Chapter 9: Moonshine

Bi zui – shut up

Zoe looked up from her work at the kitchen table when Mal entered the room. In the process of conducting an inventory of all the weapons available as well as ammo, the entire armory that she shared with Mal was spread over the table. Zoe started to worry when her friend didn't bother to glance at the table, but instead went to lean against the coolers while staring up at the ceiling and the stars.

"Just what do you think little River is really capable of?" he asked her.

Zoe remained silent as she considered the reasons for his question. Surely Mal wasn't thinking they should have River along on the mission…eerie aim and abilities notwithstanding, there was no way to know that the child wouldn't freeze if confronted by her former tormentors.

"Hard to say sir. She knows about weapons, how to use 'em. Has a good head for tactics as well as being able to understand her enemies. Other than that, I can't begin to fathom what a Reader could truly do. I mean there were stories in the books I had as a kid, but I haven't seen that River can do any of those things," Zoe answered finally.

Mal continued to look at the stars throughout her reply. "What's on your mind Sir?"

"A dream…or nightmare, not rightly sure."

Zoe knew the types of nightmares he normally had, she shared more than a few. Mal wasn't the type to talk about them though…sometimes sharing that burden even with her just added to the misery rather than relieving it. And if the reunion with Sug had brought up different dreams, Mal wouldn't be thinking on River. "Maybe if you tell me what you're thinking, we can figure that out?" Zoe suggested.

Mal finally looked at her and she began to wish that he hadn't. The man appeared like he'd just seen a ghost, but a ghost wouldn't scare Mal. She knew he held the memories of their dead close enough that he walked with ghosts all the time. No, this