the keeper's cottage · day 700 · evening

Evening check

The sun is setting as Kevin returns to the cottage to bring evening fresh water and check Jenny's temperature.

The air in the cottage is heavy with the heat of the dry season and the scent of drying mint. Jenny lies on the cot, her face flushed with fever as she grips the warm tin of broth. Kevin watches her, noting the steady drop in the barometer; the silence from the radio and the supply boat is only only by the weight of the coming front.

🌿 Jenny07:25

I'm fine. way... put the water down.

pull the sheets up over my chest and squint against the dim light of the doorway.

💭 peek at the thought

way head is a furnace and every pulse in this ankle is a hammer blow.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:25

Water's here. Broth too, if you can keep it down.

set the tin mug of fresh water and the warm broth on the small table beside the bed, then pull the stool over and sit down without asking

💭 peek at the thought

She's not fine. The fever's still riding her hard — I can see the flush from here, the way her breathing hitches under the sheets. But she'll fight me if I push, and she needs the fluids more than she needs me winning an argument.

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

🌿 Jenny07:28

I'm not hungry. just... hot.

reach out a shaky hand toward the mug, feeling the warmth radiate from the tin.

💭 peek at the thought

he looks like he wants to say something but I just want the world to stop.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:28

Drink the broth. Small sips. The water's for after.

press the broth mug into her hand, steadying it with mine until her fingers close around the tin

💭 peek at the thought

She's burning through whatever reserves she has left. The shaky hand tells me more than the thermometer did this morning. Broth first — salt, warmth, something her body can use without fighting.

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

🌿 Jenny07:29

Okay. Just a minute.

take a tiny, careful sip of the warm broth, the steam hitting my parched face.

💭 peek at the thought

if i close my eyes i might actually wake up with the fever gone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:29

Take your time.

sit back on the stool, elbows on knees, watching her drink without staring

💭 peek at the thought

Good. That's good. She's taking it. Let her set the pace — pushing just makes her dig in. The broth'll settle her stomach enough for water, maybe the antibiotics if she hasn't thrown up the last dose.

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

🌿 Jenny07:31

Is the radio... still just static?

swallow the liquid slowly, eyes tracking the shadows on the ceiling beams.

💭 peek at the thought

the silence is too heavy, even with the waves hitting the dock.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:32

Quiet since noon. Spanish boat called twice, no answer. Supply boat frequency dead. Trust frequency dead. Barometer's 1009 and falling.

reach over and brush a damp strand of hair off her forehead, hand lingering a second longer than necessary

💭 peek at the thought

She's tracking the supply boat in her head the same way I am. Three days out if the captain kept his word. The radio's been quiet since the Spanish longliner — nothing on 2182, nothing on the trust frequency. She knows that. She's asking anyway.

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

🌿 Jenny07:33

It always drops before something.

squeeze the warm mug with both hands, the throb in my ankle synchronizing with my heartbeat.

💭 peek at the thought

four days until the boat, and the island feels like it's getting smaller.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:33

Could be a front. Could be nothing. Dock's sound, dinghy's tied hard, shutters battened. We've rode out worse in this cottage.

stand and move to the radio shelf, flip the squelch open just enough to hear the hiss — proof it's alive — then let it settle back to monitoring

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. Barometer's been sliding all afternoon — 1011 this morning, 1009 now. Could be nothing. Could be the front the longliner was running from. Either way the dock's holding, the dinghy's secured with double lines, and the cottage has taken worse. She's fishing for reassurance or she's fishing for the truth. I'll give her the second.

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

🌿 Jenny07:37

I need to check the tank tomorrow.

lean back against the pillows, the heat from the tin sinking into my palms.

💭 peek at the thought

I hope it's just a front. I can't handle another storm right now.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:37

I'll check it at first light. You rest.

pull the blanket up around her shoulders, tucking it careful around the bandaged ankle

💭 peek at the thought

She's already planning tomorrow. The fever hasn't touched that part of her — the part that catalogues what needs doing and assigns herself to it. Tank's fine at 397 litres, but she'll want eyes on it anyway. Better I go. She shouldn't be on the ladder, not with the ankle, not with the fever.

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.