A dose of honeysuckle tea

Who: Lian and Elle
When: Afternoon
Where: Lian's shop, Chinatown

Chinatown was a bustling hive of activity. People seemed to be everywhere, and with them came a flurry of words languages she didn't understand. A different stream of voices came from every angle. Rarely did Elle attune herself to background noise but the novelty of it held her attention. While it wasn't unusual to hear smatterings of foreign dialects floating around the city, to be completely immersed in it was. She gave herself a few moments to simply listen and watch snippets of other people's lives and tried to understand what was going on. Part of what was lost in the language barrier became clearer in tone, in actions and gestures. Being the one figuring out the flow of dialogue by means other than speech was somewhat of a novelty, too.

Her spell of people-watching came to an end when she locked eyes with an elderly man. He had been, she assumed, recounting some tale of trouble and woe to a younger man. Perhaps a grandson or great nephew. All the time he'd been talking, the older man had made big, open gestures up to the heavens before holding his forehead in his hands. Or resting his hands on his knees, shaking his head forlornly. The second Elle's gaze met with his, his features grew small and tight as he peered at her disapprovingly. Elle had given him a nervous smile and quickly looked away. Though she supposed it would give him something else to talk about.

It also served to remind her that she had ventured into that part of the city for a purpose. An important purpose. For in Chinatown there was supposedly a place that specialized in quite radical sorts of medicine. Or as the doctors she knew had put it, 'foul concoctions that were nothing more than placebos'. Yet the doctors she knew, for all their technical knowledge and medical prowess, had made little progress with her. They weren't only lacking in cures but answers. Like her own words, hearing 'we aren't completely sure at the moment' had grown repetitious.

Try breathing exercises, they said. Correct breathing can improve the voice by between five and fifteen percent. Try turning the head to one side. Try opening the mouth wider. Try making the sounds of the words.

Sometimes trying was for nothing. And if trying was such a good thing to do, there was no harm in trying something different. She doubted that plants and herbs were going to make anything worse. In fact, she held a quiet faith in the idea of help coming from the earth rather than from a pill or operation. It seemed right, in some way.

Upon entering the shop, Elle was hit by a variety of exotic aromas. The second thing that caught her attention was the striking woman behind the counter. She really did have the most beautiful hair. Conscious that she had already been caught gawking at people once today, Elle approached the counter with a friendly smile and her notebook. Laying it on the counter she wrote, Hello. I was wondering if you might have anything for bad throats? If your voice was hoarse and sore, things like that?

Lian's morning, too, had centered around her staring at people, someone in particular. Guan. And even now, after having put her groceries away in her upstairs apartment and returning to open the shop a little later, she found that he was all she could think about. She needed news of her brother, and though Guan had said any sort of news would take time to reach her, she was growing more and more impatient with it as the hours stretched on. The rational part of her knew it was going to take more than a day, more than a week probably, to get any sort of news from China about Huo, but the little girl inside of Lian was hoping, desperately hoping that maybe this man Guan would have some sort of information about her older brother.

She'd spent more than a few good minutes marveling over the fact that she had put her trust in a man to give her information. She couldn't remember ever having done that before, seeing as men in her mind were nothing more than pigs out searching for the next skirt they could chase. And yes, Guan had started off that way, but he'd surprised her with a sudden connection that was most certainly worth her while. If she had trusted in a man before, how many years could she have gone without wondering, worrying about Huo? Still, as she considered it further, she figured that Guan was more than likely a rare event. That trusting in a man for anything legitimate could only happen in few and far-between circumstances.

She was thankful for the little ringing of the bell above her door that signified a customer. Something else to think about. And yes, she did notice the girl staring at her, but it only served to put a smirk on her lips. There was nothing that could quite turn Lian's day around like a compliment from someone on her looks, unspoken or verbalized, and this little blonde girl was certainly staring.

Lian found it odd at first when the girl didn't speak, just simply approached the counter and passed a notebook off to her. But upon further inspection of said notebook, she realized that the girl must have no voice to spare. Perhaps she had a cold? Some sort of sickness that had eliminated her ability to talk. "Of course. There are many Chinese herbs that can soothe a sore throat. Follow me.." She took quick strides away from the counter, over to a section of the shop she'd designated for teas specifically for things like sore throats, sore ears, headaches. "Are you opposed to making tea? I have some wonderful tea blends that could help."

Elle picked up the notebook and followed along behind her. Now she had something else to stare at - the vast array of bags containing who only knew what. It was intriguing, to say the least. Shaking her head at the question, she turned her focus back to the woman. Is it difficult to do? It may have been a silly question but perhaps it needed special equipment or something like that. She doubted that the herbs would come in a bag to put in a cup. It would be a little disappointing if they did. It would lose some of its magic way.

I have a tea infuser, she added. Sometimes she preferred it to the bitterness of coffee, and loose tea was much better.

