"Why these colors?" Inara asked, picking up the ball of yellow yarn that Ma Cobb was currently knitting into what looked like the beginnings of a tall stocking. They sat together on the neatly swept porch in the early morning sunshine. "They're the same colors of yarn that you used in Jayne's hat."
"Well," Ma Cobb replied, the dented metal knitting needles clicking quietly as she worked, "th'dyes fer these yarns come from plants that grow right here on Highgate. They're cheaper and easier t'come by than other colors. We're such a little planet, we hardly get traders sellin' yarn with prettier colors."
"No, I think they're beautiful colors!" Inara protested. "They're the color of Highgate."
Ma Cobb smiled at her. "You sure are a sweet, pretty li'l thing." Ma Cobb said, stopping her knitting for a moment and gently brushing Inara's cheek with one finger. "You look just like a China doll." Ma Cobb looked around for listeners and then scooted closer to Inara and leaned in, confidentially whispering:
"So, what do y'think of ma boy?"
Inara laughed.
"I think he's a very fine boy." She replied softly. "Much improved since I first met him. I think he needs someone to feel responsible for. Without that, he goes a little space crazy." She paused for a moment, her eyes scanning the grass and trees for any sign of Ma Cobb's boy. "I think that he misses his family very much."
Ma Cobb patted Inara's silk-covered knee.
"Well, y'all come an' visit whenever y'want. We're always glad t'have you."
Inara smiled. "Thank you for your hospitality."
They heard a great puffing noise and looked up to see Jayne leading his pack of little sisters and River in a morning jog. He lifted his hand in a wave to the ladies seated on the porch. The muscles in his strong arm bulged and glistened with sweat.
Inara shook her head sharply. Now why was she suddenly noticing what Jayne's muscles were doing? Certainly she knew he had them. She'd even admired them before when Book and Jayne lifted weights in the cargo hold but it had always been in a clinical sort of way. Once, she had even considered his potential as a companion. But this time had not been clinical. She saw his raw strength, like a great, caged beast, and found it attractive and that scared her a little.
Inara fanned herself with one hand and stood up saying:
"I think I've been sitting in the sun too long. I've become overheated."
"Perhaps y'should change out of all those silks." Ma Cobb suggested. "They're beautiful t'be sure, but must be dreadful hot."
"Yes, I think you are right." Inara replied with a weak smile. "I think I'll just go to the ship and change."
She lifted up her delicate skirt and made her way quickly across the yard to the ship. Kaylee lay out in her bathing suit on a lawn chair set up just off the end of the ship's boarding ramp, sunbathing. Simon, looking a bit awkward in a pair of shorts, sat beside her with a book.
"Hey, 'Nara." Kaylee said as the companion rustled by.
"Hello." Inara replied briefly as she hurried into the ship.
Simon put his book down for a moment and turned his head to follow Inara's hasty retreat.
"She seems a bit less composed than usual." He commented.
"Yeah, I noticed that too." Kaylee said, propping herself up on her elbows. "That's just odd. 'Nara almost never gets flustered like that. Maybe I should go see what's up."
Simon turned back to his book. "I'm sure it's nothing and, in any case, it's none of our business."
Kaylee frowned at him. "'Nara's ma friend. If she's upset, I think it's m'business to help her if I can."
"Do what you like." Simon replied. "But I can almost guarantee that you'll find Jayne at the heart of the problem."
"Why do y'say that?" Kaylee asked. Simon glared over his broken nose at his book.
"Because Jayne is at the heart of all our problems."
Kaylee sat up and put her hands on her hips.
"Well, Mr. Sister-stealing Fugitive, that is certainly not true!" she replied. She stood up, folded up her chair and carried it back inside the ship.
Simon sat alone and dumfounded. Ming-Yue trotted over to him and sat by his feet, her pink tongue lolling.
"I hate how she always leaves so that she can get the last word in any argument!" Simon complained to the dog. Ming-Yue barked happily and proceeded to urinate on his shoe. Simon jumped up and chased her away, clapping his hands loudly and shouting "Bad dog! Bad dog!"
There was a chorus of laughter to his left, mostly chiming sopranos but with one very loud baritone. He turned to see River, the little girls, and Jayne all laughing at pointing at him. Ming-Yue ran over to them and River picked her up, giving her a little cuddle. The sisters all crowded around her so that they could pet the puppy.
Simon turned away and walked back to the ship, grumbling. It was him against the world… again.
He wasn't the only one who felt that way. Mal was so putout that he hadn't left the ship all morning. He wandered around from room to room, tinkering with things on his imaginary to-do list and avoiding others, especially Inara and Jayne, as much as possible. He had been invited on the morning jog by River but had made up some excuse about having to order ship stores. In reality Mal had spent the better part of the hour wrapping and unwrapping his hand with gauze from Simon's medical bag. On the plus side, he know felt confident that if any crew member injured their hand, he would be well prepared to bandage it, a skill that might have been useful if it weren't for the fact that they had a doctor onboard.
He had successfully avoided Inara all morning until she came in unexpectedly. They bumped into one another on the catwalk in the cargo bay and spent a few moments awkwardly trying to step out of one another's way until she finally pushed past him and hurried to her shuttle. Kaylee followed about a minute later.
"Is Inara—"
"—in her shuttle? Yes." Mal finished her question and then answered it. He left, climbing the short stairs to the deserted cockpit. The sunlight trickled through the dirty windows and he found his first real task: wash the windows. But it was hardly a job for the ship's captain, so instead he flopped down in the pilot's chair. He heard Jayne and River talking in the cargo bay. Then he smiled. Maybe washing the windows was a job for the captain.
"Captain Cobb!"
Jayne and River looked up from their post-run stretch to see Mal standing above them, leaning over the rail of the catwalk and smiling mischievously.
"Captain, the windows in the cockpit are lookin' mighty unseemly. I think that it would only be right, since you're the captain an' all, if you were the one to wash them." Mal said. Jayne glared at him. "There's a bucket and brush in storage 1."
He watched with satisfaction as Jayne retrieved the supplies and stomped off. River followed loyally. But Mal's contentment was short-lived when he realized that now he wouldn't be able to go back into the cockpit for at least an hour. The thought of Jayne leering down at him from the windows gave him an unsettled feeling. He sighed and wandered off to try and find somewhere else where he could continue doing nothing.