My Magnificent Century

by CalvinHobbesGatsby

Ulyana Sokolova is a young woman from Ukraine, feeling to Turkey to escape the Russian invasion. When her flight crashes during a freak electrical storm, she is rescued by a passing ship; only to discover that she has been transported back to the Ottoman Empire. She befriends a young woman named Alexandra who will soon become known as Hürrem

I DO NOT OWN MAGNIFICENT CENTURY. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO MERAL OKAY AND YILMAZ ŞAHIN. AFTER WATCHING THIS AMAZING SERIES, I WAS INSPIRED TO MY OWN STORY ABOUT SULEIMAN AND HURREM, SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A TRAVELER FROM ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE. A BIG SHOUTOUT TO MARINA KA-FAI FOR ALL OF THEIR HELP ON BRAINSTORMING THIS STORY.

FACE CLAIMS

OLD ULYANA- HELEN MIRREN

YOUNG ULYANA- SADIE SINK

Topkapı Palace. Constantinople, Sublime Ottoman State. April 15, 1558.

Ulyana Omelyanivna Sokolova wiped the sweat from her brow as she looked up at the starry night sky. It never ceased to amaze her how things could change so vastly in the matter of only a few days or a few hours, or even a few minutes. What had once seemed so secure, was now gone forever and could never be recovered. Her thoughts immediately went to her surrogate sister: Hürrem Sultan.

Even in the early days when she still bore the name of Alexandra Lisowska or even the slur of Roxelana, their bond had been close. Hürrem had been as her own blood relative. Caring for her, living life with her, exploring the ways of the Ottoman Empire with her, Ever since her arrival, Hurrem had been her lifeline, her sanity in an unfamiliar world. Now...Hürrem was gone from this world forever. Ulyana had no time to mourn for her sister from another mister. Now, her life was forfeit. The only other person who could possibly keep her safe was Sultan Suleiman and he had been dead for 2 long years.

For so long, Hürrem had been Ulyana's protector. It was Hürrem who had kept Ulyana from being sent away and it was Hurrem had loved her as family. As she sat at her desk, she pulled out one of her most precious possessions: a snapshot photograph. The photograph was one she had taken when years ago; after Hürrem had married Suleiman and been freed from slavery. It was a photograph of the 3 friends standing together in the throne room. Hürrem was standing in the middle. On her left was her husband and the love of her life, Suleiman the magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. On the left was Ulyana. She had posed them deliberately that way because Hürrem had been the one to bring them together. Suleiman and Ulyana had developed their own sibling relationship, united in their love of Hürrem. Since Ulyana had come to the Ottoman Empire, Hürrem and Suleiman had been her only friends, her only family. Now they were both gone. Ulyana let the tears fall down her face as she stared at the photograph, thinking of all that she had lost.

"You said you always be there for me when I needed you!" Ulyana cried out angrily as she stared at the smiling faces of Hürrem and Suleiman. She felt guilty immediately afterwards, for Ulyana wasn't angry at them, but at the situation that she now found herself in. Ever since she had been literally dropped into the ancient world of the Ottoman Empire, Hürrem and Suleiman were the only people in said world that she could rely on wholeheartedly.

Ulyana had told them of her hopes, her dreams, her fears, her loves. She had told them things that she had never dared tell anyone else back in Kiev; not even her own parents or older brother. Yet, Hürrem especially had always accepted Ulyana for who she was. Despite her famous temper, Hürrem had always made her feel safe.

So had Sultan Suleiman the magnificent; for that was truly what he had been for Ulyana. Even though their relationship would always center around Hürrem, they had found a friendship all their own; the friendship between Hürrem, Suleiman, and Ulyana could be compared to a backwards tug o' war. Instead of Suleiman and Ulyana pulling Hürrem in opposite directions, she was pulling them both together.

The only negative aspect of enjoying such a close friendship with the sultan was that the friend zone didn't exist back then. Unless she was his relative through blood or marriage, any female close to the sultan was assumed to be his concubine. Ulyana had never seen Suleiman as anything more than a dear friend and the feeling was mutual, but Hürrem had never been good at hiding how the rumors had hurt her; whenever they were brought up.

Thankfully, she had never doubted Ulyana's love for her. In the Ottoman court where people could come and go on a whim, Ulyana had always stayed close to the Sultan and Sultana. She's seen their unorthodox marriage through its ups and downs, as well as the birth of all their children.

As Ulyana dried her tears as best she could, she had a mission before her. Now that Hürrem and Suleiman were dead, her life was in the hands of Sultan Selim, second of his name. Of all the children born of Hürrem and Suleiman, Selim II was sadly the one that Ulyana had gotten along with the least. If that wasn't bad enough, rumors were sweeping throughout the palace that Selim's friends and advisors were encouraging the new Sultan to be rid of a European woman who had no business living for free at Ottoman court.

Whether that meant Selim would send her away or arrange an accident, was anyone's guess. Ulyana pulled out several pieces of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a new quill. Whatever was to become of her, Ulyana decided that she was not going to become a faceless woman; forgotten by history. She was going to make sure that her story was known by someone. Plus, she didn't want to risk ever forgetting her life in the Ottoman Empire; if this all turned out to be some kind of insane dream. Taking a deep breath, Ulyana began to write...

WHO IS ULYANA, HOW DID SHE COME TO BE HERE? WHAT OCCURRED DURING HER LIFE? REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.