The Prison Healer

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of illness.

Later that night, Kiva wakes to find Jaren at her bedside. Kiva demands to know why he is there, and Jaren reminds her that she almost died. He wants to know why Kiva would sacrifice herself for someone she does not know. Kiva evades his inquiry, but when Tipp arrives and demands to know the same thing, she relents. Kiva does not tell Tipp about Cresta’s threat to kill him, but she does tell him that she plans to survive the Trials. Jaren asks her again why she risked her life, while Naari and Tipp look on expectantly.

Jaren helps Kiva to Tilda’s bedside, where Kiva tells them, “[Tilda] represents everyone I’ve tried to save over the years. Everyone I’ve failed to save over the years. It’s not just one life to me—it’s all of them, and they all matter” (138). Kiva means what she says, but she is also concealing her other motive—that she hopes to be rescued along with Tilda when her family arrives. Tipp tells her that the other patients with the stomach virus are declining, and three more have died.