10-5 Epilogue
Salonica, Summer 1533
It's hard to believe that ten years have passed since I left the Imperial Harem in Edirne. Like any story there must be an end, but real life goes on. My rank of Begum provided me with automatic access to the various committees and social circles of Salonica frequented by the important women of the city. Through those contacts I've been accepted into the community despite my distant origins. For the last six years I've taught various languages at the local schools. Coupled with looking after Hasan and five children, my teaching and committee work keeps me very busy. My only regret is that I have little time for dancing, although I do my best to keep fit.
Three months after Hasan and I returned to Salonica I gave Hasan a private performance of the dance of the seven veils. We often joke that it was on that occasion that our first son was conceived. In reality it could have been any night around that time. Hasan certainly has the stamina, and I the skill, to keep our sex life interesting and active. Another girl and boy followed over the next four years.
When Hürrem and I first entered the Imperial Harem in 1520 we were told that our ultimate prize would be to give birth to a şehzade who might become the next sultan. I'm happy to concede that victory to Hürrem. She too now has several children, breaking the time honoured tradition of a sultan's favourite only being allowed to give birth to one son. In many respects she has achieved her goal of wealth and prestige. But is she really happy in that vipers den of powerful women? I don't know.
I'm not entirely cut off from my former life. I've written to Ibrahim periodically so that he can pass on my news about Nesrin's and Irene's development. Last month I was invited to the palace in Salonica along with several other prominent local citizens. Sultan Suleiman was travelling through Salonica and the local dignitaries arranged a small celebration in his honour. A few of the local women thought it strange that Nesrin and Irene should also be invited at the sultan's request. I've never made it a secret that I was once briefly Sultan Suleiman's concubine, so it was easy to convince people that the girls' inclusion was because the sultan held a lingering regard for his former concubine.
I strongly suspect that Hasan has guessed long ago who is the real father of Nesrin and Irene. You only need to look at two of them to see they have no likeness to Ibrahim, whereas they have several features similar to Sultan Suleiman. Hasan has never pushed me for a confession, undoubtedly because he knows the danger it would present to the girls if that knowledge fell into the wrong hands.
On the evening of the celebration I prepare the girls as best I can. Despite their young age, they aren't strangers to adult gatherings. Hasan often entertains his business contacts in our home, and sometimes they include wives and older children. I put on my jewel trimmed jacket which Sultan Suleiman gave me. It has survived the intervening years well, and has only needed minor repairs as the material begins to show its age.
The sultan greeted each of the gathered guests in turn and made a special point of talking to Nesrin and Irene. At the end of the evening he presents both girls with a ruby necklace each. I thank him on behalf of the girls, since they were too excited and overwhelmed by the gifts to say more than a brief thank you themselves. Sultan Suleiman smiles and gives me a necklace of my own which he tells me is one that he has made himself. It's an honour beyond words to receive jewellery made by the sultan's own hands.
I haven't heard of what became of Anna von Erdödy. The Ottoman Empire went to war with Hungary again in 1526, which ended in the resounding defeat of the Hungarian army and the death of their king on the battlefield. A new king loyal to the Ottoman dynasty has ruled Hungary since then. The Hungarian hostages remaining in the hunting lodge near Constantinople were released shortly after the war, but Nur obviously didn't know about Anna's fate.
The only other incident that relates to this story of my life in the Imperial Harem, is one of those strange coincidences that fate occasionally likes to throw into life's mix. Just over a year ago I received a visit from the father of one of the scholars at the school where I teach languages. He works for the harbour master down in the dock area. His duties involve checking that ships docking at the wharves pay the proper fees. Salonica sees ships from many nations, and many different languages are usually heard. On that particular day a ship from England had docked. Political relations between the Ottoman Empire and distant England had only recently improved to the extent that Ottoman harbours are open to English vessels. Consequently a visit from an English ship is a rarity, and few people can speak the English language. The man asked me to help translate the ship's captain's words.
That's how I met Captain James Merridew. He's younger than most sea captains normally seen in Salonica, but he must be a competent sailor to have brought his ship all the way from England. I translate the exchange of formalities that allows the ship to dock and unload its trade goods. I'm about to leave when the captain asks me a question.
