Brotherless Night

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, and physical abuse.

On the first day that Sashi heads to the field hospital, she is joined by K and her brother Seelan, as if they were walking together to study like they once did. Sashi is introduced to T—, who is ostensibly the regional leader of the Tigers. As Sashi surveys the facility, she sees more wounded than she expected. She wonders how many of them have suffered psychological injuries that are as significant, if not more so, than their physical wounds. She is matched with Thambirajah, an older student whom Sashi knows from the medical student union.

Sashi quickly adjusts to the hospital, treating both insurgents and civilians. She begins to realize how much she has learned in her short time in medical school; she is happy to be helping, though the work is often wearying. After a while, Sashi also realizes that she is being trained in the ways of the militants: She does not speak of her work at the field hospital with even her closest friends. Because of this need for discretion, Sashi grows more distant from her other friends and, as a consequence, spends more of her time at the field hospital.