Roughly halfway between the innermost Core planets and the furthest Border worlds, Bayou was a planet of extreme wealth, extreme poverty, and everything in between. The first settlers had mostly been from an Earth That Was city called New Orleans, and the cities bore a strong resemblance to pictures of it that could be found on the Cortex. Most of the people living on the small planet were descendants of the original settlers, and usually called themselves Cajuns.

Serenity touched down outside Lafeyette settlement, a mostly middle-class village on the outskirts Orleans City, the captial. The streets that led away from the docks were lined with tall trees and modest houses, most of them white with wrought iron fences outside. Kaylee marveled at the beautiful gardens in front of most of the houses. The place had an old-fashioned, laid-back sort of elegance and charm to it.

The Mule stopped in front of a house at the end of one street. It was small, but still quite lovely, with a porch wrapping around to the back and a garden that seemed to take up most of the lawn, made up of different varieties of flowers, all in red.

"She always did seem to have a fixation with red." Simon told Kaylee, absently running his hand across a deep crimson, almost black rose that hung out from its bush over the walkway.

At the front door, the crew was met by a tall, broad-shouldered man who looked to be in his early thirties. "Dr. Tam?"

"That's me." Simon cleared his throat as he stepped forward.

"Michel Bouchard." The man replied in a heavy Cajun accent, extending his hand. "Penny's husband. Can't thank you enough for being here."

"Of course." Simon couldn't help but feel awkward. "This is my fiancee, Kaylee, my sister, River, and the rest of the crew." He cleared his throat. "Can you tell me exactly what happened to Penelope?"

Michel looked confused for a moment. "Oh! You mean Penny, right. No one's called her Penelope for a long while, longer than I've known her. Well, what happened is I came home two