the keeper's cottage · day 780 · dawn

The Rain Sets In

Heavy rain lashes against the roof from the west, turning the garden path into mud. Kevin sits at the kitchen table checking the barometer while Jenny prepares a salt soak for her ankle. The wind howls through the stormproofed shutters.

The rain lashes against the cottage with a heavy, rhythmic drumming, blurring the view of the western horizon. Inside, the air is damp and smelling of wood smoke and drying herbs. Jenny sits on the stool, her ankle propped in a basin of warm saline, while she watches the water streak down the stone-hewn walls.

🌿 Jenny01:03

The tank is full, so don't worry about water.

Sit on the stool, soak the ankle in the warm saline, and sketch the way the rain hits the stone walls.

💭 peek at the thought

If this rain keeps up, the north ridge will wash right into the sea before I can get a single way seed in the ground.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:04

Barometer's holding at 986. Rising slow. Wind's west-northwest, steady. Boat's still three days at high tide if the captain holds course.

Pour coffee from the kettle into the tin mug, set it on the table beside her sketchbook, then check the shortwave battery charge indicator.

💭 peek at the thought

Good. Water's one less thing. Her ankle looks angry still — red tracking past yesterday's pen line. She's sketching instead of resting it. Stubborn.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny01:05

I'll check the radio again after I debride.

Take a sip of the coffee, lean back against the stone wall, and watch the rain blur the world outside the window.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days is a lifetime if the storm doesn't break, and the soil is already soup.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:05

Gauze is gone. Used the last strip this morning. Got clean cloth in the drawer by the stove if you're doing it now.

Pull the drawer open, set the folded cotton squares on the table beside her mug without looking at her.

💭 peek at the thought

She's avoiding the debride. Can see it in how she holds the mug — both hands, knuckles white. The ankle needs it bad. Tracking's past the line I marked yesterday.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny01:07

Thanks. I'll use the cotton.

Reach for the clean cloth, dip a piece into the saline, and begin to debride the ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

I'm running out of supplies faster than the boat can keep up with this infection.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:07

Tracking's past the mark. Need fresh poultice after. Sea beet and mint still in the basin?

Turn back to the shortwave, flip the power switch, let the tubes warm while the static rises.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not flinching. Never does. The cloth comes away dark. That tracking line I marked yesterday — it's jumped two fingers' width past the ink. Metronidazole's done. Doxycycline's got fourteen tablets left from the cache. Eight days if the boat holds.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.