Tea for Sleep

Posted on Sat Jul 13th, 2019 @ 2:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD & Splendora Sage

2,236 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 98 - A Raid on Peace
Location: Mind, Body, and Soul Spa
Timeline: MD4, 1230 hours

ON:

It was a door. Just a door. Like so many others along the promenade. All she had to do was open it, go inside and ask a complete stranger to give her something to help her sleep. Simple really. So why had she been hesitating for so long, just staring up at the sign?

Mind, Body, and Soul Spa.

Realising if she waited any longer people were either going to think she was having some form of breakdown or call security. She wasn't sure which one would be worse. Chiding herself for being so pathetic as to be scared of a door, she took a deep breath, pushed it open and stepped inside.

The interior was crisp and clean. Very much like a starship bridge but instead of consoles there were shelves with teas and crystals. There were comfortable chairs that looked like easy rest recliners made of a grey, leather like material. In the centre was an ultra modern metallic desk with a friendly deltan woman sitting up front. "Hello! Welcome!" She stood and walked around the desk to great Carolyn. "I'm Rigel. How can I help you?"

"I was looking for Splendora Sage," Carolyn explained, hoping the woman was not around even as she went on to ask, "is she around? If she isn't I can come back another time."

"Oh no! Perfect timing. She just got in. Please follow me." She lead the woman back through a long hall that was a calming green. There were several rooms, some of which were open and showed calming meditative spaces being led by teachers. There was a even a room that was arranged like a garden. At the way back was a small lavender door. The woman keyed in the code and the door whooshed open.

Following behind the Deltan, Carolyn felt her resolve disappearing faster than even she would have liked. Her blue eyes took in every detail, lingering for a moment on the indoor garden space that had been created. It looked strangely peaceful, even compared to a colour scheme that was clearly intended to be soothing and relaxing.

As the door opened, Carolyn offered a small smile at the woman in thanks as she moved into the room. "Doctor Sage?"

She studied the woman. "I am indeed." She got up and walked over to the woman extending her hand. "Welcome. How can I be of help today?"

“Dr Corrigan,” Carolyn offered, shaking the offered hand for the briefest amount of time possible without seeming rude. “Dr Hades speaks highly of you. He suggested you might be able to help.”

"Of course." Hades had sent her that meant this was a difficult case.

“May I ask you about Kava Root?” she asked finally, her conversation with Dr Reid earlier in the day coming to mind. It was better than speaking of her real reason for coming here. She pushed away the mental image of Hades disapproving stare.

“One of our doctors is due to give birth within the next week or so. She heard Kava Root might help with her backache? She is at the point where she will try anything. I wondered if it was something you had and if it was something which could help.”

She smiled, "Of course." She motioned. "Come this way." They walked next door where the door hissed open and the room, a virtual jungle of plants and herbs, lay before them. Splendora walked over pulled a small root and then brought it to a table. She motioned for Carolyn to sit. "It will take me but a moment to prepare it. Is your doctor a Bajoran?"

“No, human,” Carolyn said slowly, still standing in the doorway, staring inside the room.

"Perfect. I will adjust the dose then." She motioned again. "Come in and take a seat. The plants will not bite..." She motioned across the room to a mean looking plant that had teeth. "Except that one. So try to stay a good meter away."

Heeding the warning, Carolyn followed the same root she had seen Dr Sage follow, taking in all of it. Surprised to find a little hidden world hiding inside the store, one which was full of vibrant colours and lots of green. She was suddenly glad she did not have allergies.

"Thank you," she offered, both for the warning and her help with the remedy, sliding into the chair the woman had pointed to. She watched as Splendora worked, her preparations following some method she had clearly committed to memory. It was as precise and efficient as any surgical procedure. Just so happened they were sitting in the middle of a recreated garden.

"I had no idea you had all of this," Carolyn admitted, gesturing around them. "it is beyond impressive."

Splendora smiled, "I knew from an early age that I wanted to help people and I knew that all life was...connected. When I found psychology and psychiatry I knew there was more to it. Crystals, massage, meditation. They were all good but this," she said gesturing around. "This or these plants heal the most. We float up in space so long and so much that we forget that Eden was a garden." She studied the woman as she put the herbs into a mortar and pestle and began to work the ingredients. "You know being part Betazoid and in the profession I am in I always feel drained. There are days when I cannot sleep or rest from worry for my patients or shadows of the past that haunt me chasing sleep away. I then come here." She smiled.

"I breath in the rich air, I work with my hands. It's almost like giving my troubles and my pain to them and they refresh me. Plants hold so much healing and soothing properties. We forget that they are as alive as you and I just in a different manner." She held up the pestle. "See this root with the mix that will make it palatable for humans will help ease the pain for your friend. But it does so much more. It gives its essence to her and in a way the plant lives on and adapts to its host. Did you know that this root once taken for labour pain will make her next delivery even less painful. It's like it will do its job, go dormant, and then reactivate the memory within her cells when the next time comes. Pain...weather physical or mental is a haunting and this root, long used will still impact the cells and provide that comfort, that bit of armour against the pain."

