LONG LOST (A Sungurtekin Bey Fanfiction)

23.

Sungurtekin was holding his mother by her arm as they reached the marquee. Abdurehman alp who was standing in front of the marquee rushed to raise the curtains while they both climbed the stairs. Once inside, Sungurtekin led his mother to the beylic chair and sat beside her on the ground silently. He stared at her expression, she was devastated but as the head of their tribe she had the right to know what had been happening in the tribe.

"Ana!" He said after a long pause. Hayme turned to him and smiled sadly.

"What?" She asked.

"Wait," he said as a thought came in his head and stood up. Then he went to the curtain of Ertugrul's tent.

"Halime Sultan, come out. We need to talk!" He said. Hayme stared at him in confusion. Halime came outside. Her face was worried. She looked at Sungurtekin with question. Sungurtekin nodded her towards the seat. Halime silently went to sit there. Sungurtekin came forward and sat beside his mother in his previous position and took her hand in his own.

"There is very important matter. I wanted to let it come to your knowledge, ana!" He said. Hayme and Halime stared at him with confusion.

"I, Ertugrul, Selcan hatun, Nuray hatun, and Halime Sultan.." he stopped and raised his eyes at his mother's face who was listening intently to him. "We were after those who stole the seal from our marquee from the very beginning." He completed the story in one sentence. Hayme immediately understood what he was implying. A grave look of horror plastered on her face.

"We used Banu Cicek. We told her some truths about Aytolun. That is the reason she did this." He said.

"What did she do?" Halime asked bewildered.

"She poisoned them, Gundogdu abi found the poison from her tent and now he is investigating her in the prison tent." Sungurtekin turned to her.

"That's impossible! How could she do something like this?" Halime shook her head. Banu Cicek was a fierce hatun but she had never been the type of killing someone like this.

"Yeah I think so too. But she will be questioned tomorrow. Let's see what happens!" Sungurtekin sighed.

"What were the truths about Aytolun?" Hayme asked. Her brain seemed to be oozing out. Her kin had been doing everything on their own without even giving her a hint. She was really furious.

"Aytolun is the one who killed Duru hatun in order to be the woman of the marquee!" He was carefully giving the information away, trying not to spill enough. He didn't want her to know about the illegitimate relationship of her brother. Hayme stared at him in disbelief.

"So Selcan was right all the time about her?" Hayme asked.

"Yes, ana! And unfortunately, neither you nor Gundogdu abi listened to her. She tried to handle this on her own but when she couldn't she told Halime. You should have listened to her in the first place ana! If you had, none of this would have happened. Because you are the leader of this tribe. They didn't trust anyone after you discouraged them, ana! If Nuray hatun had not learned what was going on between them and told me, the circumstances would have been worse than now. She is your daughter in law. Don't treat her like this just because of her past." Sungurtekin said.

Halime felt a pride inside her for having a brother like him who supported the women of this tribe as much as the men were supported. Ertugrul must have been a very just and kind person, but he was never this much expressive when it came to the women. There were a lot of times Halime could recall when he had stopped her from expressing her opinion in front of everyone, yet he never stopped her from expressing herself in front of him. So she always used the later option. Thinking of Ertugrul made her ask her brother.