End Game by Proxii Bleu
III
"The sky is smiling." Simon turned to his sister, and then looked up at the cloudless blue hue above them as he held on to the sides of the haycart that the crew was riding in. A neighbor of Kaylee's family had been kind enough to pick them up with their belongings, and drive them out to the farm saving them the cost of a transport. Book would not be joining the group due to the fact that he had decided to attend a revival being held by some local circuit rider in town, but Jayne who had been born and raised on a farm decided to tag along even though he had made it quite clear months ago that he wanted to go to some gun expo out on Beechwater.
Mal figured that you couldn't take the farm out of a man, no more than you could take a fish out of water. Zoe and Inara were riding up front next to the driver, while Simon, Kaylee, River, Jayne, Wash, and Mal rode in the back. Even though it was early morning it was already hot out, the sun beating down on the group as the cart rolled through the dry outskirts of town, and finally through vast meadows filled with sweet grass. Mal took a hearty breath of air, and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Ever smell air this fresh on Ariel?" asked Mal as Simon managed to pull River off the sides of the cart. Having been cooped up on Serenity for months with nothing to do except wander into the occassional market, or sit glumly on the loading ramp the girl's head was literally spinning in circles as she tried to take everything in at once.
"Not really, most of the non-developed lands were outside of the cities, and I rarely had time to visit them anyway." Mal frowned.
"You mean your family never took the time to vacation in the outdoors?" Simon smiled thinly.
"It wasn't fashionable." River looked at her brother, and frowned. Her purple-head shaking as she tuned in to the conversation.
"No, mother said that only pigs go out in the woods." Simon blushed, Wash raised his eyebrows, and Jayne just stared. River on the other hand went back to her sightseeing.
"That so?" said Mal. He wasn't asking, it was more of a statement than anything else. There were some things that you didn't say because it wasn't polite, and then there were others that could cause a man to get tossed out of a hay cart. Simon coughed drily in order to clear his throat.
"It wasn't our mother's exact opinion, she only adopted it after she married our father. I personally never thought there was much harm to enjoying nature, in fact I recommended a trip to the country for many of my patients who showed symptoms of prolonged stress."
"Oh, what did your mother do before she married your father?" asked Kaylee trying to lighten the mood. For Simon at least it worked.
"She was a teacher, in fact she used to teach out on Persephone even during the war. Later on after everything ended she went to Tai Station to see an old friend, and while she was there she met out father. She told me once when I was little that it was her passion, but she gave it up once she married."
"Quit working once che landed a rich guy huh?" River turned to Jayne, her eyes stormy as she stared at the mercenary.
"No, he made her give it up because it wasn't fashionable for a man of his position to have a wife who was a teacher. That's why she always said that she was a counselor instead because it was the only way to stop him from sucking the life out of her, and filling the shell with darkness. He should have been the one to get his brain chopped into bits." Simon just gaped at River, while Jayne merely shut his mouth. The entire wagon had adopted a rather dark atmosphere which was starting to upset Kaylee just a little bit.
"Hey, we're on shore leave. We're not supposed to be talking about unhappy things right?" There were some mumbles of agreement.
"Good! So who knows what a pig chase is?" Jayne and Mal's hands went up. Simon, River, and Wash looked around for an explanation.
"Well," said Mal shifting into a better position. "It can be one of two things. The first is you get into the pen-"
"The pig pen?" asked Simon meekly. Jayne just looked at him.
"They don't keep 'em in the house."
"You mind?" Everyone qieted down. "As I was saying you get into the pen, and you have someone grease up one of the piglets. Then you let it loose, and the first one to catch it wins."
"Wins what?" queried River. To her the game sounded silly, especially if there was no reward. Mal sighed. One of these days he was going to end up on one of those most-wanted shows on the cortex, the subject of an intergalactic chase after strangling the life out of River and Simon Tam.
"I don't know, whatever someone wants to set as a prize. When I was a kid, it was pie."
"I like pie." said River.
"Good for you. Now the second is where you get a hog-"
"What's a hog?" asked Wash.
"Captain, can I just shoot him?" asked Jayne.
"No."
"Just once?"
"No! Again as I was saying, you get a hog which is an adult pig, namely one that's unruly, and you get someone to ride it, and whoever holds on the longest wins."
