The couple of days that followed Sadiq's recruitment were spent in complete and awkward silence between Ayşe and me, so I decided to venture myself to the city and see what Turkey had to offer to a foreigner like me. Before leaving for the street, while I was adjusting my scarf around my neck in a way that wouldn't suffocate me in front of the large mirror at the entrance, Heracles told me to visit the souq, and old market where they sold everything that I could imagine. He told me the directions and I was off to the souq in no time, refusing to take the carriage with me and instead basking in the warm summer day.

The glowing sun in the clear sky, the warm air that blew through the alleys of the city and the sounds of the crowd that surrounded me almost made me forget my sorrow, that was until I came across a newspaper stand where I read about the retreat of the Bulgarian troops from Edirne, but there was nothing about an Ottoman occupation, yet, I was beyond excited, because that meant that the war would end soon and Sadiq would come back to my arms.

I entered the souq with a broad smile on my face and took in the scent and the sounds of the place I was in. It was glorious. Each stand had things more wonderful than the one before. I stood in front of a particular stand where an old man was selling gold jewellery which shone with the daylight and made my eyes hurt. I saw a beautiful set of bracelets, a necklace and earrings that would look perfect on Katyusha and the price was reasonable enough for me to buy it, so I did.

I spent the entire day shopping in the souq, until I heard something that just screamed "follow me" and it was the sinful music to which I used to dance. It was being played in one of the corners of the souq by a couple of musicians and I couldn't resist my urges, so I started to gyrate my hips slowly and then my wrists until I found myself dancing in front of a crowd who had gathered around me as I did my best dance moves in the middle of the souq. When I finished, unaware of the people's presence, I intended to congratulate the musicians for their music, but everybody started to clap at me and I found myself smiling and bowing to them in appreciation.

When the crowd had dissolved, a couple of young girls called me in a secluded alley and I decided to oblige, not really thinking about what they might possibly want from me. I saw one of the girls disappear behind a colourful curtain, which I opened and I found what could be called a dance studio. There was an open space in the middle of the room, lit by the small widows of the stone walls, and several red cushions with gold arabesques – which matched the curtains and the carpet in the middle of the floor – forming a circle in the room. Three girls, with their bodies wrapped completely around veils were standing on the opposite side of the room. I looked around with wonder.

"Why did you bring me here?"

I asked without further ado. The smallest of the three girls approached me and put her hand over my arm, speaking in a very soft and warm voice.

"Are you a dancer?"

I was a little taken aback by the sudden question and was about to deny everything and get out of there, thinking that perhaps those girls were Muslims fundamentalists that would burn me in a stake if I said yes, but then remembered something Sadiq had told me while in Russia and that was that women were not allowed to perform, and thus, male belly dancers had become really popular, even in the Sultan's court, so I decided to answer, with full confidence.

"Yes I am"

Then, as in cue, the three girls removed their clothing, revealing their belly dance attires. I was surprised, to say the least. In the middle of a crowded souq in downtown Constantinople I had just happened to bump into a bunch of girls belly dancers, which was not so common, as Sadiq had said to me.

"We loved your performance. It felt so natural"

I chuckled and nodded, blushing a little from the compliment. I realise now that I was never good at taking compliments without blushing even a little.

"Yes... I didn't even realise I was dancing until everyone began clapping"

The three of us laughed and they invited me to sit in one of the really comfortable cushions. One of the girls brought black tea in what looked to be a gold tray. In fact, everything over that tray, the teapot and the trims of the glasses looked as it was made of gold. It was exquisite.

"What is your name?"

One of the girls asked me. I was about to say "Ivan", as a natural response whenever someone asked for my name, but then I realised that they were Turkish and they probably wouldn't like Russians. So far I had managed to walk through the crowded streets of Constantinople without getting stoned to death for being a Russian, and I wasn't about to ruin that.

"Menekşe"

I couldn't had imagined it, but during what was left of that afternoon until the sun hid behind the tall structure of the Blue Mosque, those girls showed me some dance moves I hadn't even dreamed of and how to apply purple eye shadow to make my eyes stand out and glitter to my torso and belly before a performance. They also made me try on the jewellery they wore during their clandestine performances: a gold headpiece, bracelets that came all the way from my wrists to the base of my middle finger and a necklace that shone beautifully with the sunlight. They said that the public loved it and I loved it, too, so they gave it to me as a gift.

I thanked them and left just before the sun set, and I still couldn't believe what had just happened. When I got to Sadiq's manor, I was greeted by Ayşe, who came running to me with a smile on her face and a letter on her hand.

"Sadiq sent a letter!"

I left my bags on the floor and grabbed the letter from Ayşe's hand delicately. She wrapped her arms around my middle and rested her chin on my shoulder, looking over it to see the letter, which she had already red before my arrival. Her proximity made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I decided to concentrate on the letter.

My beloved ones,

The Bulgarians are retreating. I am sure that this war won't last long and I am counting the seconds to be with both of you. Ayşe, my beloved sister, I am looking forward to see your smile again and to smell your delicious perfume in every corner of the house, I don't want you to think about me with sadness.

Vanya, my beautiful little sunflower, I am counting the days before I can run into your arms and make you mine again, because you are and you always will be. My heart is with you and you are the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing when I go to sleep. I love you and I am looking forward to see your beautiful violet eyes again and to see you dance.

You both are always in my heart; I love you both and can't wait to see you again,

Yours sincerely,

Sadiq

I squealed in happiness, knowing that Sadiq would be soon coming home.