“Shanti, are you awake?” Lolo was trying not to cry.

“Mm-hm,” Shanti replied sleepily.

“Shanti, we lost someone.”

“What?”

“We lost one of the elders.” A single tear dripped down Lolo’s nose.

Shanti, no longer sleepy, sat up. “Oh, Lolo! I’m so sorry! It’s not your fault. You know that, right?”

Huo Lohse nodded. “I know, but it’s still just… it’s just….”

“It’s just awful-feeling,” Shanti finished for her and Lolo nodded. “I remember losing my first patient about four years ago. She was really old. She caught a cold, and her body decided it didn’t want to fight any longer and gave up. I knew it wasn’t my fault that she died, but it still feels terrible.” Shanti opened her arms to offer Lolo a hug which was accepted almost immediately. “We need to make arrangements for his body to be properly dealt with. I don’t know how the Bear Tribe deals with death, so it might be advisable to talk to Philige.” Shanti released Lolo. “How are the patients in the other room?”

“I just finished a round right before coming in here to find you.”

“Good. I will stay awake here in case of an emergency. Tell Haleit where you are going and ask him to hold the fort for a bit, and then go find Philige. It will do you good to get some fresh air anyway.”

Lolo wiped her eyes dry and left.

She found Philige sitting on a bench in The Great Hall with his head resting on his arms on the desk in front of him. He looked exhausted, but this couldn’t wait. Sitting down on the bench next to him, Lolo rested her hand on his back and rubbed gently to try to wake him up as kindly as possible.

“Hey Lolo,” he said rubbing his eyes. “What brings you here?”

“I have some bad news.”

“I was afraid of that. What happened?”

“We lost a patient this morning.”

“You mean-”

“Yes. He’s dead.”

Philige slouched back on the bench to process her statement. “Who was it?”

“One of the elders. I’m not sure what his name was.”

“Are you ok?” He turned to face her.

“I’ve been better, but I’ll be alright…. I’m here to ask you how to deal with the body.”

“Right. I’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He leaned his head to the side to stretch the kink out of his neck, and Lolo caught sight of a large bruise forming at his collar.

“You’re not taking care of anything, Philige.” She put her hand on his forehead. “But you are coming with me.”

Lolo had to help Philige walk to the east corridor. He’d had a rough, stressful night making sure that everything was in order to quarantine the Leader’s Lodge off and orchestrating procedures to care for the sick and check on the confined elders. Between a lack of sleep and a raging fever, he was struggling to stay conscious. Lolo managed to get him into the bed next to Standig before he completely collapsed, and then busied herself putting cold compresses on his forehead and larger bruises and wrapping him carefully in a warm blanket.

Haleit was extremely glad to see her return. “Lolo, while you were gone, we had five more people walk in sick. You just put Philige in the last available bed in this room.”

Lolo looked around. Haleit was right, they were packed. All eighty-four beds were occupied. They only had a dozen beds in the second room, and four of them were occupied. Huo Lohse pulled Haleit outside.

“Haleit, I need you to locate four guards and a stretcher to carry a body out of the second room to have it buried.” Haleit’s eyes widened, but he didn’t question her. “Any new patients will need to be moved into the second room, so please hurry.” Haleit didn’t need to be told twice.

Once Haleit was gone, Lolo made her rounds of the first room settling in the new arrivals, refreshing compresses, tucking people into their blankets, and dishing out broth to the handful of people that were awake. She then moved to the second room and helped Shanti get comfortable. Matron and the elder were both sound asleep, so Lolo let them be. She then moved to the courtyard and started washing the mountain of dirtied cloths and bandages they’d already accumulated. She paused only when three more patients arrived, and was grateful to find that Haleit had been successful in his mission.

“Haleit, I have another task for you,” Lolo said after another group of four people arrived at the east corridor around lunchtime.

“Let me guess. We need more beds.” Like her, Haleit looked exhausted.

“We’re down to two open beds. It’s kind of an emergency.”

Haleit sighed. “Where do you want me to set more beds up?”

Lolo looked around and saw a large storage room on the other side of the courtyard. “Go see what’s in that room.”

