By the end of the night cycle, River was back to her normal self, or as normal as she could ever be, though the medications and the vomit that came with them made her loath to eat when the time came for breakfast. Most everyone was trying to get what relaxing they could get done before they reached their destination, which was Verbena, a still mostly-undeveloped world, for all that it had an Alliance factory on it. People took what work they could on planets, but that didn't make the crew anymore comfortable.
Despite not having many warrants still out for any of them, save for on Higgins' Moon, no one was completely comfortable moving closer to Alliance territory, even though they hd been doing it more and more often.
The ten hours or so until they reached the world, however, left plenty of time for relaxation of one way or another, and as had become common since Miranda, they congregated in the hold, reassured somewhat by the other presences, that should anything go wrong, everyone was fairly close. Simon was on the catwalk, reading some research or the other on Bowden's Malady, with Kaylee at his knee, making lists of what needed to be picked up and how long certain parts would hold on the ship, Inara was forcing Mal to learn the Sihnon tea ceremony, placidly ignoring his mutters of 'gorram useless' and 'Cantcha jus' drink the ruttin stuff?'
Jayne was in his corner, working out with the singleminded determination that served him so well, so often. Zoe was sitting at an empty crate, reading a book wash had given her and preparing her mare's leg for the job, though her mind wasn't really on the weapon.
River often flitted around the cargo bay, but today she was lying down on one of the crates, curled up, and sighing every few moments, waiting for isomeone/i to comment or offer to entertain her. No one did, and so she wandered through their thoughts, letting herself escape the confines of muscles and such, not prying, just ensuring their relative emotional states were not going to shift and surprise her.
She sighed again, even going so far as to pluck the fallacious research from Simon's mind, before giving up. Standing up, she jumped delicately from one crate to another, doing little fouettes en tournant whenever she landed. A year ago, even two, this may have surprised people, but by now no one even looked up. Still, it entertained her for a reasonable amount of time.
When she grew tired of it, she landed gracefully beside the weight bench.
"The girl is lacking proper neural stimulation." River informed Jayne, who grunted.
"Dance with me." She demanded. It probably should have been a question, but she was too bored to give him the chance at refusal. Seeing, the slight annoyance and the tension as he opened his mouth, she added. "Lifting weights is repetitive and relaxing, fighting is fun. Dance with me. Have fun."
After this long working together, everyone knew that Jayne's priorities were made for his own amusements. This made him easier to convince. Jayne sighed and put his weights up, scowling at the fact that he knew he was being manipulated, but sparring was more entertaining than thirty more reps, he couldn't deny that.
"We ain't dancing, we're fightin'." He corrected her as he stood, even though he knew it wouldn't do any good. She viewed fighting the same way she viewed her girly spins and twirls, or the sissified stuff they did at parties in the Core. Hell, weren't no party to him, until someone got hurt. "An' no revisits to the Maidenhead nut-twistin', dong ma?"
Ten minutes later, Simon looked up from his reading and frowned at the sight of the two fighting. Just because he had relaxed didn't mean he liked the sight of the big mercenary fighting his little sister, even though he could tell she was more than holding her own. He watched for a few minutes, and then saw something that surprised him. "What in the 'verse...?"
He shifted away, surprising Kaylee, who glared at him for moving when she was resting good and proper like, and followed him as he skirted the edges of the bay and came over to Mal and Inara. "My apologies for interrupting," he said politely, with a little bow, as the tea ceremony was very important.
"Ain't nothin to interrupt." Mal muttered, but Simon ignored him. Instead, he pointed out the fighters to Inara. "Do you see what I'm seeing, Inara?"
"See what?" Mal asked, rolling his eyes. "Jus' Jayne and 'Tross fighting again, doc." It wasn't like it didn't happen enough lately. When they gt a little too close to the crates of legal cargo he yelled, "Hey, watch out for the cargo or it's comin' outta your cuts!"
Inara blinked and watched the two for a few minutes. "Mal's right, Simon, I don't see..." Then she trailed off. "Oh."
"Oh?" Mal repeated. "What 'Oh?' what are you two seein? Ain't nothin' we haven' seen afore."
