The Sultana's Boy

The BoyNapping Part 2

In her private chamber, Adia imagined Egan being prepared. How her careful instructions would transform him into a boy befitting a place in her harem. Her thoughts drifted to their first encounter. It had been bone-chillingly cold the day they met in New York City. Adia sat at a small coffee shop on 75th Street sipping chamomile tea and patiently waiting for the young reporter. This trip was only her third visit to anywhere outside her small and secluded country. She was honored to be invited to the United Nations International Summit on Women's Health. She knew that the customs of her matriarchal country were strange to most people outside of it, but Kahni did boast a low mortality rate that was far below that of most of the Western world.

Being unaccustomed to the cold she was finding it hard to warm up. She continued to shake despite the warmth of the fireplace next to her. Suddenly, a handsome boy entered the shop leaving behind him a trail of cold wind. He walked directly toward her and even before introducing himself he placed his heavy coat around her shoulders. The way he had looked at her at that moment made her heart skip. When he reached out, putting his hand on hers, Adia blushed a deep red. She was not accustomed to boys touching her so casually, but for the first time since arriving in the wintry city, Adia felt warm.

*

Back in the harem, Tup-Tup was still hard at work.

"Now we must do your hair," said Tup-Tup.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Egan asked.

"You have naturally curly hair, and yet you have it all flattened out."

"I want you to stop this instant! You have gone far enough, and you can tell the Sultana I said so!" he shouted to the stunned servant.

Tup-Tup went over to the Harem Mistress who was observing the preparations with a look of amusement upon her face. Tup-Tup looked to the Harem Mistress and whined— "I have specific instructions from the Sultana and this boy is uncooperative!" The Harem Mistress chuckled and left the room. Tup-Tup obediently waited on his knees for her return.

She returned a few moments later and whispered to Tup-Tup, "The Sultana says to leave it."

Exasperated, Tup-Tup returned to Egan and curtly said: "I think we have done enough transformation for one day." Tup-Tup couldn't understand why the Sultana would care at all about what this obstinate boy wanted.

"Put on the gold necklace and bracelets," said Tup-Tup, placing around Egan's neck what appeared to be solid gold. The necklace had a gold ring on the end and each bracelet a gold ring in the center.

The Harem Mistress came into the alcove to inspect Egan. As he stood, he felt the woman towering over him and lowered his eyes to the floor. "Ah, much better," she said, "Come with me. The Sultana will have an audience with you now."

As the woman gripped his hand leading him away, he turned to Tup-Tup. "Thank you for all your help. I am sorry to have been frustrated. You seem to be a decent man," he said.

"We are boys. You are a boy. When you speak to her Highness, please do so with respect" Tup-Tup shouted after him.

He nodded, partially understanding and partly believing the rules for these boys did not apply to him. As the harem door locked behind him, he felt a pit in his stomach. The Harem Mistress led him down the elaborately decorated corridors as he found himself lost in his thoughts of the Sultana. Her beautiful red lips and piercing blue-green eyes. The way she laughed at his jokes that cold morning in the coffee shop.