Lolo was stirring the giant pot full of boiling kudzu tea when Haleit returned.

“That storage room can probably fit thirty or so beds once I finish pushing all the stuff over to one side.”

“I don’t know how I’d manage without you Haleit," Lolo smiled. "Do it. The sooner, the better.”

Haleit was just setting up the first bed in the new room when a wave of eight more patients arrived. Lolo put the sickest two of the bunch in the two available beds in the second room and then ran to help Haleit get the third room set up. Once six beds had been made, Lolo ran back to bring the patients to them.

“Haleit, finish setting up the beds in here, and then take a few hours to get some sleep. You look like you’re about to collapse.” He nodded and Lolo set off to make her rounds.

There were now enough patients that, by the time she’d finished tending to everyone, she immediately needed to start over at the beginning. There wasn’t any time left over to wash used items or reheat tea. She was scrambling.

Haleit woke up a little after midnight to find that twelve more people had arrived while he slept, and Lolo had fallen asleep in the courtyard boiling tea. “Lolo, I think it’s your turn to go lie down.”

“Do you know how to take care of everyone?”

“I’ve read through your notes and watched you work. I think I will manage for a little while. Besides, almost everyone is asleep.”

“Let me walk through one last time so everything is in order, and then I will go lie down.”

“If you insist.”

Lolo felt like she was sleep-walking as she refreshed compresses and pulled blankets over exposed shoulders. She was happy to see that Matron had turned a corner and was able to drink a hearty bowlful of broth before going back to sleep.

“Huo Lohse Lang,” Matron looked her caregiver over, “you look like you haven’t slept in days."

Haleit, who had been following Lolo on her rounds chimed in, “that’s because she hasn’t.”

Matron shook her head. “Foolish child. You can’t take care of other people if you yourself are not taken care of.”

Lolo looked at Matron sleepily. “You’re right as usual, Matron. I’m on my way to bed now.”

Satisfied, Matron smiled at her and then laid down to go back to sleep.

Lolo got up to check on the people in the third room on her way to bed, but she only made it about halfway across the courtyard before sleep claimed her without her consent.

When Lolo woke up, she was lying in a bed in the storage room and it was nearly noon the next day.

“Good morning, sleepy-head,” Haleit teased.

“Oh no! What happened? How long did I sleep? How is everyone doing?"

Haleit laughed. “You literally fell asleep on your feet and earned some bruises of your own.”

Lolo was suddenly aware of the aches on her right arm, shoulder, and temple where she had hit the cobblestone ground. “How are you doing, Haleit? How are the patients?”

“You got us through the worst of the night, Lolo. After you collapsed, I got you into bed, and the rest of the night was pretty quiet, though some of the elders have been having a hard time. But no new patients except those two,” he pointed at Zhongyan and Haowan in the beds on her left. "They came in this morning.”

“How are they?”

“Miserable as you might expect, but otherwise they are doing fine. I’ve actually got some good news for you. Two people’s fevers broke this morning!”

“Really?! Who?”

“Emzig, that first maid who came in sick, and Ernkit.” Haleit grinned.

“Where are they now?”

“Emzig is still tired, but she offered to do laundry for us because it’s something she can do while sitting down. Ernkit has been helping her hang things up to dry between resting. I’ve been tending to patients, but we are getting low on water. If you could take over again, I can resume my water carrier assignment.”

Lolo smiled. “I feel much better after getting some sleep. I can take things from here."

"I'll leave you to it then," Haleit said and left.

Huo Lohse looked around to do some math. They had managed to squeeze thirty-four beds into the storage room for a total of one hundred and thirty beds. With Zhongyan and Haowan taking Emzig and Ernkit's places, they still had one hundred and twelve patients. Eighteen beds left. She took a deep breath and got to work. The faster people got better, the more beds she would have to help new patients.

Lolo started her day by making rounds to check in on everyone. Four of the new patients from the night before were elders, so she started with them. Of the four, one seemed to be doing really well, two were a little lethargic and needed some help reducing their fevers, and one wouldn’t wake up.