"What do they win?" Both Jayne and Mal looked at River who was patiently waiting for an answer.
"You said that for the first a person wins a piece of pie, or whatever is offered as the bounty. I'm assuming that there would be a better reward since the most common hog found in the territories is the brush hog which can bite a man's hand off." Simon turned visibly pale, his color almost nonexistent as they rode past a fenced area where some pigs were located. Mal pinched the bridge of his nose, and cursed at himself for not remembering to bring some aspirin.
"Same rules as for the greased pig River."
"Oh, well that's stupid." she said flatly. "If I'm going to have my hand bitten off, I'd want more than a pie." Wash sidled over to Simon, his blue eyes locked on the pen of pigs that was fading into the distance. There were times where Mal just wanted to grab River, and shake her like a rag doll.
This was one of those times.
"Look, no one is going to get their hands bitten off!" Yelled Mal. "That's an old wive's tale about brush hogs-"
"My Uncle Jimmy got his hand bitten off by a brush hog," said Jayne. "Took it clean off. Ate it right in front of him, probably would have ate the other one if he hadn't shot it." Wash screamed, causing Zoe to turn around to see what was the matter.
"I want to go home." said Simon.
"Really?" said Mal. "Fine, driver stop right here." River and Simon watched as Mal nicely threw their luggage right out into the dusty road, before lowering the gate of the cart for them to get out.
"Since you guys are so terrified of a little pig, you can get out right here, walk all the way back to Serenity, and spend shore leave trying to figure the security codes out to get back in."
"1-1-3-1-5-1-6." said River flatly. "Come on Simon, lets go." Simon watched as his sister smartly hopped out of the cart, and retrieved her bag from the road, her arms crossed as she patiently waited for her brother. Grumbling, he gave in, and joined his sibling in the dust.
"Thank you Mal, see you at dinner."
"Not likely." yelled Mal as the cart started up again. Simon glared at River as she gathered his things, and set them in front of him.
"You got us thrown out, now we have to walk all the way back to Serenity-"
"No we don't silly. Kaylee said that her farm is just beyond the tree with the big crack in it from where the storm blew so hard, it tore it in half."
"Your point?" grumbled Simon as he stared after the disappearing cart. His sister's pale arm appeared, her index finger extended towards a large tree that was seperated almost right down the middle as if something had taken it by either one of it's large branches, and tore it almost in half. Smiling, she headed towards a small trail that ran through the trees.
"Come on, they're waiting for us." Shaking his head, Simon looked back at the cart, and then stooped to pick up his things. One of these days he was going to give River a piece of his mind.
"You already have." she called.
"Knock it off!" He yelled before trudging after her. "Or I'll think about scary things."
"Bully!"
"Brat!"
"Pest!"
Simon marched into the woods, his back turned to the clump of trees across the road. If he had looked behind him he probably would have noticed the lenses reflecting the hot spring sunlight, or the pair of blue hands that held them.
***
"You threw them out into the street!" Mal rubbed his aching temples as Zoe yelled at him. For the past hour or so his first officer had been letting him have it for tossing the siblings out of the cart, and frankly with the pain he was in he really didn't want to hear it anymore. Ever since he had left Serenity, he had a feeling like something was pushing at the back of his mind, but as time went on it progressed into a mother of a migrane. Closing his eyes against the bright sunlight, he tried to tune Zoe out.
"Do you realize what you've done?"
"Yes, and please shut the hell up." Wash's jaw dropped, Never had he heard Mal talk to Zoe like that, yes he could see that there was something wrong with the captain, but on the other hand-
"Why don't you try making her?" Mal opened his eyes and looked at Wash. The younger man was glaring at him through two narrowed slits for eyes, and his hands were balled into fists. Sighing, Mal sank down in the cart.
"Wash put those away. Zoe, I'm sorry, it's just that I have a headache, and I wasn't in the mood for Simon all right?"
"Well if you hadn't thrown him out the cart, you wouldn't have a headache."
"Can I still hit him?" asked Wash.
"No, put 'em away." Wash unballed his fists, and scratched the back of his neck. For some reason he kept feeling as if someone was watching him, given Kaylee's sudden apprehension he knew that she felt it too. It couldn't be River, she never caused that feeling, but whatever it was it wasn't good.
