"Is that it?" Jayne asked incredulously, staring at the one knapsack Elsa had slung over her shoulder.
"Well, I ain't exactly drownin' in pretties," responded the girl dryly as she lifted the bag into the mule and swung herself up after it. "What, you got a great big collection of knick-knacks yourself?"
After a beat, she nodded. "Well, I suppose your weapons would be takin' up a whole heap of space."
Jayne glared at her out of the corner of his eye as he started the engine. "Thought the captain said you wasn't supposed to be doin' that no more." Elsa raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question and the big man let go of the controls with one hand to tap at his temple. She laughed then.
"Just 'cause I'm not to go rootin' round in anyone's thoughts doesn't mean I'm without a woman's usual intuition, Jayne. And it hardly takes a reader to figure you'd never go anywhere without a whole stack of firepower."
Jayne grunted. She had him there. Still, he thought, it ain't right having some round who can hear all a man's private thoughts. Someone 'sides Mooney, leastaways, he amended silently. She don't hardly count, bein' half cracked as it is. Can't tattle on anyone in a straight manner. But a girl who can understand as clear as anybody else? He snuck a look at Elsa's chest, revealed by a low cut shirt. Specially if she's gonna go wearing stuff designed to send a mind to- Shit! Think o'somethin' else, quick! Think o-
Mercifully, the girl spoke then, interrupting Jayne's mental panic. "Now me, I don't have the aptitude or the inclination to go learnin' a whole bunch of weapons. Me and Bess get by just fine." With this last, she patted the butt of the revolver holstered at her hip. Jayne gave her another sideways look, this time appraising.
"You named your weapon?" Elsa kept her eyes on the road ahead, a hint of a blush rising in her cheeks as she answered.
"Yeah, well. I ain't exactly been spoiled for company, you know? 'Sides, Bess has never let me down."
The smile Jayne gave her was genuine. "Ain't an easy thing to find, that. Like Vera there," he continued, nodding towards the gun on the mule's backseat. "Best I ever found. It's why I named her for the best whore I ever had."
The girl grinned. "You name all your guns for whores you've been with?" she asked. Jayne's smile stayed in place and his eyes took on a wicked glint as he replied.
"Mostly. Do you?" Elsa laughed aloud at that.
"Them as I take to my bed tend to be of a more masculine persuasion, and not memorable enough to merit the honour. And I never pay for it. Anyway," she carried on, taking her gun from the holster and looking at it, "she's a lady, plain as day."
Jayne's answering grunt was friendlier this time, and the silence between the two for the rest of the journey was companionable enough.
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Elsa stood behind River as the dark haired girl expertly maneuvered Serenity through the air. Then they were lost in the clouds, and the redhead tensed visibly, letting out a soft cry of delight as they emerged and she caught her first glimpse of the black.
Mal stood a few paces behind her, his features arranged into a scowl. He had tried to banish her from the bridge, send her down to the guest quarters or the galley while they took off, but River had turned pleading eyes on him again. And besides, he was getting the impression that trying to separate these two would be both futile and damaging to his calm.
His expression softened a mite when Elsa looked back at him, eyes shining, to breathe "It's wonderful." He had to admit, there was something gratifying about seeing somebody that thrilled to be up in his ship. Reminded him of the old days, when him and Zoe were just happy to be alive and free and under nobody's command. It'd been a long while since anybody apart from Kaylee had shown that kind of joy on Serenity.
Maybe having someone happy aboard won't be that bad, he thought to himself, leaving the girls alone as he went to talk to Zoe and Jayne about the job they were headed to. And if he could have seen Elsa's face he'd have noticed that, despite her promise to keep out of the minds of all those aboard as much as she could, her grin widened even more just as he thought it.
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Over the next two days the ship settled into a routine, as their new passenger found her feet. Elsa did, as promised, help out in any way she could. She was most often found in the engine room, learning the names of parts and tools so that she could be on hand to pass them to Kaylee, or keeping River company on the bridge. Simon, too, seemed to take a liking to the girl. She was constantly badgering him for information about medicine, eager to make sense of the fragments she'd picked up working with her father as a child, and the doctor assumed the role of teacher easily and with obvious enjoyment.
