My Life. My Only One.

The Old Woman

Huma's carriage stopped close by the beautiful park filled with people strolling in the afternoon sunlight. She had the driver stop in order to determine if the person she was meeting was already there. It took her more than twenty minutes to determine  to leave. She could not afford to waste time and her next stop was of tremendous urgency. For several minutes she contemplated her course of action. If the Emperor Anil suspected her of treachery it would be her head on a spike. However if she could somehow manage to put the blame on another she would do so without hesitation. She needed another mind as quick as hers to help her come to a decision. She no longer had the benefit of Levant. He had disappeared after the arrest of the Divit boy and the rescue of the Aydin girl. Somehow her possible disgrace boiled down to an Aydin and a Divit. She would not stop until she had Aziz Divit and his entire family in her clutches and hopefully Aziz Divit would be the one convicted of the whole affair. It would be glorious to witness the nobody that Miribahn Divit was, suffer as her husband lost his head. He had already lost his heir and now his youngest lay in a crumbling dungeon. The carriage turned into the governors palace and she gathered her emotions and thoughts as the mask of indifference was once more on her face. She needed some answers first. She was received by the young son and she smiled into his handsome face, "Yigit, how very nice to see you again. I assume your father is waiting for me but may I ask a small favor. I seem to have taken on a headache from too much sun, would it be possible to rest for a little while before we have our meeting. If it's not too much trouble". Yigit nodded and raised his palm with a frown saying that it was no trouble at all. He would order her some Turkish coffee as he gave her his arm to guide her to the palace gardens where she could rest in quiet comfort. She thanked him for his galant and gentlemanly care and assured him that some quiet rest would do the trick. He told her that she had but to pull on the rope in the corner for someone to come to her and assist her with whatever she desired. He would inform his father of her arrival and set the meeting for later. She thanked him and he departed leaving her alone to sit and wait. It would not do to be seen speaking to the staff if she did not have a legitimate reason for being there. She needed to be cautious as the Governor was a snake. At the first opportunity of a sinking ship he would be the first rat to jump overboard and take anyone he could with him. She did not  fear him she simply knew him well enough to guess his every move.
Çakal walked around the office in a small panic. He had only learned this morning that the Empteas would be paying him a visit. Of course it was under the guise of her charity for orphaned children but every visit from her was either a new threat or an old one. It was never good news. Today however he was the one with the bad news and he had not planned on sharing it with her just yet. He had hoped to capture the Divit boy but he had eluded his soldiers and guards and although they had done a thorough investigation of the Divit household he was not found. First Mitat Aydin escaped and now Emre Divit. Perspiration beaded on his forehead as he thought about his options. He was running out of time. Yigit entered his office and announced that she was arrived. He was told that she needed to rest as she had arrived with a headache and begged off on the meeting for at least an hour. He let out his breath and thought furiously about his next move. It would be far better if she did not know of Emre's escape. Just then a thought popped in his head. "Yigit, the guard who allowed the Divit boy to simply walk out of his cell, where is her? Dead or alive?". Yigit stared at his father and said "Alive, barely, He is in jail and they are tending to his injuries. He will not be able to speak for months. His jaw was broken during one of the beatings you ordered but he will live to regret it". Çakal's eyes gleamed and he instructed Yigit to do his bidding.

