The next morning Emily woke to the cry of roosters and the soft breath of the baby beside her The child had slept all night and his skin was warm not fevered The sight gave her the first feeling of peace since the hospital explosion She sat up rubbed her eyes and looked at the hut that had become her home and clinic at once It smelled of herbs ash and life

Hart came early with two men They brought buckets of water rolls of cloth and a rough wooden table She understood it was their way of helping after the night before One man nodded to her without words He used to avoid looking at her now he lifted the table to the center of the hut and left it there Emily smiled in thanks

She washed her hands in the cold water The motion felt automatic almost sacred She remembered teaching young nurses back home how to wash before touching a patient and how serious she always sounded about it Now that same habit might be the only shield between her and death in this world She filled the pot to boil and waited while steam rose through the quiet room

Soon villagers began to arrive first the woman with the twisted ankle then a man coughing from smoke then a small child with a rash on his arm Emily worked one by one cleaning wrapping cooling giving simple orders through gestures Wash first Dry then Sit still She used clear tone and patient eyes She did not rush them and she never let fear show

By midday the line outside her hut stretched across the well She felt her arms ache from lifting her back hurt from leaning but her spirit burned bright The work made her forget time It was what she knew how to do best When she looked up again Hart stood at the doorway holding bread and meat He motioned for her to eat

She sat with him on a bench outside under the shade of a rough roof He spoke slowly pointing to people around them saying words she half recognized Life Healer Help Emily repeated each word until he smiled

Then he said another word she did not know but his tone changed serious He pointed toward the forest and lowered his voice He drew a small cross on the dirt with a stick and then a flame beside it She felt a chill He was warning her about something She thought of the man who had called her witch She nodded she understood there were still those who feared her

She looked at the line again These people had no doctors no hospitals no one who understood how the body worked beyond herbs and prayers They needed her and if she left fear win all of them would lose more than her

She decided she would build something lasting

That night she sat by the fire with the little girl who had brought her to the fevered woman The girl’s name was Lila Emily had learned it from Hart Lila watched every move she made during the day curious full of questions Emily saw herself in that small face eager to learn and brave enough to touch the unknown

Emily tore a piece of paper from the back of her old hospital notebook It was burned at the edges but still usable She drew a picture of two hands one dirty one clean and then a bowl of water She wrote under it Clean first She showed it to Lila and pointed Wash hands before wound Lila nodded repeating the motion

They worked together long after the sun went down Lila practiced wrapping cloth around sticks to make a splint and cooling a rag in water to place on a pretend forehead She laughed when she got it right Her laughter filled the dark hut with warmth Emily felt a strange ache of joy and loss together This was what she had always wanted to do teach heal lead

Later when the village quieted Emily walked outside and looked up at the stars They were brighter here no smoke no city lights She thought about home her hospital the friends she left behind Maybe they thought she was dead Maybe time there moved different She might never know But standing under that vast sky she felt a calm she had not felt in years

She whispered into the night If I can’t go back I’ll make this place better I’ll make it safer That’s enough

The next day she began her plan She sent the children to collect clean river stones and had the men dig a pit near the well She showed them how to line it with the stones and fill it with boiling water for cleaning tools She explained through signs that hot water kills sickness They looked confused at first but when they saw wounds heal faster they believed

She turned the hut into something close to an emergency room The table became the treatment bed The corner shelves held dried herbs bandages cloth and the few remaining supplies from her uniform pocket She made a rule that only clean hands touched the sick and soon people started copying her gestures without being told

Even Hart followed her rule before stepping inside He would wash his old hands in the bucket and shake them dry before greeting her It made Emily smile every time

By the end of that week the people had started calling her by a name that sounded close to their word for guardian not witch not outsider Guardian She liked that word It carried weight and kindness

But late one night when the village was quiet she heard footsteps outside heavy and slow She looked through the small window A man stood in the moonlight near the clinic door His face hidden by the hood of a cloak She recognized the shape the same man from the mill

He did not knock He placed something on the ground and left without a sound

Emily stepped out after he disappeared The moonlight touched the object It was a basket Inside lay vegetables bread and a folded note written in rough lines She could not read the words but she saw one symbol drawn over and over the same mark the villagers used for thanks

She stood there holding the basket and realized what it meant Fear could change if people saw results Fear could turn to gratitude with proof She was still not safe not yet but she had moved one step closer

The next morning she opened the clinic again More people came More lives to fix More lessons to teach Each life she touched built a bridge between her world and theirs

The rumor of the healer was no longer just a rumor It was becoming a truth spoken from one home to another And in that truth Emily saw her new purpose clearer than ever

She was not lost in time anymore She was building it