The Things They Carried

So much has been taken from River, forcibly stripped from her brain, she’s afraid to keep anything, afraid even to reach for the comforts Simon offers.

So River squirrels away things she knows aren’t hers anyway. When she’s convinced Simon she’s asleep so that he, himself, will go to bed, she secretly takes them out and turns them over in her mind: the Captian’s tenderness, Jayne’s loyalty, Zoë’s innocence and Wash’s ferocity, Simon’s desires and Kaylee’s bravery, Inara’s hopes, the Shepherd’s name – all things their owners have forgotten and no longer miss, each ruby deep and diamond bright:

Buried treasures.