Firefly, Serenity, and all related proprietary characters are the intellectual property of Joss Whedon and corporations with whom I have no affiliation. Said property does not belong to me, and the fictional story below is of my own creation. (I don’t own ‘em, just like to play with ‘em!)

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River woke early the next morning, as was her custom, and the rest of the crew was predictably still fast asleep, including her temporary bunk-mate. After staring in curiosity for a moment, she was unable to discern a reason for Inara’s presence. Stifling a giggle as she thought of what Jayne might assume and say to such circumstances, the teen donned some clothes and slipped out of her bunk, quietly making her way to the cargo bay. Half an hour later, she had gathered everything she had seen on the table in her dream, and hidden herself away in one of the smuggler’s caches with the items. The MREs and water were in the storage locker at the back of the bay, the syringes and calendar she had taken from the infirmary, and the rest she brought from her bunk.

Taking a moment to study the calendar with her flashlight, she finally understood the exact meaning of the colors, and the full extent of what she was going to do, when she read her brother’s pristine handwriting. Slipping from her hiding place, River returned to the infirmary, replacing the calendar on the desk before opening the second drawer of her brother’s medical supply cabinet. Finding two full but unlabeled syringes, she switched them with the water-filled ones she had prepared earlier. The ones containing medicine she placed in the back of the auxiliary drug cabinet, careful to remember exactly where she put them.

Returning to her hiding place, fully aware that the crew would wake soon, River began writing on her pad, her smooth handwriting flowing across the paper.

Gē ge and jiě jie ,

By the time you read this, you will be enjoying a small vacation from the horribly difficult life of the space pirate. Please take pleasur