"As long as you have that infuser, it's not difficult to do." She assured Elle with a nod, pulling down a bag that she had to stand on her tip-toes to reach, then carefully opening it to hold it out to Elle. Inside wasn't technically a tea, but instead something that looked like a flower. "I believe this is called a 'honeysuckle' flower in English. But you'll make it like a tea. You bowl water, add the flower itself, let it steep in the water for ten minutes, and then drain it and drink the tea. I wouldn't suggest drinking more than four cups a day. I also have tea blends as well, not simply flowers, that will help. Is that more of what you're looking for?" But these were purely for sore throats, not for someone who was lacking a voice for other reasons. Not that Lian would know the difference.

Elle peered at the contents of the bag, fascinated. She'd never have thought that something so simple could be used as a remedy. She nodded along as she listened to the instructions, relieved that they sounded easy enough. As for what she was looking for, that she wasn't really too sure about. Lian could have presented her with a weed, told her to wave it around under a full moon then swallow it and Elle would have bought it and thanked her for all her help. She was as lost looking at the herbs as she was trying to fathom out the conversations earlier.

I think it would need to be something strong, she told Lian. I can't really talk very well at all. A wave of shyness coming over her, she looked down to the floor then back to the shelves. Would a tea be better?

Lian's eyes narrowed a little as she watched Elle, taking in the words she was writing. Couldn't talk? Like...couldn't talk? Shifting the bag in her arms, Lian put up one finger to tell Elle to wait for a moment then headed back to the counter. There, she set the back of honeysuckle flower on the counter and picked up a smaller bag before heading back to Elle's side.

It wasn't like Elle was stupid, Lian could see that. She was writing perfectly fine, but she just wasn't speaking. "A tea could be better. I will make you a blend, one for your condition. This is purely experimental," She warned, since she'd never actually made a tea for someone who couldn't speak before. It was still very odd having to wrap her head around that concept. "But..my teas can cure anything. So you'll take the honeysuckle flower and the blend I give you with you today. Alternate using them each day." Lian had no problem giving out orders, especially when they should have been requests.

Turning to assess which herbs would be best for a situation like this, Lian decided she needed a bit more information. "How long have you not been able to speak? Were you born this way or did you lose the ability?"

Unlike everyone else she'd heard, this woman was so definite. There was no might help or could help. A more astute individual would have taken the sales patter with a pinch of salt but at that moment, Lian had Elle in the palm of her hand. The sheer confidence she had in her products gave Elle a confidence she hadn't felt in a long time. The part about it being experimental went in one ear and out the other. Experiments were good. Without experimentation, the right solution couldn't be found. All the instructions were quickly transcribed into the notebook for future reference. She wanted to make sure she remembered exactly what to do with the ingredients.

Three years, Elle told her. I accidentally swallowed some poison and it damaged my vocal chords. The majority of the time, she balked at inquiries into her condition. Though the part about it being an accident was not exactly true (that careful choice of phrasing had become a habit long ago), the rest was unusually candid. This was a situation that required it. If she evaded the questions, she might not get the right remedy. It was the same as withholding information from a physician. The wrong prescription, the wrong tea... That really wouldn't do, not at all.

Elle's words had stopped Lian in her tracks. She had been reaching for a specific set of herbs, but the word 'poison' rang in her ears as she turned to face Elle. "...Chemical or herbal poison?" The only real, true poisons were herbal. Chemicals were poisonous enough on their own, they were toxic from the very start but herbs...It took a real master of the craft to make a poison out of herbs. And a real master of the craft to cure a poison made from herbs. Both of which were things that Lian believed she knew how to do very well. But it would change the game if her poison was made from chemicals, which she had a feeling it might be.

Initially it struck Elle as an odd thing to ask. When she considered where she was, it made sense. It probably should have instilled a wariness in her. Elle took it as merely a bid to find out more necessary information, a reasonable question from a woman who obviously knew a lot about natural materials and their properties. Chemical. Arsenic, she clarified.

Then a thought crossed her mind, one that threatened to dampen her hopes. Perhaps the teas and flowers would only help if it had been a herbal poison. Perhaps they weren't able to overcome chemicals. Perhaps that had been why Lian had asked, rather than in an attempt to find out more details. She watched Lian carefully, waiting to see if she did indeed select more herbs or told her there was nothing she could do.

Lian's face was still stoic, although knowing it had been a chemical poison would make it slightly trickier. But she wondered if perhaps "...How did you accidentally drink arsenic?" Still, she turned back to the herbs, reaching for a different kind of herb now. Stumbling across arsenic was one thing, but actually drinking it was quite another? Lian couldn't quite be sure, but from a woman who dealt out poisons for a living (as her night job, of course), she had a deep disrespect for people who used arsenic and chemical poisons of that kind. Cowards. Relying on something that they themselves did not craft to do a job that they are too afraid to do on their own. True cowards. She steadied one bag in her hand, reaching for another to the left of it, before turning to look back at Elle.