She got along with Zoe well enough, but the two never seemed to spend any time together aside from when everybody was gathered meals, and Mal could have sworn he detected an uneasiness in the girl's expression whenever his first mate addressed her directly. Still, no obvious harm came of it, and Elsa was certainly still civil enough with the older woman, so most likely he was imagining the whole thing.
Most surprising was the camaraderie which had sprung up between the girl and Jayne. At the outset he had been obviously and painfully on edge whenever the mind reader was about. When she actually joined the ship this had thawed into a sort of... well, if it was anybody but Jayne Mal would have called it politeness. But on their second day in the black the merc had approached the girl while she tried to spar with River in the cargo bay.
"Hoe tze do pee-goo, girl, my leg doesn't bend that way!" the redhead complained, pushing unruly hair back from her face. Jayne grinned at her.
"Takin' lessons?" Elsa smiled ruefully, grasping her left thigh. "That was the general idea. 'Cept it seems our genius here can't get her head around the fact that not all of us are gifted with a head full of combat trainin' and a lifetime of dancin' lessons."
"Can't help it if she can't keep up," River singsonged, her own leg stretched above her head in a highly improbable position. Elsa shot her a dirty look, "Truly, mei mei, you are a great loss to the teaching profession."
River just smiled dreamily at her friend and spun lazily, keeping her leg extended. Elsa made a strangled sound of frustration and turned back to Jayne.
"Help? I need somethin' to keep me occupied, and it's always handy to learn a few new tricks. You gotta know some." The man looked uncomfortable.
"Listen girl, I don't think you'll find me much more suited for teachin' than Mooney over there. Could ask Zo" Elsa interrupted him.
"Can you remember that I'm not six four and built like a barn door?" Jayne looked down at her. Tall, for a girl, but slim. He was hardly going to mistake her for somebody of his own bulk. Reluctantly, he nodded. Elsa smiled.
"Well then, you're already leaps and bounds ahead of Crazy the lethal ballerina back there." River, still spinning, stuck her tongue out. The redhead looked at him. "Try me."
Rolling his eyes, Jayne stepped towards her. Way he figured it, the sooner he showed this girl he was no teacher, especially when it came to beginners, sooner she'd leave him to work out in peace. Moving quickly, he lashed out with his right arm, tensed to pull the blow as soon as he came into contact with her face. No sense in hurting her, after all. Could send River into a temper.
And as quickly as he'd moved, she was gone. Jayne blinked in amazement as he found himself striking thin air. Elsa grinned as she straightened up after ducking the blow and lashed out – hard – with her right leg, striking the man squarely in the ribs.
"Hun dan, girl. Thought you said you was a beginner! Could have hurt me, you know," he added indignantly as he rubbed at his side. The girl snorted.
"Yeah, like I could hurt a ruttin' tank. And I am a beginner, beatin's from village kids and the odd bar fight aside. Wouldn't stand a chance against you in a proper fight, no doubt about it. But if you're gonna think about things so much, well, then I've got an advantage."
Jayne looked at her suspiciously. "What 'bout that agreement I remember there bein', where you stayed out of people's heads and we didn't throw you out the gorram airlock?" Elsa shrugged.
"I make an exception when people are thinkin' bout hittin' me. 'Sides, wouldn't be much practice if I went round with half my senses shut down now, would it?" Jayne squinted at her.
"So what you're sayin' is, if I think 'bout what I'm gonna do to you, you hear it and get out of the way?" Elsa nodded at him in response.
"Just so. But in a real fight, you wouldn't take the time to think it, would you? You'd just be reactin'. Makes the world a whole sight more tricky than practice. Sparrin' partners are always thinkin', 'cause nobody's really tryin' to hurt anyone."
Jayne had to agree, but still… He gestured at River, still dancing. "So when you practice with her, you know what's comin?"
"Sorta. It's confused with River, she thinks so many things at once that it's hard to find what's relevant unless she takes the time to show you. 'Sides, even when I know what's comin' I can never move fast enough to block it."
The man thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Might be something for him to learn, fighting a reader. After all, he thought, seems like more'n more of them are poppin' out of the gorram woodwork.
"Alright. So you want me to fight on instinct, that it?" She nodded again and he smiled. "If you say so. But no whinin' to the doc if you get busted up some, you hear?"
When Mal came to check on them a while later, he found a sweat soaked Jayne patiently explaining a block to a similarly exhausted Elsa, as River leapt and whirled in he shadows behind the pair.