Her name was Alexandra. Her name was Cecylia. Her name was Sophia. Her name was Anastasia. Her name was Nadia. Their name was the Sultanate of Women.

....

"Hürrem Sultan?" Nigar Kalfa bowed, though no other person was in sight. "Hürrem?"

She dashed here and there, left and right, across the big room. It was strange- Hürrem Sultan had been here five minutes earlier before Nigar Kalfa went to grab a few scrolls regarding her charities for signing, and now she was left alone. 

"Nowhere she could have possibly gone..." Nigar muttered under her breath. This was probably going to take a while. And the help of her harem counterpart, Sumbul agha. "I suppose I'll have to get him now. Nobody ever tries to make my life any easier."

Nigar sighed as she adjusted her cap and went off to go find the man.

...

35 years later

"Nurbanu Sultana, his Majesties Sultan Selim wishes to see you!" Gazanfer Agha bounces into the rooms of the great and powerful Haseki Sultan, who was normally busy concocting her plans on the sofa at this time of day. But there was not a trace of her, only Canfeda Kalfa frantically searching around for something.

"Do you need anything, or are you just going mad?" Gazanfer asked laughing. "I need Nurbanu Sultan right now."

She ignored him as she continued to whisper things to herself, opening the closet door, various drawers and such, until she drew the laughter of the Agha.

"Are you planning on robbing the Sultana?"

"There's no Sultana to rob! She's missing!"

"And you think you'll find her in the drawers?" Gazanfer roared until he saw the pale expression on Canfeda's face.

"Oh you are serious." Gazanfer's eyes widened. "What could possibly have happened? 

"I don't know, but nobody has seen her leave her room, not even her personal servants." Canfeda sniffed.

"Oh dear Allah, how...Why... Why did you let her out of your sight?!"