NOVEL NEXT Chapter 211: One step closer to walking again
During the workshop, the focus changed from a gender clinic to a clinic specialising in the reference healing method, and extensions of it, which would include the research and treatment of issues relating to hormones, nerves, and the reproductive system, with medical gender transition implicitly incorporated within.
Ren Xiyang and Cassiopeia glanced at each other. The scope expansion and refocus wasn’t ideal. However, he understood that at the moment, gender transition was still a niche ‘non-issue’ in the eyes of the workshop attendees.
“It seems my vision was too small,” he said calmly. “If we wish to have an increased range of services, the clinic will require at least three times as many healers, and a larger space for the clinic itself. We will also need five years of initial funding, to include research time into new applications of the reference healing method.”
The workshop attendees became a little hesitant again.
“This assumes that the reference healing method can be used,” someone said.
Duke Schauss, who was also attending, couldn’t remain silent while his daughter was standing up at the front. “The reference healing method can certainly be used. The difficulty would be finding skilled healers and medical researchers.”
None of the other attendees would ever admit that the reference healing method was too difficult for them.
“The Schauss family can commit the equivalent of one full-time healer for the first year, and we can re-assess if this is sufficient after one year,” Duke Schauss said.
“Thank you, Duke Schauss,” Cassiopeia said.
“And if the Capital isn’t suitable, the clinic can be opened in the Schauss fief,” Duke Schauss said.
“The Capital Hospital is clearly the most suitable place,” a healer from the Capital Hospital countered.
“Given the strong research component, the University is more suitable, and we have more space,” an academic from the University countered.
Ren Xiyang met Duke Schauss’s eyes across the room, He inclined his head a fraction, grateful.
Duke Schauss’s eyes shifted pointedly to Cassiopeia.
By the conclusion of the meeting, the Capital Hospital, the University, Duke Schauss, and the Rosewood Group (through Ren Xiyang) all committed either funds or human resources into supporting the clinic. Ren Xiyang would need several follow-up meetings to iron out the details, but the future opening of the clinic was certain.
While these follow-up meetings were happening, Prince Pollux’s healing was proceeding smoothly.
It was an ordinary Wednesday afternoon. Pollux, Hadrian, and Ayden were seated in the treatment room, while the two cats slept on the sofa next to them.
Pollux’s breath quickened. He could feel Ayden’s magic scanning his legs, from top to bottom. Did that mean…?
“That’s it,” Ayden said as his magic withdrew.
“It’s all complete?” Pollux’s stomach fluttered nervously.
“Physically, yes,” Ayden said. “However, there’s still a way to go regarding walking.”
Pollux exhaled. “I know.”
“I don’t recommend getting on the treadmill just yet. It’ll be best to leave a least a day to familiarise yourself with the final changes from today.”
“Understood.” Pollux slumped slightly in disappointment.
Suddenly, there was a firm ‘tap’ of air on Pollux’s knee. His leg twitched, kicking out.
Pollux’s eyes widened, his gaze snapping down. The why did Ayden suddenly attack me was replaced by shock of a different kind. His leg moved!
“Your patellar reflex is in order. It’s an unconscious reflex, so I needed to do it when you didn’t expect it,” Ayden said. He gave Pollux a firm look. “Prince Pollux, take your time, and you’ll walk again. Don’t push yourself too hard and cause injury that would delay your progress.”
Pollux nodded. His lips curved up uncontrollably. “Thank you.”
Ayden smiled back. “I’m glad I could help.”
“Congratulations, Your Highness,” Hadrian said.
Pollux’s smile widened.
“I also suggest that you try to move your legs in all kinds of positions and in all kinds of ways,” Ayden said. “We don’t know exactly what would work, so explore everything, no matter how weird it may feel.”
Pollux nodded.
“Practice standing for now, and we’ll skip Friday’s session. Next week, Monday, I’ll stimulate your muscles to walk on the treadmill.”
Pollux’s stomach flipped. “Understood.”
The next week came both faster and slower than Pollux expected.
Prince Rian was once again present. “Congratulations on finishing the healing portion of your walking recovery,” he said.
Pollux inclined his head. “I appreciate your assistance.”
“For the next steps—pun intended—I’ve developed a new spell,” Prince Rian said. “Ayden will be your guide, literally. I developed a spell that would link his leg movements with yours while on the treadmill. As he walks, your legs will be pulled to walk as well.”
