Heliu was wondering on her mother, every time she asked her father he would get tears in his blue eyes and tell her that she was the light of her life and the one thing she wanted more than anything, so the thirteen year old took it upon her self to ask her family about her mama.
Heliu walked up to the shuttle and knocked. "Come in." Heliu walked in and sat down on the bed that was in the shuttle. She was nervous and she started fiddling with her hands. "You look so much like your mother when you fidget with your hands like that." "That's why I'm here Mimi. I wanna know about my mama and what she meant to everyone. Daddy can't talk about it." "Your mother was my ballerina, and my daughter. I loved your mother so very much. She was a sweet heart and you look just like her, you are the spitting image of her. I remember she used to come in her to mediate with me and drink tea. She had some hardships before she found us here on Serenity and she was a little odd when she spoke. She called me Mama Nara. I loved her so very much. I wish you could have known her she was a very special girl. I would watch her dance and occasionally would join her. You are very much like her, you know that. And just like her you are my ballerina and my beautiful grand daughter." "Thank you Mimi I love you."
With that she decided she wanted to know more about the woman that had died given her birth, to her Mimi she was her daughter and her ballerina. She decided to go find her Uncle Simon.
Simon was in the infirmary cleaning, Jayne had been shot again on another job. She walked in and wrinkled her nose she hated the smell of the disinfectant and she hated needles worse. Simon had noticed her, sometimes he had just as much of a problem looking at her as her daddy did. She knew they loved her and would do anything for her, but she also knew that she was the spitting image of the girl that they both had loved so very much. "Uncle Simon can I ask you something?" "Sure sweetie what is." "I wanna know about mama and what she meant to you." "I don't know where to begin bao bei. She was a genius and when I say that, I mean to tell you that I was in my top three percent of eight hundred at the medcad on Osiris, the best medical school in the whole verse. I was a trauma surgeon within eight months, and your mother made me look an idiot. I had to rescue her when she was sixteen years old from some very bad people. I found transport her on Serenity, and this is where I meant your Aunt Kaylee and found our family. I was so awkward and you know when on of the girls call me a Boob that's where they got it. River was always calling me a boob. She hated the infirmary and shots just like you do. You wanted to know what your mother was to me she was my gift, she was my mei mei and the you were the last gift she gave me, Heliu and just like your mother you are a gift. Don't forget that. I love you bao bei."
Heliu left the infirmary with tears in her eyes. She loved her mother so much and she had never met the woman. She wanted to ask her Aunt Kaylee what she was to her. So the young girl went to the engine room.
She walked in and loved the hum of Serenity's engine. It made her fell at peace. "Aunt Kaylee, tell me about mama." "You mama was my best friend. She was so sweet and pretty. We used to play chase, your daddy bought some apples for your mama, but he told everyone that they were for the crew. It was a secret joke between them forever, and still is you know when we stop off on Persephone and he buys a crate of apples it is in memory of your mama. Anyone back to the first time he bought em. She stole mine and we played chase around the ship. Our favorite game was jacks. You remember when I used to play them with you. I used to do that with your mama too." "Love you Aunt Kaylee." "Love you too cutie. I wish your mama was here to know ya Heliu she would be very proud of you." "I wish I knew her too Aunt Kaylee."
So far she had gather that her mother was a ballerina, a daughter, a gift, a sister, and a friend. She needed more. The young girl went in search of her Aunt Zoe.
Zoe was on the bridge with Allyene, her daughter, who was the pilot of the ship. "Aunt Zoe I wanted to ask you something." "What is it little one?" Zoe smiled sadly that is what her and Wash used to call River. Normally Zoe showed no sign of missing the young girl, but sometimes Heliu reminded her so much of her mother it hurt. "What did mama mean to ya?" "Your mother was my solace little one. You've heard stories of my husband and that he died before Allyene was born. Everyone tipped toed around me but your mother came to me about three months after the incident so told me it was okay to cry and she held me while I let it out, your mother had some special gifts and she was the one that told me about my daughter. She was my peace of mind and my confidant Heliu she was such a good woman, and you are just like her. Sometimes it hurts when I call ya little one because me and my Mister called your mother that." "Thank you Aunt Zoe, and I wish I could have known Uncle Wash also." "Me too little one."
Heliu had more information on her dear beloved mother that she never knew the warrior woman had the emotion that she had just shown her. There was one other that she wanted to ask about her mama. She was afraid that Caption Papa would be mad at her because like her daddy he never mentioned her mama, when someone would mention River he would walk out of the room.
Caption Papa was in the gallery doing Captiony things as he called it. "Caption Papa can I ask you something." " Sure lil Tross." He frowned when he said sometimes he would slip up and call her tross and it always hurt him and she wondered why." "What was mama to you please tell me?" Mal sighed and his eyes suddenly looked like that aged twenty years with that one question. "Heliu your mother was my daughter and my lil Albatross. She was a reason for me to keep going and she was freedom. Your mother was the heart of the ship and a good woman. She wasn't nothin but a slip of a girl when she came on this ship and a crazy one to boot. I remember when I first met her she was in a cyro box naked and when she woke she came out of that thing screamin like a mad woman, but I loved her the moment I saw her and wanted to protect her like she was my flesh and blood. Don't get me wrong now she was trouble but the little thing was my kinda trouble. And I was her Caption Daddy."
Jayne had been watching from the doorway silently tears were running down his face. "Darling we need ta talk meet me in my bunk in a few minutes dong ma." "Yes Daddy."
Heliu was afraid that she was in trouble she had went and made her daddy cry and she didn't mean too. She was trying not to make him cry that's why she asked the rest of the crew about her mama. She needed to know the woman that had brought her into this world and it hurt her daddy too much to talk about it. So she walked down to his bunk slowly and scared.
She opened the hatch and climbed down and shut the door, she turned to look at her daddy and started chewing on her bottom lip it was a nervous habit.
"Darling you know how much you look like ya ma when you do that." "No sir. I didn't mean to make you cry Daddy, I just wanted to get to know more about mama. Please don't be mad at me." "Bao bei I couldn't be mad at ya for wantin to know things I should of done told ya. Tell me what ya learned about ya ma." "Mimi Nara said she was a ballerina, and her daughter, Uncle Simon said she was a gift and a sister, Aunt Kaylee said she was a friend, Aunt Zoe she she was peace and comfort, and Caption Papa said she was his daughter, his Albatross, his kinda trouble and his freedom." "All those things are true darling, she was everything. Your ma was my whole damn world till ya came along. I know you know sometimes it hurts for me ta look at ya. Its not because I don't love ya its because you are the spitting image of your mother, and I love ya more for it. One day when your older I'll tell ya the whole story about me and your ma. Right now all you need to know is that she was my everything."
Heliu gave her pa a big old hug and kissed him she was crying with him when she left the his bunk and headed to hers. She had learned a lot about her mother and she knew that she was everything in the verse. She hoped her mama was proud of her because she was proud of her mama.