On the ride back down the hill Emily watched the trees slide by and tried to let her shoulders relax but her body would not release The cart bounced along the dirt road with that same uneven rhythm and every bump sent a shock up her spine Her hands would not stop shaking She pressed them flat against her knees to hide it

Hart did not speak for a long time He did not ask Are you all right He did not ask Does anything hurt He just sat across from her with his walking staff across his lap watching the road and the tree line with calm steady eyes like he was already on guard for whatever would come next

She was grateful for that

Talking felt like it might break her

Births hit different than bleeding wounds and fever With a wound you fight the damage With fever you fight the invisible thing For birth you are fighting the line between life and death for someone who is not even in the world yet and there is no pause button no help button no doctor on call at two in the morning It is just your hands your voice and whether her body listens or not

She had done it before in her own world with other nurses with warm light with clean gowns and suction and meds She had never done it alone in a governor house where one mistake could cost not only a life but her own safety forever

And yet she had done it

The governor listened That mattered more than anything else that had happened since she woke up in this place

When they reached the lower path they could already see the edges of the village People were working in the fields Animals moved slow in the sun It looked normal Almost peaceful But Emily could feel it in her bones even before they reached the square This was not the same village she had left This was a village waiting for news like waiting for a lab result in the ER hallway where the silence hurts worse than the sirens

The first to see her was Lila

The girl was sitting on the water stones near the well pretending not to wait for her then the moment she spotted the cart she jumped up and ran full speed across the square nearly falling twice before she reached them

Did they hurt you Lila asked Were they mean Did they try to keep you Did you stab anybody

Emily almost laughed and almost cried at the same time

I did not stab anybody she said

Lila huffed Small relief So what happened

Emily opened her mouth to answer and then stopped

Because the square was already filling

Word moved through the village faster than fire through dry straw People put down tools and drifted closer Men women children They did not rush her They did not shout questions They simply gathered like a circle tightening around a candle to keep wind away All eyes on her

In Chicago she used to hate being the center of attention She liked doing the work not talking about the work But here the work alone was not enough Here she had to speak it She had to turn what happened into story so that everyone would understand and repeat it so it would become law in their mouths and armor around her neck

So she stood tall in the middle of the square and said it plain

The baby lives she said The mother lives I helped them through the birth

A sound ran through the crowd a low ripple not quite cheering not quite gasping something in between

Then she added slow on purpose The governor owes us

The air changed again

Hart made a small approving sound in his throat

Emily kept going He said I am under his protection She tapped her own chest with two fingers He said hurting me is the same as hurting his house

Now it was real shock

Murmurs spread fast She could hear the words Healer Protected Safe Law Not witch

Not witch That one she liked

The man from the mill stood near the front He had his arms crossed but his face for once was not angry He gave one sharp nod and said Good Healer stays

And that ended any doubt

Lila made a sound like a squeal and threw her arms around Emily’s waist This means they cannot take you she said right in her ear Voice shaking with relief They cannot steal you anymore

Emily swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut for a second just to get herself under control She hugged Lila back quick then pulled away because there was still work to do and she could not fall apart yet

Hart raised his walking staff and tapped it once against the stones of the well Everyone quieted without being told He looked at Emily and then at the crowd and he spoke slow so every person there could taste the words

Law now sees her he said Law says she keeps us alive We keep her alive

It sounded simple It was not simple But simple words travel better than long arguments

After that the crowd began to move again People drifted away shaking their heads in disbelief smiling a little touching each other on the arm like You heard that right yes you heard that right Lila refused to leave Emily’s side still and Emily did not make her

Only once things calmed did Emily feel it

The crash

Her body finally understood it could stop holding tension and it just dropped all at once Her knees went weak not from fear this time but from total exhaustion She sat down hard on the low bench by the clinic and leaned forward elbows on her knees head in her hands breathing slow

Hey Lila whispered soft Are you okay

No Emily said and then after a beat Yes

Lila nodded like that made perfect sense

Hart stood in the doorway of the clinic like a guard at a gate He did not hover He only kept watch Every now and then he looked toward the line of trees where the bandits had come from as if daring them to try again

Emily lifted her head and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands Okay she said Work time

You should rest Lila said

I cannot rest Emily said People still get sick just because I did something important for a rich man does not mean I stopped being needed here

Lila made a face at that truth because that truth was heavy

The next patient arrived even before Emily stood all the way up

It was an older man who had trouble walking Two grandsons helped him along step by slow step He held his stomach like he had swallowed a rock His face was tight and gray and sweaty not fever sweat more like deep pain sweat The kind that warns danger in places you cannot see

Emily moved fast Come sit Sit slow Do not twist

He groaned as he lowered himself to the table

Where does it hurt she asked Show me

He pressed his palm low on the right side of his belly His jaw clenched hard He sucked in air with his teeth It hurts like something inside is angry and trying to punch out he managed

