"Mother?" Shay ventured after a few moments of nothing but Rhoswen's sobbing, his own voice cracking with emotion. When she didn't answer, the boy's face crumpled, and the iron-tight grip on his control slipped. "Mom," he tried again, his voice pleading as tears rolled down his cheeks. As if she was deaf, the woman on the floor offered no response to her son's heartfelt plea. Hugging the head of the dead young man against her chest, she began rocking back and forth.
Gripping the upturned table hard enough to make his knuckles white, Shay bowed his head. He waved in the direction of his mother, and the wolves padded over silently to do his bidding. They surged around her, pressing their heavy bodies into her shoulders and back. Another pushed its wet nose against her cheek, whining low in its throat as if grieved with her.
Tip-toeing on her oh-so-silent feet, River carefully wound her way passed the others until she was standing next to Shay. She watched for a moment, curiously, as his tears dripped off the end of his nose, and his hair obscured his eyes from her view. Reaching forward, she touched him on the shoulder.
He did not flinch or start with surprise, despite the fact that there'd been no way he could've seen her approach. He simply shook his head, keeping his eyes on the floor. After a few more moments, he said thickly, "He was my brother."
River's hand tightened reflexively on his shoulder, and her own eyes suddenly swam with tears. "Brothers take care of you," she replied, biting her lip.
"We all take care of each other here," he said, and then raised his red-rimmed eyes to hers.
River smiled at him through her tears as she answered, "We do, too."
Through this whole exchange, Mal's eyes had been riveted to the form of his sobbing wife. "Rhoswen?" he called softly, despite the boy's failed attempts. When she didn't respond, he unwisely stepped forward and went to place a hand on her shoulder.
The wolf nearest to him rounded on him in a full snarl. Mal snatched his hand away, and the click of teeth on empty air was chillingly. Reflexively, he raised his gun again and leveled it at the snarling wolf, cocking the hammer back. Within seconds, tension returned to the air that had previously achieved at least a semblance of peace, albeit mournful.
"Captain!" Kaylee hissed from behind him.
"Enough!" Rhoswen shouted, snapping out of her trance and twisting around to glare in green-eyed fury. "There'll be no more blood spilled this day! Orion, Malcolm, calm yourselves!"
The wolf instantly lowered its curled lip and sank to the ground. The snarling had stopped, but its golden eyes remained trained on the captain of Serenity. And despite twelve years without her, Mal still obeyed the command in that voice as if he'd fallen in love with her just yesterday, and the muzzle of his gun dipped low to aim at the floor.
It was Shepherd Book who spoke next. "Ma'am, we're deeply sorry for the hurt we've caused-"
"Nothing to be sorry for," Rhoswen repeated, turning back to bow over the blond's head again. "Accidents in the heat of the moment are…regrettable, but no fault lies with anyone." Despite the calm acceptance in her voice, her green gaze flickered to Jayne, and flashed with rage. The mercenary swallowed hard, and unobtrusively shuffled back a pace.
"If you'd like," Book continued, "I'm a Shepherd, and I would gladly preside over-"
"No, thank you," Rhoswen interrupted again, cutting off the preacher with steel in her voice. "God has forgotten us long ago, and I'll not have false words spoken over the body of one of my sons."
"Sons-?" Mal finally croaked out, eyes darting belatedly to Shay. It was only now, with his adrenaline subsiding, that he noticed the blaring similarities between himself and the boy standing next to River. He felt as if he was looking into a mirror that reflected an image from the past: a thirteen-year-old farm boy on Shadow who's only care was doing a good enough job on his chores that his mother would let him help the farmhands with their duties. "Lao tian ye…" Feeling like the very air was choking him, he managed to whisper, "Rhoswen…you didn't tell me."
Her back stiffened, and the welts oozed a few more drops of blood. "I didn't know until after you were gone."
Stung by Rhoswen's rebuke, but also completely baffled, Book turned toward Mal and Kaylee. "What's going on here?"
Ignoring the Shepherd, Mal continued his conversation in a whisper. "Rhoswen, how did you get here? Who's done hurt to you? What's this place? Who are these," he swallowed hard, "boys?"
Turning around again, the woman favored him with a sad smile. "That's a lot of questions, Malcolm. And I'll answer them, make no mistake, but there are other…things that need doing first." Glancing back down at the blond head in her lap, she absently stroked the hair.
Mal felt his ears burn as color crawled up his face. Backbirth! Yammerin' a million things when there's a dead body in her lap! "'Course, didn't mean, you know, now."
Rhoswen got shakily to her feet. Shay made as if to step forward and help her, but she waved him off. "Orion," she said to the wolf that had previously been threatening Mal, "go find your older brothers. I'll need their help to carry him." He obediently trotted out the broken door and down the hallway.
"Mom, you're exhausted," Shay scolded. "Me and the boys can do it."
"You'll do nothing of the sort!" she snapped, curls flying as she looked at him sharply. "I buried Acario, but I failed Elias, and I won't fail Korbin!"
"I don't think being unconscious counts as failure, Mother," Shay said sternly.
"I failed to protect him, the least I could've done was bury him!" she retorted, tears welling up in her already bloodshot eyes.
Shay's eyes widened. "Mom!" he exclaimed, shocked. "You didn't fail Elias!"
"He's dead, isn't he?!" his mother shouted back at him, losing any semblance of composure. At her feet, the wolves whined uncomfortably.
Her son backed up a step, and held up his hands in surrender. "OK, we can talk about this later. I wasn't trying to start a fight," he replied, voice meek and full of contrition. "Forgive me."
Kaylee felt her eyebrows knit together in confusion. Why had Rhoswen suddenly attacked Shay, and why was he backing down so completely? Simple guilt of a child causing a parent trouble, or was something behind his smooth retreat? Glancing at River, the mechanic noticed that the girl was mimicking the younger boy's movements: hands up and a pace back. Taking a deep breath, Kaylee realized that she may not know what was going on, but River certainly did.
"Why don't you let us handle the boy," Mal suggested in the tense quiet, "and Kaylee here can lead you to our ship and get you all patched up."
"Sure can," Kaylee answered, overly bright. "We got the best doctor this side of the Core."
Rhoswen's glare turned to Mal. "You want to just swoop in here and take control, hmm?"
Mal froze. That was a tone he'd learned not to screw around with the instant he'd met Rhoswen. Except this time, there was something else in her voice: a hint of irrationality, a hint of madness.
"Mother, he wasn't trying to take over. Everyone knows that you're in charge," Shay said hastily. "Why don't you sit back down, relax, and we'll talk about where we're going to bury Korbin?"
She turned the full heat of her eyes back to her son, shoulders heaving as she breathed raggedly. Her lips twisted to voice a scathing retort, but then her penetrating gaze turned glassy. Her footing wobbled, and she held out a shaking hand to try to remain balanced.
"Mom, sit down," Shay commanded, any traces of timidity and placation gone. "Mom!" he shouted, just as she toppled to the ground. Shay winced, looking away, knowing one of his brothers was about to be landed on. But the dull thud of inert human contacting furry wolf back never came.
Shay's eyes widened in surprise as he looked back to where his mother and his murdered brother was. Mal had closed the distance between himself and Rhoswen in the blink of an eye, and caught her before she'd hit the ground. He now sat on the ground himself, cradling her in his arms, and burying his face in the wealth of her curls. Shay sighed; this was going to be interesting.
"I want to know what in ruttin' Hell's going on here," Jayne demanded, his voice strangled.
Shay went to open his mouth, but Kaylee beat him to it. "She's the Captain's wife," she said, her eyes huge as they moved from Mal to the boy, "and he's their son."
