River walked through the foredeck of Serenity feeling her as she walked. River stood in the doorway. She watched Wash as he slept. She crept in quietly and sat down in the co pilot chair. Wash snorted. She watched him as he slept. Silly little man River thought. Wash shifted in his chair. She got up and picked up one of Wash’s dinosaurs from the console. She studied it. It wasn’t a proper replica of a Tyrannosaurus the teeth where all wrong. They had massive and oval in cross-section teeth good for biting through bone. These teeth where sharp like a blade, good for puncturing bone- “Steve. He is the manly man of all the dinosaurs in This Land. Very fierce you might want to watch out.” Wash rubbed his face to try to wake himself up. He looked at the girl who was still holding his toy. “What’s wrong little one couldn’t sleep?” River didn’t respond. She just pulled her knees to her chin holding the toy even tighter. Wash checked over the controls to make sure that they where still on course. “Beautiful ain’t it? the…” River cut him off. “Self-gravitating spheres of plasma in hydrostatic equilibrium, which generate their own energy through the process of nuclear fusion.” She said still staring out into the black. “Yeah…we call the stars where I’m from.” Wash said laughing. He got up and stood beside River. “Look.” Wash played connect the dots with the stars. “See, a palm tree.” River smiled. She pointed to the cluster of stars to the left. She waved her hand in the air connecting the stars together. Wash had a hard time following her, because she was going so fast. “The Birth of Venus.” She replied looking up at Wash. “Who?” River rolled her eyes. “The earth that was goddess of love and beauty. Birth from the sea a full grown woman. Sandro Botticelli.” “Ah yes of course the goddess of love and beauty. How do you know all this?” “Same way birds know how to fly. Comes natural.” Wash rubbed his head. He wasn’t sure if it was the sleep depravation or what but the girl was making sense to him. He went back to checking the controls to make sure that they were on course and not heading into anything that could cause them to crash and burn. River watched as Wash worked still holding to the toy. “Broken.” She said quietly. “What’s that?” Wash turned to the girl. “Fell from the sky. Tired to be like the birds. Didn’t have wings.” River twirled the toy in her hands. Wash just looked at her. He knew that River was “special” but how would she know- “Didn’t give up. Never stopped. Kept trying and trying. Until one day grew wings and flew. Soared higher and higher. Best of best. Pretty as a peacock. Didn’t know it then.” “Didn’t know what? What’s a peacock?” Wash asked River who was telling a pretty thrilling tale. Hasn’t been since Saffron that a girl told such a wonderful story on the bridge. Wash hoped that this story wouldn’t end with the same result. Him being on the floor bleeding and the crew being in immediate danger. River got up and placed the dino back on the console. She gave Wash a kiss on the cheek. “Always had wings. Venus just showed how to use them, won't fall out the sky.” River left just as quiet as she had came in. Wash turned in his seat and watched River leave. “What?” “Was that River?” Zoë said as walked into the bridge. Zoë leaned against the console while Wash just stared at Zoë with a big grin on his face. “What are you smiling about? What did you and River talk about?” Wash pulled Zoë to his lap and kissed her. “Something about sea birds.”