Late one night in 1922 Cochin, Rune leaves his clinic and pauses by the sea. A blind leper passes, and Rune momentarily feels embodied in the man, triggering a nondual awareness in which separateness dissolves. The experience quiets his inner turmoil. Found by his watchman at dawn, Rune soon acts on this revelation.

He gives away his furniture, stores instruments with Salomon Halevi, and retreats to Bethel Ashram under BeeYay Achen’s guidance. After seven months, he travels by canoe to an abandoned leprosy lazaretto deep in the backwaters. Exploring the ruined compound, he finds a skeleton at the gate and takes it as a sign to restore the place.

Startled one night by two lepers, Sankar and Bhava, Rune invites them to share coffee and shelter. They return to help rebuild, recounting how stigma exiled them from their families. Rune resolves not to fear contagion, names the place Saint Bridget’s Leprosarium after Sister Birgitta, and begins repairs. With supplies funneled by the toddy tapper Mathachen, more residents arrive and work begins in earnest.

Nearby, the affluent planter T. Chandy collapses with an alcohol-withdrawal seizure; at Leelamma’s plea, Rune treats him and advises gradual Lenten tapering. Grateful, Chandy tours the site, confirms termite and flood damage, and later donates seedlings and a detailed orchard plan, encouraging self-sufficiency. Friendship grows, with Sunday dinners and Easter hospitality strengthening ties.

As support arrives—Halevi ships surgical tools; Paradesi Jews fund a brick kiln; a Malmö Lutheran mission backs a sawmill and carpentry; Mr. Shaw sends cows and lumber—Rune establishes a clinic and performs hand operations. With no cure for leprosy, he teaches injury prevention: partner inspections, frequent casting, and padded, strapped tools. Grim incidents—a severed finger unnoticed, a dislocated ankle borne cheerfully—illustrate neuropathic numbness and the deforming collapse of feet, underscoring continuing challenges.