Serenity's Other Shuttle

"What do you think of it miss?" A woman in companion clothing was looking around.

"It's cluttered...this will all be removed before I take it."

"Can have it out in an hour. Just let Jayne, Zoe, and Kaylee get back from town. The other shuttle has Inara, she's a fellow companion so I know the rules..."

"I prefer females Mr. Reynolds...I'll take it. Let me get the rest of my things from the companion house and I'll be back in two hours. That should give you enough time to clean up..." Jia li turned and left to get her things. Serenity was going to get a lot more interesting.

New passenger. Not of the crew. Well, it didn't matter much to River. She wasn't part of the crew, either. There was noise and bustle and Simon locked her in her room again. She caught a glimpse of the woman as she was returning to town. To get her things and move in. Shuttle two. Another companion. River could sense everyone's emotions. Kaylee was interested, Jayne was...VERY interested, Simon afraid, but then, he was always afraid. Mal was glad for money, Zoe skeptical and Wash indifferent. The most beautiful woman could be on board and he would still only have eyes for Zoe. Inara...Inara was threatened. Competition.

They were back in the air and Simon let her out but with warnings. Stay away from shuttle two. The new passenger was a companion and therefore untrustworthy and dangerous. River was curious but Simon was serious. Kaylee eventually had him distracted and River went out to the cargo bay. She could smell the perfume of incense and she closed her eyes, following the scent up the catwalks to the shuttles. Opening her eyes, she looked around. No one was watching. She looked down at Inara's shuttle and then over to shuttle two. The perfume was coming from there.

River stopped at the open door and peeked in. There were trunks everywhere, some opened with the new companion's things spilling out. She was in the midst of unpacking. River did notice the bed, though. Big, taking up much of the space in the shuttle. It was starting to look a lot like Inara's shuttle now.

"The incense...lavender?" She spoke, stepping into the shuttle as if invited. She couldn't see the companion but her curiousity made her step forward to one of the open trunks. She pulled out a silk scarf and ran it's smooth texture along her arm. "Soft...cool....water..."

Jia li was unpacking and setting up her new home. It was quaint...small....but it would work. Unlike the other shuttle her's was more cool tones. giving it a more...calming air. Not that of hot nights spent in bed but of days spent talking over tea and nights spent in the arms of a lover. She loved cooler tones for this reason. It always set her at ease. She was setting her things about when a voice was heard. Female...probably the one she hadn't met. There were three women that she knew of on the boat. Three women, four men, one ape.

The one called Jayne was certainly...uncivilized. Inara was touchy...nice and respectful but still touchy. Zoe was a take charge kind of woman and her husband seemed more than willing to let her have that control. The doctor...Simon. He seemed very proper; drooling all over the mechanic. Kaylee was gorgeous. She was worth the drooling the doctor was doing. The preacher man was nice. He had the look though. The one all preacher men have that says 'I know what you are doing is legal but it is still a sin' look. That left the captain.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds. He was an interesting man. Hard to read but he seemed to have some moral standards. He was in love though...funny how a companion could see when men were in love with her...except the man she was in love with. She didn't his feelings, pooling in the back of his eyes. Oh well...they would find out eventually.

There was still one she hadn't met though...this was a voice foreign to her, therefore it stood to reason that the voice was that of the doctor's sister. River. Jia li turned around when the girl spoke again. My was she a beauty.

"The incense is lavender yes. It puts me in a calm mood. Needed for unpacking everything...you must be River. The doctor told me I wouldn't be seeing much of you. I'm Jia li. Here...try it like this." She moved forward and wrapped the scarf around her while letting it hang on either side of one shoulder.

"It looks cute on you...matches your eyes. Keep it. Since I won't see you much might as well have something to remember me." She smiled sweetly before moving back to work.

The woman appeared and River couldn't take her eyes away. No wonder everyone put companions up on a pedestal. Every one she had met had been so beautiful and ethereal. River flinched as she came close and put the scarf around her. She looked at the scarf and frowned. Why did everyone on this boat insist on dressing her up like some doll?

