Disclaimer - The playground still belongs to Mr. Whedon, etc. I thoroughly enjoy visiting.

This is a continuation. Apologies for the delay in getting it up. The next part is mostly written in my head and I just need to type faster. Please be patient. I have to follow where it takes me. Comments appreciated.

(When I wrote this story, I had not seen The Train Job or Bushwacked, as well as the three unaired episodes. I had seen Shindig, Our Mrs. Reynolds and Out of Gas only once, at the original airing. So, there are mistakes. I hope you will overlook them.)

He stood slowly, stretching muscles stiffened by sitting too long in one position and headed toward the kitchen. It was still too early for anyone else to be up and about. Ship’s time almost never coincided with time in the worlds. They often just adjusted ship’s time. No sense in people having to lose sleep just because they had stopped off on some rock. It wasn’t like Serenity really cared. Mal mechanically put the kettle on the hotplate. When it boiled, he threw a handful of tea into the teapot and filled it with the boiling water. While it brewed, he headed for what laughingly passed for a bath.

He returned to the kitchen to see Kaylee getting bowls out of the cupboard. She looked up at him with a sad smile. “Hey, Mal,” she said in a small voice. She turned to add a bowlful of grains to a large pot on the hotplate. “You hungry?”

“Not much, mei mei. You’re up a mite early.” He poured them both some tea while she stirred the contents of the pot.

“Had trouble sleepin’. She frowned. “Mal, why’d that man have to kill Nandi? There weren’t no purpose in it. Are those girls gonna be okay?”

He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently. “Some folk just have to prove themselves by beatin’ up on the weak, or killin’ ‘em. That ho-tze de pigu felt he was important only when he was hurtin’ others.” He paused a moment. “I expect Petaline will be able to keep those girls in order. She seemed a right natural,