Shaking his head, he settled down in the bottom of the cart, and tried to get some sleep. It would be another hour before they reached Kaylee's family, and the hot spring sun was making him tired. For some reason he couldn't help but to think about pie.
***
"River where are we going?" Simon had been following behind River for almost an hour, his arms ached from carrying his luggage, and he was thirsty from the heat. All around him the warm sunlight filtered through the trees in long shafts of yellow light, he could smell the scent of rising pitch from the terraforming pines, and the soft perfume of warm sap as the baby leaves popped out of their buds. His sister stopped what she was doing, and then went down a fork in the trail.
"The other way goes in a circle." she called as Simon looked at the division in the path. She could be right, it wasn't as heavily traveled as the one River was on, and it was more heavily shaded than the other. Grumbling he took up after his sister. Up ahead he could see a clearing at the side of the path, and River's things dumped in it. Letting his own luggage crash to the ground, he looked about for his sister, but she was gone.
Opening his mouth to call fer her, he stopped when he heard a giggle, and then a loud splash. Walking towards the direction of the sound, he strode over to the crest of the hill, and looked down the incline. Someone had built a dock out to the middle of a large creek, on the gray wooden planks was a pair of shoes, and in the water was River who was splashing about happily. Simon watched her for a minute, before he came over to join her.
"Come in, the water is like melting snow!" Simon dipped in a cautious finger, only to be hauled in by his sister. River laughed as Simon floundered about in the water.
"RIVER!" Simon stood in the middle of the creek soaked to the skin, while his sister laughed at the look on his face. Sputtering he hauled himself back onto the dock, where a pair of ankles greeted him. Startled the looked up into the face of a young boy who had a rod in one hand, and a silver pail in the other.
"You're not supposed to swim with your clothes on." Simon stood up on the dock, and feigned an explanation.
"My sister dunked me." The boy looked at River, and then at Simon.
"She dunked you?" The boy's lips curled into a smirk. "Which one's the sister?" Simon just stood there while River laughed from her spot in the creek. Climbing up out of the water she stood there dripping, purple strands plastered to her head as she warmed herself in the hot sun.
"We were trying to find Kaylee's farm, but we were tossed out of a hay cart." The boy set down his pail, and looked at the two strangers. It was pretty obvious that they weren't from around there, and to his knowledge there was only one Kaylee that they could be talking about. But a boy could never be sure.
"Kaylee who?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"Kaylee Frye, she's the mechanic on our ship, she invited us to eat with her family." explained River as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. "You already know who she is, why not just take us there?" The boy jumped a little, and looked at River closely. He took in her pale eyes, thin frame, and slight build. She looked like a-
"You're a reader." River shrugged.
"I suppose you can call it that, just so long as it's not 'witch'. Poles are very uncomfortable." The boy looked at Simon who had been trying to signal River to stop talking, but she either didn't get it or was ignoring him.
"You wouldn't happen to be that doctor with the fancy words?" Simon frowned a little.
"Maybe?" The boy's face brightened. "Aw, now I know who you are. Marylin said you were coming today." The boy picked up his fishing pole. "Come on, the farm's just a little ways through the trees."
Simon and River followed the boy as he picked up the trail that they had been on, and started walking at a quick pace to wherever he was headed. Gathering their luggage the two fell in step behind him.
"How did you know River was a-?"
"Reader?" answered the boy. "Oh we Frye's got a lot of them. My momma's one, and so is my aunt, and a couple of my cousins. The tall skinny ones always seem to have it, at least that's what my Uncle Paul always told me."
"You're Kaylee's cousin?"
"I'm her little brother, my name's Ben. What's yours?"
"I'm Simon, and this is River." Ben nodded, and started down a stepp hill. Through the trees he could see a large house painted dark brown with a huge lawn stretched in front of it. Smoke curled up from the chimney, and through the woods the siblings could smell something good cooking in the building. After having walked so far, they were definitely hungry.
"So how do you know about us?" asked River.
"Kaylee writes letters, talking about Serenity, and stuff. She said there was a fancy doctor on board, but I didn't know your name till just now. My cousin Marcus bet me a whole piece of salt toffee that your name was Kyle, boy won't he be surprised." Simon laughed politely as they walked out of the woods, and across the lawn. A tall woman with long gray hair and a youthful face came out of the door, and onto the long porch as the three walked up to the house.
