Disclaimers : Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation

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Mal’s mood was the gloomiest anyone had seen in a good long while. Once Serenity got off the ground, he sat silently on the bridge for a while, then went to his bunk and stayed there. He was conspicuously absent from the evening meal.

“Where’s Inara?” Book asked. “She hasn’t been out and about this afternoon, either.”

“Maybe Kaylee can tell us,” Jayne suggested. “She and ‘Nara come stormin’ in the bay this morning lookin’ like they was bein’ chased by killer bees.”

Kaylee looked at Simon accusingly. Simon dropped his chopsticks in exasperation.

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?” he demanded. “I was working on the papers—how was I supposed to know Inara was gonna walk over there and start reading?”

The others all looked puzzled.

“What’s going on?” Book asked.

Kaylee shook her head and didn’t answer.

“Let’s just say Inara saw something she shouldn’t have, and it’s apparently all my fault.” Simon glared at Kaylee.

“You shouldn’ta been so careless, leavin’ stuff layin’ about like that,” Kaylee chided him.

“Kaylee, it was my work space ,” Simon shot back.

“So what’s Inara got to do with Mal disappearin’?” Jayne asked.

Wash snorted. “How long have you been on this ship? Don’t you see anything ?” Then he looked around, frowning. “So, what is going on?”

“Ripples,” River suddenly interjected. “Like tossing a pebble in a pond.” She looked around the table to make sure everyone was getting it. “You think it just sinks and goes away. But it doesn’t. It makes ripples...they go out, and pretty soon everything moves.”

She looked from one uncomprehending face to the next.

“He thought it wouldn’t mean anything...but it means everything.” River had been smiling, but the smile faded. “ She knows what it means,” she continued, looking sad. “She knows it moved everything