She turned to Carolyn. "I'm rambling though. You are a good friend to see this for her."

“Hm? Oh. Well, I tried talking her into taking leave early but she is determined and she is a really good doctor so this will hopefully help,” Carolyn explained. Inwardly she was wondering if Hades had already said something to the woman - although she couldn’t imagine he would have really had the time or inclination to. Aside from her signing off on his file yesterday, they had barely seen one another. He had the loss of a sister and his recovery to deal with and she was sure she’d murder someone if she heard the word ‘complicated ‘ from him.

But when she had spoke of not sleeping it had felt like she was looking right through her excuse of just wanting something to help Dr Reid.

Deciding to move onto other topics she gestured towards the plant she had been warned about, “so why have one that bites?”

She laughed. "Makes things interesting." She gestured to the root as she poured a blue liquid into the mix. "It has to sit for a moment." She motioned to her. "Come with me." They walked over to the plant and stood a few meters back. "That is a plant from Karos Prime. They are not a member species. All their plants are deadly but from them come the most beautiful miracles. That one is called a Toares Plant. It bites, it growls and when it cries the tears, a deep pink colour can treat third degree burns and repair skin to make it look as if nothing happened."

This was the kind of thing Carolyn could imagine her grandmother loving to talk about for hours. Mostly to torment her grandfather who would roll his eyes and promptly disappear. As Splendora spoke, Carolyn glanced at her, “impressive... effective on scar tissue?”

"Yes, very. Old scars heal but it will take a few treatments. One for each year in age of the scars." She smiled. "But that can only handle outside scars. Internal ones...well...that will take a while longer but the outer ones is a start. Healing is a slow process."

"Are the treatments painful?" she asked, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the typically counsellor like statement the woman had made. She thought of Kalani as she asked the question, knowing the treatment she had already endured had been painful and uncomfortable. Perhaps an alternative had been right here the entire time. And then, well, she had plenty of scars of her own.

"Complicated question. It is at first a sharp pain and then burning and then a cooling sensation. Let me show you something." She led her over to the table and pulled a PADD. She opened it and an image of a woman's back appeared. Large red welts and broken skin. Scars old and new. Then a back with less scars, and then less finally ten images later a flawless back. "Do you see the course of treatments? That is after ten."

"Very impressive. Side effects?" she asked, curious.

"Fatigue during treatment and sensitivity for a week after. But you can see the results of these treatments. To this day I am grateful for them. I can look at my back and feel...free." She saw the expression. "Yes those images are of me." She said pouring the Root mix into a glass container and adding a stopper to it. "The physical parts were easy but the nightmares...that took a while. There are days I still awake screaming yet there is a tea that helps for those. Induces dreamless sleep."

"So I've heard," Carolyn murmured. Though she didn't need to, she glanced at the image on the PADD again, lost in thought. "What happened...? Sorry, forget I asked. It's none of my business... I'll mention the treatments to my patient, she may prefer to try your option before we do our next round of treatment."

"It was a long time ago and it was a long story. Perhaps we can talk about it over tea." She walked over to the table picked up a box and then took it to Carolyn. "The root for your pregnant friend. Tea for better sleep and perhaps we can talk battle wounds over tea?"

"Thanks for this, but I'm not one for tea," she said, taking the box. Or talking about old wounds, she added inwardly. "I appreciate the offer and seeing this place was definitely worth the visit. What do I owe you for the root?"

She smiled, "Nothing. Happy to help. I should mention that box you hold it's a tea for sleep yes but the flavour it's...rather like a rich hot chocolate. Perhaps we can have a chocolate feast and talk battle wounds. I will tell you mine and you can tell me yours. I can sense you love a great mystery and when you ask what happened your curiosity will want to find out. You are a...complicated woman."

"I'm surrounded by complicated people, it's catching," Carolyn sighed, trying not to sound too angry when she said it. She didn't want anyone sensing anything after the last four days. "And I sleep fine."

The later was so obviously a lie, well hidden and well practiced but for someone with even a shred of empathic ability it simply wouldn't wash no matter how often she said it. But it was such an ingrained habit that she said it without even really thinking about it. "I'll let Dr Reid know this will help with any future children, although I believe this morning she vowed that her husband would not be allowed within fifty feet of her ever again."

Splendora laughed. "It will all change when she holds her child. As for the sleep part...you can lie to yourself for now but that will wear on you. You have to let someone in sometime. That being said in your time not ours. Try the tea." She smiled. "Let me walk you out."

Turning, she followed Splendora away from this little pocket of mother nature with zero intention of actually using the tea. "Thank you again for your time," she offered. "I appreciate it."

Splendora smiled, "Our stubbornness can often be our undoing. Remember that saying." She said as they reached the door. "Alright Carolyn, it was nice meeting you. Remember my door is always open."

“And sometimes it keeps you alive,” Carolyn countered before saying goodbye. As she stepped out into the promenade she visibly relaxed, until felt someone fall into step beside her. Cursing in her native Irish when she realised it was Rol, she sighed but didn’t stop walking. “Seriously?”

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