Bachchan pushes it back. “Open a school. Or a hospital. Name it after Baran.”

The elder’s smile fades. He looks toward the Turkish border.

“God help them,” he whispers.

Bachchan picks up the photo. He grins. “Gold. Now you’re speaking my language.” Bachchan Pandey lands in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, but Dilan immediately takes him off-road, into the Qandil Mountains. He expects Kalashnikovs and chaos. He finds a disciplined, underground society of the PKK-affiliated YBS (Sinjar Resistance Units). Women with braided hair clean sniper rifles. Old men recite poetry by firelight.

“This is our soul,” Dilan whispers, touching a pot gently. “This is what they wanted to burn.”