10-4 Babies

The final stages of my pregnancy start to get uncomfortable. My belly is now swollen so large that the midwife thinks that I might be carrying twins. Aysun is my almost constant companion, and I periodically have to insist that she allows me to do a few things unaided. I've suspended my dance practise for the moment, although I still do some of the exercises with Aysun before her dance lessons.

I must be the only person in the Edirne palace who isn't surprised when news arrives that Sultan Suleiman has ordered that Serhan Pasha and Şah Sultan to be transferred to a palace in a remote part of Egypt. It's a significant demotion for Serhan Pasha and I can only assume that it's more than the harem stipends which have been embezzled. Most of Şah Sultan's family are likely to leave Edirne as well. Kadir and Ramazan are already absent on military duty, and Ahmed is likely to follow them when he finishes his training. With Irem already married, only Leyla and Candan remain in the Edirne palace.

Now that I hold the rank of Begum, I'm one of the highest ranked women currently in the Edirne harem. Leyla Sultan continues her daily audience with Afife Kalfa and I, regarding the management of the harem. I'm not certain I want the responsibility, particularly at this stage of my pregnancy, but I'm not being given a choice. It's through these meetings that I learn than Candan is to be sent to Constantinople until a suitable husband is found for her, while Leyla Sultan is to marry the new governor of Edirne as soon as he takes up his appointment.

My rank and my unofficial role in the management of the harem gives me greater freedom of movement around the palace. Aysun invariable comes with me, as does one of the agas when I decide to leave the protection of the harem. My tours around the palace aren't made with any specific purpose in mind, other than to satisfy my curiosity and hunger for knowledge. I discover that there a schools and a hospital in the palace grounds, all financed by the dynasty for the benefit of Edirne's citizens.

Time passes with no news of when the new Edirne governor will take up his appointment. Even his identity remains a secret. In the meantime a council of Edirne pashas run the province. Leyla Sultan is downcast and resigned to her fate. Like many young imperial sultanas and hanimsultans, she will almost certainly be married to a much older man. It's not unheard of for a sultana to get through five or six husbands in her lifetime. Not all marriages end in the husband's death. Divorce is a simple and acceptable practise if her husband proves disloyal or inept in serving the empire. Şah Sultan would have been within her rights to divorce Serhan Pasha, but Sultan Suleiman must have felt her equally at fault for the embezzlement that brought about their downfall. Married or divorced, Şah Sultan would have been banished from Edirne in punishment for her crimes. She is lucky that the dynasty rarely executes its blood relatives for such crimes, probably fearing that an internal feud might destroy the dynasty from within.

Finally we hear that the son of Asuman Sultan, one of Sultan Suleiman's half-sisters, is to be the new governor. Ertaç Sultanzade has only just turned fifteen years old, which is a very young age to be governor of a province as important as Edirne. It's unclear why Leyla Sultan is to marry Ertaç, since he is already a member of the dynasty, but those are Sultan Suleiman's orders. The marriage takes place three days after Ertaç Sultanzade and his mother arrive in Edirne. As usual the wedding is confined to small private ceremony with no guests.

Asuman Sultan takes over responsibility for the Edirne harem from Leyla Sultan. The dynasty always regards the mother of a ruler to be higher in rank to a wife, so Asuman is the rightful matriarch of the Edirne harem. Asuman Sultan causes a stir among the kalfas and agas when she decides to occupy a suite on the first floor of the harem. For years the first floor has only been occupied for short periods when members of the dynasty are visiting Edirne. It's a clear signal that Asuman Sultan intends to keep much closer watch over her charges than Şah Sultan ever did.

At first the changes introduced are subtle and seemingly trivial. But I'm experienced enough in harem life to realise that Asuman is working to a plan. The new doors in the underground passageways mean the previously loose boundaries of the harem are now strictly defined. When those doors begin to be locked with access controlled by the agas, the harem soon becomes more like the one in Constantinople. A prison. The steady stream of girls going to the kitchen for titbits comes to an abrupt end when the agas restrict access though the new doors. It also means that access to the family wing and other outlying areas of the harem are limited to certain times of the day. It's a restriction which will force me to move into the family wing before I'm due to give birth. Babies don't arrive according to some palace official's schedule.

I continue to attend daily meetings with Leyla Sultan and Affife Kalfa, which Asuman Sultan now presides over. Asuman treats me with the proper respect my rank deserves, but she makes no effort to be friends. Our relationship is kept very formal and businesslike. Nevertheless, I learn from our meetings that Asuman dotes over her son, and she'll do anything to see to his comfort and pleasure. When she discovers that Aysun is an accomplished dancer, she decides that she should perform for her son. A private entertainment is organised within a matter of days.

