I do not resemble your other lovers, my lady
should another give you a cloud
I give you rain
Should he give you a lantern, I
will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey.
Nizar Qabbani, Love Compared
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It was Friday, the day the Sultan and his sons would visit the Hagia Sophia to pray. This would be the first time his sons would go since his ascension to the throne. Ahmed, Mustafa, and Hakim were to go as his eldest sons while Kadir stayed with his mother. Dilara went on to her studies while they were gone, excelling in mathematics and history as usual. Emine stayed with her mother and helped entertain her newborn brother, much to the amusement of the other women in the room. Zeynep had to stay in bed for a couple of weeks to recuperate after the tough delivery of her son. Dressed in a simple pink floral kaftan dress with her veil on, she lay next to her son and read the Quran, constantly praying for protection for her new child. Since he was a month early, she worried that he might get sick more easily than other babies and was cautious of who she let near the newborn.
And from what Defne reported, she'll need to be more careful of Alexandra from now on. The Ruthenian slave didn't appreciate her giving birth during her night with the Sultan, not that she could control that. She orders her loyal maid to watch for the girl and hopes she doesn't do something drastic. Burcu was with Dilara keeping an eye on her eldest girl, which left Miray and Zehra as the only maids she could call on. By late morning, Emine had fallen asleep tired from playing with her new brother and the other maids. She lay next to her brother curled up next to her mother. Putting the Quran down and taking the veil off, she settled down to sleep as well and closed her eyes.
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Down in the harem, Defne watched the sour look on Alexandra's face as she sat next to Maria. She noticed the brunette girl was bugging the redhead for details of her night with the Sultan, much to Alex's frustration. The blonde hatun smirked at the look on the other woman's face, finding amusement in the situation her mistress put the girl in. If the baby hadn't come, the redhead probably would have spent Thursday night with the Sultan as well.
"Tell me," Maria urged her, causing the redhead to smile at the brief night she had with him. "Come on."
"So strong," Alex told her with a smile and glanced over at her. "And so handsome."
"You spent a night there. What did you do?" Maria asked making Alex grimace at the fact that she didn't spend a whole night with him.
"I told you it was not going to be one night, but 1001 nights," the redhead told her exaggerating the details a bit to seem more important than the other girls.
"I knew you could do it," Maria assured her thinking her friend wouldn't lie to her. Then she asked in a serious tone, "You love me, right?" Alex looked at her confused until the brunette continued, "You wouldn't put a spell on me."
Alex smiled at her until the doors to the harem opened, letting Daye Hatun, Nigar Kalfa, and Sümbül Agha inside. They immediately walked over to Alexandra and Maria as everyone stood up to bow to them.
Sümbül was the first to speak, "Pack your things, Alexandra – no – Hürrem."
"Hürrem?" Alex asked confused. "What does Hürrem mean?"
"Yes, with His Majesty's permission, her Highness Haseki Zeynep Sultan has come up with a new name for you. For your service to her husband." Sümbül told her before continuing, "It means 'the cheerful one.'"
"You are moving out of the wing," Daye told her, getting back on topic. "You will have a new chamber."
"Hürrem is not a Russian slave anymore, she is now a favorite concubine," Sümbül told everyone, much to the resentment of the other girls but Maria. Holding out his hands, a small jewelry box and a bag of gold rested on them. "Here you go, Lady Daye."
"Hürrem," Daye tested out her name as she grabbed the bag to hand to the younger woman. "Lady Hürrem. Our sultan sent this for you." She hands over the gold before passing over the box.
Excited to see what was in the small box, the newly-named Hürrem accidentally spilled the gold out of the pouch, though others thought that this was her way to flaunt her new status. The redhead and Maria bent down to pick up the gold, ignoring everyone for a few minutes.
Looking back up, Hürrem heard Nigar Kalfa tell her, "Kiss her hand, fool. Thank her. His Majesty sent you a gift."