Pollux suppressed his anticipation and tried to think. “That…what about a spell that stimulates my muscles and nerves in the same way your muscles and nerves are stimulated as you walk?”
“That would be the next development, but it’s much more difficult due to each person’s unique nerve configuration,” Prince Rian said. “Shall we begin?”
“Yes.”
Prince Rian and Ayden assisted Pollux into the harness and into a standing position.
Ayden stood a few paces in front of him on the treadmill, holding onto the handrails in the same manner as Pollux.
Prince Rian then cast the spell twice, on each leg. The spells settled like a gentle pressure on Pollux’s legs and feet.
“Lift your leg, Ayden.”
Ayden did so, and that pressure on Pollux’s leg became ‘solid’, pushing Pollux’s leg up.
Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump!
Ayden lifted the other leg, and then ‘walked’ on the spot with the slightest raised steps.
Pollux was amazed. The spell moved his legs. It almost, almost felt like he was walking…!
“Now, I’ll start the treadmill on the lowest setting,” Prince Rian said. “Are you ready?”
Pollux nodded decisively.
The belt of the treadmill beneath his feet started to move. In front of him, Ayden started to walk, and so, Pollux’s legs started to walk too.
This…this…
Pollux’s gaze was stuck on his legs, moving in a walking manner. The spell was a firm pressure on his skin, pushing and pulling his legs, knees, ankles, feet, in all the complicated movements that was involved a simple-looking walk.
It felt surreal.
The room remained quiet aside from the sound of their footsteps and the sound of the machine as the belt rotated on the running deck.
Pollux didn’t know how long time had passed before he remembered to raise his head.
Prince Rian had a faint smile. Hadrian had a bigger smile, full of warmth.
“As your practice progresses, we can weaken the strength of the spell, or weaken it selectively at certain points, until you don’t need the spell at all,” Prince Rian said.
“Understood.”
“Anyone can stand here in front of you and walk,” Ayden said, not turning his head (because that would affect his gait). “Ideally, it would be someone who’s similar to you in height. Try to practice walking for 15 minutes in total each day, and slowly raise that to one-to-two hours total, depending on how you feel.”
“I can learn the spell,” Pollux and Hadrian said at the same time.
“Do you want to learn it right now?” Rian asked.
“Yes,” Pollux said.
Prince Rian stopped the treadmill and taught Pollux and Hadrian how to cast it, including how to tune the strength of the spell. After that, Pollux got back on the treadmill and cast the linked movement spell upon himself and Ayden, and practised walking again.
“And that’s it,” Ayden said, at the conclusion of the session. “You don’t need me anymore. The rest is up to you, and up to practice.”
“Thank you,” Pollux said. He also turned to Prince Rian. “And thank you.”
Prince Rian smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Pollux couldn’t remain in the room and practice some more, not when Ayden had told him to take it steady.
But in the privacy of his own bed, Pollux tried shifting his legs back and forth; he tried to wriggle his toes.
And the next morning, after his manservant helped him with the morning exercise therapy, Pollux was there, on the treadmill, with one of his guards (of most similar height) acting as his guide, and with his manservant assisting him into the harness.
With each step, Pollux was moving closer to the future where he could walk on his own once more.
Hadrian was happy for His Highness Prince Pollux. However, he felt empty when he realised that Prince Pollux didn’t need him anymore.
Hadrian felt wry after that realisation. He really wasn’t suitable to lead, not when his default frame of mind was to assist others. Like how he could assist his father in managing the Terra fief, but he couldn’t take the lead in his father’s absence.
With Prince Pollux no longer needing his assistance—or, no longer wanting it—Hadrian technically had more time. He spent the first few days playing with Artemis and Princess Sasha while Prince Pollux was busy.
Then, he grudgingly decided to spend more time working.
After over a year of research, Hadrian had produced several dozen candidate glass panes of decent quality. Scaling, however, was an issue. He had slowly increased the size of the panes to something reasonable and usable. But to obtain the floor-to-ceiling glass that Ayden wanted, he would need an much larger, commercial/industrial set-up. But he wasn’t confident that he was ready for that expenditure.
He finally expressed his concerns to Ayden at their next meeting.
