the keeper's cottage · day 645 · afternoon

Midday Reunion

Kevin and Jenny sit together in the shaded kitchen. The heat is stifling, and they discuss the progress on the dock and the state of Jenny's ankle.

The warm rain continues to patter against the cottage roof, the air heavy with humidity. Jenny sits on the chair, her leg elevated and throbbing as the red line of infection has visibly migrated further up her calf. Kevin prepares a fresh basin of warm water and gathers the sea beet and mint, his focus set on the necessity of lancing the wound.

🔧 Kevin10:23

Ankle's hotter. Red line's moved.

reach for the kettle on the stove, pour warm water into the basin, and set out the sea beet leaves and mint for a fresh poultice

💭 peek at the thought

The heat in here is thick enough to cut. Jenny's ankle looks worse than this morning — the red line's crept another inch up her calf. She won't say it, but the fever's back. I should've debrided again at first light instead of chasing that piling. Pride got in the way.

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

🌿 Jenny10:24

I know. The salt air is getting into the wound.

Jenny leans back in the way chair, winces as the movement shifts, and begins to unwrap the damp gauze with trembling fingers.

💭 peek at the thought

The infection is moving toward the calf; if I don't get the heat out, I won't be able to hike to the ridge for the survey.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:24

Let me.

take the gauze from her hands, peel the last layer back slow, and examine the incision and the spreading red track up her calf

💭 peek at the thought

Her fingers shouldn't shake like that. She's been steady through worse. The infection's in the blood now, not just the wound.

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

🌿 Jenny10:25

It's the moisture. Everything refuses to dry.

Jenny stays perfectly still, watching his hand move over her skin, breathing through her teeth against the throbbing pain.

💭 peek at the thought

It's worse than it looked this morning. If this doesn't break, I'll have to call the boat.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:26

Going deeper this time. Need to flush the track.

pick up the scalpel, sterilize the blade in the candle flame, and lance along the red line where the skin is tight and shiny

💭 peek at the thought

The track's past the poultice margin I marked this morning. Two inches higher. She's burning up. Antibiotics are four doses left — maybe three days if we split them. The boat's nine days out if it comes at all. I need to lance deeper, flush harder, and find pine resin for the next pack. Turpenes. She wrote that in the notebook.

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

🌿 Jenny10:27

Just be quick with it.

Jenny grips the edge of the wooden table, her knuckles turning white, and stares at the blade as it breaks the skin.

💭 peek at the thought

If he hits the bone, I won't be able to walk for months.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:28

Hold on.

pour boiled seawater through the wound with the syringe, then pack it tight with fresh sea beet-mint poultice and wrap it clean

💭 peek at the thought

She doesn't flinch. Never does. The pus is thick, yellow-green, smells like old bilge water. Good flow means the track's open. Need to flush it clean before it closes over.

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

🌿 Jenny10:29

Is it out? Is it clean?

Jenny lets out a long, shaky breath, leaning her head back against the stone wall as she watches him work the bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

That sting is like fire, but the pressure is finally starting to let go.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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