Read: Head Trauma, Focus on the Fine Qualities of Dinosaurs, Translation, All Kinds of Brilliant

“The irony involved… The mind just… is boggled?” Mal laughed at Inara, who was herself too busy laughing to be bothered with issues of grammar. The entire group was reunited and they were winging towards Arabesque, but only now had the story of River’s defeat of the captain of Clytemnestra been related. Inara was seated opposite Mal; when she had helped Simon carry in several boxes of fresh vegetables from her shuttle, Jayne had awarded her the head of the table, relegating Mal to the foot. He took it in good humor, seating Zoe to his right and River to his left – a barrier, he said, between himself and any food-pinching mercenaries. River’s immediate response was to nick a slice of tomato from his plate, but when he scowled at her she pretended to be feeding it to the plastic stegosaurus she had brought with her to the table. “He’s herbivorous, and there’s nothing on the bridge except dust-bunnies.” Jayne scowled down at his dinner. In between the tomatoes and oil and herbs were little round beige things like tiny skulls. “What the hell is this?” He grumbled, holding one out with his chopsticks to see if it looked more palatable from a distance. Everyone burst out laughing again, and didn’t stop until Jayne had joined in. “It’s a chickpea,” Inara stuttered. “Oh, ‘cause that makes it so much better. Couldn’t you’ve come back from your fancy ‘do with some kinda meat?” The plaintive look on his face set her off again, and that got the rest of the crew laughing. As it wound down, Simon spoke. “So, Captain, how’s it feel to be dead?” “Lot like bein’ alive. Albatross,” he asked, turning his attention towards River, “why’d you feel the need to kill me off; just to get my ship, or you got some wheels turnin’ in there?” The group’s chuckles were cut off abruptly by River’s response. “Not you. Wash.” “River, bi zui!” Simon muttered at her, but she wouldn’t be forestalled. “I inherited the ship from Wash!” She said insistently. She sat with her dinosaur and her smile, feeling everyone around her willing her to hold her tongue, but her focus was trained on Zoe. After a moment, Zoe cracked a sad smile. “That you did, little one. And done good by him, at that.” River beamed back happily for a moment, before turning to stick her tongue out at Simon. “Yeah,” he humphed, “that’s my mei mei.” ))) Simon needed more medicine. Between the meds he gave her and her own willpower, River managed to maintain at least some semblance of normalcy, but he was fast running low on supplies. Too, there had been so much violence done to his crew recently that he was almost out of painkillers, antibiotics, and sterile thread and bandages. No matter how good a doctor he might be, he couldn’t save his friends and family time and again without supplies, and he didn’t think he could bear watching River degenerate again into madness… Simon shook his head; no time for depression, he had a heist to plan. ))) “I know you can be normal, girlie. I heard ya! So what’s all this craziness about?” Jayne had been panting on his weight bench after a long set when River had appeared, leaning over his head and giggling. Her hair fell around them both, trapping them in half-light. He put a hand on her waist to move her, but she sank short little chipped nails into the skin of his wrist, and he stopped. “Trapped in a cave with a bear. Both hungry. Who eats whom?” She huffed with resignation at the confusion on his face, and tried again. “Words not words; signs and portents. Imagination run wild and the words pop out. Not. Must medicate and try again.” She released his wrist and skipped away, singing about hunters being captured by the game. Jayne propped himself on one elbow on the bench to watch her go, rubbing his wrist and muttering. “At least the damn fool girl knows she ain’t right, now.” She turned at the top of the catwalk and yelled back at him, “The damn fool girl forgot to tell you; Captain wants you on the bridge!” She disappeared into the living area. Jayne chuckled and followed. ))) “There once was a girl named Serenity Who saved Cap’n Mal from indignity He adopted a crew That would see him through And spiraled off into infinity…” River was babbling happily as she settled Serenity beneath an overhanging cliff on the sun-dried plains of Arabesque. The planet was beautiful, an old world that had once run thick with water, and rivers had carved their cursive into the planet’s surface. When the Alliance had terraformed the planet they had lessened the planets oppressive gravity and heightened the oxygen content in the air, but otherwise left it much the same. It was late summer, and much of the planet’s temperate equatorial belt was coated with a carpet of cowpeas, fed by a massive irrigation system that stemmed from the fresh-water inland seas. Most of the settlements ranged along the northern- and southern-most boundaries of the greenbelt, and Serenity had settled just beyond the boundaries of one sun-baked town. The cargo they had brought was innocuous, data crystals imprinted with school texts, entertainment chips, and letters from family on other planets, but the shipment was enough to update a world’s worth of libraries, and so the payoff