Ayden nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Those are good points. Unfortunately, some areas of research simply require much more investment than others. Regarding the safety of the glass, we can set up a rigorous testing method, comparing both your glass and the glass available on the market. Then, once you’re happy that the glass you make is at least as good as other available glass, we’ll bring it to market.”
“As normal sized glass panes?”
“Yes. From there, the profits can be used to invest in further research into increasingly large glass panes.”
“I did think about this,” Hadrian said. “However, the manufacturing…would ideally be done back home.”
Ayden nodded. “I expect so. The Terra fief has well-developed glass-making facilities.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Why would I?” Ayden quirked his lips. “This is your research, your intellectual property, not mine. We can meet via communication mirror.”
Hadrian’s lips thinned. But then, he would need to go back home, and that would mean being away from Prince Pollux and the other friends he had made here.
“There’s something else I wanted to tell you,” Ayden said. “I’ve been talking with various researchers at the University, especially with Assistant Professor Lady Ciara Iron, and she agreed that you could join the University as a post-graduate researcher, supervised by her, or someone else. This way, you could gain a formal qualification.”
Hadrian’s eyes widened. “I would attend the University? But what about you?”
“Administratively, I might be able to be placed down as an external co-supervisor, but I’ll still meet with you regardless. Now, you don’t have to take this up. Academic research is different from commercial research, and there are some hoops you’ll need to jump through in order to obtain a doctorate. You don’t need an academic degree to conduct research at all. But I wanted to provide you this option, in case you were interested in academia.”
If Hadrian attended the University…then he could give his parents a more formal reason for staying in Sedaveria. He could go into the University every morning with Prince Pollux.
But would the university help him with his research?
“I need to think about it,” Hadrian said.
Ayden nodded. “Think for as long as you want. I can arrange a meeting with Ciara or anyone else if you want.”
“I appreciate it,” Hadrian said.
After the meeting concluded, Hadrian had many things to think about.
Once he organised his thoughts a little better, he contacted his father, Marquis Terra.
His father had an odd expression on his face after he said that Ayden could be his co-supervisor while Assistant Professor Lady Ciara Iron would be his main supervisor.
“If you record down the general specifications and requirements of your process, I can prepare a workshop here, and we can start small-scale production when you return in the summer,” his father said.
Many of Hadrian’s worries were put at ease with his father’s support. He didn’t have to return to the Terra fief right away; he could still attend the University; he still had time to improve his production methods and the quality of the resultant glass.
“But choosing a supervisor should be done carefully and consideration. Meet more than one person, and consider not only their research, but also whether they have time to meet with you.”
Hadrian nodded, taking down all the notes. Under his father’s instruction, he acquired a list of possibly relevant academics at Sedaveria’s university. Assistant Professor Lady Ciara Iron was a metal mage, specialising in shaping metal and molten metal processes. She could help Hadrian perfect the use of molten metal on which to float glass. However, there were other metal, earth, and fire mage academics too.
Hadrian spoke with Ayden first, to express that he wanted to meet with some academics first before he decided whether to join the University. Ayden agreed, and with Kel’s coordination, started contacting some academics.
Then, it was time to tell Prince Pollux.
In the evening, they let their cats play together.
“How have you been regarding walking?” Hadrian asked.
“Things have progressed,” Prince Pollux said. He grinned. “Look.” He fiddled with his floating chair’s control panel, moving the leg rest backwards and out of the way, leaving his legs to dangle. Then—he swung his legs back and forth. “I can move my legs!” Joy radiated from him.
Hadrian’s heart prickled. “That’s amazing.”
Thanks to hatcubed for mentioning “Hadrian’s PhD” XD
THIS STORY’S TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY HAS PASSED!!! In celebration of this, I want to run a little fanart/fanfic event!
Notes:
- fanart/fanfic should show some effort, i.e., no stick figures, minimum 500 words
- any rating is fine 😉
- copies/traces/plagiarism/AI generated work is not allowed
- just drop me a comment on whichever platform you read this on, linking to where you posted your art/fic!
- you can submit multiple entries, but you can only win once!
Prize: an extra chapter/scene at your request!
- two people will be randomly drawn to win
- If there are a lot of submissions (over 20), then I’ll draw more people, so that the chance of ‘winning’ is at least 10%.
Submission deadline: 7th July 2024 23:59 anywhere on Earth
Thank you all for reading!!!
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