"Jia Li...beauty." She said, running her hand along the scarf. "Your mother knew at your birth. You were the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Even your father thought so. And your brother. They don't like what you've become."

"What? No...no they don't. But they can't decide what I do. How did you know I had a brother?" Jia li turned around to face River. She was adorable. But the look in her eyes said she didn't like being dressed up. That would be kept in mind. Kaylee wanted dressed up...River didn't. Inara had her own and Zoe didn't wear dresses.

"You have a brother too. A mother...a father. Didn't they know at your birth that you would be beautiful too? River...quiet and calm in some places and loud and unsteady in others. Does the name fit you as well?"

"Names are irrelevant..." She took off the scarf and set it back on the trunk, running her hand along the smooth silk one last time. Unsteady was an understatement. Jia Li would learn soon enough. River walked over to another part of the shuttle, her bare feet padding along the steel floor. The companion had a plant. A little tree. River crouched down and reached out to gingerly touch the leaves. "Plant. Land in the black..." She sighed and stood up to face her. "It will die soon, you know. There's no sunlight here."

She wandered around other parts of the shuttle as if it were her home and not Jia Li's. River seemed to just want to touch everything. It was like a blind person craving textures to make up for their loss of sight. Only River wasn't blind. Just curious.

"I have a lamp. Simulates the sun...River do you always walk barefoot?" Jia li was following her around the shuttle. She was an odd girl. Mal's voice filled the shuttle.

"River? Are you in here? River, that brother of yours is looking for you. Might want to go find him."

She was about to answer when she heard Mal's voice. The captain entered the shuttle, looking none too pleased. River tensed up and moved her hands away from the tea set she was about to touch.

"River. There you are. The doctor is looking for you. I thought we told you to stay away from the shuttles. What are you doing in here?" He folded his arms across his chest and River sighed, making her way over to the entrance of the shuttle and turning to leave, mumbling something in Chinese about dictators and men who think they have power. Mal watched as she left and then turned to Jai Li.

"Sorry about that one. She's a bit off the hinges. I can't apologize for or promise she won't barge in here or speak her nonsense. That's just the way she is...until the doctor can figure out what's wrong with her." He looked around but didn't have much else to say, so he left.

River was down in the infirmary, fighting with Simon about taking more medicine. She yelled and cried and hid in her room, singing to herself for comfort.

Jia li looked at Mal as he left. River didn't seem that bad. Though most calm rivers don't seem bad until you get farther down and it becomes rough and unstable. Still, River was a guest she wouldn't mind having again.

Time went on and her and Inara started to go out and find clientle. Though it wasn't really known, Jia li did take Kaylee to her shuttle. That was a nice night. Though it was more than a little clear that she wanted Simon. Oh well. There was someone on the boat she fancied more.

River usually kept to herself or wandered the ship alone. She knew everyone on the boat thought she was too fragile to have a conversation with. They looked at her with either fear or pity. She hated it. She sat in the cargo bay and watched as people walked along the cat walk. She heard a slam and saw Inara walk from her shuttle to Jia Li's. Kaylee came hurried down the steps and, seeing River, turned to walk the other way.

Curious, she walked quietly up the steps and over to Jia Li's shuttle. She could hear the yelling. Inara found out about Jia Li taking Kaylee into her shuttle and it seemed to be the icing on a cake of hatred Inara had for the other companion. River stood by the door, pressing her ear against it to listen. She rather likes Jia Li. The companion seemed to be the only one on the boat who wasn't afraid of her.

Inara was in her shuttle yelling at her. Telling her the ways of a companion was not for their own desires and wants. Kaylee was against the rules. River was off limits...or she was going to turn her in to the guild. Inara left in a huff and Jia li sat down on her bed. Inara was certainly one to love the rules. Yet she was on a boat of thieves...and fugitives...huh. An odd woman by far. Oh but there was her greater mystery. The one she desperately wanted to unravel.

"River...I'm sorry if you heard that...what service can I be of to you today?"

