Bianca

by Small Bertrice

  He nodded slightly and then pointed to an open arch leading to another corridor. “The bedchambers for the ladies of the house are there. There are three on one side of the hallway, and one on the other. Each of the three smaller chambers has a separate chamber for a servant.” He led them to the far end of the row, ushering the two women into the little suite. “Here are your rooms,” he told Azura. “I will send a eunuch to serve you, my lady, and he will escort you to the baths.” Then, with a little bow, he left them.

  “Well!” Agata said. “I am not certain I like this Ali Farid.”

  “He serves Amir well, and that is all that matters,” Azura said. “We have entered a different world. You knew it would not be as our old world was. Watch, listen, and learn. Did you see the other two wives as we came? It is almost as if this harem is deserted but for us. I didn’t even see other servants.”

  “They are here, you can be assured, my lady, and have already peeped at you from wherever they have hidden themselves,” Agata replied. Then she walked into the bedchamber. “Madre di Dios! This chamber is hardly a fit place to entertain the prince, my lady. There is no real bed either.”

  Azura followed her servingwoman and looked about her. The chamber was not large, but neither was it small. Its walls were half-whitewashed and half-tiled in beautiful turquoise blue tiles. The bed, a thick mattress that sat upon a low dais, would hardly fit two. There was a single painted chest for her possessions, of which she now had few; a small seating area of pillows; a low table of ebony; and several lamps, one hanging, the others set upon the table. “I must assume that this is all that I am expected to have,” Azura said. “The prince’s apartments will be larger. I suspect it will be where we have our private moments, Agata.”

  “It is indeed sparse, my lady Azura, but like all new beginnings it requires a personal touch,” a voice said, and an elderly brown man stepped into the chamber. “I am Nadim, sent by the officious Ali Farid to serve you as your personal eunuch, my lady Azura. I am not important or influential, but then a third wife is not considered so either. I suspect, however, having seen you, that the peerless Ali Farid has erred in his judgment this time. It will take him a while to realize it, but by then I hope to be invaluable to you so he will not be able to dismiss me. I will serve you loyally, my lady Azura.”

  She laughed, and even Agata, who had understood the eunuch’s words, smiled. She liked this man already, and knew he would indeed serve her well.

  “I am told you badly need the baths, my lady. I will escort you now if you are ready,” the eunuch said. “I have already alerted the bath slaves.”

  They followed him from Azura’s new quarters to the baths, but when Nadim followed them into the antechamber of the baths, Agata bridled.

  “You cannot come in here!” she scolded him, struggling the find the proper words in this new language.

  “It is my duty,” he said slowly so she would understand. “I am a eunuch, and have no lust for the female body.”

  Azura quickly spoke in their own native Florentine cant. “I know it is very different for us, but he is correct. And the bath women do what needs to be done, Agata. Nadim will just help me to undress and fetch fresh garments. You need have no shame.”

  “Well, mistress, if he doesn’t mind, I’ll just wait until he leaves to disrobe,” Agata said nervously.

  “My servingwoman is not yet comfortable with eunuchs in the bath,” Azura told Nadim as she allowed him to help her undress.

  He nodded, understanding. “It is different for women who come from the West,” he said. “Will you object if I burn these garments? I do not believe they can be washed clean after so many weeks of wear. What else have you?”

  “There were two changes of clothing for both of us aboard our ship,” Azura told him. “These garments were the better of the two, I fear.”

  “I will see you have fresh clothing when you have bathed. And I will see that you are given a complete new wardrobe as quickly as it can be sewn, my lady. I do not intend to have either of those two complacent females who claim the titles of first and second wives outshine you. They are not worthy of Prince Amir. You, I can see, are.” He looked her naked body over with a surprisingly sharp eye. “Yes, you are truly beautiful.”

  Then, with a little bow, he hurried off carrying her old clothing.

  “Well!” Agata huffed. “He is very bold for an old slave man.”

