Chapter 4: Gettin' all Poetical

River had taken to sitting on the ramp outside the cargo hold, staring at the crowds. She found some form of entertainment in making up stories about the pedestrians, stories that interwove all of their lives to the sixth degree of separation. It was enough to keep her entertained for several minutes before she began to listen to the conversations going on about her.

Her tiny face and nose were obscured by her goggles again, raindrops blurring her world. Every now and then, she would tilt her head to take in the tiny children playing street ball in the rain. Behind her she could hear Jayne grunting with each lift of his weights, a form of counting she supposed. The only members of the crew that she hadn't seen were Zoe, Mal, and Inara.

"Almost present and accounted for," she whispered, her lips barely moving. One of the children suddenly threw the ball too hard and it landed at the base of Serenity's ramp. River watched it roll, her head cocked to one side in curiosity as a tiny girl with her hair in two braids jogged after it. The girl froze when she realised that River was staring down at her and she held the ball loosely. River debated between terrifying the small girl or helping her and settled for an in-between action.

She waggled her fingers and made a face that made the girl giggle before leaving River alone at the top of the ramp. River sighed, not quite certain if that was the reaction she had wanted. The girl had stirred a memory, of something that was just out of her reach and something that she grazed over with a soft touch. It wasn't her past she was remembering, not even her present...

"Mi-Li."

"Beautiful strength, Mama told me that she thought I was her strength. I'm not very strong...not even pretty," said a soft voice in River's mind.

On her closed eyelids, the vision of a dark eyed girl with a beautiful sadness about her. Flowing black hair waved before her oval face as she reached out with a scarred hand. Smiling, taking River's han