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Questions

"Huh," was the only response Malcolm Reynolds could muster. Their apparent captor had rendered him speechless as not only had he responded to Kaylee's outrage with good natured laughter, but in one short speech he had further increased Mal's suspicion that wherever they were, it wasn't part of the verse he knew. It was Wash, however, who was first to voice the questions running through everyone's mind.

"Erm, excuse me?" he asked, holding his hand up to attract attention and looking enquiring.

"Al Bhed? Bikanel? I'm not sure I've ever…" he looked at Mal in confusion, "do we know what he's talking about?"

"Surely don't," Mal replied shortly, looking questioningly at the stout man before him, having finally recovered the use of his vocal chords.

"Ha! That what they're teaching you Yevonites nowadays? More lies?" The man returned, the geniality he had displayed towards Kaylee seeming to have drained from his face.

"Yevon?" Simon questioned quietly to Kaylee who shrugged her shoulders, but Cid caught his question.

"Next you'll be telling me you don't know about Sin either!" the man remarked, clearly angered now as he glared at Simon. His comment however caused misattributed comprehension to dawn in Mal's mind.

"Oh I get it!" he announced grinning dangerously, "y'all some crazy religious gathering. We met the likes of you on Jiangyin once; they didn't take to us too well neither. Well I left religiosity behind some while back. Preacher, these are more your kind'a people!"

He spoke in a cocky manner, confident that these intruders would be just as easy to deal with as the settlers they had rescued the Tam's from, and ignoring Inara's warning nudge. He was swiftly deprived of his temporary understanding, however, by the man who had introduced himself as Cid

"Religious?! You really that dumb, boy? You Yevonites branded us heathens centuries ago!" Once again Mal was speechless and confused.

"But sin…you said…" he spluttered.

"The book's wrong," River remarked, looking at the Captain like he was an ignorant student, "does not apply." Mal looked at her, lost even further, before pulling himself together. This conversation was getting him nowhere, and he had had enough of trying to follow it.

"All right. Right now I don't give a good gorram who you are or what Al-bhedy-whats-it is. I got me a broken ship and a dying first mate, I've been attacked by a huen dahn giant flying thing and I wanna know – you here to help us or kill us? 'Cause I got no patience for them as try the latter!"

Cid seemed to consider his words for a moment, eyeing Mal suspiciously.

"You really are clueless aren't you boy?" he concluded finally, deciding to believe the strangely dressed foreigner before him. His ignorance was really too much for any Yevonite to attempt to pull of, and to be truthful, with the world the way it was nowadays, the Al Bhed were under a lot less of a threat.

"Well not like it's never happened before. At least you're not claiming you're from Zanarkand. Well y' can't stay out here, 'specially if you can't handle one Zu on your own. You best come with us. And we'll see what we can do for your injured if you want."

Faced with no other course of action, Mal nodded, his jaw set to at least preserve some sense of what he imagined was his imposing presence. As the intruders relaxed their weapons and seemed to begin preparations for their departure, the captain turned to his crew.

"Zanar-what?" Jayne asked eyeing the strangers suspiciously as they began conversing quietly in their own language.

"Mal, how do we know we can trust them?" asked Inara in a hushed whisper.

"We don't." Mal replied shortly, "but right now they're the only thing standing 'tween us and dyin' so you got any better ideas I'm all ears!" He looked at the companion with an unspoken dare in his eyes and she glared daggers back but was forced to concede his point grudgingly.

"There's too much here don't make sense. Any of the stuff he was talking about make sense to anyone else?" He was met with a collection of blank and troubled faces in response; all except River who was watching the rubber clad group work with interest. He gestured towards the girl.

"Well she seems calm at least, that's somethin'. Seems to me if somethin' was a foot she'd be kicking up a stink right about now. For now, let's do what the man says. Jayne, go gather what weapons and ammo you can, it's like we'll need 'em out there. Doc, you and Wash get Zoe down here; see if they have something we can use to help her. Everyone else gather what you think you'll need. Bare essentials only. Meet back here in 5 minutes."

"What about you Cap'n," Kaylee asked as everyone began to do as he asked.

"I'm gonna see if I can't get some more information outta that Cid guy. Run along li'l Kaylee, don't look like they wanna be stayin' much longer."

XXXOOOXXX

As the mechanic headed up to the overhead catwalk, Mal approached the bald older man who seemed to be examining the mule with great interest.

"This thing move?" he asked as the Captain approached him.