Emily felt cold run through her

Appendix she thought The word hit her like a bell Appendicitis

Her mind jumped through steps like counting beats in triage Fever Tenderness Rebound rigidity Guarding If it bursts peritonitis Sepsis Death

In her time this was surgery now cut it out IV antibiotics monitor post op Here there was no surgeon no sterile room no anesthesia no backup

Her stomach turned

No she whispered under her breath Not today Not you Please not this

She pressed her fingers to the spot gentle first His whole body tightened She pulled back fast Okay okay She soothed him with a hand on his shoulder You are okay I hear you Breathe slow

Her head spun She could not cut him open She did not have the tools She did not have the field training for that level of work high in the abdomen She could not safely remove an infected appendix in a hut made of wood and dirt even if she were willing to try raw field surgery She would kill him

In this moment she felt something she almost never let herself feel during crisis Helpless

Her throat went tight

Lila saw the look on her face and froze What is it she whispered

This might kill him Emily whispered back

Lila swallowed Do we lose him

Emily stared at the old man He was trying to stay still and brave but his breathing was getting short and fast He knew it was bad You could see it in his eyes People always know when their own body is turning on them

Her mind went hunting for something anything

Okay Think Not cutting What else Pain control Position Rest Fluids Watch for burst If it bursts he will spike fever fast go cold lose strength We can only keep him stable as long as possible and pray the body walls it off on its own like a contained abscess Sometimes that happens She had seen it once in an old woman who refused surgery and somehow survived Another nurse had called it a miracle Emily had called it terrifying luck

She swallowed and made a choice She would not lie

She leaned in close to the old man Sir she said soft You are very sick I am going to do what I can but this may still take you I will not lie to you about that

His eyes met hers He held that gaze like a man holding a rope over a cliff Then he gave one slow nod and relaxed his shoulders a little Like honesty itself was medicine

Emily set him on his left side curled just enough to release some pressure from the inflamed area She asked Lila for warm clean cloth and placed it gentle against his abdomen for comfort only not cure She mixed him a little water and salt and honey for strength She slowed his breathing with her hand on his shoulder counting in and out low and steady she breathed with him until his breath matched hers

In the corner of her eye she saw Hart watching her face The lines around his eyes were deeper than usual

She hated this feeling It tasted like all the nights in Chicago when she had to stand beside a bed while someone slipped away because there was nothing else anyone could do and she had to make that feel like dignity instead of failure

She whispered to Lila Go get his family but do not scare them Tell them he needs them near

Lila nodded and ran

Emily stayed There was nothing left to do but stay Sometimes that was the whole job Be the hand they hold Be the one who does not leave even when you cannot fix it

Minutes passed The old man’s breath steadied a little The tight pain lines around his mouth eased If the appendix had already burst she would have seen a crash not this small calm This calm meant maybe it had not yet ruptured Maybe his body was still fighting Maybe he could live if his body formed a wall around the infection and kept it from spreading

Maybe

Hope felt like a sharp edge in her chest

After some time his eyelids fluttered and he slipped into shallow sleep still breathing still warm still alive for now Emily sat beside the table and did not move

Lila came back with two women and a young man that looked like a son Everyone stayed quiet Everyone understood silence in this moment was respect not fear

When the old man was stable enough Emily finally stood up Her legs felt numb from kneeling so long Her back ached all the way up to her neck Her whole body hummed from stress and leftover adrenaline from the birth and now this

Hart stepped closer and spoke low so only she could hear You cannot save all

Emily almost snapped I know that I know that better than anyone She almost said You think I did not learn that in a trauma unit at two in the morning holding pressure on a chest wound with both hands while the surgeon was still on the highway

But his face was gentle Not cruel Not correction Just truth

I know she said in a small tired voice But I want to

Hart gave one slow nod

When the old man’s family settled near him Emily stepped outside into the square The sun was lower now and gold light stretched over the dirt and the animal pens and the line she had drawn to separate fever from not fever She could smell cook fires already starting for evening meal She could hear children laughing again

This is what I am protecting she thought This right here This normal

Because normal in a place like this was everything

Lila slipped out and leaned against her side without a word Emily wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let herself rest her head lightly on top of the girl’s hair

The village had not just accepted her now The village had formed around her like ribs around a heart She felt it The shape of it The shield of it The way they looked at her now not like a stranger who had fallen out of the sky not like a witch not like a tool to borrow for a wound

They looked at her like she was theirs and they were hers

That was the new shield

It was better than knives
Better than law
Better than threats from the hill

You know Lila said after a while voice soft You are not just healer now

Emily smiled a little What am I then

Lila leaned her head on Emily’s arm and answered You are ours

Emily closed her eyes tight so the feeling would not spill out of her face and said in a voice barely louder than a breath Yeah she whispered I am yours

And that meant that no one not a bandit not a rich man not a law with a seal would touch her without touching all of them

For the first time since she woke in this strange broken past Emily believed she might actually live long enough to make tomorrow real