Snow was not a good medium to be sneaky in. It muffled footfalls, that was for sure, but it also left clear footprints, unless more flakes were actually falling. In this case, though, someone had very considerately swept a lot of the drive, including the flagstones around the sides of the house, which was going to make access that much easier.

Keeping to the shadows, well aware that a moving darkness against the stark white would be very obvious, and possibly attract unwanted attention, Jayne slipped silently to the fire-damaged wing. It didn’t take much, just a moment’s work with Binky, and the window sprung loose from its lock. Checking once more that nobody was watching, he slid inside.

He looked up. It was worse than could be seen from the outside. Above him stars glittered in the cold sky, the moonlight shining through the lack of roof. Or floors, for that matter. The window casements were still there, but the entire wing was just a shell.

There was enough ambient light to pick his way over charred timbers, snow drifted against them, until he was standing by an internal wall. He could just pick out an old door frame, but it had been bricked up. Not that it mattered. A little further on and there he could see a dip in the debris, and he slowed down until his questing right foot felt the lack of floorboards. Stepping back he picked up a piece of roof timber and jabbed it down. There was a slithering of snow, and rotted joists dropped away, revealing a deep pit.

Jayne grinned, and started to undo the thin, high tensile rope from around his waist.

---

“If I turn around and see Badger, I’m going home.” Mal exhaled loudly.

They were congregated in a large room that ran across the back of the house. A faint chill when they first arrived suggested it was rarely used, but Kaylee and Hank’s ministrations of the generator quickly began to show results, and the fires roaring in the twin hearths at either end were rapidly becoming unnecessary, if not overpowering.

Freya looked around