Chapter 16: The Mothers' Clinic

Freya's POV

Lorna kept a clinic for mothers on the first morning of every week.

Every woman in Redwater with a baby or a bump went to the infirmary.

They drank her tea, and they left lighter.

I knew, because I had gone myself, for two years.

The seer smelled the camp's basket at dawn and put it down very carefully.

"Sleep-root," she said. "A pinch for a colicky infant."

She tapped the cup.

"A whole cup puts a grown wolf under until noon."

"That's why the sentries slept," Hoyt said.

"It's also why the Alpha's cold got no better," Trudy said.

We all looked at her.

"Well, she gave him tea every day," Trudy said. "For his health."

I turned the chair around.

"Put the basket in the van," I said. "We're going to the infirmary."

The clinic was full.

Thirty women sat on the benches along the white walls, with babies in their laps.

Lorna stood at the center in her gown, pouring.

She saw me in the doorway, and her face went perfectly kind.

"Freya," she said. "You're out in the cold. Come in. Let me look at you."

Every head turned.

I rolled in over the clean floor, with Trudy behind me and the seer on her stick.

I stopped in the middle of the room.

"I came to thank you," I said.

Lorna smiled.

"For the child," I said. "You saved that little girl at the camp. I watched.

"You've got the best hands in this valley, and I want every woman here to know it."

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