A few months had passed after Osman had married Malhun Hatun, daughter of the Bayındır tribe, Umur Bey. She gave Omsan a son, Orhan, who Mihrimah adored.
After he had caused Aya Nikola to flee from their last dispute, the Tekfur had contacted his Byzantine friends such as Tekfur Rogatus Laskaris of Bilecik, and Tekfur Mikail Kosses of Harmankaya Kalesi, and Rogatus to capture a Priest named Gregor.
Meanwhile a Bey named Turgut Bey kidnaps Kosses' sister Prenses Mari, and this causes even more trouble between the Turks and Byzantines. But she reunited with her brother eventually. Priest Gregor attempts to blow up Sögüt and the people residing there, as he was blinded by his own ideology, which led to his execution.
Rogatus then becomes more infuriated with Osman after Priest Gregor's execution, and summoned assassins two of them being Julia and her distant cousin Evangeline, later known as Eva. After the children were kidnapped from the tribe to be raised in a monastery, she had a change of heart and aided Kumral Abdal, who was undercover as a visiting Priest. She then pledged her loyalty to Mihrimah, whom she had fought before and lost in battle. Her knowledge helped Osman in his battle against the Tekfurs. Rogatus eventually had a change of heart and started to aid Osman in his conquests.
Julia and her assassins were tasked with bringing an old treasure of Osman, which was given to him by the late Ertuğrul Bey. It resulted in the martyrdom of Boran Alp's wife Gonca Hatun.
Nikola and Kosses had made a marriage arrangement between Nikola and Mari, but she is reluctant as she is in love with Turgut Bey and sees it as an insult to her freedom. She then met with Turgut and told him about the marriage. When the marriage is nearing she sent her maid Cornelia to ask Turgut of help.
A Governor named Soguros was to be poisoned but was saved by Osman and sided with the Bey.
''Governor Saguros?'' Mihrimah asked confused, then her face lit up in realization. ''Oh, the Governor you saved from poisoning.''
''Evet Mihrimah. He and his daughter, Prenses Hera will be visiting our Tribe.'' Osman Bey said. ''Governor Saguros set off to Iznik to visit us.''
''And we will host him according to the rules of Turks.'' Mihrimah proudly finished her uncles sentence with a wide smile.
Gunduz Bey, Malhun Hatun and Bala Hatun smiled at the girls behaviour. ''Are the preparations completed?'' Osman asked his wives.
''Yes, Beyim .'' Malhun answered and turned to Bala who spoke. ''Iznik will talk about our hospitality for days, my Bey.'' Mihrimah nodded in agreement. ''And I had a few Alps patrolling the woods in case of someone would like to ruin Saguros' visit.''
''We show our hospitality to the ones who are trying to be friends with us.'' Osman said proudly. ''And we give a lesson to the ones in the battlefield, who are trying to be our enemies. Sharpen your swords. It is time to make conquests.''
''I couldn't have said it better, Emmi.'' Mihrimah said. ''Speaking of conquests. it is only matter of time before we hear anything from Davut Usta and Serdar as they are undercover in Inegol.''
Gunduz Bey looked confused at his niece and then on his brother.
''You're right, kardeş kizim. We will need catapults if we want to break their walls.''
''And as there are iron mines near the castle, we will be able to make more swords for our Alps.'' Mihrimah smirked. ''Who knows iron better than a blacksmith.''
''Vai, look at her speaking like she is preparing herself to go to war.'' Gunduz said his brother. Mihrimah, as always, took the chance to express her desire to take part in the conquest in any way.
''Of course, Emmi. I would do anything for our Cause.'' she tested the waters. ''And besides, Osman Bey did ask me for Serdar to accompany Davut Usta to Inegol, regarding the mines. It is not hard to connect the dots.''
Before Osman could say anything, Mihrimah interrupted him. ''Now, if you will excuse me. I have to dress properly before our guest arrives. Selcan Ana and Evaare picking a dress out for me and I'm very curious about how it goes.'' She placed her hand on her chest as she said her goodbyes.
''Mashallah, Beyim. You can't turn down a warrior who is ready to fight.'' Bala said, hoping that he finally would give in and let Mihrimah attend conquests.
''I agree with Bala. Mihrimah'm have proved herself many times. I know that it lead to many fight between the two of you.'' Malhun paused.
''But?'' Osman nodded to her to continue.
''But if you the two of you keep running around the circle all the time... it could hurt your relationship. She loves you and looks up to both you and Gunduz Bey.''
Omsan pondered about what his wives said. He was clearly torn between protecting his niece and how much he should allow her to take part in missions. He knew that even the Alps respected her and that Selcan Ana trained her along Aygul. He knew that he would fail the test, if he kept her away from the fighting, even though she disobeyed almost every time and got involved regardless.
Gunduz Bey could see his brothers torment and tried to help him with it. ''Kardeş. I love Mihrimah as much as you do. I understand that she is the only thing we have left after her parents death. But...'' Gunduz looked at his brother, who fortunately directed his attention to him.
''But, there is so much we can do now. Malhun is right, you have been fighting even more lately.'' He put his hands on Osman's shoulders. ''Don't forget what Kumral Abdal said.''
It was the first time Mihrimah was to meet Kumral Abdal, before a Divan. Osman and Gunduz could see that she was excited to meet him, as she didn't have the opportunity to do so before. But she had been told about him.
There he stood the older man in his ragged clothes and staff, as if he knew that they were nearing the Bey's tent, her turned around and gave them his wide signature smile.
''Selam Aleyküm, Kumral Abdal'' Mihrimah greeted as she placed her hand on her chest.
''Aleyküm Selam, Mihrimah Turhan.''
''It's an honor to finally meet you. I have heard many stories from my emmi Gunduz and Osman, as well as Alps.''
The Dervish did say anything else and looked intensely at the young woman, who was insecure of what to do.
''Hello, how are you?''
''Well. How are you?'' MIhrimah asked as she didn't know what else to say.
The Dervish didn't answer but neared Mihrimah and put a hand on the side of her head. ''Let me see.''
He examines her face and turned to Osman a few times. ''You have stormy eyes. Being on your good side, one will see the mild breeze in them and the shining Sun, warming one up. But being on your bad, one will only experience the storm, as well coldness of the Moon.''
He then took a strand of her hair, but quickly let go of it. ''But your hair is black as the Night, just like your uncle Osman's. Unfortunately.''
''Why unfortunately?'' Osman Bey wondered.
''It's means she would want to be like you.'' he said almost accusingly. ''You may go now, my dear.'' Mihrimah only nodded and said her goodbyes.
Kumral turned to Osman.''Because you push her away, she will want to do better than you. And you will not particularly hate her for it, but it will create a rift between the two of you, if you keep denying her desire to take part of your conquests. She will leave you and even if she was to return, your bond will never be the same again.''
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!
Sorry for the recap of season 3, but as I want to focus on her development from episode 74 and onward. I started on episode 73, so I can write things that would have had happen in the earlier seasons as flashbacks.
Word count: 1313