"Ma'am?" Lolo tried to wake her gently, but she was completely unresponsive. "Ma'am, I'm going to check your bruising alright?" She knew she wouldn't get an answer, but being courteous felt important just the same. Lolo folded her blanket down to check her abdomen. One bruise on her belly looked a little extra swollen, so Lolo put a cold compress on it before rolling her slightly to the side to check her back. Her back was completely covered in dark, puffy bruises. Lolo had never seen a case this bad, and she felt a returning sense of panic. Leveraging her whole body weight, she rolled the elder onto her stomach, being careful to make sure her head was positioned so she could breath. She put a thick layer of cold compresses across her entire back. Pulling the blanket back up, Lolo ran to consult with Shanti.

"Shanti, are you awake?" Lolo rubbed her friend's hand.

"Hm?" Shanti started to wake up. "Lolo?"

"Yeah, hi. I'm sorry to wake you, Shanti, but I need to talk to you."

Shanti rubbed some of the sleep from her eyes. "What's up?"

"I have another elder who isn't doing well. I can't wake her up, and her back is just one big bruise. I'm worried that I might lose her."

"Are the bruises on her back swollen?"

"Very."

"She must be bleeding heavily then."

"What should I do, Shanti?"

"Lolo, there isn't a lot you can do beyond trying to feed her fluids, keeping her bruises cold, and doing your best to help her be as comfortable as possible."

Lolo nodded and ran back to the elder, but by the time she got there, the elder was already gone. An icy numbness flooded Lolo's body as she looked for Haleit to ask for assistance in having the body removed. How many more people was she going to lose?

By the end of the day, all one hundred and thirty beds were occupied despite five more people recovering from their fevers. Most of the new patients were council elders with more severe symptoms-- some had been carried in on stretchers by the guards assigned to check in on them. Lolo assigned those who were recovered and able-bodied to put another room of twenty beds together and then resume laundry and dishes. She taught Emzig how to make kudzu tea and gave Ernkit the assignment of distributing water, broth and bread to everyone awake enough to eat it. Haleit was assigned to keep an eye on the crop of kudzu in addition to his water and firewood fetching duties. Lolo ran herself ragged changing compresses and distributing tea to patients needing fever relief.

It was another sleepless night, during which she lost an additional five elders to the Purple Fever and a twenty-something year-old maid that appeared to have developed an internal hemorrhage. With each patient lost, Lolo felt herself becoming increasingly numb. She didn't have time to process her grief; she had to keep moving.

When morning broke, so did more fevers. Lolo taught the recovered patients how to change compresses and assigned two of them to move behind her and distribute medicinal tea.

Another huge wave of patients came in around lunchtime including three more elders and the last of the trainees that hadn't gone on the hunting trip. Once again, the east corridor was nearly out of beds, so Lolo put people to work adding beds wherever they could find room. They managed to squeeze an additional sixteen beds into the rooms already in use by pushing the beds as close together as possible, and then they found a sort of large canopy tent to set up over yet another swath of beds, bringing the total to one hundred and ninety-six beds all together. At this point, people assigned to putting beds together were having to loot rooms from all around the Leader's Lodge for blankets, pillows, and mattresses.

By dinnertime, the Purple Fever had claimed another four lives, and even more patients had arrived.

"There can't be too many people left in the Leader's Lodge that are healthy," Lolo commented to Shanti.

"Do you think that maybe we should check on the rest of the lodge? Make sure no one is stuck somewhere too sick to make it here on their own?" Shanti suggested.

Matron, who was feeling much better with only a mild residual fever, turned to Lolo and asked, "how many people have come in, Lolo?"

"I'm not even sure anymore, Matron." Lolo was exhausted with no sleep for the last day and a half. "We have between one hundred and sixty and one hundred and seventy patients right now. Fifteen people have recovered, and we've lost some people too-- twelve so far."

"That's nearly two hundred people total!" Shanti did the math. "Matron, do you have a more precise number of people currently staying at the Leader's Lodge?"

Matron closed her eyes to run some numbers through her head. "Bear Tribe Leader Tragen took a party of ten people plus himself. Before he left, we were feeding two hundred and forty-ish people. So there should be two hundred and thirty-ish left."

