When I wake up the next day, I come down the stairs to my father sitting at the table. When he sees me he almost springs up and envelops me in a hug. Both of my brothers come over and give me their thanks in almost as an exuberant manner. “I feel like a new man.” My father says and smiles to all. When he leaves he gives my mother a big kiss and swings her around in joy. I get coy looks from all the other women in the house when they leave.

“What exactly did you do last night?” My mother asks me when we are alone in the house. “Nothing much, massage and infused my own energies with theirs to fasten the dissemination in their muscles,” I tell her and she nods. “Well, sounds easy enough, but that was a mighty effective treatment.” She tells me and I nod. “Want me to do you as well?” I ask. After some humming and having she agrees and after a bit of preparation I do the same for her. But before I can begin she asks a crucial question “What do you mean by energy?” I smile and point to the table “let us do your treatment first and then we can talk again.”

My sister comes back in the middle with water from the well. And they too insist on having a treatment. After my mom sleeps of the exhaustion she is back with a vengeance. “Young man, what did you mean when you talked about energy?” She asks me standing over me while I rest on the floor. “Well, you know all those stories we hear during winter of the doings of these lords of ours?” I ask her and go back to decreasing my meditation, being woken by shaking is a pain. “Yes of course I know, what about it?” I finish and get up from the floor dragging my tired body over to the comfy chair my father usually have reserved for himself. “Well, Tun knows more about it and at my Ten-year celebration, he showed me some scrolls he keeps at the Temple about it,” I say and look at the three women studying me intently. “Well, it was all gibberish so I started experimenting and being the nice guy I am I found a way to help those around me with it,” I tell them and smirk when calling myself nice, I am, but not without my own considerations.

“You young man will do two things.” She tells men when I lay on the floor recuperating from the last bout of work. “You will teach us and nothing else than massages.” She tells me in a stern voice. When my father comes back that evening both he and my brothers agree. I smile since that was the plan all along. Leisure since working on massages is far less work than anything else, also I think it will be a really valuable skill. Also in the future, I hope I will get to see naked ladies, and more importantly touch then. Who knows, maybe it will lead to more. In the meantime, I will work with my family and friends since I can.

So I have a new routine. In the mornings I work on my sisters and mother both to help them by giving massages, but also by teaching them. Which it turns out is so much harder to do than just improving them. After three nights with my brothers teaching them, we all gave up. The for me quite simple brain gymnastic of imaging the whole body, pathways for the meridians and all the other that is necessary it just seems like they can’t fathom. The girls and my mother are a bit better, but they cannot hang on and it seems I cannot adequately explain it to them. I am therefore doomed to only work with them to improve by giving massages and talk them through the process.

That is except my youngest older sister whom hangs on my every word and is adamant she will manage this. She confesses to me it is a fear and loathing of having to marry.

“Are we certain this a good idea?” I ask my father when I take him aside. My father has brought one of his friends by to get help. The man has some serious back pain and my father hope I can help. “Well, I think it won’t hurt.” My father says and I nod but go on. “What if the foreman finds out? We are treading close to the law here.” I tell him, I need a license if I wish to practise medicine. “You are right to worry son, but he needs it and we can say you are untrained.” He says and I nod, it will probably be okay. Testing and training are after all uncertain and a license is not too hard to get later. The village head and the priest will have to agree and it will cost in both fees and taxes.

My dads' friend is named Ta Sung and is like my father just a farmer and work part of his time as a woodsman. I prod and work his back for more than an hour and several times I have to speak harshly to the man to keep him down. “Lay still and this will soon be over,” I tell him the last time. Then I begin what I now have begun to call my routine. Cycling my own powers and beginning to cycle his too. He is a bit older than my dad and has somewhat more power in his veins than him. I have concluded that heavenly power builds up over time. I match his power with my own and instead of working his muscles like my family I work on his spine and ligaments. “Hell you doing kid,” He says and then screams when I pop one of his discs back in place. I twist his whole upper body and uses my knee to get leverage on the spine. In the eyes of the public, I see fear when I violently punch in the right spots. I have sweat dripping from my brows and am panting from the hard work.

“Okay dad, just put him in a hug, lift him up and jump slightly.” Ta is hanging limply in the arms of my father. When he jumps we can hear the cracks from Tas back. “Good, how are you feeling Ta?” I ask him and am looking him in the eyes. “Better, but wow that was painful.” He says and sits down in my dad's chair. “Good, needed to pop that disc into place and then ensure it stays. I want you to go home, sleep, eat and tomorrow work as usual. Next week I need you back here for the next round. There is a lot to work on.” I instruct him and after nodding my dad helps him up and out the door.

“Wow, brother that was violent.” My oldest sister tells me and looks over at me. “Yeah, and it was touch and go there for a moment,” I tell her and smiles. “His disc almost popped wrong and then he would have lost the function of his legs,” I tell them and then sag into the chair by the fire. “I need to meditate and then sleep,” I tell them and the nod. My younger sister, my assistant, helps me up the stairs to the loft and into bed.

The next afternoon Ta comes back and gives me a big hug. “Ah, my boy you are a miracle worker.” He tells me and shouts praise at my amazing powers. “Please don’t tell the foreman,” I ask him and he laughs. “Don’t worry my boy, I won’t tell the foreman. Although there are many ways to meet an accident in the woods if that becomes a problem.”

His last words are said in all seriousness and remind me again that this is a hard world. The worst part is that our Lord and the foreman's boss won’t even care as long as the trees are delivered on time.