KING D. AUGUSTUS III - BEGIN LOG ENTRY : 8 July 2528: 23:15

And all my Kingly duties are finished and my official entries are logged. I just have time enough to enter more in the supplemental log about the Serenity crew before I hit the hay.

After what happened during their deal, [see LOG ENTRY 2.0] I didn’t know what to think of River. How could she learn those moves at such an early age? It got me thinking of why the Alliance had wanted her. To possess that level of quick reflexes and skill would be of use as an assassin. I so wanted to ask about her, but I felt I had overstayed my welcome with my antics of the night.

I was so speechless when we got back to the ship, even Kaylee questioned my silence.

Mal had answered, “He witnessed River in action. Funny, it’s the same reaction you had when you saw River shoot Niska’s men without looking.”

When I thought of anyone shooting without looking, I shuddered. I had to ask. “What happened to them,” I asked.

It was the first time I saw Kaylee even slightly disturbed, as if remembering a bad memory. “She killed them.”

“Without looking?” I cried.

Kaylee corrected. "Oh, she looked all right. For about two seconds.”

I turned to see River nonchalantly climb up the stairs to the cockpit. She walked in the same graceful manner as if nothing had happened. I turned back to Mal and Kaylee. “Who is she?”

Mal forced out a hard tone. “Don’t be expectin’ any answers from us. What you did today only put you in more danger than we would like. Don’t think Daddy King would like it if you got harmed on your own.”

Instead of fighting back, I slowly agreed with him. I even said the words “sorry”.

“Tzao gao,” Mal said back. He turned to Kaylee and asked, “Did you hear that? I know The Mule’s engines may have ruptured my hearing for a bit, but I do swear I heard ‘sorry’ come out of the boy.”

“Heard it too, Captain.” Kaylee sweetly smiled.

“There may be hope for you yet, son.”

I took that with a grain of salt and told them I’d be retiring to my bunk.

“Would tha