"Hey Marylin, look who I found!"
"Who?"
"That doctor that Kaylee's always talking about, and he has a sister." Marylin Lee Frye came off of the porch, and met the group halfway. Ben kept going, but the older woman stayed behind. Her face looked as if she was about thirty, but her long gray hair swept back into a ponytail gave away her true age. She was dressed in a ankle length green dress, and a long white vest that was tied shut with a cord threaded through the button holes. Her blue eyes were sharp as she stared at the two, and her mouth set as she studied them.
The boy was tired, wary, and curious all at the same time. She could tell that he had been through a lot in the past year, enough to leave him a little older and a little wiser than he had been before, but still naive to the ways of the 'verse. The girl on the other hand, Marylin drew a breath as she looked at River. It was as if she was looking into a mirror, one that refelcted everything there was to a person. Yet somewhere along the way the glass had become cracked. The shattered bits only just starting to form a whole image again.
Stepping back, Marylin closed her inner eye, and smiled at the two. Simon merely frowned, while his sister stared at Kaylee's aunt with wonder. Her small mouth parted in surprise as she studied the older woman.
"How did you do that?" she asked, eyes dancing with question. Marylin cocked an eyebrow. "Practice, if I have time I'll show you. Come on, I have a nice pot of stew on the stove."
"Aren't you wondering about Kaylee?" asked Simon as he followed the older woman into the house. Marylin looked over her shoulder at him.
"Oh no, but that captain should be worried when he gets here. I have a few words ready for him, throwing two children out to the wolves. I knew the minute I met him that man was trouble." Simon looked down at River for an explanation, but his sister was still in awe over the elder Frye.
"How does she know that?" Marylin answered before River.
"Because I'm a Reader honey, and as the local Healer it's my job to know things. Now come on, you can ask all them questions later. Right now you need to get to your rooms, you don't mind sharing do you? I already decided with Hannah to put River with Kaylee, and you with my son Marcus. He's the teacher in town, so you'll probably get along real well."
"You're a Reader?" asked Simon as he followed her up a flight of stairs.
"That's what I said, I'll tell you all about it at breakfast tomorrow." Marylin stopped in front of a pair of doors that were right across from each other. The one on the right led into a room that was clearly for River and Kaylee, while Simon's was filled with books and other whatnots. Kaylee's aunt watched as the two got acquainted with their surroundings, before breaking the silence.
"Put your things away, we have running water so I want you to take a bath before coming downstairs to eat. I check hands, so make sure the only thing I see under your fingernails is skin. If you need me just call." Downstairs the sound of barking dogs, and some happy shouts from Kaylee's other relatives drifted up the stairs. Marylin cocked her head to the side, and then headed down.
"Remember what I said now."
***
"Wow." Wash looked at the large house that had been the Frye home for years. It was a huge structure that had been added onto over time, and was a beautiful construction surrounded by wildflowers, and vegetable gardens. Out of the front door came Marylin, her jaw set as she stalked down the stairs to greet the haycart. The driver helped Inara and Zoe down, while the rest of the crew spilled out the back.
Stretching his legs, Mal walked over to Marylin who stood tapping her foot against the gravel in the path that led to the front porch. Smiling, he put on his best manners as he approached the older woman.
"Well hello Marylin, long time no see."
"Hello Mal." Mal yelped as the woman swatted him acros the arm as hard as she could. Taking a few steps back. the captain looked at her as if she had lost her mind. He knew Kaylee's aunt wasn't fond of him, but he didn't know things were that bad.
"What the hell was that for?" Marylin planted both hands on her hips, and glared at Reynolds.
"Malcolm Leigh Reynolds you actually have the nerve to ask? I come out here on my back porch and see my youngest nephew come walking up with two children covered in dust from the road after you threw them out of that cart there."
"Wait, I-"
"Speak, and sleep with the pigs. Now while you're under my roof, I expect you to act like an adult, and so help me you cut up one more time you won't be the first grown man who's backside I've tendered!" Mal watched her stalk back up to the house, muttering all the way. Jayne came over to where Mal stood, his face unreadable as he stood next to the captain.
"Leigh?"
