Once he was on the plane, Anden had no regrets about his decision. After a twelve-and-a-half-hour red-eye flight, he would have to arrive in the capital city of Espenia prepared to put his jade abilities on public display while facing skeptical and hostile foreign policymakers. It was more important that he be well rested and not fail his clan, his vocation, or his country than save a couple thousand dien.
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When Anden arrived at the Capita View Hotel, he was met by Dr. Martgen and Rigly Hollin, who sat down with him in the hotel restaurant. Dr. Martgen was obviously under a great deal of stress; he had dark hollows under his pale eyes, and his normally trim beard looked coarse and unkempt. He wore the brave but fearful expression of a man facing the firing squad. Martgen’s research into and championing of bioenergetic medicine had made him a pariah among many of his peers in the medical community, and if the legalization bill before the National Assembly failed, it would likely mean the end of his career.
Rigly Hollin, in contrast, was as excited and intensely focused as an athlete before competition. At times, Anden had to ask him to slow down or repeat himself simply to understand what he was saying. “This is great news for us, really great,” he declared. “Assemblyman Sonnen gave us exactly what we need, a public demonstration. Anyone can dismiss or discredit data in a report. They can’t argue against what people see with their own eyes. The ball is on our box line and it’s our rucket now.”
The sports reference was lost on Anden, who’d never developed an understanding or appreciation for the game of ruckets, but he was encouraged by the man’s optimism. Rigly Hollin was the vice president of the advertising and public relations firm WBH Focus. He was married to a Kekonese woman. During a trip to Janloon five years ago, she had encouraged her husband to seek out bioenergetic medical treatment for a sports injury that had plagued him for more than a decade. Amazed by the improvement he experienced, Hollin was disappointed to discover that the practice was not legally available in Espenia, except in conjunction with a few medical research programs. That was how he’d come in contact with Dr. Elan Martgen. Since then, Hollin’s company had partnered with Martgen and his colleagues to run a major campaign to raise awareness of bioenergetic medicine and push for its legalization. WBH Focus shot and ran a thirtyminute documentary on major television networks, publicized the results of Martgen’s research in national newspapers, and collected hundreds of thousands of signatures petitioning lawmakers.
All the funding for the effort came indirectly from the No Peak clan. Demphey Medical Research Center was a nonprofit institution dependent on government grants; it could never afford to pay for film shoots and ads in major newspapers. Every year, the Weather Man’s office issued a generous annual donation to the College of Bioenergetic Medicine, earmarked for cultural exchange and academic partnerships. The money, Kaul Shae had made abundantly clear, was meant for one purpose: promoting jade medicine in Espenia.
Martgen and Hollin explained to Anden that the demonstration would take place in a local private clinic that had agreed to a shortterm lease on available space. Imaging equipment would be available on-site. The Espenian Physicians Society would send observers, and Hollin had arranged for news reporters and cameramen to be present. Anden and the two other Kekonese doctors, who were due to arrive tomorrow, would see anyone who requested treatment. The patient list so far included a large number of interested legislators and journalists.
“I realize we’re asking a lot from you and your colleagues,” Dr. Martgen said worriedly. “I wish this wasn’t such a battle, but the Espenian Physicians Society is a powerful and conservative entity. It doesn’t change easily, especially when it comes to accepting influences from other countries and cultures.”
According to conversations Anden heard around the Kaul family dinner table, the Mountain clan was now bypassing the embargo on the Uwiwa Islands via subsidiary operations in East Oortoko run by their barukan allies. There were also signs it was trying to enter Espenia, which for many years had been No Peak’s greatest advantage. “As much as Ayt plays the anti-foreigner card in public, she knows the ROE is too big and important to leave to us,” Hilo had said. “It’s only a matter of time before the Mountain makes a move.”
Anden’s anxiety was rising, but he managed a smile. “I should get some sleep,” he said to Martgen and Hollin. “It sounds like I’m going to be busy.”
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Anden would later recall the two weeks he spent at the clinic in Adamont Capita as one of the most exhausting and professionally challenging periods of his career. He saw over two hundred patients personally. Dr. Timo and Dr. Yon saw even more than that, so in total roughly eight hundred people were treated. The ailments Anden encountered varied considerably. Some people had chronic pain, nagging injuries, ulcers, or wounds that he treated by increasing blood flow to the affected areas and stimulating healing. Others needed kidney stones or arterial plaque broken up with precise Channeling. Anden cut blood supply to a number of tumors and fibroids, preventing them from growing any larger. On several occasions, the work was purely diagnostic—unexplained illness or pain that required him to strain his Perception and search out some abnormality in the body that might then have to be more finely imaged using MRI or CT scans or treated with physical medicine.