The Dawn of Red

Chapter Four: Something Like Home

(short chapter but there's a lot of found family stuff. Enjoy)

Disoriented and stressed, Tygren stumbled back inside. How on earth was he supposed to get out of Cydonia? Was anyone even waiting for him? Distracted by his fear, Tygren bumped into something. When he turned around, it was the same man in the photo he saw when he woke. "Oh! Tanriya Sükür, you're alive!" he beamed. Tygren was so out of his mind, he allowed himself to be bossed around by this stranger. "Otur, otur. Please, you're still injured," he said, grabbing Tygren's arm, sitting him down on the bed, and sitting next to him. "I'm Ozan Çelik." Ozan held out his hand. Tygren stared for a moment before deciding to humor him. "What brought someone like you over here?" Tygren froze, not wanting to tell Ozan his entire life story. "I-" Before he could speak, Ozan's radio on his desk connected and a man spoke. "Yeni Atanan Kral, Ikincinin oglu Hasan, gelecek nesiller için Ikinci Büyük Savas'in sorumlusu olan briçok ülkeye barisi sagladi!" Tygren hadn't felt more like an alien before this day. He was in a place with no one who looked like him, and no one who sounded like him. "What's wrong?" Ozan asked, noticing Tygren's expression. "I don't understand," Ozan looked at the radio, rolled his eyes, and got up to turn it off. "You don't have to listen to that, I'm assuming it's insulting to your country."
"What is he saying?" Tygren asked. "Well, I assume you know about our new king, Hasan III?" Tygren shook his head with furrowed eyebrows. "Well, he's a good man and a good king," Ozan started. "But he's already expecting too much of countries that have been at war for centuries. Now the public is distracted by peace treaties and allyship. It's the perfect time for revolutionaries who valued Hasan II and others like him." Tygren crossed his arms. "Why would this offend my country?" he asked. "Because after all this bloodshed, King Ingressus was the first one to sign it." Tygren's eyes widened. Was the Deathsinger he knew gone? Ozan was right. After everything he did for Ingressus, killed for him, worshiped him. He pussied out at the last moment. "What did you just say?" even though he was cross and confused, Ingressus' cowardliness wasn't the only thing to intrest him. It was the title Ozan gave him. "King Ingressus...your king?"
    "He was never king." Ozan shrugged, sitting back down. "Well, he is now." Tygren sighed deeply before he got up and started to leave.     "Where are you going?"
    "Ho-" Before Tygren could say home, he realized he didn't have one anymore. Not with his family dead and Ingressus going through his crisis. "Look," Ozan said. "I'm not going to stop you from what you think you should do. But you have to let that wound heal." Tygren sharply exhaled before sitting back down. Everything was calm until Tygren looked over at Ozan's wedding photo again. "I see you're married." Ozan half-smiled. "Not anymore," he said, somber. "How'd that happen?"
    "How'd what happen?"
    "Your divorce. I hear this is a very religious country." Ozan shook his head. "Oh, no, she's dead." Tygren never felt such a feeling before, but his shoulders dropped, and his face showed the biggest amount of guilt any boy could. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice quiet. "How'd she die?" Ozan's smile dropped. "I don't know," he said. "During the war, lots of people were sent away to God knows where and she was one of them. I never saw her again. 12 weeks later I got her belongings in the mail."
    "But- but why her? Why her!?" Ozan put his hand on Tygren's back to soothe him. "It's alright, it's okay," he whispered. "Do you have children?"
    "Yes, but they're adults now," Ozan replied. "I assume you lost your family too, didn't you?" Tygren nodded, wiping his eyes to stop himself from crying. Knowing when to not talk about something so horrific, Ozan didn't reply. "Would you like to stay?" it didn't take much thinking for Tygren to say yes. He never would have thought he would feel safe around humans in a country that didn't speak his language. But he did. And that was the biggest surprise of his career.