Most of the people who showed up seemed willing to try anything that might help them, and happy to receive free healthcare, but Anden worked in the shadow of several Espenian doctors who came in and watched him suspiciously, making notes and scowling, sometimes interrogating the patients to make sure they were real and not planted actors. Anden fielded questions from reporters and tried to keep up a commentary for the video cameras in the room. He explained to observers that the Kekonese martial discipline of Channeling was the basis for all bioenergetic medicine, but in the medical field, the word was rarely used, as it encompassed several distinct branches of treatment, categorized depending on whether the purpose was to increase, decrease, or redirect energy, the speed and force at which this was done, and the body system that was being manipulated—vascular, neurological, and so on.
Anden had never used his jade abilities at such a sustained rate, day after day, except during the final Trials at Kaul Dushuron Academy, and even that had not felt as difficult. Each day he would arrive at the clinic before the sun was up, work all day, then return to his hotel room in the dark and collapse in exhaustion, only to rise in the morning and repeat the process. Several legislators and journalists who were treated by the Kekonese physicians, or who had friends or family members who’d come to the clinic, were so impressed that they were now public supporters of the legalization bill, which had become widely reported upon in the news. Word of the visiting Green Bone doctors had spread, and hundreds more people showed up at the clinic, hoping to get in, some of them standing outside on the sidewalk for hours. Most, unfortunately, had to be turned away, causing a convenient public outcry. “I came to Adamont Capita hoping to influence legislation, not work as a charity nurse,” Dr. Yon grumbled at one point, seeing the long line snaking outside the waiting room of the small clinic.
By the end of the two weeks, Anden felt as if his sense of Perception was so burned-out that the energy around him had smeared into a dim and indistinguishable blur in his mind, and he doubted he could muster the strength to Channel enough to stun a mouse. Dr. Timo and Dr. Yon were also worn-out, and although they were both passionate supporters of spreading jade medicine to the world, they intimated to Anden on more than one occasion that all this work had better be worth it. Perhaps, they mused aloud, the Weather Man of No Peak would be pleased enough by this effort that she would talk to the dean of the College of Bioenergetic Medicine about giving raises to certain members of the faculty.
Martgen and Hollin were ecstatic. “The vote on legalization will happen by the end of the week,” Hollin told Anden. The Espenian Physicians Society had made an effort to have it further delayed pending “additional research,” but Assemblyman Sonnen had denied the request. “We’re in the end rucket,” Hollin declared. “The will of the people can’t be denied.”
The ad executive’s optimism was premature. Forty-eight hours before the scheduled vote, two lawyers knocked on Anden’s hotel room door. The Espenian Physicians Society had successfully argued that the practitioner leading the demonstration ought to be questioned by legislators about his background and his ties to the No Peak clan. Anden was summoned to appear in front of a special hearing by the National Panel on Health the following morning.
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This must be what it’s like to be on trial, Anden thought. He was seated alone at a small table with a microphone, facing a long, raised semicircular bench with a dozen Espenian lawmakers staring down at him. They had perfunctorily queried him about his academic and professional credentials, all in a tone of polite interest, and now it seemed they were finally ready to get to the heart of the matter.
“Dr. Emery,” said one of the panel members, Dr. Gilspar, who was also the current secretary of the Espenian Physicians Society. “Is it true that you were adopted and raised by Seningtun Kaul, the leader and patriarch of the No Peak clan, one of the two largest clans in Kekon that controls bioenergetic jade?”
“Yes,” Anden answered. “That’s true.”
“And for eight years, the Kaul family sent you to one of Kekon’s jade combat training schools, where students graduate into being street soldiers of the so-called Green Bone clans, is that also true?”
Anden scanned the long row of Espenians watching him. He was not wearing his jade, so he could not Perceive which of the panelists were sympathetic toward him and which ones were opposed; he could only try to guess based on their expressions and body language. Most of them, however, remained stone-faced as they regarded him. Anden said, “I graduated from Kaul Dushuron Academy, one of the best martial academies in the country. Many, but not all, graduates go on to join the No Peak clan. Others, such as myself, go into other professions, including medicine.”