The Prison Healer

Kiva remains in bed for four days before she recovers enough to return to work. Kiva is uneasy because the stomach sickness is getting worse, and she does not know how to treat it properly or find out where it came from. Jaren visits often when he is not working, and Kiva puts him to work helping the patients. Kiva knows that if the rebels do not come to free her before the next trial, she will need to rely on Mirryn’s amulet. Kiva decides to focus on solving the mystery of the stomach sickness because she has no control over the next trial. All her treatments for the virus are ineffective, so she, Naari, Tipp, and Jaren brainstorm possible connections between the patients, trying and failing to determine a commonality. Tipp reminds Kiva that her trial is in four days, but Kiva tells him that four days is enough time to begin investigating the illness.

Kiva asks Naari to get permission from Warden Rooke for her to visit the quarries, which are beyond the first wall of the prison. Kiva is shocked when Jaren tells Naari that she must escort Kiva, but Naari does not rebuke Jaren for his impudence. Kiva gives Naari a look, wondering whether Naari and Jaren have a romantic relationship and if that protects him from being punished. When Jaren escorts him back to the cell block, Naari asks Kiva what her earlier odd look was about, then explains that she would never have an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner. Naari offers to help Kiva finish her work so that Kiva can rest, and Kiva is bewildered by this kindness, for no guard has never been helpful to her before.

Naari and Kiva walk to the quarry to investigate the stomach virus, reasoning that the first prisoners to contract the virus were quarry workers. Just as Naari and Kiva step outside the first gate, Warden Rooke asks to have a word with Naari. It is raining, so they go into the stables. While waiting for Naari and Rooke to finish talking, Kiva pets a horse.

The stablemaster, Raz, discreetly gets Kiva’s attention. Raz is Kiva’s link to the outside world; he smuggles notes to her and, more rarely, smuggles notes out of the prison. Now, he gives Kiva a note that reiterates her family’s insistence that Kiva keep Tilda alive and that they are coming. Kiva is furious. Kiva scribbles a note in response, telling her sister that Tilda is sick and needs to be rescued immediately; she also reveals that she is now acting as Tilda’s Champion in the trials. Kiva gives the note to Raz just as Rooke and Naari approach.

Kiva and Naari walk to the quarry, and Kiva goes to the most populated area to take samples. The guards overseeing the quarry workers beat them with canes and whips whenever their work slows. As Kiva is taking samples, Cresta approaches and antagonizes her, even with Naari beside her. As Naari and Kiva leave, Naari is perplexed by Cresta’s hatred of Kiva. Kiva explains that because she follows Rooke’s orders, Cresta hates her. Then Kiva shares that she kept Cresta alive when she first arrived, even though Cresta wanted to die.

Tipp has caught five rats so that Kiva can use them to test her samples. In the infirmary, Kiva begins dosing the rats. When Jaren arrives, Kiva is shocked by his rough appearance. He has been in a fight but is reluctant to speak about it. As she tends to his wounds, she tells him about her time in the quarry. Jaren explains that he did not like how someone spoke about Kiva, and the person’s friends fought him for defending her. Kiva asks him if the offending person was Cresta, and Jaren confirms that it was. Kiva is angry with Jaren for defending her.

Kiva tells him that because Cresta is the leader of the prison rebels, he was foolish to get involved. She orders him not to fight her battles for her, because she has dealt with the situation for 10 years. Jaren offers to stand beside her while she fights her battles, and Kiva struggles between her longing for his companionship and her knowledge that such a connection can only bring pain and loss. Tipp comes back, and Kiva is relieved at the interruption.

When Tilda stops breathing, Kiva resuscitates her via chest compressions. Kiva still does not know what ails Tilda, but with this latest crisis, she decides to stay in the infirmary rather than going to the prison farms to take more samples. Mot visits and gives her some ideas to help speed up the incubation period in the rats she is testing. Mot also shares that a prisoner named Grendel has been asked to stoke the second furnace because of the epidemic. Mot surprises her by making a waxy protective salve that she can put on her skin to protect her from the fire.

When everyone leaves the infirmary, Kiva is overcome by her anxiety over the Trial by Fire, which will take place the next day. She sits with Tilda, holds her hand, and begins talking to her. Kiva tells Tilda the story of how her parents first met. When her father was an apprentice healer, he visited the capital, where his purse was stolen. He chased the thief, Kiva’s mother, but when he saw her, it was love at first sight. Kiva’s mother escaped while he gaped at her. Kiva’s father was desperate to find her, so he went to the docks at night, where he was attacked and left for dead. Kiva’s mother saved his life, and then the two fell in love and lived happily for many years.

Kiva ends the story and encourages Tilda to live because many people out in the world love her. Kiva’s story has also reminded Kiva to fight, because “her family was waiting for her. They were coming for her… She refused to allow her story to end before that day came” (200).