A thousand apologies for not being prompt with the chapter that will hopefully clarify those pesky questions. Real life annoyingly refrained me from taking the hour it takes to post this. Regardless, I give you the last chapter before I take a breif hiatus to work out the next episodic plot....

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River was well pleased with her horse placement.

After Colter Irving drove down the road, Zoe, Mal and big brother Simon had rode off to go out and work the herd. It left her home with Inara and Kaylee, and the three had gone to work themselves. Inara was busy inside, repairing some clothes, keeping up with the never ending dirty laundry and house keeping (regardless it sounded matronly, she was unsung hero of their crew, for the house would have fallen to pieces if it weren't for her organization and care); Kaylee was in her little shop welded of old cargo crates, eagerly working on making locks, and River was in the barn. she had finished her chores quite some time ago, feeding all of the animals, then gathering eggs and milking their dairy cows.

So with nothing to do, she and her loyal feline companion were sitting on a hay stack, watching three of the new horses. The other two were out working, but at the moment she was watching her own horse. The registered name for the little sorrel mare with white stockings and a blazed face was Angle's Copper Willow, however she was simply called Willow. The horse, young and curious, stretched it's neck out and sniffed the crown of the teen's head, letting out a nicker.

The two Jacks given to the captain by Simon, nickered as well. They were a male and female team, hardy horses that were a roan and a grey that had matured to near white. On paper they were Shadow Fox's Tao and Shadow Rebel's Nui, yet to their new people they were simply called Tao and Nui. They were agreeable horses, for their large breed came with large hearts. River had already discovered they were very fond of being brushed and sweet talked to, as Kaylee had