces.

[Miri]

Inara strolled along the streets, admiring the beauty of the town as she went.  The hazy sunlight reflected from the sandstone walls, making everywhere appear golden and bright: an effect which made her smile.
She had never been one to let herself be downhearted for long, even when it was her own self-scrutiny that had caused her to momentarily lose her smile.

Unsure of quite what to do, but knowing that an opportunity for amusement would surely present itself soon, she leaned against a wall, allowing the stored heat within to gently bake her back whilst the sun above rained down it's soft warmth on her face.
For a while she watched the crowds; people wandering back and forth, going purposely about their business or just stopping to chat to freinds.  But then, out of the general press of people came a figure she knew.

Clothed head to foot in black cloth, and still wearing that daft wide-brimmed hat, Rease Hunter wandered along, a barrel beneath his arm and his mind clearly elsewhere.

For a moment, Inara thought to slip out of sight.  She wanted to see him no more than, she suspected, he would wish to encounter her, but a sense of mischeivous delight stopped her small, sandled feet.

She waited for him to come just a little closer, then stepped away from the wall.  As his long strides brought him closer, shr too began to walk.  Within moments they were passing, barely inches apart.  Swiftly she slipped out a claw.  Deftly and discreetly, she moved a hand, and without appearing to move at all, caught the belt pouch before it could fall.

'Nice to see you too,' she called over her shoulder, to him.  'Polite as ever I see.'

But before he could turn to reply, she had melted into the crowd, bouncing the pouch full of gold on the palm of her hand, a grin stretched across her features.
She knew what she was going to do with these coins.