  “No,” Azura said slowly. “He will prove to be of great value to me in this new world once I can be assured of his loyalty.”

  “How can you know if he is your creature or not?” Agata wondered as she stripped her own dirty clothing off.

  “I am not certain yet,” Azura told her, “but I will know.”

  The head bath attendant hurried over to them now, smiling broadly. “Welcome, welcome, my lady Azura. Gracious, we have a great deal of work to make you presentable for the prince. We have already received word that he will want you in his bed tonight. I can tell you”—and she lowered her voice—“there were certain noses in this household very much out of joint when that news was bandied about.”

  “I very much appreciate your help,” Azura said politely, already suspecting that this woman was very important within the harem hierarchy. Amir had informed her that good manners within the harem, even towards the lowliest, were very much valued. She let the woman lead her off while Agata, now as naked as her mistress, followed.

  “I am Halah,” the bath mistress said. “First you must be rinsed. Step into this marble shell,” she instructed Azura. Then she clapped her hands and two women began to pour warm water over the new wife. Once rinsed, she was brought to another shell where the two, wielding large soapy sponges, washed her once, rinsed her, and then washed her a second time. But after the second soaping, Halah came with what looked like a long, thin blade, and carefully went over each inch of Azura’s skin. The young woman was astounded to see the soapy water filled with dirt with each pass of the blade. She was rinsed again. A third soaping and rinsing followed. Then they washed her ebony hair.

  While Halah personally served Azura, the other two bath women helped Agata, teaching her how to properly bathe. “I do not think I have ever been so clean in all of my lifetime,” Agata said in the new language, and the two bath women smiled and nodded in agreement, leading Agata to a warm pool, where she joined Azura to soak for a time in the perfumed waters. Slave women brushed their hair dry while they rested.

  “We will do this daily,” Azura told her servant. “This is something I should like to share with my mother and sisters.”

  “The priests would denounce it as a vanity of the flesh,” Agata said.

  Azura laughed. “You are probably correct,” she said.

  They were taken from the pool before any part of them had time to wrinkle. The nails on their fingers and toes were pared and their mons plucked. Agata was led away and found Nadim awaiting her with fresh garments. She blushed but the eunuch ignored her other than to hand her each piece of clothing as it was needed. In the meanwhile, Azura was led to a marble bench where a down mattress had been laid out for her to lie upon. Lotion was spread over her body in sections as the strong yet gentle hands of a young eunuch massaged her until she was almost asleep. She was content and relaxed.

  Nadim was awaiting her with fresh garments. “This is called a kaftan,” he told Azura. “You will find it very comfortable to wear and sleep in. I have sent your Agata to the kitchen to fetch the light meal I ordered for you earlier. She told me that neither of you has eaten this day.” He slipped the kaftan over her head, drawing it down carefully.

  “You have beautiful hair,” he observed. “It is like the blackest silk.”

  “In my home city dark hair as mine is considered ordinary. It is the maidens with the golden and red hair who are praised,” Azura told Nadim.

  “And yet you are extraordinarily beautiful,” the eunuch said.

  “The prince tells me that the women of the harem spy on one another,
and use the eunuchs to bring them information,” Azura said to him. “Will you spy on me?”

  “No,” he told her without hesitation. “The fact that the prince has called for you to come to his bed tonight, ignoring tradition that requires his wives be brought to serve his needs in the order of their importance, tells me that you will eventually hold all the power in this harem. Ali Farid does not realize that yet, else he should not have sent me to you. I served your prince’s mother until her death. Before she died she asked Prince Amir to keep me in his household always. He has, but because my history has been forgotten by the self-important, I have been only tolerated, and given the least important tasks to do.

  “When the prince was home last and told us that a new wife would soon join the harem, I went to him secretly and begged to be appointed her eunuch. The prince remembered my long and faithful service to his mother then and brought me to Ali Farid, telling him I would be the eunuch to serve his new wife. Since I am considered unimportant, it was thought the new wife would also be unimportant. But this is not so, my lady Azura, is it? I suspect that you have the prince’s heart. Once they become aware of it, the lady Maysun and the lady Shahdi will accept that you are the first lady of this harem. Until then they will seek to undermine you, for that is the way of the harem, and you should know it.”

