Dr. Kavya Malhotra, First‑Person POV

Morning light in Leh is a soft thing—pale gold filtered through frost, as if the world begins each day half‑asleep. I arrived at the makeshift clinic behind the main medical tent before dawn, my breath pluming in the chill. The marquee read "War Widows' Support Group", though I'd privately renamed it "Voices in the Silence." I'd planned this outreach to coincide with the PTSD workshop, hoping to remind my soldiers that healing extends beyond the battlefield.