The other woman

hurrem sultan exile

Hurrem exile was to be today I couldn't sleep I knew she was innocent but there as no way of proving it yet. As soon as the sun was up I arose and began my day I quickly got dressed and went and visited the children, Mihrimah and young prince Mehmed. " hello beautiful " I say picking up the little girl in my arms out of her crib " look how pretty your getting everyday yes you are " I says as she giggles in her own sweet way . I put Mihrimah back in the crib and look toward mehmed. "Mehmed " I say as he leans forward for me to pick him up . He whimpers when I pick him up . " you miss your mother I know and she love and misses you too. " he snuggles in to my chest and fall asleep there I just sit there and let him sleep knowing it would be a day with great sadness . Hours go by suddenly sümbül ağa walks in with Esma hatun . " Sofia Elizabeth What are you doing here ? " Sümbül asks . "I am the children's care taker as well as servant to hurrem if she can't watch over them I do and that's what's I do Sümbül " I say confidently as I stare at the small boy in my arms. " hurrem wants to see the children we will let her take the young sultana but not the prince " he says shaking his head. I hand the prince to Sümbül and the young sultana to Esma. We slowly walk to hurrems room.as soon as she sees the children hurrem lights up thinking it will be all right but not knowing that pain that will come. I stand behind Sümbül as daye hatun tell him to take the prince back to the nursery. She shoves past me to try and get to her son knowing he should be with her not far away. We follow hurrem down the stairway to harem . "nigar kalfa ,gülnihal what are you standing there for" daye hatun ask demanding the girls grab the weeping sultana. I run around to the front of hurrem and hug her ." Hurrem it s ok it's ok I promise you nothing bad will happen I promise". She collapse into Maria's arm I continue to hug her knowing it's the only thing I can do. " sultana if you want I will stay or I will come with you whatever you decide I will not let you live in this exile alone " I say as tears run down my face. "No You will stay here and protect the prince my son I leave him in your hands you will not leave his side hatice sultan will be the family member to watch over him but you I am putting my trust in to protect and keep my son" she says hugging me " I promise hurrem I won't leave him unless I have to I promise" I say . I look at the Nigar kalfa and Maria they are both tearing up. We return to hurrems room to finish cleaning up and get her traveling coat on and her scarf. We walk hand and hand till we get to the upper balcony and I let go and walk behind the procession. We come across hatice sultan she promised to watch over Mehmed till hurrem returns. By now we are all crying. We continue till we walk right in front of the harem Maria comes forward with her bags and tells hurrem she is coming with her we continue to walk until we come to a point I can no longer walk with them I turn to the party of the woman leaving . I give hurrem a little nod and a bow . I turn to Maria next and hug her " take good care of her i know you will be back " i says tearing up. I turn to Esma who is hold the little sultana , " good bye sweet girl be good to your mother love her and know I love you and so dose Mehmed " I say kissing the little babies hand. I turn to Esma " be kind and be brave don't worry " I say as she turns away and follows the sultan to the carriage that await there future for now I watch as they enter the carriage one by one. As soon as they are settled the caravan leaves . I continue to watch until they are out of sight I slowly make my way back to the harem. Many eyes watch me and I let them watch. I know they jugde and will gossip about this event but nothin will stop me from doing my duty. I continue to walk to the nursery. I open the door and find the little prince sitting up on the bed with the nurse maid watching him I signal for her to leave for a bit . I walk over and picking up the little prince I say to him " you are loved more then I can say by your mother and I will live up to my promise of protecting to you and loving you till she returns" he looks at my with an understanding look slowly he snuggles Into me and we just stood there in understanding . I stay there for a while playing with mehemd keeping him as happy as I could I could tell he was quite confused on why his mother had disappeared but he didn't understand why. Finally it was time for his dinner and mine so I returned to the harem aya was waiting for me at a table.
" there you are I thought that room had sallowed you" she said as I sat down on the pillow.
" aya I have a job protect the prince no matter the cause besides he is about to grow up with out a mother and if I'm there all the time he will have some normality " I say reaching for a spoon to eat. I look at aya as she shakes her head as I eat.
