Dr. Martgen exchanged glances with his colleague, a younger, shorter man with curly hair, then turned back to Anden and said, “We’re hoping to invite a select group of jade healers, and we’d very much like you to be among them.”
“Most of the people we’ve met here don’t speak Espenian as well as you do,” said the younger doctor. “And to be frank, many of our colleagues aren’t convinced of the medical potential of bioenergetic jade. They don’t consider it as valid as the physical sciences and believe there’s little reason to study practices that have up until now been confined to a small, faraway island.”
“You could help us change their minds,” said Dr. Martgen.
Anden looked between the two men and understood now that he’d been approached because of his appearance and his part-Espenian ancestry. If the people at Demphey could see someone who looked Espenian and who spoke Espenian practicing what was viewed as an obscure and mysterious foreign healing art, it would go a long way toward advancing Dr. Martgen’s cause with whatever peers, superiors, or stakeholders he needed to impress.
“I’m happy to stay in contact,” Anden said in a noncommittal way.
“Please do think about it,” said Dr. Martgen, shaking Anden’s hand before rejoining the rest of his group as they were led away to whatever was next on their schedule. When they were gone, Anden studied the card for a moment before stowing it in his pocket.
Until now, he had not thought seriously about returning to visit Espenia and found the idea both unexpectedly appealing and vaguely uncomfortable. Upon returning to Janloon, Anden had come to the strange and sobering realization that he’d never lived in the city of his birth as an adult. In many ways, he’d spent the last year and a half reinventing himself. He was a medical student now, he had his own apartment in Old Town near the hospital, he was an uncle to three small children. Port Massy seemed far away, his years there almost like a dream, parts of it happy, others bittersweet, a few truly nightmarish. Sometimes he thought about the people he’d become close to there: his host family, Mr. and Mrs. Hian; Dauk Losun and his wife, Sana; his friends from relayball and the grudge hall. And Cory. He still thought about Cory, occasionally with active longing but more often with wistful curiosity, wondering what he was doing.
The Espenian doctors had extended an invitation to Anden not because of his nascent medical skills, but because of what he represented. It was the first time in his life that he could recall strangers viewing his mixed blood as an advantage, something desirable instead of unfortunate. At the clan party, Wen had told Anden his worth lay not in jade ability, but who he was as a person. He had not quite been able to internalize his sister-in-law’s encouragement, but he had not forgotten it either.
_______
Anden went to the Kaul house on Sixthday to speak to his cousins. The Pillar, the Weather Man, and the Horn were in a meeting behind closed doors, so Anden sat with his nephews on the living room sofa, reading picture books to them while he waited. Niko listened quietly, but Ru asked so many questions on every page that they barely got through a single story before Jaya woke from her nap in the other room, crying and grumpy. Anden loved the children, especially Niko, but couldn’t help but feel grateful that he would never have to be a parent himself.
When the door to the study opened and Juen Nu came out, Anden knocked and went in. Hilo was at his desk with his head propped heavily on one hand. The papers spread in front of him contained charts and numbers with highlighted notes in Shae’s handwriting. Anden couldn’t tell if the Pillar’s decidedly sullen expression was on account of being forced to study the dense information, or in response to the messages they conveyed. He glanced up. “What is it, Andy?”
Anden knew from tense dinner table conversation that the Mountain was throwing around its weight and spending heavily to squeeze No Peak from every direction. When Lan had been Pillar, Ayt Mada had waged a campaign to weaken No Peak by encroaching on its territories. Now their enemies were relying on money and the press instead of spies and street criminals. This time, however, Anden wasn’t a teenager waiting helplessly to join the war. He was an adult who’d been in the war already and had his own networks and influence.
“I want to take a trip back to Espenia,” he told his cousins.
After he explained his request, Hilo lit a cigarette and rubbed his eyebrow with his thumb. “Some people in the clan want us to pull out of that country altogether, not get even more tangled up over there.” Espenia was in the news all the time these days. The ROE was planning to expand its naval base on Euman Island to bolster its strength in the region against Ygutan. The decision had drawn considerable public opposition in Kekon.