A Loose Medical Confederation

Posted on Tue 31st Jul, 2018 @ 2:44am by Khellian s'Siedhri MD & Makila i'Hartelhai & Elizabeth Anderson M.D.

1,236 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Doctor's Office, Deck 1554,
Timeline: MD 2, 1145

After brainstorming a list of things to do to build a clientele, Dr. Anderson was almost ready to advertise and hang a sign over the main door of her building. There was one more thing she wanted to do, and perhaps over lunch was the way to approach it best.

She left her office on a warm spring day, interchangeable with almost any other day in Tivoli Gardens, and walked down the street to the doctor's office. She'd checked his registration file, and knew he was Romulan, but they could discuss the whys and wherefores of that another day. Today, she had other plans.

Stepping into the front office of his building, she looked around to find someone to whom she could speak her request.

Khellian busied himself in his garden plot, quietly singing a song of hlai on the river as he carefully fed each plant with a nutrient spike.

Makila was behind the desk, and she glanced up with a welcoming smile. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"More than likely," Anderson responded, smiling in return. "I'm looking for the doctor. I'd like to discuss a business proposal with him." She held out her hand over the desk. "I'm Doctor Elizabeth Anderson, counselor, and formerly employed by Starfleet."

"He's in the garden, around the back. If you exit through the side door you will see him to the left." Makila gestured to the door to the side with a brighter smile.

"Thank you. A garden is a lovely place to meet." She followed the woman's directions and soon saw a man tending flowers she didn't recognize. She wondered if they were a Romulan variety. The garden was shaded and cool, seemingly in a quiet world of its own, and she liked it immediately.

"Dr. Siedhri?" she questioned.

"Khellian, I'm off duty in the garden. Please..." he gestured with one muddy hand to have her join him under the arbor. He was under the gentle shade of the flowering vines. One set of vines flowers was open, and a brilliant raspberry pink. The closed flowers appeared to be a lavender color.

Walking over, Elizabeth ducked her head to avoid a trailing vine. "These are quite lovely!" She reached out to gently touch one bloom. "It feels cooler in the shade. Did you bring the vines, or seeds probably, with you? I haven't been on SB109 long enough to know what might have been on this block earlier than a couple of weeks ago."

"I brought them with me. I always collected plant clippings and seeds in my travels as a younger man and was able to coax them to life. "

"So you could have been head gardener, but you've chosen to coax people into life instead," Elizabeth smiled. "I'm Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, counselor. Do you have a few minutes to sit and chat with me about medicine?"

"Oh, I am certain my father would have been very pleased if I'd chosen to be a gardener, and I would have been very dead when Romulus died." He shrugged, a human affectation that he rather enjoyed. "I have no regrets with my choice of people over plants, though I do still love my plants. Grab a handful of nutrient spikes and we'll talk. Just stick one into the soil at the base of each baby plant."

Anderson obliged by grabbing exactly a handful, carefully and quickly calculated by an automatic subroutine. She took one side of the row of plants, and the doctor took the other. "I've opened an office down the street from here," she began. "In the past, I've done medicine, but I really prefer counseling. However, the two are often related, don't you think?" As she spoke, she carefully pushed a spike into each small plant.

"Indeed they are." he agreed quietly as his dark eyes flickered over the preciseness of her movements. Not a single gesture wasted, nor anything more that what was required. She was interesting indeed.

"I was wondering if you'd be interested in the occasional consulting fee, if I have a client I think has a physical base for whatever the emotional difficulty is. I would be willing to consult on anyone whose ailment seemed to have more to do with ... attitude than reality, as well. A loose confederation between us, without being ... hmmm, co-practitioners, I think would be the term." She pushed the last of her handful of spikes into a plant and saw that there were still quite a few to go. It almost seemed like a nursery. "Would you like me to do another handful?"

There was a long pause as he mulled over the idea she'd just put to him and the question she'd asked. He answered both with the same comment, nodding his head slowly. "I think that is a novel idea."

Taking another precise handful of spikes, Elizabeth walked to the other side of the row she'd already done and began to insert them. "It isn't quite like an actual child, but you are feeding it at its own speed, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically. Then she continued on her previous track.

"I checked the stats for the base. The civilian population is growing steadily, but not outpacing the areas set aside for them. Everyone doesn't come to Tivoli Gardens, of course, but I have done financial projections, and I feel confident that both of us can do well here. It is logical to combine our talents, as needed."

"Logic is not something i hear about from a human often," he murmured. "I like the idea however."

Anderson debated about saying that she wasn't human, but decided to let it go. Most likely the doctor was just making an observation. Humans generally weren't logical, and he was Romulan. "Good," she said, using the last nutrient stick. "Then I'll leave my contact information with your lovely assistant, and get yours in return."

She dusted her hands, though there was really nothing to dust off. Looking around the garden again, she said, "You're making a lovely place, a real home. I hope that's not a social faux pas, to mention home to a Romulan. I don't intend to be rude or thoughtless, but sometimes my social skills are not quite up to par."

"I haven't had a home for quite some time. The loss of Romulus, with the sole exception of the loss of my Mother, was no great sadness to me. It is, however, quite pleasant to make a place entirely for myself. To truly experience life for the first time since I fled. It's terrifying." The gentle joy and amusement in his tone belied the words, but did nothing to diminish their impact.

Reflecting on his words for a moment, Elizabeth finally said. "A home is what you make it, and where. I've not had someplace to call my own home, either. It is terrifying, you're right," she smiled at him, "but it's also quite satisfying, is it not? I wish you the very greatest happiness here on 109. I wish it for both of us. And now, I suppose I should leave you to get on with your work."

"Ah, Faikaru*. Yes indeed. I expect to speak to you soon." Laying a hand on his chest he bowed just slightly to her as he gathered up the nutrient spikes and other equipment so that he could return to work.


*Faikaru- My assigned duty.

 

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