  “The prince said they would welcome me,” Azura told Nadim.

  “Of course they will, for they have no other choice,” the eunuch said. “But the prince does not live within the walls of his harem. The women do. If you will protect me from Ali Farid, my lady Azura, I will protect you from the others. My best interests are served by my loyalty to you, and you alone.”

  “It is said that the Florentines are devious in their politics,” Azura said to him, “but the intricacies of the harem are even more guileful, I see. I will take you at your word, Nadim, and I will place my trust in you. But if you betray me, be warned that my revenge will be swift and final.”

  “I am warned, my lady Azura, but you will have no need to lose your faith in me, for as I served Prince Amir’s mother faithfully, so will I serve you,” Nadim told her.

  Chapter 14

  T hey returned to her little apartment, where Agata was already waiting with a tray of food for them both. They sat upon pillows before the little table and ate. There was fresh warm bread, yogurt, a honeycomb, a bunch of green grapes, and hot mint tea. Nadim and Agata served Azura first, and when she had eaten her fill they finished the bounty that remained. Then the two women lay down to rest while Nadim sat cross-legged outside of his lady’s quarters. He could hear the hum of voices coming from the salon at the end of the corridor. He concentrated hard in the silence and was able to make out the conversation going on.

  “She is beautiful,” the first wife, Maysun, said. She did not sound happy.

  “Far too beautiful,” the second wife, Shahdi, agreed.

  “There is nothing we can do about it.” Maysun spoke again. “Perhaps she will become arrogant and difficult with his favor.”

  “It is to be hoped,” Shahdi said. “Remember, we promised we would welcome her. I would not break our promise to the prince.”

  “We will welcome her given the opportunity, but first Ali Farid insisted we remain in our quarters. We could not meet her in the baths, and now that old eunuch who has been assigned to her guards her while she sleeps,” Maysun replied.

  “The eunuch is an old fool. He will not be of much use to her,” Shahdi said, sounding very pleased.

  Nadim grinned to himself in hearing her. Stupid peasant. Daughter of a tribal chief, and so unimportant that the sultan passed you on to a grandson. What do you possibly know, kept here in a country harem?

  “The old eunuch once served our prince’s mother,” Maysun told her companion.

  “A woman long dead and long forgotten. Wife to a rebellious prince who will meet an unfortunate end one of these days,” Shahdi said. “Praise Allah our prince is a more prudent man.”

  “What if she has a child?” Maysun asked.

  “Surely she has been rendered sterile, even as we are,” Shahdi replied. “The sultan wants no more rival claimants to his throne. That is why we were made sterile before we were given to our prince.”

  “This Azura is a foreigner,” Maysun pointed out. “She is not a slave, and not of our world until now. He loves her, and if he loves her he will want a child of her.”

  “Is there no way we can render her as we are?” Shahdi wondered. “Perhaps we should consult Ali Farid in this matter. There must be some poison we could introduce into her food or clothing that would make it impossible for her to bear our prince a child. At least then we should be as equals.”

  “Do nothing until I have thought long and hard on it,” Maysun told her companion. “One child would not be so terrible, and it could just as easily be a daughter as a son. It might be nice for us to have a child to raise.”

  “You are too softhearted,” Shahdi scolded.

  “And you too quick to act,” Maysun replied.

  “Until we meet her we can’t really know anything,” Shahdi said.

  “Perhaps when she has rested the old eunuch will bring her forth to meet us,” Maysun said. “I think we should now go to the bath mistress, and see what she and her attendants have to say about this new wife our prince has taken.”

  Nadim heard the women getting up. He wasn’t certain they wouldn’t first return to their own little apartments, so he lowered his head and feigned sleep as he sat. But they did not come, going instead directly to the baths. He was pleased with what he had heard. Now he would be certain to personally prepare or oversee everything that his lady ate. He would have to warn her servingwoman not to accept any food gifts. Poisoned candy paste and fruit were favorite weapons among the harem women.