"She does," Mal concurred, "Only thing 'cept us survived the crash intact it seems. But that aint really top of my priorities right now. I still got all manner of questions for you. That conversation we had back there left us all more than a mite confused."

"If you're lookin' for a history of Spira I've not got the time or the knowledge to help you. History isn't kind to the Al Bhed."

"Spira…right. So that would be?" Mal asked, yet again confronted with an unknown word.

"You don't know Spira? Even Blondie knew that much!"

Mal repressed an urge to ask who "Blondie" was. 'One question at a time, Mal,' he told himself, willing himself to be patient.

"Spira's this here world. And, as I remember, you still haven't told me how you got here."

"My spaceship crashed, you might'a noticed…" Mal began, but broke off from his planned sarcastic remark at the look on Cid's face.

"Boy, did you…did you just say 'space ship'?"

"Well, like Kaylee said she might not look much, but what else d'ya think she was?!" Mal asked confused. Cid however was staring around the ship with renewed interest.

"We thought she was an airship…nothing to the ones we've salvaged before…but…Space y'say?! Didn't think that was possible." The man's gruff voice had grown soft at this discovery; his tone was almost reverent.

"Boy, seems you and me might just be able to get along!" the man stated, clapping Mal forcefully on the back.

"We'll help you fix your ship and answer your questions about Spira best we can, provided you show us how you manage to fly in space."

Mal smiled at the man, glad that finally something had gone right.

"Cid, seems you and me got ourselves a deal," he announced, grasping the man's hand in a firm hand shake.

XXXOOOXXX

Kaylee was stood in the engine room, feeling lost. When the Captain sent them to gather a few things she had headed to her bunk for a handful of clean clothes. Her eyes had fallen momentarily on her pretty pink dress with all the layers, but she knew the captain would only go on if she tried to take it and reluctantly she had left it behind. She had come to the engine room with the intention of grabbing some tools. You never knew when a monkey wrench could come in handy she figured. When she had met the sight of Serenity's engine so still and quiet, however, she couldn't help feeling unsettled, and the reality of the past few hours began to sink in. She hated to see her baby so sick with no way to help her, and now they were abandoning her to go off who knew where with a bunch of strangers. She had no clue where they were, or how they were going to get home, and from what the captain had said, there were all sorts of monsters and things lurking just outside ready to try and hurt them. If only she had been able to keep her flying, or had somehow given wash the power to avoid the wormhole, maybe none of this would have happened, she considered sadly. It was always her way, when something was wrong with Serenity, to wonder what it was that she had neglected or misread that had led to this, despite logic telling her that it wasn't her fault. Lost in her depressed and frightened reverie, she hardly heard River's quiet entrance behind her, and jumped when the younger woman spoke.

"It will be all right. She will fly again," River said reassuringly, "not your fault."

"What if we don't come back, River?" Kaylee spoke, emotion colouring her tone, "I'll just have abandoned her."

"We will. Serenity knows it, wants us to go and be safe. She'll wait for us."

River spoke with certainty, even if she did not elaborate on how she knew this, and Kaylee couldn't help but trust her. The girl may be young and Jayne may call her crazy, but there was something in River's voice that meant Kaylee had to believe her. River picked up the mechanic's forgotten toolbox and placed it in Kaylee's hand.

"You'll need these," she said softly, smiling at the brunette before gently taking her hand and leading her coaxingly towards the cargo bay.

XXXOOOXXX

As they entered they saw that Simon and Wash had successfully managed to get Zoe into the mule and were proceeding to make her as comfortable as possible. Mal looked at his first mate, ensconced in pillows with a sheen of sweat upon her brow, in concern before turning to Cid who, despite his reservations, he had an inkling he might just get to like.

"You really think you can do something for her?" he asked quietly so as not to let Wash overhear their conversation.

"Doc says she's been poisoned by something in that bird thing's talons, she needs some sort of antidote."

"Poisoned eh?" Cid remarked dismissively, "I thought you were talking about something serious, just get her a remedy and be done with it!"

"Yeah…y'see there ain't no cure all remedy. Doc says she needs something particular. If I had somethin' to cure all ills I'd be a rich man!" Mal countered, annoyed that this man was so flippant about the fate of his first mate.

"Rubbish!" exclaimed Cid before motioning over another of his companions and pointing the man towards Zoe.

"Tu oui y budeuh fedr oui?"

"Oac" the man nodded at Cid.

"Cra'c paah buecuhat, ku cruf dras ruf du veq ran ib. Drao'na yc lmiamacc yc pypeac!"