would be fairly large. This had Mal smiling contentedly as he watched his pilot bring Serenity to rest. Zoe sat on the steps that led from the bridge itself to the small cargo area at the front of the room, fiddling with a plastic palm tree and training hungry eyes on the bright strip of green that filled the horizon just beyond the dusty town. Kaylee made her way carefully into the room, stopping to lean against against the doorframe as Serenity’s extenders compensated for the shock of landing. “You okay there, mei mei?” Mal heard her step into the room and turned in his chair to see his mechanic looking a bit more sickly than he was comfortable with. “Fine, Cap’n!” Kaylee’s voice was a little to perky and her smile too wide to placate the captain, and even Zoe looked at her with concern in her smile. River finished the landing sequence, locked down Serenity’s controls, and turned. “Captain, you’ll be okay with just Jayne and Zoe and Inara, right?” Mal turned to look at her, a question on his lips, but River shook her head. “It’s a simple drop. You won’t need me. Besides, who wants to risk a pilot?” She grinned and reached out for Kaylee’s hand, pulled her close. “Kaylee and I’re going to get some tea, sit out on the ramp and just revel in the green.” “We are?” Kaylee asked, as Mal rolled his eyes at Zoe in resignation. Zoe smirked back. “You betcha. I could do with some relaxation, and you and I haven’t had time to talk in ages!” “Why’m I takin’ Inara on the job, again?” Mal couldn’t help but ask. He raised his hands in submission when both River and Zoe glared at him. “Because she wanted to see the town, sir.”The lie was blatant, but nobody called her on it. Kaylee and River followed Mal as he collected Jayne and started loading the first run of crates onto the mule. Zoe went to find Inara and explain that, for some reason, River wanted them all off of the ship. “Is that really necessary? Or safe?” Inara had heard stories of River’s prowess as a fighter, but had never seen her in action. Only the once, at Mr. Universe’s complex, had she even seen River near a battle. “She’s the reader; she thinks it’s necessary, I’m inclined to listen. And Serenity’ll be plenty safe. We won’t be far, and we’ve got the comm. You don’t have to come on the drop, but I’m sure there’s a shop or two in town where you could browse.” “I’d like to come along,” Inara protested. “If, that is, you don’t mind…” Zoe smiled at the other woman, imagining her showing up to the exchange in her long silk dress and her delicate patten shoes. Mal was gonna love it. “Don’t mind a bit.” ))) River and Kaylee had just settled themselves with lawn-chairs and drinks – having forgone the suggested tea in favor of something cooler – when Simon emerged from the infirmary into the cargo bay. He walked forward and planted a kiss on Kaylee’s head, frowning when she jumped. “Something wrong, bao bei?” He asked, looking between her and River. “Not a bit of it. Everything’s just shiny.” Again her protests seemed forced, but River shook her head at him and Simon didn’t press the issue. “We’re girl-talking. We’re girls. Anatomically differentiated from boys. You are a boy. Go away.” She wrinkled her nose. “Your plan needs work, anyway.” Simon chuckled and patted her on the arm, but gave Kaylee another concerned look before he went back into the infirmary. “I thought you were better,” Kaylee started, looking River over. “Why d’you still talk like that?” River sighed. “It’s easier. I remember the speech patterns, but they don’t process as readily. What comes from my mouth is what goes through my mind.” She turned her chair to face Kaylee head-on. “I will never be better. Chemicals, Simon can fix. Memories, I can share. But they cut into my brain, Kaylee, and I won’t ever recover from that.” Her eyes were serious and sad, and Kaylee wanted to cry for the younger girl. “Ah, mei mei, you talk however you want, then. Just don’t get mad when I ask for a translation.” She reached out and gripped River’s hand, smiling at her with all the compassion she could muster. River smiled a little in response, but her face remained drawn. “I talked at Jayne, yesterday.” She admitted, scrunching her nose at the memory. “Made so much sense when I said it, but even before I was done, I’d lost whatever the sense was.” She sighed. “River, don’t mind Jayne none. He don’t understand nothin’ anyways.” She grinned, and River grinned back. “Thanks, peng you.” She shook herself of her concerns, and turned to face Kaylee. “So what’s going on with you, then?” Kaylee grimaced. “Dontcha know already?” She asked. “A little. But I’m getting much better at not walking through people’s heads without permission. So this is practice for me, since you’re pretty much shouting on the inside, and practice for you, at telling.” River nodded, pleased with her reasoning. “Oh, River,” Kaylee sobbed suddenly, surprising both of them. “I think I’m pregnant.” Before she could finish the sentence, River was out of her chair and on her knees before Kaylee, drawing the larger girl down into her arms. “Shh, bao bei, shh.” Both girls jolted as Kaylee’s shifting weight knocked the chair over and it hit the ramp with a clang. “Hu che, ma shang!” She barked over Kaylee’s shoulder at Simon, who had