My situation was not of ideal, but I needed to keep my head high and work towards my goals. Apart from what the present situation was, I was doing so well in my dance and art classes Nigar decided to drop me from them, which was a little disappointing since they were pretty fun, and instead have me focus primarily on the language and religious studies.

ابچديفعهيجكلمنوپقرستوڢوخيز - Was Arabic for a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z, which were the standard Latin letters. However there were a few more, but I managed to grasp them. I have also often found myself trying to read left to right, but here you must read right to left, and write that way too, so now I understand how left-handed people in Spain feel when they write- having to smear the ink or having your hand shake as you try your best to write with your hand help over the page.

I intended to write a few letters, now that I was able to write. The first was to my friend Elisabeth, wherever she may be. I would hope Nigar could be a good friend too and take it to her, or at least try to do so.

كاون ساي يڠ ساي سايڠي ايليزبيث، ساي برهارڤ اندا ملاكوكن كهندق دان سموڬ توهن منموكن اندا دالم كادأن صيحت. ساي هاڽ ساي هاڽ ماهو اندا تاهو بهاوا ساي ساڠت ريندوكن اندا كران اندا اداله ساتو-ساتوڽ كاون سبنر ساي د سيني، دان موڠكين انجيليكا جوڬ. ساي سنتياس

"My dear friend Elisabeth, I hope you are doing will and may god find you in good health. I just I just want you to know that I so desperately miss you as you are my only true friend here, and perhaps Angelica as well. I am always thinking of you. Francesca."

My next letter was to be given not to anyone of the ordinary harem, but rather to the Valide Sultan herself. Valide Hafsa Sultan was a stern woman and even though I was selected she still scrutinized me. Nonetheless, I wanted to prove my loyalty by remaining in constant contact, which will appear to be a loyal servant act, something I obviously detested but still would be willing to do. Someday I will be in her position, I thought, and I will be the one to test others loyalty, and be the one who has utmost power and control. But for that I must remain patient and devoted to my task.

سلطانتنا الكريمة والجميلة، هذه كتابة خادمتك وسرية ابنك العظيم هونكرم السلطان سليمان خان حضرتدليري. أريد أن أستمر في الروح المعنوية الطيبة والعلاقة التي تحقق أقصى قدر من الفوائد لكلا الجانبين وأؤكد لك ولائي لك وللسلالة الحاكمة. إذا كان هناك أي مهمة تريد مني إكمالها، أو أي شيء يمكنني القيام به من أجلك، فأنا في خدمتك. الكتابة بكل تواضع، فرانشيسكا

"My most gracious and beautiful Sultana, this is the writing of your servant and concubine of your son the great Hünkarim Sultan Süleyman Khan Hazretdleri. I want to continue good spirits and a relationship of utmost benefits to both sides and reassure you of my loyalty to you and the Dynasty. If there is any task of which you would like me to complete, or anything I can do for you I am at your service. Writing humbly, Francesca Hatun."

And then I was going to write a few more letters, perhaps to begin alliances with some of the other harem workers, but then I ultimately decided that it's too early for such ordeals, and people also don't know that I am the new concubine of the Sultan, and if the letters fell into the wrong hands it could spell death for me.

There remained still one letter I needed to write, but this wasn't to anyone of significance in my path, but rather myself.

To the young, black haired and bright eyed princess who reads this,

Wherever you may be, whatever stage in life you are when you read this letter, days, months, years from now, I hope you continue to uphold the original goals we wanted. We wanted a place in this unknown, power, but also love and family, and to live a good life. In order to achieve that, never forget where you came from, and never forget what you went through. Times will change, people will come and go, but you must never become one who you wouldn't want to be- a terrible person whom Francesca wouldn't approve of.

You are one, but you have power and you must use that to the most good, to bring light back to not only your own life but to that of others. Do not hurt, steal, or intentionally try to do bad things. Try to to be someone God is proud of, washing away sins every day of your life, rather than writing more on the ever growing list.

Mother and father, Isabella or anyone else, won't be here to fix things or brighten your day, you must be the change you wish to have in this world, in this lifetime.

Francesca. 

It almost brought tears to my eyes as I carefully brushed the pen across the page to write Mother, Father, and Isabella, because there was always the possibility I won't see them again. I have started to grow more and more accustomed to this possibility, as it has been months since I was kidnapped and taken to the Harem, and not a word from Spain, any quests, and I know that at least one person who was there that fateful day knows that it was Ottoman Turkish barbarians who did this.