Needless to say Aysun includes her seven veil dance in her routine. The consequence of her performance is that she soon becomes a favourite of Ertaç. At first I fear that Leyla Sultan will be jealous, and seek some form of revenge against Aysun. I remember Mahidevran's response when Hürrem started to replace her in Sultan Suleiman's bed. But Leyla seems to be delighted that she's been relieved of that role. She doesn't say why, although I don't think it's because of any lack of ardour on Ertaç's part. Aysun is soon seeking my advice on all sorts of sexual acts. She's going to need to be trained as a full hatun very soon if this relationship is to continue.

With Aysun increasingly absent from my side, I arrange for Mehtap to be my prenatal helper when Aysun is absent. It means I must sleep in the family wing, but that isn't a problem since I will need to move there in the near future in any case.

The weeks roll by uneventfully. By the midwife's best estimate, I'm due to give birth in two weeks. I still try to keep active but that is becoming increasingly hard for me manage. I've long since resigned myself to not seeing Hasan before the birth, so news of his arrival at the Edirne palace raises my spirits beyond imagination. Afife Kalfa arranges for us to meet in a private room, and it's only the state of my pregnancy which prevents us from spending an afternoon making passionate love. We must settle for something less strenuous, but I leave him in no doubt about my delight at seeing him again.

Common sense dictates that I should remain in the harem until after the birth. Hasan wants us to return to Salonica as soon as I am fit to travel. He has completed his mission, and been discharged from further duty to the empire for the foreseeable future. He promises to tell me about his adventures at a later date. All he will say for now is that he has been in Rhodes, assessing the impressive defences of the Christian fortress. I begin to tell him about my time in the Edirne harem. He interrupts me when I mention how despondent Anna von Erdödy had become at the loss of her lover Nebi.

"I saw Nebi a month ago," says Hasan. "He was enslaved for what he did, but Ibrahim realised the skills Nebi possesses would be useful in the empire's service. I don't know what deal Nebi and Ibrahim made, but Nebi was fit and well when I last saw him."

"Anna will be delighted at that news," I say.

"Think carefully about what you tell her," cautions Hasan. "She's married to another man and Nebi is a slave. Don't give her false hope when it may be dashed at any moment. Working for Ibrahim is never a safe occupation. I narrowly escaped death several times. Many of Ibrahim's agents haven't been so lucky."

"Then I'll simply tell her that Nebi is alive but that he's a slave," I reply. "That knowledge alone might lift her spirits. She has been coping remarkably well with harem life and she definitely prefers it to the prospect of returning to her husband."

Anna is delighted at my news, even though the likelihood of her seeing Nebi again is extremely remote. Not only is Nebi now a slave, but Anna is in only a marginally better situation. Sultan Suleiman still keeps her in a strange limbo between hostage and slave. As a hostage she is entitled to the respect afforded her rank of countess, and the sultan can order her return to Hungary at any time. As a slave she has no rank and is simply the dynasty's property. Anna is stuck in some strange halfway situation.

I know from overheard conversations, and my own observations, that Leyla Sultan shows a special interest in Anna's situation. I gradually realise that her relationship with Anna is the same as the one which briefly existed between Irem and Anna. Leyla, however, is much better at hiding her relationship with Anna than Irem ever was. It at least explains her disinterest in her husband's desire for Aysun, particularly as he seems to have an unusually active passion for sex.

I give birth to my two girls exactly two weeks after Hasan arrived in Edirne. They are both healthy and a good weight considering they are twins. I delay naming them until after I've met with Hasan. He's not allowed into the harem, so nearly a day passes before the midwife declares that I'm fit enough to take the twins to a place where I can meet Hasan.

Even though they aren't of his blood, he doesn't hesitate to take on the role of father. Not that a father has much to do with the care of infants. He holds them for a few moments, but hands them back as soon as one of them starts crying. I don't complain at his temporary loss of interest. I'm simply pleased that he made it to Edirne in time to be here for the birth.

We agree to give one of the girls a Turkish name and the other one a more commonly used name in Salonica where we will be living. For the older girl, we choose Nesrin, meaning wild rose in Turkish, and Irene, meaning peace, for the younger. Hasan has difficulty in telling the girls apart, but I can see the tiny differences between them that helps me identify which girl is which. Nesrin is definitely the noisier of the two, which is why I chose the name Irene for the quieter girl.

A week later we depart for Salonica. I made my tearful farewells to my friends in the harem over the preceding days. I know that in reality we are unlikely to see each other again. I've written to Ibrahim, and separately to the Valide, telling them that Nesrin and Irene have entered the world, and that Hasan and I are moving to the Çelebi compound in Salonica. I don't expect a reply soon, as news has recently arrived in Edirne that the Ottoman fleet is laying siege to the island of Rhodes. The empire is again at war. Hasan thinks it will take several months to break down the island's defences, but the information that he and other scouts have obtained will be invaluable to the eventual capture of the island.

Travelling with two new babies isn't easy, but Hasan has spared no expense in arranging a coach, complete with driver and two guards. He's even hired a woman to help me with the girls on our journey. Consequently we arrive in Salonica in good spirits and Hasan takes me to the house which is to become our new home.