River's attention is caught by the flashing vid screen. It's a Fruity Oaty Bar commercial, with singing cartoon girls and a purple octopus.

"Fruity Oaty Bars, pow!"

Caught, and held.

It's color and light, it's purple and flashing, and it's

"Hey! Fruity Bars"

it's everything she can hear

"Make a man of a mouse!"

everything she can see

"Make you bust out of your blouse!"
(We seek for slumbering trout)
There are colors and numbers and patterns just below the surface, drawing her eye, drawing her mind --
(and whispering in their ears)
"Eat them now!"
(give them unquiet dreams)
-- and she shoots with her mind, Roland's gravelly voice we are weapons and Cort's growl as much as our guns and Cuthbert and now Mal and all the voices --
(Leaning softly out)
"Bang! Ping! Zow!"

Voices.


There are no voices.

There is

nothing

but
(Away with us he's going)
faces.
(The solemn-eyed)
Everywhere. Turning to her. Looking. Whispering.
(Come away, O human child)
Bleached and stark and clear and moving so slowly, so slowly, they think they're fast but she can see them, she can follow, they think she can't but she can, and she can see--
(to the waters)
The men in the corner have
(and the wild)
(two by two)
(with a faery)
hands of blue, and
(hand in hand)
flash the man behind the bar has the gaping self-inflicted wounds of a Reaver, he's growling inside his head flash he's dialing up Simon's arrest warrant to make a call to the feds, and
(For the world's more full of weeping)
everyone is no one is faces she's never seen but they're planning, they're made of careful plotting malice, they want to kill Simon and hurt Kaylee and chain Anthy in a room full of needle-sharp swords and she won't let them, she won't have it, she won't let them--
(than you can understand)


"Miranda," she whispers.





River moves.