That night the village slept light

People kept lanterns burning longer than usual Talk stayed low and tight near doorways Mothers pulled their children inside early Men stayed close to tools they could use as weapons if they had to The air felt like the air in an emergency room right before a bad call came in The silence before impact

Emily sat awake in the clinic hut and tried not to show that she felt the same way

She watched Lila sleep in the corner rolled in a blanket like a cat Lila had refused to go home She said with her small serious face I help I stay Emily had let her because part of her did not want to be alone either

Her body was tired Her mind was not

She replayed the threat again in her head Witch The word had not been a whisper this time It had come from a man with power A man with riders A man who could make his fear into law

She knew how it worked in history She had read about women drowned or burned because they healed a way men did not understand She had read about midwives destroyed by doctors who wanted control She had always thought That will never touch me My world is different My world has science and records and proof and cameras

Now she was in a world with none of those things

And she knew one more hard truth If anything bad happened in this village and someone wanted her gone all they had to do was point and say Her She did it

So when the shouting began she was already moving

It was still dark Just before dawn A scream cut across the square from the well Then panicked voices Then running feet Lila woke with a jerk Emily was already at the door

Outside three people were gathered around a fourth lying in the dirt The shape on the ground shook hard in a way that made Emily’s stomach drop It was a boy maybe twelve pale skin damp hair stuck to his forehead His whole body trembled nonstop His eyes rolled and his teeth clenched He made a choking sound Emily had heard many times in ER seizure

Move she said fast Move back Give me space

They did not fully understand her words but they understood her voice They stepped back

Emily dropped to her knees and turned the boy on his side Not on his back Never on the back She slid one folded cloth under his head to keep it from hitting the ground again and again Then she watched his breathing Counting in her head Breathing fast Breathing shallow But breathing Still breathing

Do not hold him down she said loud when one of the men reached for the boy’s shoulders She pushed his hands away firm He will stop soon It looks bad but it will stop

She hoped he would stop She needed him to stop

The shaking went on too long Sweat ran down the boy’s face His lips looked too pale His body finally began to slow like a storm losing force His arms relaxed His jaw loosened

Good she whispered Good Good

Breathe for me kid Stay here Stay

The boy let out a weak groan His eyes fluttered

Emily wiped his forehead with her sleeve His skin was burning up High fever High enough to cause seizure in a child That was not good Fever like that meant something big Infection Blood loss Brain injury She had to know

What happened before this she asked Her voice steady low She looked at the faces around her He was fine Then this What changed Food Water Fall Hit head Who was with him

They all talked at once Panic fast hands pointing toward the far houses by the fields She heard one word repeated again and again Water Water Water

Water

Her stomach tightened

Take him inside Now

They carried the boy to the fever side of the clinic yard Emily cleared the table with one arm and laid him there She used cool cloth on his forehead neck chest armpits She lifted his chin and got a little boiled water past his lips slow Small sips Slow breaths Good Good Stay with me

After a few minutes he was still conscious but his eyes were glassy His skin was hot and dry not sweaty fever That was worse Dry fever meant dehydration plus infection Fast moving Bad

Hart stepped in then He looked at the boy then at Emily His face told her he already knew this was not just one sick child

How many she asked

Hart held up three fingers Then after a slow breath four

Emily felt the floor move under her feet

Four children

Four sick at once with sudden fever and seizure like symptoms That was not normal accident That was not one bad cut or one bad wound That was something in common source water food air

Her training took over hard now Her fear was still there but she pushed it down There was no time for fear There was only protocol

She stood and shouted with everything she had All fever people here now Sit here Do not move Do not touch anyone else Go Get them Bring them Now

Her voice cracked through the square like a crack of thunder People moved

Minutes later two more children were carried in Another stood shaking but walking with help All three were in rough shape Flushed faces Weak limbs Fast shallow breaths The last one vomited right at the door His vomit was thin and yellow mostly fluid not food He had not kept anything down in hours

Emily’s mind raced She put the sick kids together in the same area but kept everyone else out She dragged a bench across her own line in the dirt and made a barrier No one crossed it not even Hart

Wash hands before you touch them she ordered No food from the well No water from the well Boil first Every drop Boil

She pointed at the well over and over Boil Boil Boil Hart echoed the word until the whole square was saying Boil like a drumbeat

This was the moment It would spread or it would not And if it spread she knew what would happen The riders from the hill would ride down not with payment and not with kind eyes They would ride down with blame and with soldiers They would say Curse They would say Witch They would call her the source Not the shield

She went child by child checking skin color breath rate heart rate cap refill She pressed fingers to their fingernails to see how fast the pink came back She lifted lids and checked for clarity She pressed on bellies for signs of tenderness She listened for rattle in lungs This was basic nursing assessment work from day one of training But doing it now felt like holding a whole town in her hands

She found the first clue on the smallest boy His lips cracked and dry His tongue almost white He had sunken eyes and weak pulse Classic dehydration

How long sick she asked

Lila answered for the mothers showing numbers with her fingers first one then two She looked at Emily scared Two days Two days maybe

Emily nodded Fever sudden Vomit Water not staying Pure dehydration plus fever Maybe bacteria in the well

She needed oral fluid replacement That was easy in her world where she could grab electrolyte packets and mix them in sterile water and track intake by chart In this world she had boiled water salt a little honey and will