"So only thirty to forty people. Lolo, we should make sure those people are ok." Shanti prompted.

"Right. I'll send some people to find them."

The group Lolo sent to look for any remaining people returned with twenty new patients and grim news.

"Lolo," Haleit was panting as he helped a young servant onto a bed. "There's no one left. We brought back the people that are still alive, but we also found fifteen bodies of people that just died alone in their rooms, including Abgriffen."

"At least we don't have to worry about running out of beds anymore. We'll worry about the bodies later. Let's get these people settled." Lolo sat down next to the servant Haleit had brought in as Standig wandered over. "Standig! You should be in bed. Let me check your fever." She stood up and reached her hand out to feel his forehead, but he grabbed her arm.

"Lolo, it's Philige," Standig choked. "I can't wake him up."

"Well, the good news is, he doesn't appear to be bleeding out," Lolo told Standig after thoroughly checking over Philige's bruises. "The bad news is, he is dehydrated and his fever is out of control."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we can do something to help him, but we need to be quick about it. I will be right back."

Lolo ran to the courtyard to collect some medicine and returned with a large cup and a spoon. Carefully setting everything down, she worked to prop Philige into a slouchy, semi-seated position.

"I'm going to have to spoon-feed him the medicine. Standig, I know you are still sick yourself, but I might need your help to tilt his head back."

Standig moved to sit on Philige's bed and held his brother so Lolo could drip one spoonful at a time down his throat.

"There. Let's see if that helps. Standig, thank you; you can go back to bed now. I'll take it from here."

Standig moved so Lolo could lay Philige back down and refresh the cold cloths on his bruises and forehead. Once she'd finished tucking Philige in, she moved to get Standig situated.

"Lie down, Standig.” Standig resisted, so she grabbed his arms and pushed him toward the bed next to Philige. “Look, I know you are worried, but you will be better able to help him if you can recover first."

Standig knew that she was right and obeyed before really looking at his friend for the first time in a few days. "Lolo, sit down.”

“I need to go monitor Philige.”

“Lolo. Sit. Down.”

She sat on the edge of Standig’s bed confused. “What is it?”

His hand moved to brush her hair behind her right ear. “You have a big bruise right here. Are you sick?”

“Oh, that! No. That’s just a regular bruise.” Lolo tried to laugh but was honestly too tired to do so. “I took a bad fall a day or two ago…. I can’t remember exactly when. Anyway, rest assured. I’m not sick.” She smiled at him and got up to return to Philige.

It took several doses of medicine to bring Philige’s fever down, but he remained unconscious even with his fever reduced. In the meantime, Lolo’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. As another morning's light came, she hadn’t slept in nearly two days-- a very intense two days. She finally collapsed while sitting on the floor next to Philige's bed, her head lying awkwardly next to his shoulder.

Standig, on the other hand, was up and about as his fever had broken shortly after midnight. He’d been tasked with helping to distribute soup to everyone and help them eat it if necessary. When he returned to check on Philige, he found his brother sitting up, awake and distressed, trying and failing to wake Huo Lohse up.

“Lolo?” Standig patted her on the back, but she was out cold. “Lolo? Hey. Let’s get you into a bed, huh? You’ll be more comfortable.” Standig turned to Philige to ask, “can you tell me what happened?”

Philige shook his head slightly. “I woke up, and she was already like this. Is she ok?”

“I think so. She hasn’t gotten much sleep the last few days, and I think it finally caught up with her.” It took most of his limited energy to do so, but Standig managed to pick Lolo up and deposit her in the same bed next to Philige that he had just escaped that morning. “How are you feeling, Philige? You gave us a bit of a scare there for a while.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Well, we couldn’t wake you up for a long time. Lolo took care of you almost exclusively all night. She really had to work hard to bring your fever down. By the way,” Standig said while dishing out a bowl of soup, “this is for you. It might not taste the best, all the cooks are sick, but do your best to drink it all anyway.”

“Thanks.” Philige accepted the bowl. “How is everyone else?”

Standig sat down on the edge of Philige’s bed to give a status report. “Literally everyone in the Leader’s Lodge got Purple Fever except Lolo and Haleit. We’ve had a little over thirty people die."

