Camera pans in on Simon’s room.

He is the last to get back from the sickbay on the Alliance military ship. River never went there: she and Inara were the only ones not injured in the fight, and she stayed with “Serenity”, trying to comfort the broken ship. And she wouldn’t set her foot on an Alliance property anyway. Jayne and Kaylee returned the next day, and it became easier, not so empty. Kaylee would have stayed longer, but “Serenity” needed her, and Simon was in good care. In a few days Mal came back, with Zoe. And finally, in a week, her brother returned.

He still has to stay in bed, and he sits there now, propped on pillows, bandage sticking from under a tee-shirt, face pale but happy. He is talking excitedly, and River listens, smiling.

"So I come to bit by bit and I see her standing there brandishing this thing. Nona's her name, and she's a military surgeon there. I say - whoa, where did you get that? 2 years ago it was still in an experimental stage, I had a chance to do clinical trials with it. The first Weaver ever which worked on internal organs, and it was quite a breakthrough. It could copy the organ cells and then reproduce them. Amazing. It worked great already, they were just going to bring the cost down, you know... And by the way: it worked great on me too.

And here she just stands with it like it's nothing special, and it's just an average military ship, so those things must be all over the place now. And I'm falling behind...

And she got very excited that I did the trials, and she even remembered my article about it in "Medical Research Proceedings"! And we... just talked about surgery, and talked all the times I was awake. Such terrible things happened to us, but it was so good… Too good... I even thought I was delirious, that I was dreaming it. She didn't know much about us, it was classified. She just knew that I was a fugitive, an outlaw, but she didn’t know for what. And she wasn't afraid - to help. Not at the least. She might've connected my case with Miranda cover-up, I guess... but still it was so...

She copied me a lot of new medical stuff from the Cortex, and it's expensive as hell, and all the issues of "…Proceedings" for the last year - you know, you can't get them unless you are a licensed doctor with an access, as there're still works-in-progress, and they locked me out, so I couldn't get to them. O heavens of mercy, bless that woman! I almost put the disks under my pillow."

River giggles.

"But I've resisted, don't worry. I'm a big, big brother, after all. Here they are – in that pile on the floor. And she told me a lot about this tool - used it for 4 months, it was changed a bit since I tested it. And you know what she does next? She puts it in my bag and says – ‘Oops, clumsy me. I broke it. Looks like I need to get a spare one, and order a replacement’".

River wrings her nose in mock snobbery: "Ooh, that was corny".

"She might be fined for that, you know. But she just wouldn't listen... Look at it, just look at it" - he reaches somewhere on his bed, brings out a box and opens it.

"So that one WAS under your pillow?"

He chuckles guiltily - "Almost", and holds the instrument out to her, eyes shining with somewhat unbalanced joy. "I think I might cry. Hell, I AM crying. Oh hell, it must be drugs". And then he almost shouts, eyes shining with tears now: "I LOVE YOU NONA!", and winces.

River giggles: "Louder. Kaylee might not have heard".

"Oh, come on. Kaylee was there, remember? She actually pushed me to trust Nona. Scolded me for doing... you know... my oyster thing, suspecting everyone, seeing enemies everywhere. You know what she said? It was so... sublime, I tried to remember it word by word: - ‘You have so many enemies, and you can't do anything about it. But - you still can make friends. You gotta have faith in people’. - Isn't she precious?"

"That wasn't too loud, now."

"'Cause it hurts."

She leans forward and strokes his hair, feeling his joy radiating in her, warming her all over. For a change, it’s so good to feel his feelings.

"Besides", he continues, "Nona could be my mother". His voice drops on the last word.

He leans back, closing his eyes, looking serious now, tired from his outburst. "Total strangers are kind to us and our own folks don't care a damn. Isn't that ironic?" After a pause: 'Do you think they are even alive?"

"I don't think - I know it. They are alive, but not well. Especially mom". She is serious too now, curling into a ball on a chair, rocking a bit, looking intensely somewhere far away. “Hansel and Gretel were left in the woods, lost. Mother and father left them there, for the evil Witch to eat. But Hansel and Gretel outsmarted the Witch, and got back home. With goods and gold. For their father and mother. Can we do that?"