"Shut up Jayne."
III
"The sky is smiling." Simon turned to his sister, and then looked up at the cloudless blue hue above them as he held on to the sides of the haycart that the crew was riding in. A neighbor of Kaylee's family had been kind enough to pick them up with their belongings, and drive them out to the farm saving them the cost of a transport. Book would not be joining the group due to the fact that he had decided to attend a revival being held by some local circuit rider in town, but Jayne who had been born and raised on a farm decided to tag along even though he had made it quite clear months ago that he wanted to go to some gun expo out on Beechwater.
Mal figured that you couldn't take the farm out of a man, no more than you could take a fish out of water. Zoe and Inara were riding up front next to the driver, while Simon, Kaylee, River, Jayne, Wash, and Mal rode in the back. Even though it was early morning it was already hot out, the sun beating down on the group as the cart rolled through the dry outskirts of town, and finally through vast meadows filled with sweet grass. Mal took a hearty breath of air, and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Ever smell air this fresh on Ariel?" asked Mal as Simon managed to pull River off the sides of the cart. Having been cooped up on Serenity for months with nothing to do except wander into the occassional market, or sit glumly on the loading ramp the girl's head was literally spinning in circles as she tried to take everything in at once.
"Not really, most of the non-developed lands were outside of the cities, and I rarely had time to visit them anyway." Mal frowned.
"You mean your family never took the time to vacation in the outdoors?" Simon smiled thinly.
"It wasn't fashionable." River looked at her brother, and frowned. Her purple-head shaking as she tuned in to the conversation.
"No, mother said that only pigs go out in the woods." Simon blushed, Wash raised his eyebrows, and Jayne just stared. River on the other hand went back to her sightseeing.
"That so?" said Mal. He wasn't asking, it was more of a statement than anything else. There were some things that you didn't say because it wasn't polite, and then there were others that could cause a man to get tossed out of a hay cart. Simon coughed drily in order to clear his throat.
"It wasn't our mother's exact opinion, she only adopted it after she married our father. I personally never thought there was much harm to enjoying nature, in fact I recommended a trip to the country for many of my patients who showed symptoms of prolonged stress."
"Oh, what did your mother do before she married your father?" asked Kaylee trying to lighten the mood. For Simon at least it worked.
"She was a teacher, in fact she used to teach out on Persephone even during the war. Later on after everything ended she went to Tai Station to see an old friend, and while she was there she met out father. She told me once when I was little that it was her passion, but she gave it up once she married."
"Quit working once che landed a rich guy huh?" River turned to Jayne, her eyes stormy as she stared at the mercenary.
"No, he made her give it up because it wasn't fashionable for a man of his position to have a wife who was a teacher. That's why she always said that she was a counselor instead because it was the only way to stop him from sucking the life out of her, and filling the shell with darkness. He should have been the one to get his brain chopped into bits." Simon just gaped at River, while Jayne merely shut his mouth. The entire wagon had adopted a rather dark atmosphere which was starting to upset Kaylee just a little bit.
"Hey, we're on shore leave. We're not supposed to be talking about unhappy things right?" There were some mumbles of agreement.
"Good! So who knows what a pig chase is?" Jayne and Mal's hands went up. Simon, River, and Wash looked around for an explanation.
"Well," said Mal shifting into a better position. "It can be one of two things. The first is you get into the pen-"
"The pig pen?" asked Simon meekly. Jayne just looked at him.
"They don't keep 'em in the house."
"You mind?" Everyone qieted down. "As I was saying you get into the pen, and you have someone grease up one of the piglets. Then you let it loose, and the first one to catch it wins."
"Wins what?" queried River. To her the game sounded silly, especially if there was no reward. Mal sighed. One of these days he was going to end up on one of those most-wanted shows on the cortex, the subject of an intergalactic chase after strangling the life out of River and Simon Tam.
"I don't know, whatever someone wants to set as a prize. When I was a kid, it was pie."
"I like pie." said River.
"Good for you. Now the second is where you get a hog-"
"What's a hog?" asked Wash.
"Captain, can I just shoot him?" asked Jayne.
"No."
"Just once?"
"No! Again as I was saying, you get a hog which is an adult pig, namely one that's unruly, and you get someone to ride it, and whoever holds on the longest wins."
