Lindy Ginger's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Lindy Ginger came to Treeland to be a healer again, and on her first house call the child she was watching started throwing up inside a blanket fort. She had come north after burying a husband, a stillborn daughter, and three pregnancies that never made it that far. She picked Treeland off a map because no one there knew her name. She unpacked her bag in a small clinic and told herself she would start with easy work. Wound care. Broken bones. Nothing that could break her again. The house belonged to Kaya Bluebird and her two younger sisters. Lindy had already checked Kaya's pulse and the color under her fingernails. Kaya's stomach was knotted tight with worry over the girls in the fort, and worry was making her sick. Lindy pointed her down the hall. "Lie down," Lindy said. "I've got them." Kaya hesitated at the doorway, one hand flat against her belly. Then she went. The fort filled most of the front room, a patchwork of quilts and pillows stitched together with cushions. Lindy sat cross-legged outside it and listened. For a while there was only breathing. Then a groan. Then the sharp wet sound she knew. She lifted the front flap. Joy Ruby was curled on her side in a soaked shirt, dark hair stuck to her cheek. Elleanor Fuschia sat up beside her, denim jacket streaked, staring at her own hands like she couldn't figure out where to put them. "Sorry," Elleanor said. Flat. No follow-up. Joy didn't lift her head. "Bucket was too far." Lindy climbed in on her knees. She pressed the back of her hand to Joy's forehead, then Elleanor's. Warm, not burning. She checked Joy's pulse at the wrist. Steady. She counted breaths. "Neither of you is getting worse," she said. "Your stomachs are empty and angry. We're going to settle them." "How," Elleanor said. "Bath. Warm water, buttermilk, lavender, watermint. You'll sit in it. You'll drink small sips of the mint water. Your stomachs will quiet down." Joy opened one eye. "That works?" "On me it did." She drew the bath herself. She poured in the buttermilk, crushed the lavender between her palms, floated the watermint on top. She helped Elleanor out of the jacket, then eased Joy up by the shoulders. She kept her voice low and her hands sure. She did not think about the boy. She did not think about the family who used to know her name. When both girls were in the water, Joy exhaled for what sounded like the first time all day. Elleanor closed her eyes. Lindy sat on the tile beside the tub. Down the hall, Kaya was quiet. In the tub, the sisters were quiet. For the first time since she'd crossed into Treeland, Lindy's hands were doing what she came here to do. Then she heard Kaya cough, and the cough did not stop.