Arguments began around the water barrels before the tents were dry.
A family who had walked from the lower town wanted clean water for everyone. A station soldier said the nearest barrels had been set aside for the injured. Both were tired, and neither thought the other had listened. The water line stopped while the families waited for someone to decide. A boy at the front held an empty cup in both hands. His mother had walked with him since the lower quarter and did not want him drinking from the river. The soldier said the injured had been given priority because the clinic wagon carried no clean supply of its own. They both looked at the barrels, then at Ning.
Ning carried blank sheets to the loss register and set them beside the barrel. “We’ll write down what each household needs. One person at a time. Check the spelling before I mark the page complete.”
A man near the end of the line asked if the water list would go to the Registry. Ning said the camp would keep it and send a copy to White Orchard with the household record. She would not hand over medical details to the station without a reason. The soldier who had been guarding the barrels looked at the injured people, then moved one barrel closer to Qinghe’s clinic tent. The others stayed in the general line. Ning gave the first cup to a man with a bandaged face, then asked the soldier…
