Everyone was busy: Kaylee was in the engine room, some vital part of Serenity spread out over her workbench, Simon was in the infirmary, changing Jayne’s dressing and enduring sarcasm and threats as usual. River had Bethany in the cargo bay, playing with some wooden bricks Jayne had made, building them up high so the little girl could knock them down and laugh, waving her hands until River did it again. Inara was in her shuttle, making arrangements to visit some clients at their next stop, while Mal, Zoe and Hank were on the bridge, making arrangements of their own about a job.

Freya glanced towards the cockpit and smiled. There was time now, time she sometimes couldn’t get to be alone.

She dropped down the ladder and closed the hatch firmly above her before pulling the blanket off the bed. Folding it carefully into a pad, she placed in on the floor in the centre of the room. Tradition dictated she sit naked on the floor, but she drew the line at having the cold bulkhead beneath her buttocks.

Removing her clothes, she lay them carefully on the bunk and picked up her new brown shawl to wrap herself in. Mal had bought it for her on Phoros to replace the one she’d donated to Bethany, and every time she used it she felt encircled by his love. The silver Firefly nestled between her breasts.

Taking the small statue and incense holder from next to Mal’s shaving gear, she sat down on the pad, arranging them in front of her. She struck a match and held it to the incense, letting the end catch before blowing them both out. For a moment there was the sharp tang of phosphor, then the sweet scented smoke seemed to permeate the cabin.

She smiled. Mal had often commented on the perfume on his clothes, saying he was beginning to smell like Jayne after he’d been partaking the company of women, but in reality she knew he didn’t mind that much. It reminded him of her.

She released the shawl to fall in liquid folds around her hips, and closed her eyes.

“May the waters of the oceans cleanse me. May