River was used to being the one taken care of. During the year that Simon had rescued her from the Academy he’d never left her side, but not only had she been separated from Simon and the other crew of Serenity, but Kaylee and her had had to duck into the first ship they’d found---trying to avoid the Blue Hands and the Alliance---and before either girl knew what had happened they were in cryosleep.

And now, as River stretched and narrowed her eyes at the glare of the planet in which their ship had crashed, she knew that it was her turn to care for the girl she suspected her brother had a future with.

It was a daunting challenge, especially since the planet whispered cries of pain and death in her ear. She shivered yet was glad that Kaylee hadn’t noticed it, it wouldn’t do to frighten the girl and tell her that this planet had just as many secrets as Miranda.

They’d only left the planet a month ago, and instead of a good vacation, they’d just barely escaped capture and survived a crash on a foreign, unknown planet.

“Capt’n will find us,” Kaylee kept saying as she rubbed her arms. “Simon will find us.”

River didn’t acknowledge that, knowing that whatever she said wouldn’t be reassuring. That was what Simon would do; he’d hold her close and tell her that everything was fine, that he would take care of her.

Simon…

Dark eyes fell on the disheveled survivors as her mind assessed them, immediately searching for potential dangers, as she’d been programmed to do.

There was a dark man who was dressed weirdly. She’d once seen another dressed this way in one of the ports, and when she’d asked why he dressed so oddly, Simon had explained that he was a Hoodoo holy man, so the young woman guessed that this man was a holy man as well, and the three young boys with him were his apprentices.

She didn’t sense any danger from him and his charges, and proceeded to dismiss them from her mind immediately.

There was the Australian couple who looked lean and fit from obvious psychical work. The man looked a