"I do favor my right hand for some tasks yes." This is a concerning statement but it's far too late to back out now.

There's no real reason for first aid kits to the supplies for blood draws but Sheppard is really wishing they did. He shifts a bit uncomfortably but doesn't object either.

"Then we will use the left; the bile drawing will leave it weak. I will need to press your under-arm to find the gland, then Priestess Inetta will clean the skin and I will make the cuts. Blood first, that is simpler and easier to clean and bind."

He has linen scraps and some fine white powder in a vial, and a pair of other vials, and moves them and the roll of tools into place near where her arm will sit.

Teisiya is leaning against a far wall, but nervous again. This, too, would be a time for an attack.

"Very well."

The straps are tied down, the sheet draped, and, in what probably looks very clumsy to people used to modern medicine, Teyla's armpit kneaded until Fyodor is confident he knows the right place to cut for the lymph node.

"Right. No use stalling, clean things and let's get this done."

Inetta again looks dubiously at the alcohol wipe packet, labeled in a language she doesn't speak.

"You will have to tell me where the alcohol here is," she says after a pause.

"You tear the paper at one side and the folded wipe inside is pre-treated with alcohol."

This takes her several tries before she takes an appropriate amount of the corner and rips it in the right direction to open it up, but she gets it eventually, takes out the wipe, and cleans the inner elbow and then the armpit. She sets it aside and lets the surgeon get to his work.

The blood draw is certainly more painful and more damaging than what Teyla or John are used to, but his piercing stiletto is, if not a needle, still very thin and very sharp. It's a fairly thin line of blood that flows out, down a clean metal stirring-rod, and into a vial, before they dust the wound with the alum powder (also painful) and press damp linen against it to put it under pressure. Another leather strap is tightened to hold the linen in place, and they turn their attention to the hard part.

Teyla winces but manages to stay fairly still even without relying on the restraints.

This is noticed approvingly, but not actually commented on. Priestess Inetta looks at the vial carefully, shows it to Teisiya, then briefly steps out of the room and returns empty-handed.

To get blood, the surgeon went for a clear vein and made as small a cut as possible. This time, he seeks to avoid a vein and reach the nodule of lymph that he found with his fingers earlier. And it's going to take multiple cuts, widening the initial puncture with another knife, still thin but for cutting rather than piercing.

It hurts like a bitch.

But in maybe ten minutes, it's over, they have another vial of slightly-pink fluid, and Inetta is taking a copper needle and thin white thread out of a small copper box to close the wound with a few neat stitches, with more alum and linen to bind to the wound.

This time Teyla hisses in pain and eventually lets out a somewhat restrained scream. She also flinches and twists a bit but not enough that the restraints let her make things worse.

Sheppard clenches his teeth and his hands but prevents himself from taken any other action. "Really wish we had Beckett." He mutters.

"A better surgeon?"

"Beckett is the best, maybe not literally but one of the better doctors from my world and he's a skilled surgeon. He also travels with equipment that would have made this a lot easier. The equipment is honestly the biggest factor here."

"I can see how it might be. As would doctors and surgeons being the same profession."

"They're not here? What's the distinction?"

"Doctors study medicine and the workings of the body, and trained ones can treat most diseases, but almost all swear oaths never to cut the flesh as part of their apprenticeships; they consider amputation or surgery near-blasphemous. Surgeons have a fraction of the education, but much more practical experience with anatomy and no such compunctions."

"Our doctors swear a similar oath to do no harm but they interpret it differently so it doesn't stop them from doing surgery when it's needed."

"I've heard it's changing far south, but not here so far. Gaelen said it, so it must be true."

"Gaelen?"

"Some elf who wrote the earliest books on medicine and became the authority for all the doctors for the dozens of centuries since. ...It looks like Inetta's done with the stitches, don't let me keep you."

"Thanks."

John walks over to Teyla. "Hey."

"Hello." Teyla says a bit softly. "I will be fine."

He squeezes her other shoulder. "I know you will, I still wish I had realized, wish I had thought of a better alternative."

"They will trust it more with all this having been done by their methods. Perhaps this was simply for the best." She takes a deep breath and waits to be unstrapped.