Mal was clueless as to what passed between the two men. He was spurred into action, however, as Simon and Wash reacted badly to the delegated stranger attempting to force a forbidding looking substance down Zoë's throat.

"Hey!" Mal turned on Cid in anger, "I asked if you could help her, not kill her!"

"We are helping!" Cid replied, moving towards the mule and bodily pushing Simon away allowing his man to administer the liquid.

"It's an Al Bhed potion – an all in one treatment for most of the ills you'll find in the desert. Can't bring back the dead but it'll help her. Just you watch."

The men turned their eyes to Zoe, as did nearly everyone else in the vicinity, their attention attracted by the ruckus the treatment had caused. For a moment there was silence, and then Zoe gave a great gasp and her eyes flickered open.

"Zoe?" Wash asked tentatively, grasping her hand.

"Wash? What's going on, why's everyone staring? And who's that?" she asked in groggy confusion, looking over at Cid and the other Al Bhed. Wash smiled at her in relief.

"You had us worried there lambie toes," he smiled.

"Glad you're back with us, Zoe," Mal added with a smile before leaving his Pilot to fawn over his wife and explain the situation. Simon, however, was stood staring at his patient, scratching his head and looking beyond lost.

"Somethin' wrong doc?" Mal asked, slightly amused at his expression, although he was pretty certain he already knew its cause.

"That…it can't….Captain, that's impossible! Even if we treated her with a fast acting antidote, she wouldn't regain consciousness for at least a few hours…nothing could bring her round that quickly!"

"Does seem a mite bizarre, that I'll grant you," Mal agreed before turning the Cid in hopes of an explanation.

"What? You've never used potions before? Your doctor reacts like that to an Al Bhed potion then I'm looking forward to someone casting a cure spell nearby." Cid responded, looking half amused and half confused by their reaction to what he clearly thought was normal.

"Casting…wait, hold on one gorram second. You tryin' to get me to believe that there was a magic potion?" Mal asked incredulously.

"I'm not trying to make you believe anything. Evidence is right there in front of your eyes," Cid gestured to where Zoe was now getting easily to her feet, despite Wash's protestations that she should rest a while and Mal's eyes widened further when he saw that the two large gashes on her back seemed to have all but disappeared. Simon next to him was clearly just as speechless, having no medical explanation what so ever for the event. Jayne however seemed impressed by the demonstration of Spira's healing techniques.

"Hey, this mean we don't need the Doc no more?" he asked hopefully, earning himself a warning glare from Mal. River also unsurprisingly was unfased by this apparent magic.

"Not the only witch on the boat now!" she crowed happily, Simon watching her as she frolicked happily, still entirely dumbstruck. Both he and the Captain were distracted from their confused and astounded reactions, however, by an increase in movement as their 'guests' headed back to the crafts they had arrived on.

"Ajanouha nayto du rayt uid?" Cid called to the other Al Bhed and received a round of answering nods.

"You're people ready to move?" Cid asked of Mal. He nodded, still dumbstruck and wondering once more about the kind of place they'd wound up in.

"Best get them to a speeder or in your…you called it a mule? Time we were leaving. We don't want to be travelling through the desert in the dark."

"Where is it exactly that we're going?" Inara asked tentatively, approaching the men.

"New Home," Cid declared, before seating himself on a speeder. Inara shot Mal a questioning look but he simply shrugged his shoulders. He was almost as lost as she, and to tell the truth a little frightened by this strange new world, although he'd be damned if he showed it. Yet Cid had been trustworthy so far, and the idea of weathering a night in the desert certainly did not appeal. So he motioned for his crew to follow Cid's order and prepare for the off, as he headed for the mule, preferring something he knew to perching behind one of these strange people on a speeder. This was apparently the way River preferred to travel however, her expression gleeful as she took a seat and held on tight, goggles firmly fixed on, and gesturing for Kaylee to do the same. There were many questions floating in Mal's head as he observed the rest of his crew either climbing on the mule or tentatively following River's example, but he resolved to keep being patient. The answers would reveal themselves in time.

XXXOOOOXXX

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review. More to come soon…

Translations:

"Tu oui y budeuh fedr oui?" - "Do you a potion with you?"

"Oac" - "Yes"

"Cra'c paah buecuhat, ku cruf dras ruf du veq ran ib. Drao'na yc lmiamacc yc pypeac!" - "She's been poisoned, go show them how to fix her up. They're as clueless as babies!"

"Ajanouha nayto du rayt uid?" - "Everyone ready to head out?"