"I'm not say'n she can't, I'm just say'n stuff tends t'fly over her head when it comes t'shady business." And it's a credit to her, truly. She's solid and loyal and sweet in ways Mal hasn't seen in-

Well.

In a fair while.

"That'd hold up till your kitten did somth'n cute." And then. Cooing. Aaaah, big bad abomination what blown up the Chantry- cooing over a kitten. Mal don't much poke into politics- people got hurt, apparently, people got a mind to make someone pay. Mal...ain't gonna get paid t'make it happen and tries to ignore the part of him that says he oughta have an opinion.