"Go home?"

"No. Forgive."

His face goes dark. She continues: "I know I can. They were scared. They didn't know everything. They are sad and lost now. Like us".

Nasty words form on his lips, but he bites them back, not wanting to upset her.

She feels them anyway. "When they'll know the truth, it will be hard on them. Very."

"I'm sorry, but they knew the truth. I told them everything. They know, but they don't see. Don't want to."

"They will see, one day. And one day, we may even meet again. Look in their eyes. Will you forgive them then? If they see?"

"Fat chance. Ok, I mean - meeting them. Don't see it happening. Do you believe what the Operative said to Mal? That they might let us go back? Revoke the warrant?"

"No. Revoke the warrant - maybe. Let us go - no. Still know too much. And Academy's still there."

"That's what I thought. If we go back, we'll just disappear one day, and that's it. No, I think we'll pass. But what's next, River? Can Mal keep flying, now that the Parliament knows that we are on his ship? He might disappear one day too, ship and crew and all. Looks like we can't hide anymore. What are we to do?"

"Keep going. Spread the word - there are more people out there like Nona, many many more. Live. Hope. And we still might go back - if those who are after us go away, if the `Verse changes."

"Fat chance again."

She smiles sadly: "Those pricks are older than us, remember. Much older."

"Yeah, but I bet we'll still die before them."

She hits him on the head mockingly: "You are morbid and creepifyin’!"

"No I'm not. Look, if I have to spend my life on a dinky spaceship - sorry Kaylee, it better be a short life, right? So I'm being an optimist here. Hey, stop that." - She now pulls his hair, her face contorted fiercely.

She lets go, she's serious again: "Let me tell you something. About hopes and might-have-beens. And spaceships, even though you don't like them".

"What about spaceships?"

"You know who built the first spaceship ever? And what time that was?"

"Well, they were Russians, right? About 500 years ago?"

"Correct and not correct. Too generic. Listen. Yes, they were Russians, but that's not all. They were engineers. Brilliant. Young. Their main guy became the head of the government project on rocket flying at 25. He designed his first flying machine at 17, and flying was his life: he built airplanes and he flew them too. Brilliant future awaited him.

And yes, the time was about 500 years ago. But that's not all. It was bad time, much worse than now. Lots of psychotic dictators were ruling the world, and one of them ruled that country. He declared millions of people enemies of the state, and they were killed or sent to work in the frozen tundra - for many years. Many died. When he was 31, it happened to him. He spent 3 years digging mines in the cold. He nearly died, too. He thought he forgot all about flying machines, and about flying. He thought it was over. He was sure he'll never go back.

But then there was war: another dictator, even more psychotic, attacked them. And there was a great need for the flying machines. So engineers, who were still alive, were taken from mines and ordered to design the planes instead. They still were prisoners and their life was harsh, but they could do what they loved. And it was enough. He remembered who he was. For 3 more years, he built great machines which turned the course of war.

And they let him go. He was a free man again, and could turn back to the stars. That psychotic dictator died soon after, and many prisoners came back, and the world changed to better. And he was working harder than ever, and his rockets finally flew off the Earth-that-was, into the stars – for the first time in human history. When he died, they named a town after him. So it might happen - going back, you know. World turning around, from bad to bearable. Nightmares going away."

"Powerful story. And I'm glad he got a town: he deserved it. But he really was important. That war, and the first spaceship ever - that's important too. A lot of weight on his side of the scales. I'm not that important and will never be. Top 3 percent is actually an awful lot of people, and they keep graduating every year. There're hundreds of surgeons out there who are the same or better and all they do is fixing some anonymous blokes. Unless some Alliance head gets wounded in such a way only I can fix, which is a wild fantasy, I don't see similar thing happening to me."

She looks at him hard: "Simon, but it wasn't as much about you as about me. I know I can do a lot. I really can now - feel better, not so jumbled. You are helping me, you really do. Your medicine, and your love. Yes. When you are close, I can hold it together. You can't cure me - don't be bitter about it, please, don't be angry, it’s eating you up. But you can help me live with it. It's enough.