The old woman walked around the small pond in the gardens making her way to the Empress. She carried a tray with coffee, water and some sweet deserts. She bowed before the woman and regarded her quietly without any reverence whatsoever. "Your grace, I trust you are feeling better?" Huma looked down at the old and wrinkled woman with a burn on the side of her face and said "we don't have much time. I want you to leave the city at once. Do not tarry and collect any belongings. I have coin and a horse and cart waiting for you in the south entrance of the park. You are to leave immediately and don't contact me. I will see to it that you are cared for as you deserve and will make arrangements for more permanent housing as soon as I can. It is possible that the Emperors special tonics have been discovered and...." The woman had been placing the coffee and treats on a side table as Huma spoke. She didn't make eye contact but simply nodded her head slightly and managed a word....."what will you do?" Huma looked past her with a calm expression on her face and said "what I always do. Survive. I will not be defeated." The old woman nodded and said "daughter I fear you have overplayed your hand this time and the only thing you will get from this is an early death". Huma closed her eyes in irritation at her words and spit out her last words "you will leave now. No explanations, no delay. Do not reach out to me for any reason. If you do I will denounce you myself and say that you were a past lover seeking revenge". The old woman did not need a reminder of what Huma was capable of. She had experienced her wrath and lack of caring first hand. And now she was being threatened for merely warning her. She had always tried to please her and make her happy but nothing could or would. She was a bottomless pit of need, envy, jealously and hatred. There was no love left in the woman that she had raised and were it not for her bond she would have walked away years ago. She was about to pour the coffee after laying a napkin in her lap but Huma turned to her once again and hissed out another threat this time hitting closer to home. "Take heed old woman if I here that you have returned or that you have attempted to contact me for any reason I will have no mercy and you will wish you had died in that fire". She saw her for who she was and through the vicious words. She recognized fear. For the first time in many years she saw that Huma felt threatened. Something in her died at the hatred that she felt in those words. She nodded and turned her back to Huma to pour the coffee slowly as a tear rolled down her weathered and burnt cheek. She turned back and bowed to Huma once more and looked knowingly at her as she passed her the delicate coffee cup. Huma took it with all the air of a queen. She knew she would never see her again and she felt no sorrow or loss. She turned and walked away slowly without ever looking back.
Cey Cey and Ayhan arrived at the Aydin home and were greeted by a happy and joyous Mevkibe, Nihat and Emre. When they were shown into the living area Mevkibe smiled a huge smile at Ayhan and Cey Cey and looked beyond them to see where Leyla was at. She moved to embrace the young girl but noticed that she was stiff and ill at ease "what's wrong Ayhan?" She looked up again and around and said "Where is a Leyla, did she go out back to her cats already that girl. We have company". She turned around to march out back but Ayhan called to her just as Nihat came back into the room with his pipe. He looked around and suddenly he realized that Leyla was not present "please Aunty Mevkibe, Uncle Nihat....." she could barely speak and felt the blood rush to her head. Cey Cey saw her sway a bit and that's when he blurted our "Leyla has been taken. She is gone. Leyla is gone". Emre starred at the little man with anger and fear on his face and Nihat rose from where he sat to catch his wife in his arms as she fainted. Within minutes Emre had gotten Ayhan to tell him everything that she knew and they began to make a plan. Emre felt certain it had been Yigit. He was behind this and when he found him he would kill him.
Leyla paced around the room with a blanket around her body. She fashioned it into a makeshift tunic and tied a window sash around it as a belt. She would not allow that man to touch her without a fight. The girl who had been in the room had left her alone while she went to retrieve the evening meal. There was an knock at the door and Leyla stiffened. She had taken a potted plant from the bathing area and emptied the dirt and the plant out of it. She held it behind her back ready to hurl it if she was attacked. She would go down fighting. Instead of her attacker an old woman walked through the doors with a tray. She said nothing as she saw the young woman dressed strangely.
She removed the food from the tray and the water jug and water goblet and turned to leave but not before Leyla got down on her knees and begged her for help. She explained quickly how she had come to be there. The old woman looked at her and touched her cheek softly. One time long ago her skin was soft and smooth like the beauty before her but that had all withered away. She said mother but nodded her head featuring that there was nothing g she could do for her. Leyla persisted and said if she would only get word to her father and mother that she was there. That was all she needed. She told her as she moved to leave the room that her name was Leyla Aydin and that her father Nihat Aydin would compensate her for her help. The old woman stopped immediately and turned around as she stared at the turquoise blue eyes of the beautiful young girl and softly said. "Aydin, you are Mitat Aydin's Niece." Leyla thought it strange that the old woman would mention her uncle and not her father but she was beyond caring about anything other than the old woman seemed to know of her family and might be convinced to help her. "Yes, Mitat and my father are brothers". The old woman starred at Leyla once more and repeated "Aydin". She turned away from Leyla and looked at the door and said. "I will help you, but you must promise me one thing." Leyla readily agreed. "When you are safe you must take something that I will give you and give it to Aziz Divit and tell him that it will answer all his questions. Tell him it was a special request from she who once loved him." Leyla was confused by the words but nodded. The old woman repeated her words and finished by saying. He will soon notice a change and then the pieces of the puzzle will come together. There is a remedy but only for one. He must choose wisely." She told Leyla that she would return to bring her hot water for her bath. She was to feign that she was ill and the old woman would give her laudanum to make her sleep. When she awoke she would be home. Leyla bent down and kissed the old woman in her burnt and wrinkled cheek and thanked her. She asked Allah to bless her and watched her leave the room.
Can entered the house quietly. It was after dark and he had spent the rest of the afternoon thinking through his next move. Asli has wanted him to go with them back to the estate but he needed to ascertain one more thing. His memories were not clear or completely back. He felt at a loss as he could not fully remember his true wife Sanem. He believed if he spent a few days without imbibing the brew that Aylin was certainly giving him his mind would clear and he would be able to discern fact from fiction. When that day came Aylin would curse the day she met him.

Sanem thanked Miribahn for the dinner and walked back to her room. She was feeling better if not happier. She knew she had to take care of her self as she carried Can's son or daughter in her womb. She prayed to Allah that if there was just a little bit of mercy left for her and Can that he would give it to them now. She lay back on her pillows in the room that Can inhabited as a boy and hugged herself as the tears fell softly across her face.