"What do they win?" Both Jayne and Mal looked at River who was patiently waiting for an answer.
"You said that for the first a person wins a piece of pie, or whatever is offered as the bounty. I'm assuming that there would be a better reward since the most common hog found in the territories is the brush hog which can bite a man's hand off." Simon turned visibly pale, his color almost nonexistent as they rode past a fenced area where some pigs were located. Mal pinched the bridge of his nose, and cursed at himself for not remembering to bring some aspirin.
"Same rules as for the greased pig River."
"Oh, well that's stupid." she said flatly. "If I'm going to have my hand bitten off, I'd want more than a pie." Wash sidled over to Simon, his blue eyes locked on the pen of pigs that was fading into the distance. There were times where Mal just wanted to grab River, and shake her like a rag doll.
This was one of those times.
"Look, no one is going to get their hands bitten off!" Yelled Mal. "That's an old wive's tale about brush hogs-"
"My Uncle Jimmy got his hand bitten off by a brush hog," said Jayne. "Took it clean off. Ate it right in front of him, probably would have ate the other one if he hadn't shot it." Wash screamed, causing Zoe to turn around to see what was the matter.
"I want to go home." said Simon.
"Really?" said Mal. "Fine, driver stop right here." River and Simon watched as Mal nicely threw their luggage right out into the dusty road, before lowering the gate of the cart for them to get out.
"Since you guys are so terrified of a little pig, you can get out right here, walk all the way back to Serenity, and spend shore leave trying to figure the security codes out to get back in."
"1-1-3-1-5-1-6." said River flatly. "Come on Simon, lets go." Simon watched as his sister smartly hopped out of the cart, and retrieved her bag from the road, her arms crossed as she patiently waited for her brother. Grumbling, he gave in, and joined his sibling in the dust.
"Thank you Mal, see you at dinner."
"Not likely." yelled Mal as the cart started up again. Simon glared at River as she gathered his things, and set them in front of him.
"You got us thrown out, now we have to walk all the way back to Serenity-"
"No we don't silly. Kaylee said that her farm is just beyond the tree with the big crack in it from where the storm blew so hard, it tore it in half."
"Your point?" grumbled Simon as he stared after the disappearing cart. His sister's pale arm appeared, her index finger extended towards a large tree that was seperated almost right down the middle as if something had taken it by either one of it's large branches, and tore it almost in half. Smiling, she headed towards a small trail that ran through the trees.
"Come on, they're waiting for us." Shaking his head, Simon looked back at the cart, and then stooped to pick up his things. One of these days he was going to give River a piece of his mind.
"You already have." she called.
"Knock it off!" He yelled before trudging after her. "Or I'll think about scary things."
"Bully!"
"Brat!"
"Pest!"
Simon marched into the woods, his back turned to the clump of trees across the road. If he had looked behind him he probably would have noticed the lenses reflecting the hot spring sunlight, or the pair of blue hands that held them.
***
"You threw them out into the street!" Mal rubbed his aching temples as Zoe yelled at him. For the past hour or so his first officer had been letting him have it for tossing the siblings out of the cart, and frankly with the pain he was in he really didn't want to hear it anymore. Ever since he had left Serenity, he had a feeling like something was pushing at the back of his mind, but as time went on it progressed into a mother of a migrane. Closing his eyes against the bright sunlight, he tried to tune Zoe out.
"Do you realize what you've done?"
"Yes, and please shut the hell up." Wash's jaw dropped, Never had he heard Mal talk to Zoe like that, yes he could see that there was something wrong with the captain, but on the other hand-
"Why don't you try making her?" Mal opened his eyes and looked at Wash. The younger man was glaring at him through two narrowed slits for eyes, and his hands were balled into fists. Sighing, Mal sank down in the cart.
"Wash put those away. Zoe, I'm sorry, it's just that I have a headache, and I wasn't in the mood for Simon all right?"
"Well if you hadn't thrown him out the cart, you wouldn't have a headache."
"Can I still hit him?" asked Wash.
"No, put 'em away." Wash unballed his fists, and scratched the back of his neck. For some reason he kept feeling as if someone was watching him, given Kaylee's sudden apprehension he knew that she felt it too. It couldn't be River, she never caused that feeling, but whatever it was it wasn't good.
