“Easy. You wanna go light with that xiāng căo jīng,” Mal warned, his hands waving as he mimed the actions of the two girls in front of him. “Too much and it’s got a weird plant taste – aaaand you wanna measure that out somewheres else besides over the bowl,” he instructed calmly, reaching out to guide River’s hands from their place over the galvanized tub on the counter to the sink. “That way, you spill it, whole thing don't get ruined," he told her, returning her grin with a smile of his own. “Shiny," he commented as the younger girl measured the vanilla into a spoon and dropped it into the container. “Kaylee, that is too much sugar by far. Half that,” he ordered.

“But Cap’n!” she argued, “it won’t be sweet if we don’t add more’