Winter settles firmly over Freedom Hollow, frost gathering on the edges of every windowpane. Above the clinic, Kaylynn Langerak keeps the Doc’s small apartment in order. She moves briskly through the space with a broom and cloth, determined to keep the place feeling lived-in rather than merely used. When her work is finished, she lingers.
Doc Lothario appears at the top of the stairs not long after, vest half-buttoned, expression already knowing. What begins as a passing remark turns easily into something more familiar between them, Kaylynn making a “house call” of her own before returning downstairs, leaving the doctor in notably high spirits.
Below, the clinic is alive with activity. Vidcund Curious works steadily at his table, surrounded by bottles, powders, and handwritten notes. He measures with care, crafting tonics for winter coughs, salves for chapped hands, and other mixtures whose purpose he explains only when asked directly.
Patients come throughout the day, breath still visible in the air as they step inside. Peter Ottomas with aching joints, Jennifer Burb seeking relief for one of the girls’ fevers, Alvin Futa needing something for a lingering chill. Coins are exchanged, remedies dispensed, and Doc offering confidence as much as cure.
By afternoon, Jan Tellerman arrives. She carries tension that seems to sit in her shoulders and spine, her posture too rigid to be comfortable. Doc listens as she explains, nodding before gesturing toward the examination table.
His hands are skilled as he works to ease the tightness from her back and shoulders. What begins as treatment slowly becomes something much more personal. Jan exhales, tension unwinding under his touch, her composure softening just enough to reveal the strain she carries.
“Dinner,” Doc says when she rises, as though it were the next step in her treatment. “The Dining Room. This evening.”
That night, the warmth of the Dining Room replaces the sharp cold outside. Conversation comes easily, and when the evening draws to a close, neither seems inclined to end it just yet.
Outside, they pause beneath the dim glow of lantern light, and when Doc suggests returning to the apartment above the clinic, Jan does not refuse.