  When Azura awoke she was briefly confused as to where she was, but then she remembered. She could not recall ever feeling so relaxed or so clean. And she was hungry. “Agata!” she called, and her servant came. “I am famished. Where is Nadim? He will know what to do about my hunger.”

  “I am here, my lady Azura,” the old eunuch said. “Your companion wives will eat shortly. Would you join them or remain here in private?”

  “I think, as we are now a family, that I would do best to meet these women,” she answered him.

  “A wise decision,” he told her. “They are curious, and a little afraid of your coming. The bath women have sung your praises. I would tell you if you do not know that the lady Maysun and the lady Shahdi are childless. They are not able to bear children. You, I believe, are. Do you wish to give your husband a child? Or would you like me to prepare you a daily draught that will prevent a child from being conceived?”

  Azura’s eyes widened with surprise. “No! No!” she cried softly. “I would give Amir a child of our love.”

  “Then say nothing of your heart’s desire to either of the other wives. And take no food from their hand,” Nadim warned her. “The harem of a prince can become a house of jealousy, especially if a favored woman can give her husband what others cannot. Do you understand what it is I am saying to you?”

  Azura nodded.

  “It seems to be the same the world over,” Agata said in her native tongue. “In Florence poison is also a favorite weapon for women.”

  “What is it that your woman says?” the eunuch asked Azura.

  “That poison is a woman’s means even in our homeland. Her name is Agata, and she can speak a little of this new language, but it is difficult for her. It was not for me, although I know I will need to be corrected, and you must do it so I learn to speak properly,” Azura told him. “If you remember to talk slowly when you address Agata, she will learn eventually.”

  “She already understands more than she lets on,” the eunuch said with a small smile. “It is clever of her to feign ignorance. She will hear much that way that will be of use to you, my lady Azura.”

  “How can you be so certain of what you say?” Azura aske
d him.

  “I watched her in the baths following the instructions of the attendants quite well while she stumbled over her own speech, making them laugh,” he answered. “She will have to improve her skills with our language, and I will have to learn yours. Agata and I must work together to keep you safe and happy,” Nadim told Azura.

  “We will teach each other,” Agata said, surprising the eunuch, but he chuckled.

  “We will do well together, you and I,” he told the servingwoman.

  She nodded in agreement.

  “Now come, my lady Azura, and I will bring you to the salon, where your companions now await you,” Nadim told her.

  The two women followed the eunuch from Azura’s small apartment down the corridor and into the salon. The sun was already setting in the hills behind the Moonlight Serai. It dappled the dark waters of the sea before the palace. Maysun and Shahdi were seated, awaiting Azura’s arrival.

  “My ladies, I present to you your prince’s new wife, the lady Azura,” Nadim said.

  The younger woman bowed from the waist. “I greet you, my lady Maysun, my lady Shahdi,” she said in careful Turkish.

  “Join us,” Maysun invited. The bath women were right. Azura’s skin was flawless. “We welcome you to your new home, Lady Azura.”

  “Yes, welcome,” Shahdi echoed, not sounding as if she was entirely sincere.

  “You have traveled a long distance to reach us. Our husband was most anxious to find and retrieve you,” Maysun said. She looked to the hovering attendants, and nodded.

  Almost immediately they disappeared, then reappeared several moments later with bowls and platters that were set upon the table around which the three women were seated. There was a roasted shank of lamb carved into small slices set upon a platter, bowls of saffron rice, yogurt, bread, and a large plate of fresh fruits.

  Nadim watched as Maysun and Shahdi helped themselves, noting whether they favored one side of a bowl or platter. They did not. Nonetheless he personally picked the lamb slices for Azura, which he laid upon a piece of flat bread with some yogurt. He dipped his fingers into the bowl of rice, tasted it, and nodded to her.