"They're waltzing" Simon said, with an expression that looked as though he had swallowed one of River's bugs.
Mal looked back at the fighters and laughed at Simon. "I think you've been away from the Core too long, or listenin' to your sister a bit too much, if'n you think tha's dancing, Doc."
"No, Simon's right, Mal." Inara pointed out. "Ignore the blows, watch the footwork. Jayne's got his left foot forward, River's right foot is back - then, there it goes, there's the other foot sidestep, then the feet come together..." She paused as River ducked a blow before doing it, with Jayne following a moment later. "And now River should move forward, and Jyne should go back..."
Mal tried to ignore watching the punches and grabs being traded and tried to concentrate on the feet. After a few moments, he could kind of see what they were saying, especially when Inara started predicting the next move in whispers.
It was more entertaining than the rutting tea ceremony, anyway, and after a few times when Jayne forced River o bend backwards to avoid a kick, as Inara predicted a dip, he laughed. "If'n you want my advice." He said, standding up and heading for the cockpit. "I wouldn't tell Jane he's been waltzing with the li'l witch."
Some eight hours later, they had landed on Verbena, and were doing final checks. Zoe and Jayne had returned from burying the illegal cargo somewhere only Jayne could find it without markings and returned to the ship.
Now, Mal was waiting for at the cargo door for River, like an impatient father. "Now, River!" He said in annoyance. "We're gonna be late if'n you don't git down..." The words died in his throat and his eyes widened, and then he grinned. "That's what I'm talking about, Albatross."
River grinned, and she joined Mal easy enough, adding Jayne a few yards later, from where he was resting against a tree. They headed for the bar in the Blackout Zone, and River recalled the Maidenhead in sharp relief, but this time she fit in much better.
She caught a few wayward thoughts about her appearance, a few more about her weapons on such a tiny frame, and it made her smirk. Her sword was strapped to her back , and the ax hung at her waist, the twin 9mm.'s strapped to either thigh, and hidden up the billowing sleeves of her shirt were several knives.
"Mr. Yang." Mal said, with a nod as he approached their new middleman.
The man nodded. "Captain Reynolds." He gestured to the chairs. "And who are your friends?"
Mal gestured slightly. "Jayne, my public relations officer." He said easily. "And our pilot, Alba."
River's smirk got deeper. Sometimes, now and then, when he wasn't being a complete and utter boob, Mal could be clever. Alba, from albatross. Apparently, fugitive status revoked or not, he wasn't willing to part with her name, smart.
"Awful tiny for all those weapons, ain't she?" Mr. Yang asked, with a leer that even if she couldn't read his thoughts made them quite clear.
"She knows how to use them, though." She remarked her fingers itching slightly.
"Are we here to do business, Mr. Yang?" Mal asked, wondering what was so hard about 'look intimidating but keep your mouth shut.' He slid a bag across the table that contained a single example of everything in the colony starters they had lifted. "The rest, if you want them, require the creds."
The man's eyes widened as he looked through the bag, and he nodded, kicking an equally nondescript bag to Mal under the table. "There's the rest of the cash I owe you." He said easily. "And I'd like to hire you on again. I've some...sensitive cargo that needs moving to Liann Jiun."
Mal tensed slightly. That was Core. That was very Core. "I'm sure we could work something out." He said slowly. "But like as we don't generally get that far in..."
"You'll get twice what you got for this job." Mr. Yang said easily. "All you'll have to do is land at the docks. I'll even have my men come collect it."
River could hear Mal's toughts drop like marbles he considered it. Plink...plink...plink...plink. He glanced at her, and she didn't say anything right away. The middleman was being honest, there was no scent of deception or colours of a doublecross, but her stomach was uneasy.
"Can we do it, Alba? Or do we need to refuel?"
"Serenity can do it." River replied, convincing herself that the feeling was just leftover nausea from her injection. "We can be at Liann Jiun in a week, even get some passengers if we want them."
Mal nodded and held out his hand to Mr. Yang, the hand that contained the coordinates to the rest of the rations. "We've got a deal, Mr. Yang
And blithely, River wondered what they had just bargained for, and if it was worth it.