Standing back up, the new favorite took the outstretched left hand of Daye Hatun and kissed the back of it before touching her forehead to it in respect. Stepping back after letting the older woman's hand go, she immediately opens up the box to see a beautiful but simple silver ring with a white stone set in the middle. She was a little disappointed that it wasn't the gorgeous emerald ring she saw him working on at his desk, but kept a small smile on her face.
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"Hürrem?" Mahidevran questioned in disbelief at the name chosen for the new favorite of His Majesty.
"Yes," Gülşah confirmed to her mistress. "The Haseki gave her the name with His Majesty's permission. I heard Sümbül announce it to the whole harem. We have to call her Hürrem from now on."
"Hürrem," Mahidevran growled out, glaring at her invisible enemy in front of her. "Hürrem with the eyes of a snake. The snake."
The sultana focused on the obvious enemy in front of her: a new favorite. It was just as Zeynep planned from the start to tear her enemies down one by one. Only time will tell if she is successful in her endeavor. Mahidevran focused on the easiest target, in her opinion, Hürrem Hatun, a foolish move on her part. But she won't know until it is too late.
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Out in the gardens, after coming back from prayer, the Sultan watched with the Grand Vizier Piri Pasha as Ahmed taught Hakan how to hold a sword while Mustafa fought with one of the guards. Hakan's muscles were still underdeveloped at his age, so they gave him a lightweight hollow wooden sword to practice with. Ahmed went through some of the basic swings with the sword and watched patiently as his little brother tried to copy him. Though rusty and uncomfortable with the movement, Hakan was able to do the moves pretty well for his age.
"Good job, both of you," Suleiman called out to both of his young sons but kept his eye on the youngest to make sure he didn't get hurt. Glancing over at his middle son, he shouted, "Come on, Mustafa!"
At the same time, Ibrahim walked past the small Şehzade with a large chest in his hands as he told him, "Hold it tighter, Mustafa!" Walking closer to his old friend, he smiled, "Your Majesty. These are the Friday petitions. Would you like to see them?"
"Of course," the Sultan told him as his eyes trailed back to Ahmed and Hakan, seeing them play fight with each other with smiles on their faces. Though more reserved than the other children, his eldest son truly felt at peace when he was around his family. He would let himself be a child rather than the eldest Şehzade of Sultan Suleiman I. "Let's see what my subjects want. Pick one and read it." He looked back over at his middle son and shouted, "Come on, Mustafa!"
"'Your Majesty,'" Ibrahim started to read one of the petitions, "'we are merchants in Galata. We trade in cotton. But the taxes bear hard on us. We are aware that paying taxes to the empire is our duty. But the Venetians buy cheap goods from us and sell our goods abroad for large profits since they pay less customs tax. We surrender ourselves to your justice.'"
"Did you hear that, Piri Pasha?" Suleiman smirked as he looked over at the older man, "What did I tell you?" He looked back at his children as he ordered, "Double the taxes for the Venetians. And lower the merchants' minimum price."
"I will deliver your orders to the chief treasurer," Piri Pasha assured His Majesty.
"Any more, Pargali?" The Sultan asked.
"The Janissaries and Akinjis want to go on campaign," Ibrahim told the two men in front of him. "A big one. They are saying, 'The infidels have large spoils of war waiting to be taken. We should go and take it.'"
Suleiman chuckled as Piri said, "Just yesterday, Ferhat Pasha took 7,000 janissaries to deal with that traitor Canberdi Gazali."
The Sultan looked at his old friend, "A large campaign requires long preparation." He looked over at the Grand Vizier, "Rhodes is my first goal." He looked back at the children, "When the navy and the cannons are ready, I will conquer Rhodes which my late father and grandfather failed to conquer." Staring at Mustafa, he yelled again, "Come on, Mustafa! Strike!"
Ahmed could overhear some of what his father was talking about, but until he learns more about politics he won't say anything. He focused back on his little brother as they ignored Mustafa beating against the guard with the grace of a bulldozing hippo. His middle brother was a bit of a hothead with a sense of entitlement granted by his mother, thus causing a divide between him and his siblings. He went after things head-on, not thinking of the consequences of his actions or words. If not nipped in the bud, this could cause problems for him in the future, something Zeynep Sultan was counting on in her head.