I rolled up my three letters, and tucked my last letter for myself into my clothing chest. I took the ones for Valide and Elisabeth and stuffed them into the pockets hidden under the layers of my cream colored dress. Hopefully they wouldn't stick out through it. 

I cleaned up my desk as not to leave any trace of what I was doing and headed out my door. I began descending through the hall of rooms to the main harem as I began to hear screaming. At first I thought I was hearing things, but then with every step the sounds got louder and louder as my mouth fell open at what I saw in the center. 

Hürrem Hatun was in a fight with a woman, and they were on the floor, with Hürrem on top of the other girl and beating her face mercilessly. Instead of stopping it, all the other girls were encircled and reacting to the fight with cheers, taunts, and facial expressions. It was a shameful sight! I wanted to desperately do something, to at least help the girl who was on the floor being senselessly destroyed, but then suspicions would be raised at me and I would become a target of her rage. Finally I heard Nigar's loud voice and girls began parting to both sides to make way for the Kalfa to assess the situation. 

"Hürrem Hatun!" Nigar exclaimed, mortified at the sight of Hürrem, red faced and hair plastered all over her head, sitting on the other girl who looked practically dead from the back.

Hürrem didn't bother to say anything, but then Sumbul-aga rushed in to learn what the commotion was.

"Ay Allah!" Sumbul screeched, slapping his forehead. "If the Valide Sultan sees..."

"I already saw." A voice from behind him. We all turned and were shocked to see the Valide Sultan, flanked by Daye Hatun and Hatice Sultana standing and watching the scene unfold. With every step she took, people began bowing and backing away to the couches, and so did I. 

From the corner of my eye I noticed Hatice Sultan eyeing me weirdly, but I didn't take it in any strange manner and rather focused on what was to happen to Hürrem and the poor girl. 

Nigar Kalfa carefully lifted the girl up for the harem to see as a few of the guards began to help lift her up, and I was frightened to see that the girl who was brutally attacked was none other than my friend Alsu!

Oh dios, I could've prevented this! I knew that something should have been done, but I was too afraid for my own hide to stand up to Hürrem, irregardless of who the girl was. 

As they whisked Alsu away to the Harem hospital, where she was hopefully going to heal and be better soon, I turned just in time to see Valide strike Hürrem with a brutal slap which sent her to the floor. 

"To the dungeons with Hürrem!" Valide Hafsa Sultan barked, as she turned back around and marched to her rooms. Hürrem was now being dragged as she hit, bit, and tried to fight back but her strength was lost in the long one sided fight with Alsu.

Now Nigar was gone handling things, so I sighed and went back to my room as quickly as I could, and began banging on the wall with my fist as hard as I could with anger, until I finally dropped to my knees on the floor, tears sliding down my cheeks.

"Why is the system like this?" I demanded to no one in particular, nobody to hear my words. Nobody was there for Alsu as she was battered like an animal being hunted. "Why do people like Hürrem do what they want and everyone else sits back and watches?"

"Why must the Harem be like a game between all the women, a game where little girls and unblossomed maidens must kill to survive?"

There wasn't anyone here to answer my questions. There wouldn't be- these were things I had to figure out on my own. And it would be a hard and long battle, but I was determined to survive. 

I pulled out the letters I had written. The first was the one to Elisabeth. I ripped it up into tiny pieces and watched it fall to the floor.

Elisabeth had already lost.

Then the one for the Valide Sultan. I knew for a fact the only reason she cared about the Harem scandal was because she hated Hürrem, which made sense, but didn't truly care what was to happen to Alsu. We were all puppets in here eyes.

I didn't even want to rip it up, I simply took it and threw it into the fireplace where I watched it consumed by the flames. I won't be playing her game the way she wants to, it's my game. And it's my rules. 

My name is Francesca Fortuna, and I won't be just another girl sentenced to a fate of misery and death. I will stand up and I will fight till my last breath. 

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry I haven't updated so long, but I made it up by making this a VERY long chapter, more than 1,900 words. This chapter was very heavy, and I wanted to do so to kind of give a different look at her harem struggles, instead of the usual run around, you see her in this light that she hates this and wants to make change, but when she doesn't take action bad things happen.

Anyways let me know your feedback and any recommendations for future chapters, other books and such too. I will try my best to update Zevki as much as I can, but I am also having a holiday break from my schooling for a little so I may be slow on some things, especially next week.