Trouble for Nothing, Tricks for Free 3.0

They cultivate the fear, called it a plague,

A disease of the rim, so the rumor had said,

The secret lasted for years, all covered and hidden,

The Powers that created, denied their decision,

But SHE knew it was they, as it grew like a fever,

She could see through the eyes of those touched by the Reavers,

From “Whispers of the Albatross” R. Tam’s ledger : 2517

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She awakened with a startle, the girl. Bad dreams again…….she had no other kind. She looked around the small hut in which she been sleeping. The night was quiet and still. She could hear crickets. Evidently she hadn’t called out this time.

Her brother lay just in the adjoining room. He’d have been there in a flash had she screamed. Proof that although the nightmare had awaken her, she had remained silent.

River sat up in the bed, hardly more than a cot really but she was thankful for something to sleep on. She swung her legs over the side and lightly placed her feet on the floor. The room was earthen, same as the entire abode she found herself in. She was grateful that the Shepherd had taken them in, so that Mal could make a deal with Badger. This time no worries about her brother and herself being spotted on Persephone.

There was a single window, covered by a thin cloth, she could hear the night crawlers singing their songs in the dark.

River was trying to fit together the pieces of the dream that had awaken her. Not because she wanted to remember, but because they meant something. There was the face of a boy, and a young man. She tried to recall the connection, the sense of the dream, if there was sense to be had.

She stood and walked over to the open doorway which led into her brother’s room. She leaned against the doorframe, not entering, but studying. He looked so peaceful for the moment. No worries about curing someone’s illness, or mending a broken leg. She felt something of a peace too, but they both knew that t