Chapter 3: Boiling Water

Kaylee lay in her hammock in the engine room trying not to cry again. She didn’t shed a tear very often but when she did she always found it hard to stop. She had made Simon angry, and that made her sad. It made her sad because all she wanted was to be close to Simon, but now all she could think of was how she’s never felt further away from him. She was also sad because for the first time in as long as she could remember, she had started questioning whether or not she was a good person. I mean, surely Simon wouldn’t get so upset over one little insult, and so that must mean that there was more to this than he had let on. It must mean that she had done something horrible before today. A small tear made its way down her cheek and she made no effort to brush it away. Simon hated her. Nothing else mattered.

She lay there for about another half hour before deciding that she needed cheering up, and so she made her way to Inara’s shuttle. The companion was busy preparing her shuttle for her next client and was about to turn Kaylee away but when she saw her tear stained face she immediately dropped everything she was doing and rushed over to pull Kaylee into a warm embrace.

“Inara, you mustn’t” Said Kaylee “I’ll get tear stains all over your beautiful silk dress”

“Shhh, meimei,” Said Inara gently “Don’t worry about that. Now, tell me why you’re so upset”

Kaylee sat down cross-legged on Inara’s bed and began telling the story of her argument with Simon, starting with the incident with the cow right up to him storming off. Inara listened in silence until Kaylee had finished and then began stroking the mechanic’s hair comfortingly.

“There, there meimei” Said Inara “It sounds to me like Simon is just tired and perhaps he took his exhaustion out on you.”

“But he was so cruel!” Exclaimed Kaylee “I mean, surely I must have done something really wrong to make him act like that?”

“I doubt it” Said Inara “And I hope you never question yourself like that again. No man is worth that”