sun and snow and sea
On Drum it's always winter. Dr. Kureha likes that. The cold air is stimulating. It keeps her young and vigorous, as her patients discover when they try to crawl away.
She no longer has her little apprentice trotting round after her. She's kept busy with her work, the new government, everything that people need her for.
Sometimes she just needs a winter morning on her own, with her flask of plum wine keeping her company.
She can see the snow-tossed sea from the castle windows.
Each new morning, she knows that Chopper's out there on the ocean, and she smiles.