emerged from the infirmary at the sound of metal on metal. He stared at them for one long moment before regretfully heading back into the passenger wing. He couldn’t work, knowing that Kaylee was crying in the cargo bay, so he went up to the galley to start some tea. Kaylee liked tea with cinnamon and honey when she was upset. Feeling her brother puttering anxiously in the kitchen, River returned her attention to the girl in question. “What makes you think you’re pregnant?” She asked, quietly. “I missed my monthlies, and I didn’t feel so good this morning.” She gripped River harder and wailed, “I don’t want a baby, yet! I’m a mechanic, I can’t leave Serenity, and Simon doesn’t even, doesn’t even…” She choked on the words and collapsed back into tears. “Qing wa cao de liu mang,” she muttered, glaring straight through sheet metal to her brother. “C’mon, bao bei. Let’s move this party to the couch.” River helped Kaylee to her feet and through to the ragged couch in the passenger lounge. She sat in the corner of the couch and tucked Kaylee against the curve of her body. After another few minutes of soft sobs, Kaylee raised her head from River’s dampened shoulder. “Can you tell? Can’t you read if I’m…” she gestured to her stomach. Light dawned for River as she realized why Kaylee had come to her and not Inara. “I’m afraid not. No brain, yet, even if it is a baby.” She patted Kaylee’s hair. “Eventually, you’re either going to swell up and find out that way, or have to ask Simon. I know he’s a boob,” she interjected when the other girl gave a protesting snuffle, “but he’s a good boob, and he cares about you.” They sat in silence for a while longer, Kaylee’s sniffles gradually turning into the soft sighs of sleep. River extracted herself from the tangle on the couch and did what she could to lay Kaylee out comfortably before heading for the kitchen. She was trying to push the anger back in her mind, trying to focus on her concern for Kaylee, but she just couldn’t do it, couldn’t make the emotions fade. Standing on the catwalk that led into the communal area, River gathered what willpower she could muster and determined to act like she could control her feelings, in spite of herself. When she walked in, Simon was busy fixing a second pot of tea, pouring water from the tall kettle to the smaller green pot. The first had grown cold as he waited, and he had dumped them in the sink before starting a new batch. “Zoe won’t thank you for wasting the honey,” she started. Zoe had been increasingly territorial about all sweet things on the ship for the last week, ever since Jayne had eaten the chocolate-covered raisins Kaylee had bought her on Persephone. He jolted at the sound of her voice, and spun so fast that the kettle almost flew out of his hand. “Kaylee! Is she okay? Where is she? What’s wrong?” His words stumbled over themselves, trying to get out. “She’s fine, you liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi.” She said it flatly, just staring at him. He stared back. “They’re your parents, too.” It was all he could think to say. “Didn’t you call the captain that, once?” “I’m not wasting ingenuity on you. You miserable little rodent, you haven’t told Kaylee you even care about her!” Her resolve to maintain the outwards appearance of calm was slipping. “Just that one little “I’ve always regretted not being with you,” and she said “sex” and you said “yes,” and suddenly you’re in a relationship and she doesn’t know you love her!” She was shouting and gasping now, and Simon was turning white. “Is that what she was crying about?” He sounded a little breathless himself. “Oh, wo de tian, a .” He sat in one of the chairs at the table, hard. River noticed that it was Kaylee’s usual seat. “Among other things.” She inhaled, then scowled at him. “She’s downstairs in the passenger lounge.” She turned and headed for the door that led to the bridge, but not before getting in one last word. “If you screw this up, Simon Tam, I’ll tell the captain to make you clean the septic pump.” Simon was already gone. He flew down the stairs and through the cargo bay, barely noticing the distance to the ground as he leapt from step to step. He came to an abrupt halt when he reached the passenger lounge, as his brain caught up with his feet. Did he love Kaylee? He cared about her; if nothing else, she should know that he wasn’t just with her for the sex, but… She curled further into herself and whimpered, and he was at her side in moments with his entire being yelling this one, you idiot at his over-working brain. His feet had known, just like his hands often knew what had to be done before his mind did. “Simon?” She opened her eyes and looked at him, wary. “Hey there, piao liang de xiao jie. Heard a rumor that you don’t know I’m in love with you.” He smiled a little, and reached out to touch the tear tracks on her cheek. River smiled as she drank Kaylee’s tea, sitting in one of the lawn-chairs with her feet propped in the other. Her idiot brother had finally done something right, and when Kaylee snuck into her room three days later to tell her that her monthlies had finally come, River would be sure to act surprised.

Want more? Read: Head Trauma , Focus on the Fine Qualities of Dinosaurs, Translation, All Kinds of Brilliant