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Zeynep woke up later in the day to a fussy baby and a missing Emine. Glancing around the room, she noticed Miray embroidering and pointing with her needle toward the adjacent room when she saw the questioning look on her face. Smiling in gratitude, she gently picked up Kadir to let him feed from her, hiding her body from the world. After he had had his fill, she gently patted his back to burp him before laying him on her chest. Rubbing her hand up and down his back, she felt him kicking his small legs and looking around at the limited view he had of the world.
Smiling down at her small boy, she relaxed into the pillows behind her as she waited for her other children to come back. Dilara was the first to come back from her tutor, rushing over to see her little brother before giving her mother a hug with Burcu behind her. Her daughter then joined Miray to embroider a handkerchief for her father. Then came Ahmet and Hakan after their day with their father. They were so excited to tell their mother about Hakan's first grasp of swordsmanship, that they were practically bursting with joy. Zeynep was so proud of her young lions and decided to have a special sword made just for Hakan and a new teacher from the East to teach Ahmet as a reward for their hard work.
The rest of the day was spent in the company of her children, with Suleiman visiting to check on his wife and newborn son in the evening before bed. Zeynep didn't know about the party in the harem or Hürrem's imprisonment in the dungeons, ordered by the Valide to lift the spirits of the women of the royal family. She wouldn't find out until tomorrow, which was all well and good in her opinion. Let the girl's hatred for the two women fester and grow, they are all doing the work for her.
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The next morning saw Suleiman in the gardens with his three elder sons playing wrestling as they all ganged up on their father. Tackling him to the ground, laughter could be heard causing small smiles to cross the guards' faces at the energy around them. It all stopped when Ibrahim came up to them with an unknown male with him. Holding Hakan in his arms as his younger son didn't want to let him go at the sight of the stranger, the Sultan kept his eyes on his new guest.
"Your Majesty," Ibrahim said with a bow, the other male following. "I want to introduce you to Matrakçi Nasuh Effendi. He is a skillful muralist, a math genius, and a matrak master."
Suleiman stepped forward towards the bowing male, "Is this true?"
"I would stop any lie from being told, my Sultan," Nasuh told him, still not looking the Sultan in the eye.
"Let's see how you play," the Sultan said with a smirk, turning to walk away.
"Also, he plays for money," Ibrahim told His Majesty as he interrupted him from calling for the matrak equipment to be delivered.
"So you will take the sultan's money and brag about it to others, then?" Suleiman said holding his amusement.
Nasuh looked up at the Sultan before looking back down, "I won't tell. I certainly won't."
"Good." The Sultan turned toward one of the guards, "Bring the matrak sets!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the men played in the garden, Zeynep listened as Defne told her the events of last night, leading to the imprisonment of Hürrem in the dungeons. A smile of satisfaction crossed her face as the pieces were falling into place. The Valide and Mahidevran were making this so easy for her, making the new favorite hate them even more. Though she doesn't trust the redhead, she knows she can trust her anger and hate which are easy to manipulate. But she knew she had to let her out now, so she told her trusted maid to tell Suleiman about this so he could let Hürrem out.
Later that evening, she was let out and recuperated in the room that she shared with Ayse Hatun. Suleiman went to visit her and ordered that they make her well before leaving, heading to his wife's chambers where he spent the night, to Hürrem's anger. He was supposed to be with her, to nurse her back to health after her night in the dungeons, falling for her 'innocent' facade in the process.
Walking into his wife's chambers, he saw his wife asleep with their Kadir next to her. She wanted to keep the baby next to her until he was at least a month old before transferring him to the mother-of-pearl cradle that sat close to her bed. The other children were in their beds sleeping in the other room, leaving Suleiman to strip down into his nightclothes to lay next to his son across from his wife. Running a hand down her face, he watched as she nuzzled his hand before settling back down, laying a hand next to the baby. Closing his eyes, the Sultan of the world fell into a deep slumber, always at peace when around his family.