The sun had barely vanished below the horizon when Callum picked up the children in the new hover, and the various parents barely got a goodbye from their off-spring before they all piled inside and Dillon’s factotum pulled smoothly away into the crowd.

“Anyone’d think they didn’t want to go,” Mal commented with a touch of sarcasm as he closed the cargo bay doors.

“Hmn. Sitting around on board with one of us, and perhaps having lessons, or getting as much as possible out of Dillon and Breed.” Zoe shook her head. “It’s a difficult choice, sir.”

“So you think the kids are reckoning on a Cortex spending spree?”

“More than likely.”

“Think Bethie can con a Firefly outta Dillon?”

“I think she’ll do her best, sir.”

“Well, I’d better be getting this Firefly … whoa.” Hank felt Serenity lift off. He sighed heavily then ran for the bridge. “River!”

---

Having wrested control from the psychic, Hank piloted Serenity out of Eavesdown and headed towards the nearby mountains where the Triskelion estate nestled. The short dusk had darkened to full night, and as he manoeuvred the ship in to land outside the main grounds, the down-draught from the engines threw the snow up into a thick cloud, obscuring the view.

A few minutes later Mal opened the small door in the ramp, pulling his gloves on a little more firmly. “It’s cold.”

“That’s something of an understatement.”

“You wearin’ your long underwear?”

Freya smiled and reached up to straighten the collar of Mal’s coat. “You know I am. You watched me putting them on.”

He chuckled. “I seem to recall taking ‘em off you, too.”

“Which is why we were late for lunch.”

“Not my fault you were looking … sultry.”

“In long johns?”

“Hey, can’t help the fact my wife gets me all hot and bothered!”

“That’s nice.” She stroked his cheek. “But I still say you need to get your eyes tested if you think I looked sexy.”

“Nothing wrong with my eyesight.”

“Not what River says.”

“And you can tell her to stop leaving the Cort