Baldwin has served as the physician to Hile’s household for decades, tending illnesses, setting bones, and watching children grow into adults. His presence is steady and familiar, marked by careful hands, measured speech, and a professional discretion that has earned deep trust. Baldwin knows the rhythms of the family as well as their ailments, and he carries their histories quietly, without judgment.
Time has strengthened his loyalty rather than dulled it. Baldwin’s attachment to Hile and his children goes beyond obligation. He feels responsible for their well-being in ways that cannot be written into any oath. When crises pass, he remains. When others leave, he stays. This constancy has made him indispensable and, in many ways, invisible.
Baldwin values restraint. He avoids politics, limits his opinions, and prefers certainty to speculation. Healing, to him, is an act of patience rather than heroism. He believes that doing his work well is contribution enough. For most of his life, that belief has held.
As wider forces begin to press inward, Baldwin finds that neutrality offers less protection than it once did. Knowledge he carries, access he has long taken for granted, and loyalty he never questioned all begin to attract attention. The choices ahead will not ask for his skill alone. They will ask him to decide where his responsibility ends.
For a man accustomed to working quietly behind the scenes, Baldwin faces a reckoning he cannot treat or postpone. The cost of remaining loyal may finally require him to act, rather than simply endure.