Perhaps these Drykas were made of sterner stuff than the Sylirans. This girl certainly had a sharper tongue than most of the doctors he'd met in the Fortress City, though they more tended to shove their decades of medical experience down his throat, like as though having done it longer meant they obviously knew everything. Nonetheless, she seemed to calm down more when he'd explained why he behaved the way he did.
Regardless, it still did not change the fact that he still didn't know more than half the herbs here, and his medical knowledge still consisted primarily of first-aid and not actual surgical techniques. He still couldn't actually fix anything, just wrap a bandage around it and get the patient to a hospital for actual medical attention. If he was ever going to improve his medical skills, this was the place to do it. Getting inside was crucial.
At least the girl seemed willing to let him help burn bandages. At least it would give him something to do. She ordered him to wait outside, which he did. What else could he do? As he waited, Nate briefly wondered why he even made the offer. Burning bandages wouldn't really achieve either his goal of learning more medical techniques, nor would it improve his knowledge of herbs. But... but it would get him in the door. Or tent flap. Or whatever.
A few chimes later, the girl popped her head out and called him over. Nate nodded and walked over, gently pushing aside the tent flap and making sure he was following Waisana the entire time. The last thing he needed was to be kicked out for "loitering near the patients". As they walked past patients on bedspreads, Nate couldn't help but diagnose them in his mind, his experience as a medic already triaging the sick.
One man seemed to have an infected wound; the angry red and green of the wound standing out against the tanned skin of his forearm. Slashes... probably an animal attack that was not treated in the field. Whoever brought him in clearly had very little medical experience. Another seemed to be sweating profusely. Likely a fever of some kind, given the blanket and the cup of water within reach. Each diagnosis was rapid-fire and automatic, unbidden, from years of seeing similar issues crop up repeatedly in the field.
But Nate did not stop to try to confirm any of the diagnosis. That was not why he was here, not why he'd entered the tent. And truthfully, there was little if anything he could do to help. Even though his diagnosis may or may not be correct, that didn't mean he necessarily knew what to do to actually cure them. The only actions he'd know to take were the ones that were clearly already being taken. Nate sighed softly. He supposed it was a bit arrogant of himself. Eight years experience in the field didn't make him a doctor.
So, Nate continued to follow Waisana past the fragrant herbs to the area where she burned the bandages, the fire already producing a rather foul smell despite having consumed most of the earlier bandages already. Frankly, Nate was a bit disappointed the Drykas wouldn't have thought to simply burn the bandages as far from the medical tent as possible. He supposed they simply didn't have the resources to cart them that far away, and so did the next-best-thing and simply used the herbs as a aromatic barrier.
Picking up one of the sticks, Nate immediately got to work, picking up a bandage from the pile and quickly shifting to the fire, putting it in and going to the next one without any hesitation. The acrid stench filled his nostrils, but he kept moving, only a wrinkling of his nose giving any indication the odor affected him at all.
"It's fascinating, actually," he commented, as he picked up another bandage to burn. Off Waisana's expression, he explained further, "when I was in Syliras, my first day of medical training was exactly like this. Same exact task." Nate shrugged, burning the bandage and fetching another one. "Must be a medical thing. I still remember that first day. I couldn't handle the smell at all, vomited all over the floor. The doctors made me clean it up, said if I couldn't even handle burning bandages I'd never make it in medicine."
A slight plume from a particularly... dirty... bandage caused thick black smoke to enter Nate's lungs, and he coughed slightly, eyes watering slightly.
"Don't suppose you have some handkerchiefs or something to cover our noses and mouths?" he asked, between coughs. "It's not generally a good idea to be breathing in these sorts of fumes."
