JANE Snake's Arc

Chapter 2 of 8

Jane set the journal on her kitchen table and looked at Nathan across from her. The leather binding was still warm from where she'd held it against her chest on the walk home. She'd come back ready to show him what the old healer had given her, ready to tell him they finally had something the council couldn't ignore. But Nathan pulled a letter from his coat and set it between them. The seal was dried blood pressed with an H. "They moved this morning," he said. His voice was steady but his hands weren't. "The council claims I've been using my position to circumvent their authority. They want me to step down or submit the hospital plans for their approval." Jane opened the letter. The words were formal and final. They accused Nathan of undermining civic order. They demanded he choose between his seat and the hospital within three days. Jane looked at the journal, then at the letter. She'd walked home thinking the old healer's knowledge would be enough to change minds. Instead the council had made it simpler. They were forcing Nathan to surrender his position or abandon everything they'd built together. Outside the window, she could see the warning pole at the edge of the plateau where the old families marked their territory. Bones and rope, a reminder that some things in Holensnow didn't change through reason. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wooden box she'd been carrying since the day Nathan first believed in the hospital. Inside was the ring he'd given her when they'd agreed to build something that mattered more than safety. She set it on the table next to the journal. "We fight," she said. The words came out clear and cold. Nathan started to speak but she kept going. "Not for your seat. For the hospital. If they want to make this about power, we show them what power looks like when forty years of knowledge dies in three days." She picked up the journal and stood. "I'm taking this to the youngest council member tonight. If he's afraid of the others, I'll give him something bigger to be afraid of—being the one who let this knowledge disappear." Nathan looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. The choice was made. They weren't protecting what they had left. They were spending all of it.