Chapter 41: Expecting Trouble

“Are you expecting trouble?” I ask Afife Kalfa when she moves away from the waiting dancers.

“I always expect trouble when Kadir and Ramazan are together,” replies Afife. “It’s fortunate that Gülriz isn’t among the dancers.”

I already know something about the conflict between Kadir and Ramazan from their sister Irem’s gossip, and from my conversations with Huri and Melek. Afife’s concerns may be justified, but surely the two brothers’ will call a truce in their private war for tonight. This is supposed to be a birthday celebration for their younger brother, Ahmed. I take another look at the audience and notice that Irem is walking towards us.

“Gülnihal Ҫelebi; Countess Anna; You are my guests here tonight,” smiles Irem. “Come sit over here with me.”

I’m taken by surprise. The aga who told me I was to attend tonight’s entertainment didn’t mention that I was invited as a guest. I had assumed that I was required to help the new women with any language difficulties. However, it explains why Anna was included in our group.

Anna’s command of Turkish is now good enough for her to understand Irem’s words, and she doesn’t need my translation. The two of us follow Irem towards the far end of the room. Irem’s younger sister, Candan, sees us coming and vacates the cushion she occupies. She moves forward to join her mother and sister Leyla. Irem, Anna and I occupy the now vacant cushion.

The guests are too busy talking to pay us much attention, although I notice a few women admiring our clothes as we walk past. Şah Sultan briefly acknowledges our arrival, but doesn’t make any attempt to talk to us. Our new location gives me a better view of the three brothers. Irem said that her eldest brother, Kadir, is twenty three years old, but to my eyes he looks older. He has many of the facial features of his father and the same arrogant posture. Ramazan is different. He’s about my age, perhaps a year older, and is more like his mother in appearance. He’s quite good looking; handsome even. Unfortunately his obvious hatred for his older brother means that there’s an unpleasant scowl on his face. Sat between his two brothers is Ahmed. It’s his eighteenth birthday but he looks nearer to fifteen. His childlike looks and posture makes me wonder whether he is ready for what is going to occur. Fortunately, all he will need to do tonight is to award a purple handkerchief to the woman whom he likes the most. Any sexual liaison won’t occur until tomorrow night.

“What if Sultanzade Ahmed prefers one of the dancers provided from Kadir’s concubines?” asks Anna in reasonably good Turkish.

“Then she is the one who will be sent to Ahmed’s bedchamber tomorrow,” replies Irem. “Kadir has said that he will allow it, although he’s been careful in whom he has chosen to dance. Kadir is indifferent towards the two Hungarian women, whom he simply regards as war trophies. The other three were Ramazan’s favourites until Kadir took them from him. Kadir only beds them to deny Ramazan their company. Kadir wouldn’t mind if Ahmed bedded one of them instead. Until Ramazan puts a stop to Kadir’s antics, then he’ll continue to suffer in this way. It’s fortunate for Ramazan that Gülriz isn’t required to dance.”

“Afife Hatun mentioned Gülriz,” I say. “Is she Ramazan’s current favourite?”

“I think so,” replies Irem. “Ramazan has been very secretive on that subject after Kadir started stealing his favourites. I suppose he doesn’t want Kadir stealing Gülriz as well.”

“Why doesn’t your father intervene?” I ask. “It cannot be good for family harmony to have Kadir and Ramazan at odds in this way.”

“Father insists that Ramazan fights his own battles,” replies Irem. “Besides, Kadir is father’s favoured son, so Kadir gets away with a lot of things that the rest of us wouldn’t be allowed to do.”

Our conversation is interrupted by some activity coming from where the dancers are waiting. I can’t see the cause of the disturbance until Irem lets out a gasp.

“Oh no! Gülriz has joined the dancers,” says Irem. “I don’t think Ramazan has seen her there. He’ll not be happy that she’s dancing tonight. Kadir may persuade Ahmed to give her the purple handkerchief. It’s the sort of dirty trick Kadir would pull.”

I see the new woman among the dancers I recently left. I too let out a gasp, but for a completely different reason. I know Gülriz. She was once called Rebecca. She’s one of the thirteen captive women who travelled with me to Constantinople nearly two years ago. I haven’t seen her since she was moved from the Constantinople harem last year. She’s one of those Mahidevran had cunningly arranged to be transferred elsewhere to remove potential rivals for Sultan Suleiman’s affections. I’m surprised I haven’t seen Gülriz during my time here though. The Edirne harem is quite large, but not so large that I wouldn’t have noticed Gülriz.

“I haven’t seen Gülriz in the harem,” I say to Irem, wanting to satisfy my curiosity.

“She works in the family wing,” says Irem. “There’s a separate section of the harem in another building for mothers and young children. Gülriz is one of a dozen odalisques who live there to help look after the children.”

I mentally reprimand myself. I should have known there was another part of the harem. It’s a major difference between the Constantinople and Edirne palace complexes. In Constantinople all the married couples live in the city, so the harem only needs to cater for the dynasty’s own children. With so many married couples residing within the Edirne palace, it’s obvious there must be children living somewhere. The part of the harem we live in has no boys, and the youngest girl I’ve seen living there must be at least twelve years old.

My wandering thoughts are brought back into focus when the Ahmed’s father stands to make an announcement. He welcomes the guests and launches into a speech about his three sons. If I didn’t know that this was a celebration of Ahmed’s transition from a boy to a man, I could easily mistake the purpose of tonight’s entertainment as being in honour of Kadir’s military success in the Hungarian campaign. It must be obvious to everybody in the room that Kadir is his father’s pride and joy.