Shaking his head, he settled down in the bottom of the cart, and tried to get some sleep. It would be another hour before they reached Kaylee's family, and the hot spring sun was making him tired. For some reason he couldn't help but to think about pie.
***
"River where are we going?" Simon had been following behind River for almost an hour, his arms ached from carrying his luggage, and he was thirsty from the heat. All around him the warm sunlight filtered through the trees in long shafts of yellow light, he could smell the scent of rising pitch from the terraforming pines, and the soft perfume of warm sap as the baby leaves popped out of their buds. His sister stopped what she was doing, and then went down a fork in the trail.
"The other way goes in a circle." she called as Simon looked at the division in the path. She could be right, it wasn't as heavily traveled as the one River was on, and it was more heavily shaded than the other. Grumbling he took up after his sister. Up ahead he could see a clearing at the side of the path, and River's things dumped in it. Letting his own luggage crash to the ground, he looked about for his sister, but she was gone.
Opening his mouth to call fer her, he stopped when he heard a giggle, and then a loud splash. Walking towards the direction of the sound, he strode over to the crest of the hill, and looked down the incline. Someone had built a dock out to the middle of a large creek, on the gray wooden planks was a pair of shoes, and in the water was River who was splashing about happily. Simon watched her for a minute, before he came over to join her.
"Come in, the water is like melting snow!" Simon dipped in a cautious finger, only to be hauled in by his sister. River laughed as Simon floundered about in the water.
"RIVER!" Simon stood in the middle of the creek soaked to the skin, while his sister laughed at the look on his face. Sputtering he hauled himself back onto the dock, where a pair of ankles greeted him. Startled the looked up into the face of a young boy who had a rod in one hand, and a silver pail in the other.
"You're not supposed to swim with your clothes on." Simon stood up on the dock, and feigned an explanation.
"My sister dunked me." The boy looked at River, and then at Simon.
"She dunked you?" The boy's lips curled into a smirk. "Which one's the sister?" Simon just stood there while River laughed from her spot in the creek. Climbing up out of the water she stood there dripping, purple strands plastered to her head as she warmed herself in the hot sun.
"We were trying to find Kaylee's farm, but we were tossed out of a hay cart." The boy set down his pail, and looked at the two strangers. It was pretty obvious that they weren't from around there, and to his knowledge there was only one Kaylee that they could be talking about. But a boy could never be sure.
"Kaylee who?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"Kaylee Frye, she's the mechanic on our ship, she invited us to eat with her family." explained River as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. "You already know who she is, why not just take us there?" The boy jumped a little, and looked at River closely. He took in her pale eyes, thin frame, and slight build. She looked like a-
"You're a reader." River shrugged.
"I suppose you can call it that, just so long as it's not 'witch'. Poles are very uncomfortable." The boy looked at Simon who had been trying to signal River to stop talking, but she either didn't get it or was ignoring him.
"You wouldn't happen to be that doctor with the fancy words?" Simon frowned a little.
"Maybe?" The boy's face brightened. "Aw, now I know who you are. Marylin said you were coming today." The boy picked up his fishing pole. "Come on, the farm's just a little ways through the trees."
Simon and River followed the boy as he picked up the trail that they had been on, and started walking at a quick pace to wherever he was headed. Gathering their luggage the two fell in step behind him.
"How did you know River was a-?"
"Reader?" answered the boy. "Oh we Frye's got a lot of them. My momma's one, and so is my aunt, and a couple of my cousins. The tall skinny ones always seem to have it, at least that's what my Uncle Paul always told me."
"You're Kaylee's cousin?"
"I'm her little brother, my name's Ben. What's yours?"
"I'm Simon, and this is River." Ben nodded, and started down a stepp hill. Through the trees he could see a large house painted dark brown with a huge lawn stretched in front of it. Smoke curled up from the chimney, and through the woods the siblings could smell something good cooking in the building. After having walked so far, they were definitely hungry.
"So how do you know about us?" asked River.
"Kaylee writes letters, talking about Serenity, and stuff. She said there was a fancy doctor on board, but I didn't know your name till just now. My cousin Marcus bet me a whole piece of salt toffee that your name was Kyle, boy won't he be surprised." Simon laughed politely as they walked out of the woods, and across the lawn. A tall woman with long gray hair and a youthful face came out of the door, and onto the long porch as the three walked up to the house.