" he will be fine besides with this time you could help yourself get ahead in life maybe see the sultan , get married that's what's important you don't want to spend your life here do you ? " she says to me frowning.
" aya I have seen the sultan at hatice sultans engagement party and when he visits hurrem even though that doesn't happen much at this time ,he was nice looking and what would I gain from seeing him and if I want to get married I'd could easily ask daye Hutun ,she likes me and could easily as vailde sultan for me and I don't know if I would love to stay here forever but would it be a bad thing." I say finishing up my supper.
"Sofia Elizabeth your crazy I say we are slaves with hurrem gone we can shoot up into a favourite spot and gain favour it would be wonderful, if by the way you spilled some sharbat on your dress" she says pointing out the stain.
" I am not crazy I'm just loyal to hurrem and yes your right we could gain favour but if I did something stupid like that and hurrem found out I would be either dead or kicked out of the palace and thanks for pointing out my stain now I have to go the laundry and find a new dress " I say frowning at the stain on my lovely burgundy dress. I stand up and start to leave to go the laundry.
I walk my way to the laundry but when I enter mahideveran is there I bow quickly when I see her turn around.
" welcome Sofia how are you what brings you here tonight " she say smiling at me.
" hello sultana during dinner I spilled on my dress so I was hoping the laundry might have one I could wear for the rest of the night" I say smiling back but also pointing out the stain on my dress.
" well I was sending some old dresses down here to be washed and the laundry ladies have gone for the night here take one of my dresses I don't wear them anymore they should fit you just fine" she says holding out a bundle of dresses so enchanting.
" oh sultana I can't these are so beautiful how could I take something like this" I say kissing the bottom of her skirt.
"Think of it as a present hurrem is gone and I haven't felt this cheerful in years valide sultan says that this Thursday I will go to halvet " she say smiling while she helps me up.
" put in this lovely purple one it would look beautiful on you I never wore it " she says pointing out the dress in the bundle,
" there is a changing screen put it on now so I know it fits you" she say.
I quickly go behind the screen and put in the dress she was right it was beautiful it looked like one of the dresses hurrem wears to halvet when she went. I step out from behind the screen and the sultana is just beaming.
"Oh my word you look wonderful you must keep them all " she says grabbing my hands.
" thank you sultana your right it is so wonderful "I say as I kiss her hands then bring my forehead to her hands as a respected response.
" I'm glad you like them well I must be off come see mustafa when you have sometime he misses you as do I " she says smiling as she turns to leave.
I bow the way I was taught as she leaves. I take my new dresses back to my side of the closet we all share and put it away for the night and make my way back to prince mehemd. When I return to the door of the nurse maids room I tell the other concubine she could go for the night as those of us who are servants to hurrem wait day and night in shifts to watch mehemd this is no difference when she is gone, one girl would wait at the door in case the nurse maids or the other concubine which was most of the time me needed something, and when it was time for the prince to sleep I would wait at the door all night just out of protection and loyalty to hurrem. Sleep was for the weak and I did find time to sleep when I was weak but hurrem had power and would remain powerful to be on her bad side would and could be fatal. Her son was her everything it gained her power and favour and that was important to keep him safe. I told the nurse maid that I would play with him for a bit before his bedtime she stayed in the room she and I had become quite friendly while stuck in the room togeather.
" look how sweet you are now I know your confused my little prince but you will see everything will turn out in the end" I say standing him up as he laughs.
" maşallah he will be a beautiful boy " the nurse maid said watching us play.
Suddenly the door opened up and his majesty sultan Süleyman entered we both quickly arose to Bow I quickly picked up Mehmed to bow with him in my arms.
We dared not speak until spoken to.
His majesty reached out his arms for his son " I would like to hold my mehmed" he says coming closer.
" of course your majesty " I say keeping my head low as I hand the child to him.
As he held the child the little prince seemed content in his arms his majesty spoke soft words To his son in encouragement.
When he was done he passed Mehmet to the nurse maid. " my prince should be put to bed first feed him then put him to bed you may sleep with him in your room not the princes bed" he said kissing the princes head. The nurse maid just nodded and head to her room with the prince.
I stood near the door and bowed as he passed by me. He suddenly stopped in front of me. " what's your name lady?" He said to me .