Disclaimer: characters and 'verse not mine, Joss's

Tingles

River regarded the long face before her and tried to discern the meaning of its expression. The mind behind it held a vague scorn, but otherwise no real interest in her. She leaned forward a little and walked around the horse assessingly, searching for a way to follow the command Mal had given before he walked off. The saddle was on; a stable hand had done that. The dun-colored animal swished a long tail and lowered its head to the grass at its feet.

“Hey!” a rough hand grabbed her arm and jerked her sideways. Jayne scowled down at her. “Tryin’ to get yerself kicked, moonbrain? Should know better than to walk that close behind a horse.”

River rubbed her sore arm and regarded the placid grass-chomping, tail-swishing, ear-flicking creature. It looked about as likely to kick as Jayne was to burst into poetry. But she was willing to concede that this was one subject he was more knowledgeable of than she. He was walking away, toward his own assigned horse.

“Jayne,” she called hesitantly. Mal and Zoë were inside the little shack next to the corral, finalizing the details of their rental of four horses for the day. Jayne turned back toward her. “This is problematic.”

“What ya mean?”

“I have never been on the back of an animal.”

His eyebrows went up. “You can’t ride?”

She shifted her shoulders uncomfortably. “No.”

He shook his head in disgust, striding back towards her. “You didn’t think to mention this before we got here?”

“Didn’t know it would be required. We could have landed much closer to town . . .” her voice trailed off as she regarded the desert nothingness that surrounded them.

Jayne snorted, stopping in front of her. “Yeah, buncha paranoid go-se. Wouldn’t let us land the boat closer’n ten miles out. An’ closer in it’s narrow, cliffs too close for the mule to get through. How come ya never been up on a horse before?”

“Unnecessary form of tran