Halime Sultan

Chapter 3

So we arrived at the Kayi Tribe which was much below my expectations. As I dismounted my horse, all the people started to welcome us like crazy! "Welcome my Sultan!" they all shouted.Baba placed his hand on his chest, indicating gratitude. Soon, a man came out of a colossal, patterned tent with a woman following behind him. "Welcome my Sultan." the man said.

  "Suleyman Shah! I am glad to see you again!" Baba greeted with joy as the Bey kissed his hand.

"We are honoured to have you here! Is this your daughter?" Suleyman Shah asked, looking at me. 

"Yes, she is my daughter. Her name is Halime Sultan. She is my third child." Baba replied and smiled at me.

"Welcome my girl. You are not a guest, you are the princess of this marquee! I am Hayme. They call me Hayme Ana." Suleyman Shah's wife introduced.

"Thank you, Hayme Ana!" I thanked and gratefully grinned. 

I kissed Suleyman Shah's hand as he smiled.

"My girl, you did not have to kiss my hand, you are a princess!" he stated.

"I feel good doing it, my Bey. Despite my status, I must be respectful to all. Especially my elders!" I beamed.

"Where is Ertugrul?" Baba asked, looking around.

"He is out hunting with his Alps." Suleyman Shah replied.
I gave a small bow and went inside with my father. Hayme Ana led me to a room with a few women inside. The women got up from their seats and Hayme Ana introduced us all to each other.

"Halime Sultan, this is Aykiz, this is Gokce, and this is Selcan. They are all like my daughters!" Hayme Ana smiled.

"Nice to meet you all." I said.

"This is Halime Sultan, she is the daughter of Sultan Numan." Hayme Ana laughed.

One woman called Gokce raised her eye brows and scoffed "Oh really? I would never imagine someone high, lazy and get's everyone to do their things would come to meet us muddy, hardworking, helpful people. How wonderful!" 

Her words hurt me quite a lot however I tried to look as if I wasn't offended at all. Hayme Ana could see me looking down and playing with my sleeve so she decided to talk back to her disrespectful 'daughter'. 

"Gokce! Don't you ever speak to Halime Sultan like that! Although she has just come, she's proving to be a better daughter than you!" Hayme Ana scolded and then smiled at me.

"Well I'm not your real daughter anyways. My real mum died so you had to take care of me." Gokce muttered.

I felt so bad for them. They had to deal with an impertinent woman today, if not everyday! Another woman smiled at me and approached me kindly.

"I am Aykiz. I am happy to meet you! I hope you feel at home here! We will serve you and your father all the time." Aykiz greeted as she hugged me.

"Thank you Aykiz. I am happy to be here." I replied.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Gokce rolling her eyes and cursing under breath. 

"I am Selcan. I am the older sister of Gokce. I am glad you are here! You should come tomorrow too! My father is holding a feast because we managed to migrate successfully, thanks to his son, Ertugrul." Selcan smiled.

"Nice to meet you Selcan Hatun! I will inform my father of that! Thank you for inviting us!" I responded.

"That's what I want to see! Be kind to Halime Sultan. I will have to go check some rugs. Aykiz, Selcan, please be a good host to Halime Sultan and show her around the tribe. Gokce, come with me." Hayme Ana ordered. She seemed to get all stern when she mentioned Gokce. May Allah bless Hayme Ana, she is trying her best to make me comfortable and knows what Gokce will try do when she's away.

"Don't mind Gokce Hatun, she is angry because she is desperate to marry Suleyman Shah's son, Ertugrul." Aykiz assured me.

"Ertugrul? He was the one to come to my Baba's palace and ask for some land here? May Allah bless him. He brought well being to your tribe. Why does Gokce want to marry him? For power or what?" I replied.

"Gokce is in love with him, Halime Sultan. We don't know about Ertugrul though. He doesn't seem to have any feelings for her." Selcan Hatun answered.

I had heard of Ertugrul before at the Palace but I never saw him. He sounds as brave as his name. I wish I could meet this valiant one day. Maybe if Baba accepted the invitation of the feast for tomorrow, I could meet him. Whatever. I shouldn't be saying this. I hope he respects me and my father. 

As we carried on walking down the grasslands of their tribe, many women came up to me and all greeted me. I loved meeting them all. We soon arrived at the rug house where many women came and sewed rugs, made cloths or made some sort of Alp armour. Well it wasn't armour, it was made from leather and felt. Gently, Hayme Ana picked this beautiful rug. It was dark blue with lots of different colourful flowers. Of course, they weren't real flowers, they sewed flowers. It was so beautiful. Surprisingly, Hayme Ana handed it to me 

"We want to gift you this, daughter. It matches your dress too." she chuckled.

"This is so valuable! I can't thank you enough! Even the floors of the palace aren't worthy of this phenomenal, majestic masterpiece!" I thanked so gratefully.

Gokce, who was present next to Hayme Ana, replied to my thankfulness.

"Your not so very welcome. Your not welcome to this tribe ever again! We spent ages making that rug and then you just take it so easily? Over here, we don't care about status, we sell those carefully sewed rugs to earn money for the tribe! Give us 1000 pieces of gold or leave it!" Gokce Hatun shocked everyone.

"HATUN! GO TO YOUR TENT NOW! I WILL TALK TO YOU LATER! NOW, GO!" Hayme Ana shouted.

Ashamedly, Gokce nodded and started to cry as she run to her tent. She whispered to me "I'll kill you!" 

"Daughter, do not care about that woman. She is just....crazy. I am so sorry about that. Please do not make this one woman make you think everyone is like this. The rug is yours. Don't give us gold, we would be guilty and not be able to face our Bey if we took 1000 gold from such a noble woman like you! Please forgive me!" Hayme Ana tried to blame her self for her own daughter's deeds.

"Do not blame yourself Hayme Ana. I knew from  the start that you would be kind and respectful. I saw it as I came into your tribe. I do not mind Gokce's words, they don't trouble me at all." I replied but they could clearly see my worry.

I saw my father approaching me.

"Kizim (daughter) we are going now. Insha Allah, we will come tomorrow for the feast with your siblings and mother. And Liliya." Baba told me.

Selcan smiled with joy "I'm so glad your coming! We didn't get much time to talk about our lives. Hopefully we'll do all that tomorrow. For now, safe travels!" Selcan bid me farewell.

"Safe travels Halime Sultan. İ cannot wait to see you tomorrow!" Aykiz said.

"Thanks you Selcan and Aykiz. İ can't wait to see you tomorrow as well!"

Baba and İ mounted our horses and set off back to our palace. İ love this tribe. The people are so nice! Well almost all the people.

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