We walked further down the hallway of the ground floor, until we stopped at a particular large, thick but well carved wooden door, and Malik knocked on it.
"You can come in!" Was the faint response we got, and Malik pushed the door, and each side gave way. A young lady, not too older than I was, or maybe about my age, sat graciously, legs stretched, on a large ivory chair, which also had the shape a couch, but it wasn't. Her dark flowing hair covered her breasts, her dark piercing eyes following us as we walked in. She seemed to be munching on a bowl of grapes when we came in. Malik kept a cold expression, his mood was very hard to detect at this point.
"And she is?" the lady asked.
"The newest Acemi in the palace, and your new maid" Malik announced. The lady sat up a smile spread across her lips.
"Please help me express my gratitude to the Sultan, and the Haseki Sultan" she said.
"Very well Khadija. I must take my leave now, I haven't showed the young maiden to her quarters yet" Malik announced. The lady didn't say a word, and Malik immediately walked out of the room, with me running behind him. We walked for another long distance till we got to a building, which seemed to be located at the behind the building just opposite the buildings of wives and concubines.
"The highest floor are for the kalfas they are the highest ranking maids. The Cariyes and Gediklis stay at the middle floor, you should be there soon if you do a good job on time. For now, you'll have to occupy the down floor with the other Acemis, Acemilikis and Sarkids, till your training is complete. This is to get you accustomed to the harem life" Malik said. He pushed one of the doors open, not minding if anyone was still dressing.
"These are your new roommates. Fatima, Mariam and Aisha. They're just like you, I believe you all will get on well" Malik stated. The girls who stood at different corners of the small room bowed, to which Malik gave a firm nod.
"Before you settle in, go meet with your mistress. I believe she has things to say to you" he continued. I bowed slightly, and the girls in the room giggled a bit. Malik didn't even look at me, he just walked out in his hasty manner.
"You're not from around here are you?" a voice asked. I stood upright from the bow and turned, a smile spread across my face.
"No, I'm not" I answered.
"We aren't from around here either, but we've never seen anyone bow like that" one of the girls who still sat on a large mat spread across the room said. I opened my mouth to say a word, but immediately shut it. A country like the United States of America was not complete existent in such times, so how was I going to explain it?
"I came from very far away, across the sea" I managed to say. One of the girls who stood beside a small old cupboard sighed.
"We all came from far away. Anywhere the Ottoman empire conquered, they took slaves. Most of the youngest girls, adolescent girls or young adults are sent here" the girl narrated. Then, everything began to make sense, the story of Fatiha's rescue from Sicily.
"I'm Fatima" the girl beside the cupboard said.
"I'm Mariam" the girl who sat on the mat also said.
"I'm Aisha" said the other girl, who just leaned on the wall and folded her arms.
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Fatiha" I said.
"We've just got each other now, so let's be sisters" Fatima suggested. Looking at the poor girl, she seemed very homesick. The other two girls nodded in agreement, their looks also solemn. I let out a deep sigh, as I watched the girls, then suddenly, my appointment with Khadija rang in my head. I immediately excused myself and ran as fast as I could from the other end of the building, down to the hallways and over quarters of the wives and concubines. I managed to identify Khadija's own room, it has some decorations at the top of it. I knocked about twice, to which she ordered me in. I walked into the room timidly, and for the first time, observing it's décor. It wasn't a big room, neither was it a small one. I could see expensive linen used to dress the bed, a table full of what seemed to be different cosmetics, and a large mirror on it. The room looked fairly lavishing, no wonder the prince referred to her as "a new catch".
"Come in please" she said softly. I immediately shut the door and hurriedly rushed over to where she sat.
"Take off your veil" she ordered. Slowly, I undid the veil, all that was left was the scarf wrapped around my head.
"Take that off too" she ordered. And instantly, I took it off too. For a moment, I felt very free. The scarf was so itchy, and the veil didn't help either. Khadija smiled, and stood up from her ivory chair. I noticed her long flowing white dress was quite transparent, revealing her slender hourglass shape and her well-rounded bosoms. She walked slowly towards me, until she was just a thumb apart from where I stood. Her eyes searched me dangerously, while my heart pounded loudly in my chest.
"I like you, and I'll choose you as my maid once this week is over and your training is complete" she muttered, her minty breath making it's way into my nostrils. Then, she walked over to my right ear, and placed her lips close to it, her scent of sunflower musk filling my nostrils as she moved.
"If you stick with me, I'll make sure you do not lack anything" she whispered. The hairs at the back of my neck rose, but I was still able to turn swiftly and let out a smile.
"Thank you my lady, your kindness is very much appreciated" I said, bowing immediately. She chuckled a bit.
"That's okay, off you go now" she ordered. I bowed once again and instantly dashed out of the room, my heart still pounding loudly even after I left.
"What the hell just happened?" I muttered to myself. "Isn't it to early to start frolicking?" I asked myself, still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. I immediately heard footsteps, like someone was walking down the stairs.
"Who might that be?" I thought to myself. I tried to mind my business, but my curiosity wouldn't let me. I followed the footsteps, until I got to the end of the stairs. Just as I tried to peep a bit, I realized that it was too late. I was already standing face to face with a stranger. He just looked like the first prince, only that he had a slimmer frame. His eyes were light green, and more pointed, his lips quite pinkish and thin. My heart skipped a beat, not just because he was handsome, but because I figured out I might be in some sort of trouble for snooping around.
"Errr, I'm sorry for bumping into you, I'll just go the others way" I managed to say, and turned swiftly to get away. But before I could take a few steps, he gripped me on my wrist. My eyes slowly widened as I stood frozen on the spot.
"And who are you?" his baritone voice rang.