The first few months on Serenity were hard.

She and her brother had been fugitives from the powerful Alliance government when the two of them had fallen in with a group of smugglers who seemed like magnets for trouble on their own. And for a while, it was uncertain if they could stay on the ship.

Being on Serenity was also the first time that she had been forced to be in close proximity with a group of people after her escape from the Academy. The onslaught of thoughts and emotions had hit her like a tidal wave. For a while, it made her worse.

She always wondered if Simon had noticed a difference. But she never asked him, afraid of his answer. For if it was no, it told how bad her mental state was then.

And as bad as it was, there were moments when she knew herself. From time to time, the whispering voices and chaotic images faded to a manageable level and the thoughts going through her head then were hers and hers alone. These periods were longer and more frequent after Miranda.

Yet she still had episodes and relapses. Simon often wondered privately if she would always be this way. He was afraid she would carry this insanity as a permanent scar, as a reminder of her time in the Alliance facility.

If she was honest, she was, too.

It had taken time for her to get use to this ship and its crew. It took her a while to filter through all the thoughts and emotions. But after a while, it all began to make sense.

Though they didn’t know it, they each had told her their stories.