Inara came out of the shuttle and told River to go play. As if she were a child! River hated that. She was 17, dammit. She wasn't a child. And she knew more than people let on. It was Inara's biggest fear...losing Mal to Jia Li. River didn't think it would happen. She peeked into Jia Li's shuttle and saw her sitting on her bed. She went inside and shut the door.

"The sounds of the engine aren't so loud when the door is closed. It's almost as if this weren't a ship at all...but an actual home." She wandered around Jia Li's shuttle and eventually turned to look at her. "It looks like a home...now that the trunks are unpacked."

"Yes...it does. It is my home...and are more than welcome to visit when I don't have a client. Remember that. I see how everyone looks at you, like you're all kinds of unpleasantness waiting to happen. Anytime you need to get away...just come here. You don't deserve that unkindness..." She moved to get her tea and offered some to River.

"Would you like some tea? I was about to have some."

"Your ignorance makes you sweet. Yes. I'll take some tea." She moved to go sit on the couch, running her hands along the fabric. Everything was soft in here. "They know what a monster I am. A beast barely contained. You'll see it. And then I won't be a woman in your eyes. I'll be a monster."

She took the tea and held the cup in her hands. River was watching the floor intently, as if it would do something exciting. "Your kindness...your eyes...I'm not a monster yet. I'm not a creature or a child...you see me as...a woman...it's different..."

Jia li moved and sat down in front of River. "You will always be a woman in my eyes. A very beautiful, very talented, and very misunderstood woman. Never will you be a monster River...even the most outrageous rivers on Earth that was were still beautiful. The white foam that comes up from its trashing and the roaring sound...it was overpowering...and beautiful. You are a puzzle. A mystery. It may be that everyone is true in saying that you are unstable. But every single one is wrong when they say you are monster. You know what you mean...you know you are right. That unsettles them...but I don't mind. I know you're smarter...I can see in your eyes you know more than anyone believes. It doesn't bother me. You aren't a monster River...just a rare gift that folk don't know how to handle."

She handed her the cup of tea and made herself comfortable on the floor.

"Unstable..." She looked away, her eyes filling with tears. Her head started to ache and she felt her skin crawl. The monster. She wasn't a woman. She was a monster. Nothing could fix her. Simon tried and tried and tried but now he was too distracted with Kaylee to help her. And Kaylee was too distracted to play with her. So now she was all alone. The anger welled up and she held her head, suddenly coming to her feet. The tea cup fell and shattered on the floor.

"N-No...the ship speaks. It sees no lies. Serenity knows I'm not a river, I'm a waterfall." She was muttering again and she stepped away, her bare foot right on the glass of the tea cup. She gasped and fell to her knees, the tears streaming down her face. "I don't function. I'm incomplete. Damaged...bits...barely...only human..."

Jia li gasped when the cup shattered. She was even more concerned when River stepped on the glass. "River! River come here...come sit on my bed. Don't move alright? That's a bad wound. Walking will only make it deeper. Hold on." The companion moved to get the first aid kit in her shuttle and tended to River. Even when she was done she looked at her with the same eyes, only with a little more concern.

"There we go...are you alright? Does it hurt?" Jia li had picked up and cleaned the broken cup up. Her shuttle was once again clean. But there was still an injured woman in on her bed.

River cried out in pain as she stepped on her foot again. She got lost in hysterics way too often. She laid there on Jia Li's bed and let the companion tend to her foot. She hid her tear-stained face in the plush blankets and muttered nonsense. She calmed down and nuzzled against the blankets. Why was everything so soft in here? And it was...

"Warm...it's so cold in space...and something is actually...warm..." She turned to look at the companion, scared to look into her eyes. She didn't want to see pity or fear. And she didn't see it. There was something deeper in Jia Li's eyes...

River sat up and cupped Jia Li's cheek, looking deep into her eyes as if trying to read them. "You look at me like...like Kaylee used to look at Simon..."

She groaned and clutched her stomach, moving to get off the bed. "Simon...the medication..." She limped out of the shuttle and away, down to the infirmary. Side effects of her newest round of medication.