"Do you know how I can go about finding someone who was captured by pirates in these waters just over ten years ago?" he asks in English.
"Any captive taken by pirates will almost certainly have been sold as a slave in one of the many slave markets throughout the empire," I reply. "Is the person you seek male or female?"
"My sister. She would be 26 years old by now."
"If she was fifteen or sixteen when she was taken, then she is likely to have ended up as some merchant's servant or concubine," I reply. I don't add that it's also possible she was bought by a brothel keeper. "You would have to search each slave dealer's records to find who sold your sister. That's assuming the dealer bothered to record her name and spell it correctly. Even if you find who sold her, there's no guarantee whoever bought her still has her, and if he does, he probably won't let you near her. You face an impossible task."
"If she was captured near Salonica, would she have been sold locally?"
"Unlikely. The slave market in Salonica is very small and trades mainly in male slaves for the quarries and farms. A young girl is likely to have been taken to one of the larger markets, possibly as far as Edirne or even Constantinople."
"I promised our mother that I would try to find Matilda," replies the captain. "It's taken me months to track down where the ship she was on was captured. That's what makes me think she was brought here."
"Matilda?" I ask. "I knew an English slave girl with that name. She would be about the age of your sister. But she has fair hair, quite different from yours."
"My sister has fair hair like our mother. I take after my father," says the captain. "Where did you meet her?"
"When I was in the Imperial Harem in Edirne," I reply. "I don't know if she is your sister. Her name, hair colour and age fit your description, but that's not proof she's the one who you seek."
"Did you learn anything about her background that might confirm that she's my sister?"
"Girls who enter the Imperial Harem are forbidden to talk about their past lives. All I know is she came from a coastal town or city in England."
"Falmouth," says the captain. "We come from Falmouth. It's a port on the south-west coast of England. It could be her! Is it possible that I could see her?"
"Not if you value your life," I laugh. "Slaves in the Imperial Harem aren't allowed visitors, particularly their former family. You'd be killed or thrown into a dungeon if you tried."
I feel guilty for building up his hopes only to dash them again.
"I have a suggestion," I say. "Write a letter to your sister and I'll send it to someone I know in the Imperial Harem. She might be able to pass your letter to the Matilda I know. I can't promise it will reach her, and if it does, that she'll be allowed to write back in reply. It's the best I can suggest."
"Thank you ... err ... I don't know your name."
"Gülnihal Çelebi Begum," I reply. "If the Matilda I met is your sister, then it is my pleasure to help you. It was Matilda who taught me to speak English. Write your letter and pass it to the harbour master's man who you met today. He'll get your letter to me."
A couple of days later I receive Captain Merridew's letter addressed to his sister. I send it with the letter I have written to Leyla Sultan asking that she pass the captain's letter onto Aysun, and if Aysun is the captain's sister, then to allow Aysun to send a reply. It's a big favour to ask, and it runs contrary to several established rules of the harem.
A few weeks later I receive a reply from Leyla Sultan. Apparently Leyla Sultan is now matriarch of the harem following the death of her husband's mother. Fate has favoured Captain Merridew as Aysun is indeed his sister. Leyla says that Aysun has sent a letter to England letting her mother know that she's alright and the proud mother of Ertaç Sultanzade's son. Whether the letter will ever reach its destination is something we'll never know. I wish Leyla had been more forthcoming with other news of my former friends in the Edirne harem, but she doesn't mention any of them.
I have work to do so I don't have time to dwell on the matter. My life has taken many twists and turns, but I feel that I've done the best that I can. I no longer have the opulence of the Imperial Harem around me, but I'm happy to trade that for my freedom.
[The end]
Author's note: Throughout this story I have tried to reflect the social structure and titles of the Ottoman Imperial Harem used in the sixteenth century. Much of this I have drawn from Leslie P. Peirce's book The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Readers of other stories set in Ottoman harems may notice different titles used in those stories. As far as I know, the title of hatun (= lady) fell into disuse in the seventeenth century and was replaced by kadin, which has a similar meaning. Similarly the title of haseki (= imperial consort) was initially used only for the most favoured concubine (the real Hürrem Sultan eventually achieved this rank), but in later centuries the imperial consort was given the title kadinefendi, and haseki was more generally used for any woman who gave birth to a child of the ruling sultan.