the old shrine · day 892 · evening

Evening Wait for the Boat

The sun sets behind thick grey clouds, but the temperature refuses to drop. You and Jenny sit together on the porch as the light fades.

The air at the shrine is a physical weight, thick with the salt-scent of the coming rain. The birds have gone silent, leaving a void so absolute it makes the lap of the tide sound loud. Jenny leans against the cool, weathered wood of the porch, her breath shallow as the throbbing pain in her ankle pulses in time with the heavy atmosphere.

🌿 Jenny09:22

It's too quiet. Even the birds have stopped.

Lean back against the porch wall and gingerly shift my weight off the swollen ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

This heat is suffocating. I can feel the pulse in my ankle, a rhythmic throb that matches the stillness of the air.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:24

Barometer's still rising. They know something we don't.

reach for the tin mug beside me on the porch rail, wrap cold fingers around the warm ceramic

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Usually the shearwaters are screaming by now, or at least the terns. The silence presses on the ears.

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

🌿 Jenny09:25

Maybe they just have a better forecast. Or a boat that actually arrives on time.

Watch his fingers on the mug, then look away toward the ridge.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always reading the instruments, always looking for the pattern. He doesn't see the way I'm shaking.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:26

Boat's due the day after tomorrow. High tide. Two hour window.

take a slow sip of the lukewarm broth, set the mug down on the rail without looking

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. Two days out if the captain keeps his word. Three if the swell picks up. Four if something breaks.

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

🌿 Jenny09:26

I hope they have the right antibiotics. The ones from the cache aren't doing enough.

Close my eyes and press my forehead against the cool wood of the porch wall.

💭 peek at the thought

Two days. Forty-eight hours of this pulsing heat and the smell of my own failing skin.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:28

Wrote it on the supply list. Captain knows. If he can't get them, he'll radio ahead to the pharmacy in St. Malo.

reach out and rest two fingers lightly on her wrist — just checking pulse, not holding

💭 peek at the thought

The red line hasn't moved past the pen mark in twelve hours. That's something. But the heat in her ankle radiates through the gauze when I change it. The cache antibiotics are old — doxycycline and metronidazole from a buried tin, no telling how long. She needs something fresh. IV if it's tracking.

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

🌿 Jenny09:28

I'm still here, Kevin.

Pull my wrist away slowly and wrap my arms around my chest.

💭 peek at the thought

He's checking me like a piece of equipment. A gauge. A sensor. It's efficient, but it makes me feel so small.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:30

Didn't say you weren't.

pull my hand back slow, let it settle on my own knee, stare at the grey treeline where the ridge meets the sky

💭 peek at the thought

She heard what I didn't say. The pulse check wasn't medical. It was the other thing — the thing from the water, the thing that makes me check she's still breathing when the night goes quiet.

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

🌿 Jenny09:31

The air is getting too heavy to breathe.

Let out a long, shaky breath and flinch as the throb hits my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so practical it's exhausting. I want him to just ask how much it hurts.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin09:32

Want me to re-do the poultice? Fresh sea beet and mint. Honey's still good.

rise from the porch step in one motion, no grunt, head for the cottage door

💭 peek at the thought

Pressure dropping again, or just the humidity trapping heat. She's hurting. The flinch tells me more than the words.

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

🌿 Jenny09:32

Yes. Please.

Lean my head back and close my eyes, waiting for the sound of the door closing.

💭 peek at the thought

He's retreating into the work again. It's the only way he knows how to be kind.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:34

Back in a minute.

step inside the cottage, move straight to the stove shelf where the sea beet leaves are wrapped in damp cloth, pull the honey jar and mint sprigs from the cupboard above

💭 peek at the thought

She's trying not to need me. That's the part that cuts.

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.