The Letter
By scifilover365
A/N and disclaimer- I've been thinking about this ever since "Safe". It is set after the BDM but assumes that the letter was written before the movie. Please review especially if you think I screwed this up.
I do not own the amazing work that is "Firefly" and Serenity. They belong to Joss Whedon and I do this not to profit but to pay homage to two great characters.
Captain Malcolm Reynolds sat in his darkened quarters staring at the crisp white paper envelope hand-delivered to him by one of the Southdown Abbey monks. Mal's name was on the front in the neat script of Shepherd Meria Book.
The Shepherd died on Haven a few months ago, right in the captain's arms. Though he and the Shepherd had had their differences, mostly about religion or Mal's lack there of, Mal always believed he could trust Book's advice and had mourned the passing of the good man; especially since his seeking that advice had led to the destruction of Haven.
Mal broke the envelope's seal, pulled out the folded pieces of paper, and began to read.
Dear Malcolm,
I hope this letter finds you and the Serenity well, but if you are reading this I must not be. The brothers have instructions to only give this to you in the event of my death.
Awhile back I was shot and you risked everything to see that I was taken care of. Unfortunately, your effort would have gone to waste had I not shown the Alliance Officers my Ident Card.
Later as I was resting back aboard the Serenity, you asked me what kind of ident card allowed me to come and go on the alliance ship with out any type of trouble.
I told you one day I would explain this to you and what better time then this.
Maybe I should have told you this before I boarded your ship the first time. Maybe you would have denied my passage if you knew my past which is why I kept it my guarded secret; even most at the abbey don't know it. In the infirmary, recovering from the gunshot, I was afraid that you were going to throw me off the ship because you had found out.
The things you really need to know are that while I am a shepherd and spent the years of the war in the abbey; Meria Book is not my real name, but I have been going by it for so long that I don't remember my real one.
I cannot go into detail about what I did for the Alliance or the events that led me to Southdown, but after a few years in the abbey I made the decision to become a shepherd. I rarely left the abbey the first few months. I was always afraid that the Alliance would come and find me. Then we began to hear the rumors of war on the border colonies and the war moving at a frightful speed toward the central planets. Since the Alliance never did come, even in the years following the war; I always suspected that they had become too distracted to track me down.
Showing that card to the Alliance officers could have been worse then them finding those fake papers or all the none-standard nooks and crannies on the Serenity, but since that fed who came after Simon and River didn't seem to know who I was I figured it was a risk that I would have to take.
I am sorry that I brought more risk abroad your ship. I'm even sorrier for not having the courage to tell you about the risk while I was with you. I can only hope that you and the crew would be able to forgive me for my cowardice.
Sincerely,
Meria Book
P.S. I hope you will find my gift useful someday. It's amazing who you can find in an abbey.
P.P.S. Keep flying.
Mal looked over the letter again. He was not surprised by the Shepard's revelation. He had guessed as much after the last conversation that he had with the Shepard on Haven when the Operative was still chasing them. Mal had had his suspicions but hadn't shared them with the crew. No reason to lower their opinion of the man and it was only luck that he had been alone on the dock when the abbey monk delivered this letter.
Mal shifted his foot and felt a hard bit of plastic beneath his toe. He looked down at the small square piece of hard plastic that he hadn't noticed falling out of the envelope. A small smile grew on Mal's face.