I want to learn again. And do things. I'm back - changed, not whole anymore, not a kid, but now I remember who I was. Those hoon-dahn wanted to make me into gorram weapon, but I can be so much more, and I'll show them. Plan is: put as much on my side of the scales as I can, while we still have time, while we're still flying. Become important, weighty, change the world, so they won't dare to touch me, and you, and all of us. So they would become obsolete.

I thought about it when you were in the sickbay. Theoretical physics? It was always a challenge, something exciting. But theoretical or not, I'd still need a lab, so that one's out. Mathematics? Lovely, but takes too long to become important. Can't afford now. And when I read about first spaceships, dictators and those times, I saw it. You know what brought them down then? At least for a while? Books, thoughts. Words of truth and beauty. Thoughts weighting on minds of people, making them understand, making them free. When people change, they change the world. Remember '1984', for example?"

"Yep. I took old English in high school. Depressing stuff. Medically unrealistic torture. Did it really bring down those dictators?"

"No, it didn't. But it made sure they stayed down - for a long time. I'll make a book. About us, about what happened to all of us. I will make it, and I will publish it, I'll spread the signal. And if they revoke the warrant, I'll even earn lots of money for it, so maybe Mal can stop his yu-bun-duh heists and do something more interesting. And dignified, like him.

In fact, if they'll revoke the warrant, you can earn good money too, bring your share. We won't go back, not yet, we'll still hide and run, but it will be easier for us to live here, on the edge. On our stops you'll be able to legally treat people and get paid: the law won't be after you, only the secret service." - she feels how giddy hope rises in him as she speaks, and how he tries to fight it back. "So, brother, still dreaming about dying young?"

She sees that he's lost his fight. He looks at her in astonishment, with mouth open and eyes shining, and she feels how pride for her, and joy, and new-born hope surge in him, reaching her like warm waves, and she gets carried away by those waves, rocking gently like on a sea. She stretches her hand to him: maybe she could take him along and rock on that sea, it felt so nice.

He takes her hand with reverence, tears welling in his eyes again. "Vow. Mei-mei. You ARE back. You are back, the light is back, vow. Mei-mei, you bet I wanna live, don't even think otherwise". He is laughing and crying at the same time, and she puts her head lightly on his shoulder, and they are happy.

Then she shakes herself from the reverie and looks at him askance, her hair covering her face. Her expression is unreadable. "And you know what? My book will be manga. 50 billion adults in the 'Verse, and 15 billion of them can hardly read. And I want to reach everybody I can. Plus - pictures are better than words, and I love to draw. And my words are jumbled when they are many, but precise when they are few. Piercing pictures with piercing words: that's what I'll make. Convey faster, carry more. Reach people's minds, change them. And you know what else? I've already started. Did some pictures. Wanna see?"

"Sure!"

She runs out to her room and goes back with some sheets of paper. Her stony expression twitches a bit, she looks like she’s suppressing giggles. "That's a piece on you and Kaylee. Here, look. But I'm warning you, it's not just manga, it's… xenta..a..i" – the last word drowns in her laughter.

Simon looks at the pictures and gasps, color rushing to his face. 'River!" he says with quiet menace. "You are not publishing this! And you are not showing it to anyone! Understand?!"

"You are such a bore. Think of the ratings! And you two look so lovely here."

"Stop that! And we... we didn't even do it yet".

"But you will, soon. Remember I can see everything: past, present, future. Don't worry, you'll get there!"

"You little brat! Give me those! And don't do it again. I'm the oldest, so some respect please. Please?"

"OK, you can keep them. And I'll go draw some more - more serious stuff. I mean, serious like about serious things. Not like X-rated". She kisses him on a cheek and runs out.

He still looks at the pictures, but his expression changes to something else, and color on his cheeks seems to be there for a different reason now. He finally flips the pictures over, but then looks underneath again.

"You little brat. Sadistic little brat", he mutters hoarsely, "it has to be another week, at least... Go se. Where'd that ice pack go?"

And on his muttering the camera pans out, leaving them be.

THE END

Chinese: mei-mei - little sister hoon-dahn - jerks yu-bun-duh - stupid go se - dog crap