"Everyone?! Thirty people dead?!" Philige wasn't prepared for such high morbidity and mortality rates.

"Mn." Standig paused to allow Philige a moment to process things. "About half of the people that died were council elders. The good news is that everyone else seems to be recovering. So far, about fifty people’s fevers have broken including mine. Most of them broke in the last twelve hours. Lolo’s been putting us to work helping out with everyone who is still sick. We owe Haleit and Lolo a lot. For a while there, it was just the two of them taking care of everyone.”

Philige's head was spinning trying to absorb all the information. "How long has it been since the first case was reported?"

"Four days."

"So today is what, Tuesday?"

"Mn."

"Any word from the hunting party?"

"Oh… no. I'd completely forgotten about them."

"Standig, go to The Great Hall. If no one is there, go to the west end of the lodge to see if they are camped outside the borders. I had signs posted to indicate a state of quarantine. Hopefully they paid attention to them."

Standig got up and tucked the blanket more securely around Lolo's shoulders before he left. "Make sure you finish your soup."

Standig didn't find anyone by The Great Hall. In fact, the entirety of the Leader's Lodge was completely abandoned, except, of course, the east corridor. In the morning mist, the abandoned lodge was a bit creepy. Standig felt his senses heighten as he made his way to the end of the west corridor. Every squeak of the wooden planks beneath him, every chirp of a morning bird, every flicker of movement caused by the barely-there gusts of wind, the smell of the campfire….

A campfire! Standig followed the smell to the edge of the corridor and then south into a thin patch of forest. As he approached the trees, he heard the familiar voices of Qingchi and Rensui and followed the sound to the edge of a small mountain steam.

"Hey guys!"

Both Qingchi and Rensui startled as the large figure that was Standig became visible through the thick mist.

"Standig? Boy are we glad to see you!" Rensui declared with a smile and clap on Standig's back.

"That's a gnarly bruise on your neck." Qingchi observed. "I take it that you were one of the people to get sick?"

Standig nodded but couldn't get any words out before the Lang brothers started assaulting him with questions.

"Guys!" Standig almost had to shout. "I promise to answer all of your questions. Let me start by saying that yes, all four of your brothers got sick, but they are all doing well, and I suspect that they will be back on their feet in a day or two. Lolo did not get sick as she's already had Purple Fever. She's been taking care of everyone for the past four days or so. She is exhausted and sleeping currently, but she is fine." Standig watched the tension release in the Lang boys' shoulders and jaws. "Before I give you the rest of the update, would you mind taking me to camp so I can tell everyone all at once?"

Qingchi and Rensui led Standig a little further down the mountain along the stream to a small campground. His uncle was sitting on a boulder, staring at the fire when Standig walked in.

"Standig?" The Bear Tribe Leader stood up to embrace his nephew, and Standig was reminded for the first time in a long time that, despite his faults, Tadellos did truly care about him in his own, strange way.

"Uncle, how are you all doing out here?"

"Fine, fine. You've been sick," Tadellos said with concern, spotting the bruises on Standig's neck and forearms.

"I'm fine now. I came to give you a status report. Then, I am needed back at the lodge." Standig went on to give the same report to his uncle that he had given to Philige.

Jadu sat quietly, listening to the conversation from the side, but he appeared to flinch when he heard that everyone at the lodge, except those with previous exposure to Purple Fever, had gotten sick. When Standig finished his report to his uncle, Standig turned to address Jadu directly. "Shanti is recovering well. She's been advising Lolo from her bed."

The growing worry in Jadu’s face relaxed a little as he nodded his appreciation for the update on his sister.

"What about the crown prince?" Tadellos asked, his voice matter-of-fact and lacking the same concern from earlier.

"Philige turned a corner this morning. He should recover in the next couple of days." Tadellos returned to his boulder by the fire. "Uncle, I'm afraid that, for your safety, I have to ask all of you to stay camped out here until everyone recovers. I will come to collect you all then."

Tadellos nodded while staring vacantly at the flames, and Standig took that to mean that he was excused. Nodding to his fellow trainees, he returned to the lodge to report to his brother.