"I slept for so long."

River heard Simon leave the room, even though he was trying to be quiet. He thought she was asleep, that the drugs he had put into her were working just as quickly as they were to supposed to.

They weren't.

She slowly opened her eyes and let her gaze drift over the small room. She had heard the others talking about the ship, mentioning her name. Serenity. It sounded like the name of a kingdom in one of the ancient stories she had loved as a child. Atlantis, Camelot… Serenity.

When she had been younger, she had loved to hear the legends from Earth-That-Was. Knights, samurai, elves, wizards, heroes… She had grown up on the stories of Odysseus, Aeneas, Xuan Zang and the Monkey King, Arthur Pendragon, Nie Zheng and Nie Ying, the trickster Coyote, and dozens of others.

Maybe her life was like one of those legends.

Simon was the handsome prince who had left his world behind to take care of the broken princess. The dark-skinned woman, Zoe, was the valiant knight, while the pilot, Wash, was the jester who secretly kept the kingdom running. The girl, Kaylee, was the princess of Serenity whose smile kept everyone from turning to despair.

The beautiful woman, Inara, was the queen of Serenity, though neither she nor King Malcolm seemed to realize the truth. The preacher, Shepherd Book, was the wise mentor, a wizard in many of the ancient accounts. And then there was the last one, Jayne… he the one who guarded the gates, the last defense in case all others were breached. He was the one who couldn't be fully trusted, because Serenity was merely a place for him to stay - not a home.

The captain would let them stay, because that's what wise kings did, and they would all live peacefully in the beautiful kingdom of Serenity. It was just like the stories she had loved as a child.

For the first time in her life, River felt like she was exactly where she belonged.

"I didn't think you'd come for me."