She grabbed her clay cup Poured in boiled water Still warm She added a pinch of salt She added a fingertip of boiled honey She stirred with the handle of her scissors She tasted it Lightly salty slightly sweet Good enough Oral rehydration mix primitive version

She lifted the boy’s head and pressed the rim of the cup to his mouth Drink Sip Sip come on You drink for me

He swallowed A slow swallow then another

Good Good Good

She did the same for the others forcing a little fluid into each of them Slow controlled timed She cooled their heads and armpits with wet cloth She watched their chests for any sign of shutting down

Hours passed with no break

Lila ran buckets for her and wrung out cloth Hart kept people back and enforced the boil rule and did not let anyone draw from the well without heating it first The old woman with the swollen legs sat in the doorway and swatted at anyone who tried to argue with Emily like she was now guard number three It almost made Emily smile even in the middle of fear

By midday two of the boys were stabilizing A little less heat A little more color Better alertness That made her breathe a little easier The smallest one though scared her He was slipping in and out of sleep too fast His pulse was weak His chest rose soft not strong His skin stayed too hot

She stayed with him She held his hand She wiped his forehead again and again She whispered Do not quit Stay Stay with me Little man I need you to stay I need you to stay right here I am not letting you go Do you hear me

She kept him warm but not hot wet but not soaked steady but not stiff It was the fine balancing act of fever work where you ride the line between cooling too fast and letting the brain cook

Around late afternoon he finally let out a clear strong cry and tried to pull his hand away from hers His eyes opened and actually focused on her face

Emily laughed out loud relief rolling through her like water on fire She pressed his hand to her cheek and whispered Thank you

When she looked up at the circle of watching faces she saw something new in their eyes Something powerful

Belief

Not a hopeful maybe
Not I heard she saved someone once
Not rumor

This was I saw it with my own eyes The children were almost gone and now they are still here

Hart stepped forward then and spoke loud so the whole square could hear He pointed at the well and used a word Emily did not know then he pointed at the sick children then he pointed at Emily and said Strong Healer Protect

People nodded all at once Like a wave

Then it happened

The man from the mill pushed through the crowd The same man who had called her witch He looked angry again but this time there was fear under it and desperation His son was one of the sick boys lying on the ground

For a long moment he just stared at his kid breathing steady instead of shaking He swallowed hard His jaw worked He looked at Emily like pride was a stone stuck in his throat

Then slow like it bruised him to do it he bowed his head to her

Not a deep graceful bow like the rich man Not something proud and formal This was rough Small Barely there But real

Emily felt the village shift right then The ground tilted in her favor for the first time since she arrived in this world

But she also knew the danger was not over

Because when people are afraid and do not understand they still look for something to blame And soon someone from outside the village would hear Sick children and panic would travel up the hill as fast as any horse could run

She needed to get ahead of it

She stood up in front of everyone and raised her voice The sickness came from water She pointed hard at the well It came from here Not from me Not from air Not from spirit From dirty water

She bent down grabbed a handful of dirt and smashed it into her own arm fast The crowd gasped She held up her arm so they all could see filth smeared on her skin and said Dirt Bad Water Bad Heat Water Kill Bad

She moved her hand in a cutting motion Boil

Boil was a word they already understood

She repeated it again Boil every time Every drink Every cook No boil no drink

People were nodding before she even finished

She felt her shoulders drop half an inch This lesson might hold

When the worst of the rush had passed and the sick kids were resting and breathing normal Emily finally let herself sit She leaned against the clinic wall and let her spine relax for the first time in hours Every muscle in her body felt like rope pulled too tight Her vision swam a little from exhaustion

Lila dropped down beside her and pressed a warm cup into her hands Emily drank without asking what it was Her throat burned She had not noticed how thirsty she was until now

Lila leaned against her arm small and warm and whisper tired You stop them She spoke slow careful English You stop the bad

Emily smiled weak I tried

Lila shook her head No She pointed at the village All see

All see

That mattered

Because now if the men from the hill came down again and tried to say Witch the village could say No We watched We know what happened We watched her save our kids We watched her fix our water We watched her fight death with her hands Not curse Not dark Not evil

Truth was now in their mouths not in the mouths of riders

Emily stared out at the square and felt something settle in her chest like a foundation stone sliding into place

This was not luck This was structure

This was infection control water safety hydration protocol triage isolation and patient education All the boring basic daily parts of nursing that never made the dramatic hospital stories but saved more lives than any hero act And here they looked like miracles

She breathed out slow

In Chicago she had sometimes felt small Not respected enough Not listened to Enough nights where a doctor talked over her while she was the one keeping someone alive with steady hands and steady thinking She had swallowed anger so many times it felt normal

Here no one talked over her now

Here people listened when she said Wash your hands Boil your water Move that child to air Sit and rest Sip slow Breathe you are okay I am here

Here her voice carried weight

The sun was dropping low now The shadows stretched long Hart stayed near the well watching it like it was an enemy The man from the mill sat on the dirt with his sick son’s head in his lap eyes wet

Emily looked at her clinic The table The buckets The lines she drew in the ground The shelves Lila’s messy notes pinned to the wall with a wooden peg All of it felt real in a way that made her chest ache

She whispered to herself and to the quiet evening air I am building a hospital in the past

Then she corrected herself

No

We are building it