Aylin Hatun

Chapter 17

Halime

Ertugrul safely returned with the missing children, Alhamdulillah. He entered the marquee and, just as I was about to exit or seperate tent to greet him, Hayme Ana, Gundogdu, Sungurtekin, Tugtekin and Korkut Bey entered the marquee. I decided to stay behind in our tent as our Gunduz was sleeping anyways, so I could be with him if he woke.

I listened carefully as they questioned him about his journey. Then, for a few minutes it went silent. Confused, I peeked through the fabric door of our tent. I saw Dogan alp had entered the marquee and his eyes were fixed on my Ertugrul, who was enrolling a small piece of paper. He read it out loud "Ertugrul Bey, with the permission of Allah I am watching over you like I promised. Inshallah, I will be able to meet you at the tribe soon. But in the meantime if you need help send a pigeon or one of your men to Geyikli and I will do my best to help."

Once he had finished reading it, he looked up and smiled widely before saying "well, it seems Allah has given us an ally." Suddenly a jealous feeling overcame me. Yes I do not know if it is a man or a woman but it is not signed and surely if it was someone we knew they would have no need to conceal their name. I completely trust Ertugrul, it's other women I don't trust. I looked back at him to see what he was doing now and he glanced over at me. Quickly, I averted my face and went to Gunduz, whom I had heard stirring out of his sleep.

Ertugrul

I stood up once everyone had left and went to my tent to see what Halime was doing. As I entered I noticed her sat faced away from me cooking some food for tonight's feast. I walked up to her but then saw Gunduz watching me from the bed. So I strode over to him and picked him up before covering his small face with kisses. I then took him over to Halime and fed him some of the food she had made. It was a lamb stew that she had made with a lamb that I sacrificed just yesterday. She was also making bread to serve with it. Gunduz happily ate and then I gave him to Gokçe who had offered to look after him earlier so that I could have a conversation with my love.

"Halime" I called her. She looked up at me and carried on stirring the stew. I moved back to her and cupped her face before gently tilting it up so she was looking at me. "My beautiful doe eyes, what's wrong are you upset with me?" I asked her. "Nothing is wrong my Bey, I am just busy preparing for dinner" she said with a straight face but I could see she was hiding something from me, it was evident in her eyes. "What was the look you had on your face before then, dear wife?" I questioned making my voice louder so she would know that I want nothing but the truth. " Alright, Ertugrul, I knew you would find out sooner or later. I- I am jealous, my bey" she said hesitantly.

At her words, I smiled. "My dear wife who is there to be jealous of? I love you with all my heart, you make me crazy for you!" I exclaimed happily. Her lips curved upwards in a half smile before she said "the woman who wrote you that message." So she guessed it was a woman that quickly? I knew my woman was smart. "Look Halime you don't need to be jealous. If I tell you who she truly is, you must not tell anyone. Especially my mother or it would jeopardise everything that woman has been working for to help us for the past decade" I said sternly.

"You have my word Ertugrul, I swear not to tell anyone" she said nodding continuously at the same time. "She is my elder sister" I breathed out quickly but not too quick so she could not hear what I said. "What? How do you know?" She asked me, disbelief and concern filling her eyes. "My beautiful wife, she told me and Shaykh Ibn Al Arabi said she speaks the truth as well, so I trust her. Also, I went to visit her with Turgut and she seems genuine" I replied. She stayed silent for a while and then I heard the drums beating outside, signalling the start of the feast. "Come on my love, let's go to dinner" I said and she snapped out of her trance. She collected the food, then I grabbed some cutlery and we carried it to the entrance of the marquee where everyone waited to start the feast.