"Hey Marylin, look who I found!"
"Who?"
"That doctor that Kaylee's always talking about, and he has a sister." Marylin Lee Frye came off of the porch, and met the group halfway. Ben kept going, but the older woman stayed behind. Her face looked as if she was about thirty, but her long gray hair swept back into a ponytail gave away her true age. She was dressed in a ankle length green dress, and a long white vest that was tied shut with a cord threaded through the button holes. Her blue eyes were sharp as she stared at the two, and her mouth set as she studied them.
The boy was tired, wary, and curious all at the same time. She could tell that he had been through a lot in the past year, enough to leave him a little older and a little wiser than he had been before, but still naive to the ways of the 'verse. The girl on the other hand, Marylin drew a breath as she looked at River. It was as if she was looking into a mirror, one that refelcted everything there was to a person. Yet somewhere along the way the glass had become cracked. The shattered bits only just starting to form a whole image again.
Stepping back, Marylin closed her inner eye, and smiled at the two. Simon merely frowned, while his sister stared at Kaylee's aunt with wonder. Her small mouth parted in surprise as she studied the older woman.
"How did you do that?" she asked, eyes dancing with question. Marylin cocked an eyebrow. "Practice, if I have time I'll show you. Come on, I have a nice pot of stew on the stove."
"Aren't you wondering about Kaylee?" asked Simon as he followed the older woman into the house. Marylin looked over her shoulder at him.
"Oh no, but that captain should be worried when he gets here. I have a few words ready for him, throwing two children out to the wolves. I knew the minute I met him that man was trouble." Simon looked down at River for an explanation, but his sister was still in awe over the elder Frye.
"How does she know that?" Marylin answered before River.
"Because I'm a Reader honey, and as the local Healer it's my job to know things. Now come on, you can ask all them questions later. Right now you need to get to your rooms, you don't mind sharing do you? I already decided with Hannah to put River with Kaylee, and you with my son Marcus. He's the teacher in town, so you'll probably get along real well."
"You're a Reader?" asked Simon as he followed her up a flight of stairs.
"That's what I said, I'll tell you all about it at breakfast tomorrow." Marylin stopped in front of a pair of doors that were right across from each other. The one on the right led into a room that was clearly for River and Kaylee, while Simon's was filled with books and other whatnots. Kaylee's aunt watched as the two got acquainted with their surroundings, before breaking the silence.
"Put your things away, we have running water so I want you to take a bath before coming downstairs to eat. I check hands, so make sure the only thing I see under your fingernails is skin. If you need me just call." Downstairs the sound of barking dogs, and some happy shouts from Kaylee's other relatives drifted up the stairs. Marylin cocked her head to the side, and then headed down.
"Remember what I said now."
***
"Wow." Wash looked at the large house that had been the Frye home for years. It was a huge structure that had been added onto over time, and was a beautiful construction surrounded by wildflowers, and vegetable gardens. Out of the front door came Marylin, her jaw set as she stalked down the stairs to greet the haycart. The driver helped Inara and Zoe down, while the rest of the crew spilled out the back.
Stretching his legs, Mal walked over to Marylin who stood tapping her foot against the gravel in the path that led to the front porch. Smiling, he put on his best manners as he approached the older woman.
"Well hello Marylin, long time no see."
"Hello Mal." Mal yelped as the woman swatted him acros the arm as hard as she could. Taking a few steps back. the captain looked at her as if she had lost her mind. He knew Kaylee's aunt wasn't fond of him, but he didn't know things were that bad.
"What the hell was that for?" Marylin planted both hands on her hips, and glared at Reynolds.
"Malcolm Leigh Reynolds you actually have the nerve to ask? I come out here on my back porch and see my youngest nephew come walking up with two children covered in dust from the road after you threw them out of that cart there."
"Wait, I-"
"Speak, and sleep with the pigs. Now while you're under my roof, I expect you to act like an adult, and so help me you cut up one more time you won't be the first grown man who's backside I've tendered!" Mal watched her stalk back up to the house, muttering all the way. Jayne came over to where Mal stood, his face unreadable as he stood next to the captain.
"Leigh?"
"Shut up Jayne."