“A lance?” Simon was trying hard not to laugh. “A real lance?”

“Not sure I’d know if it was real or not, doc, but that’s what it appeared to be.”

Simon looked at Jayne. “It’s a big stick. A very big stick,” he explained, slowly and clearly.

Jayne glared back. “You lookin’ to lose some teeth? Ain't so stupid that I don’t know what a lance is,” he growled.

“You’re not stupid at all,” River said, standing up for him.

“Damn right.” He nodded at her.

“But a dragon?” Inara asked, trying to get back to the matter in hand. “Why a dragon?”

“Better ask our resident crazy person,” Mal said, sitting back and crossing his arms. “Not that I've been able to get her to explain.”

“River?”

The girl shrugged and looked at Kaylee for help.

“Wait a minute,” Simon said suddenly. “When we were on top of that Ferris wheel, at the fair. The day of your birthday.” He glanced at River then back at his wife. “You said that Serenity looked like a castle, and that Mal was the king. A knight in shining armour.”

Kaylee coloured. “I wasn’t really … not that I think the Cap’n’s a … it was just …”

“Sweet,” River finished. “And that’s how we all see him.” She looked at the man in question. “Sorry.”

“Really?” he asked. “I mean, you all see me like that?”

“Nope,” Jayne said, getting up from his chair and stretching hugely. “Mostly I see you as a pain in the butt.” He ambled off out of the kitchen area.

“That man …” Inara murmured.

“Just be glad he said ‘butt’,” Mal grinned.

“It was just a romantic notion,” Kaylee was still insisting.

“I think it was nice,” her husband said gallantly, so glad she’d started to forgive him.

“’N’ I think you all oughtta be locked up,” Mal said, shaking his head. “I ain't no knight. There’s no chivalry in my soul.”

“No, captain,” River said sternly, reprimanding him. “You saved us, all of us. Simon and me, you saved us from the Alliance. You saved Kaylee from a life fixing machinery for her father in exchange for a life fixing machinery o