the keeper's cottage · day 927 · evening

Evening Fever and Rising Tide

The rain slows to a drizzle as evening falls, but the air remains heavy and wet. Jenny's fever begins to rise as the tide starts to turn in.

Kevin prepared a salt soak and fresh sea beet poultice for Jenny's infected ankle while she soaked the wound. The treatment was applied with clean gauze and antibiotic cream, and Jenny took her next doxycycline dose.

🌿 Jenny11:47

Is the water still warm?

Reaches for the tin of antibiotic cream, winces as the fabric brushes the swollen skin.

💭 peek at the thought

The pulse in my ankle is keeping time with the rain. If this doesn't break tonight, I won't be able to reach the ridge tomorrow.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:47

Aye. Kept it on the stove. Want me to bring the basin?

Walk to the wood stove, lift the kettle, test the temperature with a finger, then carry it to the porch where Jenny sits. Set it on the table beside her.

💭 peek at the thought

The fever's climbing. She's asking about water temperature when she should be asking about the spreading red line. The barometer's still dropping and the tide's coming in — if we need to move her, the dinghy won't be an option in this swell.

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

🌿 Jenny11:49

way. And the salt too.

Unwraps the bandage with trembling fingers, watching the red line creep further toward her knee.

💭 peek at the thought

He's being too helpful. It makes me want to scream at how much I'm failing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:49

Salt's in the tin by the basin. I'll mix it.

Pick up the salt tin from the shelf, measure a generous handful into the basin, pour the hot water over it, stir with the wooden spoon until dissolved. Test again with wrist — bearable, not scalding.

💭 peek at the thought

The line's past the last mark I made. Two, maybe three centimetres since this morning. Metronidazole's been in her system twelve hours — should be hitting the anaerobes by now. If it's not holding by dawn, the radio call goes out regardless of weather.

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

🌿 Jenny11:51

okay... be careful.

lowers the ankle into the water, biting through her lip as the salt hits the raw skin.

💭 peek at the thought

The heat is coming off it in waves. I can't even hold a pencil straight today, let alone a pH probe.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:51

Breathe through it. I'll make the fresh poultice while you soak.

Turn to the work surface. Pull the sea beet leaves from the damp cloth, add the mint sprigs, spoon honey from the jar. Crush together with the pestle until it's a thick green paste. Scrape into a clean cloth square, fold the edges over.

💭 peek at the thought

She's white-knuckling the chair arms. The water's doing its job — pulling heat, cleaning what the poultice missed. But the red line's tracking lymphatically now, not just spreading local. That's the bad path.

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.