Julia’s Reviews > The Covenant of Water > Status Update

2/2 (cont) She stays there listening to the burbling mantra, the chant that never ceases, repeating its message that all is one. What she thought was her life is all _maya_, all illusion, but it is one shared illusion. And what else can she do but go on

This is the covenant of water: that they’re all linked inescapably by their acts of commission and omission, and no one stands alone

Elsie was, he thought, without blemishes on the outside. Flaw-less. Her scars, her burns, and her contractures were all on the inside, invisible... unless one gazed into her eyes: then it was like looking into a still pond and gradually making out the sunken car with its trapped occupants at the bottom. You're not alone, he wanted to say. Elsie met his gaze and didn't look away.

She feels a fist unclench in her chest - it’s been there ever since Digby showed up at Triple Yem, a lifetime ago.

Every family has secrets, but not all secrets are meant to deceive. What defines a family is not blood, molay, but the secrets they share.

4/4 Meanwhile, having heard the call to battle, the rogue mercenaries (neutrophils), armed to the teeth, stand ready.
At the first scent of spilled blood-any blood, from friend or foe— these mercenaries will go on a killing frenzy ...

3/4 The same veterans of prior typhoid campaigns also assemble a biological-warfare platoon (B lymphocytes) who hastily manufacture a one-of-a-kind boiling oil (antibodies) to pour over the castle wall; it will melt the typhoid intruders' shields, while not harming others.

2/3 The few aging veterans of previous battles with typhoid (memory T-lymphocytes) are roused from their beds, summoned to hastily teach untested conscripts the specific typhoid-grappling skills needed, and then to arm them with custom lances designed solely to latch onto and pierce the typhoid shield—in essence, the veterans clone their younger selves.

She had launched right into inflammation, the body's first response to any threat, the common denominator of all disease. In minutes she had drawn them into the thick of a battle: the invaders (typhoid bacteria) are spotted by the hilltop sentries (macrophages), who send signals back to the castle (the bone marrow and lymph nodes). 1/3

I used to be frightened of the sick. Now, we’re all so focused on disease that sometimes the person suffering barely registers … I think all doctors have the illusion that we have some sort of bargain with God. We care for the sick and are spared in return.