“What’re you doing?” Jayne asked, watching as River moved the earth around with her bare hands by the light of the storm lantern at her side. She already cleared a lot of the grass, and now was breaking up the clumps of soil, pushing it through her fingers.

“Making a garden.”

“In the dark. In the middle of the night.” He glanced up into the sky, all black velvet and sparkling diamonds.

“Sneak up on the weeds while they’re asleep.” She pushed a lock of hair back away from her face, leaving a streak of dirt across her cheek.

“Here,” he said. “Let me.” He stood behind her and gathered her hair up, carefully fastening it back in the clip he’d given her.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling up at him. “Were you looking for me?”

“Just checking you were okay.” He looked towards the house, quiet but for the glow from the lamps outside the front doors. “Thought you mighta taken it into your head to sleep there.”

“Not yet.”

“Right.” He paused. “So why’re you making a garden?”

“In memory of Jethro. Somewhere he never was.”

“Come again?”

She held up two handfuls of rich soil, the scent reaching his nostrils. “I’m going to make a garden on Serenity, but that’s for everyone. If I did it for Jethro there, I’d be remembering him all the time. Here, though, it can be outside, in the air, growing up towards the sky.”

He sat down carefully next to her, hardly wincing, just resting his elbow on a bent knee. “You okay?” he asked gently.

She nodded. “Shiny,” she said, smiling at him. “Just … did I sound bad?”

He shrugged. “Bit like the old River.” He added quickly, “But I understood ya.”

“I'm glad.” She went back to the earth. “Flowers here. Sweet rosemary for remembrance, thyme, maybe some tarragon too.”

“Be pretty fine, if it all grows.”

“It will. As long as Inara remembers to water it.”

Jayne laughed. “Don’t think she’ll be working out here.”

“Then I’ll remind her.” She twinkled at him and carried on sifting.

He sat with her for a while, watching he