How Kaylee used to look at Simon? "River? Are you alright? River?" The teen left Jia li and the companion was even more confused. How did Kaylee used to look at Simon? Was she seeing the attraction she had for her? The mystery of River that was...Jia li found it all the more alluring and she couldn't deny she was quickly becoming obsessed. River was something she wanted...and it was only growing.

The crew of Serenity had another job and River was confined to her room during the duration. A few weeks. She hated when this happened but she knew that when the Captain brought people on board, she wasn't to be seen or heard. She would sneak out and wander up to shuttle two. It became like a sanctuary and Jia Li would help her get back into her room before Simin noticed her missing. She got in trouble one night. She went to the galley instead of her room. River wanted some food. Jayne had a bushel of apples and she wanted one. But she was caught and, though she struggled, she found herself alone and locked in her room again.

After that job, they took off and left the planet they were on. River was allowed to wander the ship again. She went up to shuttle two and as soon as she walked in there, she felt uncomfortable. Someone else had been in here. She looked at the bed and could almost see what had happened. Jia Li had a client. River gasped and fell back against the wall, looking over at the companion with hurt in her eyes.

"A liar...just like Inara...just like everyone..." She left the shuttle hurriedly and went to hide on the far end of the cat walk where no one else went. She kept seeing images of Jia Li with some man and she couldn't get them out of her head.

River was coming to see her more and more and Jia li was happy to see her. They were locking her up though. They found her one night in the galley and she was confined to her room again. Jia li had a client on the planet they were going. This time it was a man. He was very beautiful though. Very feminine. When she was done she came back and lit an incense. Though sadly it wasn't enough time. River came in...she looked so sad. River knew what she did...how did that make her a liar? The companion went out to find River. She found the teen on the catwalk. Oh did she love this spot.

"River? River you know what I am. You know what I do. I'm a companion. This is me...it's who I am. Hey...I don't put you on a pedestal...don't put me on one. You can see everything. Look passed it next time...really see me and my room. You'll see more than you think." She ran a hand through her hair before moving away to go back to her shuttle. Her room showed a lot of her affection for River and if the girl looked passed her status of companion she'd find her affection for River herself.

River could feel her presence behind her on the catwalk. Jia Li smelled like lavender. She closed her eyes and suppressed a shiver as she felt the companion's hand through her hair. She turned to see her walking back towards the shuttle and she thought for a minute. Jia Li was right. She was a companion, after all. It was her job. River sighed and laid back on the cat walk to think.

Eventually, she got up and made her way down to the shuttle, letting herself in, like always. Jia Li was there and River was stunned once again by her beauty.

"I see...images...like Inara's shuttle...tainted images with no compassion. I...know what it is that companions do...but I...I've never..." She looked down at the floor, her head aching from trying to speak what was in her heart. "Is...is there compassion...in love making?"

She felt so timid and she looked up slowly, fearing that Jia Li would laugh at her.

Jia li was back in her shuttle and feeling sad. The look in River's eyes scared her. Not once did her outbreaks and things scare her...but that look of betrayal...that scared her. She sighed and moved to make some tea. River came back in and asked about compassion...about making love. The companion smiled and nodded.

"There is. Compassion, passion, love, desire...all of those are present. I've just only ever found one that I felt them for. I'm almost sure that I feel all four. Why do you ask?" She patted the bed next to her to let her know she could sit down. The door was closed already but she wondered where this was going. What was in River's head?

"I know nothing...of any of those. The only love I know is a sisterly love to Simon..." She said, still back at the door. River was afraid of coming closer. She was afraid of a lot of things but...but Jia Li made her feel human. And she longed to feel human. She longed to feel...like a woman. She lifted her head and looked at the companion, gazing at her and taking in her beauty. How could River ever compare? It was surprising enough that she was worthy of her attention.

"Really? No desire? Passion? Surely compassion...no? As a companion I am required to know all of them in order to imitate them. River are you alright? You seem more...wary than you usually are. Are you-do you not wish to be in here?" She didn't want River to feel like she had to come see her or that it was obligated because Jia li tracked her down. River was too beautiful to not captivate her but she could see that the same was not to be had the other way around. Everyone thought she was beautiful but that didn't mean anything more than that.