The pen hovered above the paper, her gaze focused on the blank line. That she didn't know how to answer. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she shrugged awkwardly. She shouldn't have been so frank. Or should have been completely and utterly honest. So now she could either continue the pretense, admit what had really happened or offer no explanation at all and veer away from the topic.

She looked intently at the items displayed at the counter. Where did you learn about all these things? she asked. She could always act as though she hadn't heard the question. That she had been too caught up in the wonders of the shop and her own thoughts. It's amazing, isn't it? The things you can find in nature.

Turned away from Elle, Lian rolled her eyes. It was annoying to be lied to, but within her lie, Elle had given Lian all the information she needed. She hadn't accidentally drank the poison. It wasn't hard to realize that someone had disliked Elle enough to want to slip her arsenic, especially if Elle wasn't saying anything about it to the contrary. Still, she turned and headed to a shelf of the wall across from them, pulling down one more bag before heading to the counter and settling them all down. "It is amazing this all comes from nature. The only real medicine does." She said, choosing to avoid Elle's question the way Elle had chosen to avoid hers. She couldn't very well tell the girl that she'd learned while working as, basically, a servant in the main house of the Jade Lotus, could she? So instead, she started mixing the herbs together in the separate bag she'd designated just for that reason. "Nature heals and nature punishes in turn and any doctor that believes they know more about how to heal than someone in tune with nature does is lying."

With all the herbs successfully mixed in the separate bag, Lian closed it up with two drawstrings, tied it tight, and began to shake the mixture to incorporate all the various herbs together into one specific tea blend. "This blend is more powerful than the honeysuckle. Only two cups a day of this one. Come back to me in a week if you haven't seen any improvement. But you will see improvement." Lian was damn sure of herself, so even if this tea blend didn't work, she had hundreds more she could give the girl to try.

Elle had no real reason not to believe Lian. It seemed traditional healing had reached its limit with her. She desperately wanted to be more patient. She wanted to believe that soon there would be something, some new medical discovery that would solve all her problems quickly and painlessly. She wanted all those voice projection techniques to work and not only give her back a voice but one she could really use. No more inexplicable repetition. That was one thing she doubted that tea could help with.

Watching Lian work, she nodded. Two cups. That went into the notebook along with the previous instructions. The part that had captured her attention the most was the proposed time span it would take for it to work. A week. One little week. It was so... insignificant. It was nothing, nothing at all. She didn't dare let herself entertain any skeptical thoughts. Positivity bred positivity. It was as though questioning the herbs' potency would diminish it in some way. Thank you, she wrote, a big hopeful smile on her face. How much do I owe you?

Glancing back at Elle, Lian handed her the herb mixture and a bag filled with honeysuckle flowers. "If you aren't making any sounds within a week, come back and we will try a new blend. This will work, we simply need to find the right mixture for you." Lian was positive that something in her shop would help Elle. She didn't have much experience with chemical poisonings but the power of herbs outweighed everything else. It was only a matter of time before it worked correctly on Elle. Tallying up the correct amount of money for the herbs, Lian told Elle the price and moved slightly over to the register, a large, loud, foreboding machine that seemed to crunch as she punched in the price there as well.

Very carefully, Elle tucked the parcels safely away in her bag. As she found her purse to pay, she couldn't help checking that there was nothing crushing the herbs or that they'd somehow managed to find their way to the bottom of the bag in those few seconds. Thankfully they were fine. She counted out the money and handed it over to Lian, grateful for all the help the woman had given her. For the fact she seemed determined to find something that would help her. Thank you again for being so kind to me. Again she flashed the smile, so very obviously and unabashedly pleased.

It was a rare moment that Lian got to see a smile like that. At first, it struck her as odd, but as she watched Elle, she realized that this girl had a sort of determination that she quite liked. That and the fact that she was giving her methods of healing a try. To Elle's thanks, she simply nodded. "I do not put much stock in Western medicine. They find problems where there are none instead of treating the real problem. I'll see you in one week, Miss...?" It was the easiest way to allude to wanting to know her name, even though Lian had no intention of calling her 'Miss' anything.

It was curious how Lian regarded Western methods as rather pointless and that Western practitioners held the same view about hers. It would have more sense for East and West to collaborate and have the best of both worlds, so to speak. She supposed there were good reasons for why they didn't but it still seemed like a wasted opportunity.

She refrained from asking what Lian thought her real problem was. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. And as Lian herself had said, finding problems wasn't the same as treating them. So it didn't matter. Elle DeWinter, she wrote and held out a hand to shake.

Even though she'd lived here her whole life, Lian still was never quite comfortable shaking someone's hand. She did so anyway, giving a small nod as if out of habit. "You can call me Lian. I'll see you in a week, Elle." She repeated, letting go of Elle's hand to place the money inside the register. "Remember, two cups a day of the blend, alternating with up to four cups of the honeysuckle every other day."

It was a pretty name. Different. Well, it was bound to be different. Still, she liked it. She tapped the notebook lightly then gave a thumbs up, indicating that she written the directions for the tea down inside. Hopefully she would be able to show Lian a positive change after that short amount of time.